Warrnambool City Council recognised the importance of investigating the degree to which the Warrnambool community and urban systems are exposed and vulnerable to extreme heat, both now and into the future, especially with projected changes to the climate.  The information was needed to update Council policies and plans and to help prepare for and mitigate the impacts of extreme heat. 

Water Technology was engaged to complete an investigation into extreme heat vulnerability and mitigation approaches across the Warrnambool Local Government Area.  This project involved a suite of methods, including data and spatial analysis, heat hazard modelling and mapping, stakeholder engagement to provide Council with a strong, data-informed basis for budget prioritisation, emergency management, urban planning policy, and resilience building.

The comprehensive approach involved:

• Obtaining land surface temperature data
• Calculating a universal index of thermal comfort based on historic heatwave events
• Modelling climate change impacts on heat hazard in the region
• Analysing the vulnerabilities of communities based on demographic indicators to identity priority areas
• Commencing to build connectivity with urban system stakeholders from water, power, emergency services, health and telecommunications.

The heat hazard maps were produced at a scale suitable to enable identification of place-specific risk reduction measures to inform the development of a cool refuge plan and a preliminary urban forest plan. The Council are now progressing with their plans and associated actions to reduce the heat hazards in the most vulnerable areas.