The pollution source assessment tool for Sydney's drinking water catchments

WaterNSW funds a range of interventions to minimise pollution within the drinking water catchments of Sydney. To assist with the process of targeting this expenditure, WaterNSW has developed a spatial analysis tool, known as the Pollution Source Assessment Tool (PSAT), which uses a hybrid of multi-criteria analysis and load-based methods to highlight high pollution potential sites and critical source areas for pathogens, nutrients and suspended sediment. The design of the PSAT enables results to be summarised by any set of spatial units and with any combination of pollution sources. The most recent PSAT outputs have been used at multiple scales; to guide identification of priorities across the whole of the drinking water catchments of Sydney and also to target programmes on individual properties, sites and urban areas.