#stormwater16
Essential Environmental partner and all round expert hydrologist Helen Brookes will be presenting at Stormwater Australia‘s 4th National Conference: STORMWATER 2016, to be held between 29th August – 2nd September this year.
The conference theme is ‘Rising to the Challenge’ – deliberately set to attract the broadest range of perspectives in dealing with the many challenges associated with providing environmental, amenity and stormwater management outcomes while accommodating growing populations in densifying cities and increasingly tight fiscal environments. Phew!
Sounds like a conference for the brightest of stormwater minds in Australia! Such as Helen, who will make her way to the Surfers Paradise in Queensland (the rest of the office is in no way jealous) to present her paper on ‘Drainage planning and design for urban density’.
Helen will address a process for investigation and assessment of future drainage system capacity, and facilitate the focussing of resources towards appropriate planning and design standards and/or upgrades required to support the delivery of increased density.
The process includes consideration of the following critical issues:
- Prioritisation of target locations for density
- Site conditions and consequent ability to provide ‘on-lot’ solutions
- Stakeholder engagement – including consideration of potentially conflicting objectives
- Existing system condition and capacity assessments – including future risk of failure
- Opportunity identification – linking upgrades to asset maintenance and renewal schedules
- Lifetime costs and funding mechanisms
- Delivery and control mechanisms
Helen will also identify a number of locations in the Perth/Peel metropolitan area where better stormwater management outcomes are being achieved through collaborative approaches to system upgrades and on-lot provisions to provide the best mix of density and cost effective infrastructure.
The value of stormwater is becoming increasingly apparent as shown in a recent industry note published by the Co-Operative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (CRCWSC) which identified considerable savings from the use of stormwater. CRC research suggests that for a city such as Melbourne, 14% of the water supply should be drawn from stormwater to achieve an improved balance in its water source portfolio, which provides a considerable economic incentive to use stormwater. With research like this, and further knowledge to be shared at #stormwater16, the good value of stormwater is slowly being recognised.
To find out more about the latest in stormwater management, and for more details on #stormwater16 please visit the conference website: