Creating water sensitive cities is a stated goal of Australia's National Water Initiative; however, most Australian cities have made only limited progress toward this goal. This paper summarises an in-depth collaborative research project that sought to understand what is holding back investment in water sensitive cities and identify a road map to address the constraints. The project involved research academics, industry participants, and economic regulation agencies from all major Australian jurisdictions. The reforms identified that will move Australia towards a nation of water sensitive cities are: (i) strengthening government policy support for water sensitive urban design to ensure it has equal standing with other policy objectives; (ii) increased government investment for outcomes valued by the community (funded through general taxation or broad-based charges), accompanied by charges for those services used and valued by water utility customers; (iii) improvements to system-level accountability to ensure objectives are met; (iv) changes to the regulatory incentives faced by water utilities to ensure the services valued by customers and community are delivered; (v) removal of barriers to private sector participation in service delivery; and (vi) improved information systems and analytical capabilities to ensure appropriate water sensitive solutions are identified and delivered efficiently.

创建水敏感城市是澳大利亚国家水资源倡议的既定目标；然而，大多数澳大利亚城市在实现这一目标方面取得的进展有限。本文总结了一个深入的合作研究项目，该项目旨在了解是什么阻碍了对水敏感城市的投资，并确定了解决这些制约因素的路线图。该项目涉及来自澳大利亚所有主要司法管辖区的研究学者、行业参与者和经济监管机构。确定的将澳大利亚推向水敏感城市国家的改革是：(i) 加强政府对水敏感城市设计的政策支持，以确保其与其他政策目标具有同等地位；(ii) 增加政府对社区重视的成果的投资（通过一般税收或广泛收费提供资金），同时对自来水公司客户使用和重视的服务收费；(iii) 改进系统级问责制以确保实现目标；(iv) 改变供水公司面临的监管激励措施，以确保提供客户和社区重视的服务；(v) 消除私营部门参与提供服务的障碍；(vi) 改进信息系统和分析能力，以确保有效地确定和交付适当的水敏感解决方案。(iv) 改变供水公司面临的监管激励措施，以确保提供客户和社区重视的服务；(v) 消除私营部门参与提供服务的障碍；(vi) 改进信息系统和分析能力，以确保有效地确定和交付适当的水敏感解决方案。(iv) 改变供水公司面临的监管激励措施，以确保提供客户和社区重视的服务；(v) 消除私营部门参与提供服务的障碍；(vi) 改进信息系统和分析能力，以确保有效地确定和交付适当的水敏感解决方案。