 Additionally, Australia's arid conditions means it is particularly vulnerable to climate change, which together with its reliance on surface water sources, combined with one of the most severe droughts (from 2000–2010) since European settlement, highlight the fact that major urban centres face increasing water shortages.This has begun shifting the perception of stormwater runoff from strictly a liability and nuisance to that of having value as a water resource resulting in changing stormwater management practices.Australian states, building on the Federal government's foundational research in the 1990s, began releasing WSUD guidelines with Western Australia first releasing guidelines in 1994.