Cities are wrestling with the practical challenges of transitioning urban water services to become water sensitive; capable of enhancing liveability, sustainability, resilience, and productivity in the face of climate change, rapid urbanization, degraded ecosystems, and aging infrastructure. Indicators can be valuable for guiding actions for improvement, but there is not yet an established index that measures the full suite of attributes that constitute water-sensitive performance. This paper, therefore, presents the Water Sensitive Cities (WSC) Index, a new benchmarking and diagnostic tool to assess the water sensitivity of a municipal or metropolitan city, set aspirational targets, and inform management responses to improve water-sensitive practices. Its 34 indicators are organized into seven goals: ensure good water-sensitive governance, increase community capital, achieve equity of essential services, improve productivity and resource efficiency, improve ecological health, ensure quality urban spaces, and promote adaptive infrastructure. The WSC Index design is a quantitative framework based on qualitative rating descriptions and a participatory assessment methodology, enabling local contextual interpretations of the indicators while maintaining a robust universal framework for city comparison and benchmarking. The paper demonstrates its application to three illustrative cases. The rapid uptake of the WSC Index in Australia highlights its value in helping stakeholders develop collective commitment and evidence-based priorities for action to accelerate their city’s water-sensitive transition. Early testing in cities in Asia, the Pacific, and South Africa has also shown the potential of the WSC Index internationally.
