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Updated: Jul 1, 2026

Design and Construction of an Urban Runoff Research Facility
Published on: August 8, 2014
Components of the total water balance of an urban catchment
V Grace Mitchell1, Thomas A McMahon, Russell G Mein
1CSIRO Manufacturing and Infrastructure Technology, PO Box 56, Highett, Victoria 3190, Australia. Grace.Mitchell@csiro.au
Abstract:
A daily model was used to quantify the components of the total urban water balance of the Curtin catchment, Canberra, Australia. For this catchment, the mean annual rainfall was found to be three times greater than imported potable water, and the sum of the output from the separate stormwater and wastewater systems exceeded the input of imported potable water by some 50%. Seasonal and annual variations in climate exert a very strong influence over the relative magnitude of the water balance components; this needs to be accounted for when assessing the potential for utilizing stormwater and wastewater within an urban catchment.
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