Presentation at Stormwater Industry Association of Victoria Conference, May 7th-8th 2013

Dale gave a presentation on the “Benefits of WSUD for managing nuisance and minor flows” at the Stormwater Victoria Conference.

The management of nuisance flooding and sustaining or improving levels of service for minor drainage systems is an issue of increasing concern for municipal councils faced with the need to mitigate impacts of infill development and climate change.

The presentation discussed why continuous simulation and the consideration of the joint probability of storm events and antecedent conditions is necessary to understand the behaviour of WSUD measures for flood events.  A method for quantifying benefits was described and results were presented for a range of different case studies including infiltration rain gardens in the City of Port Phillip and rainwater tanks and wetlands in the City of Casey.

The results indicate that significant benefits can be achieved given appropriate design while improvements in the standard of service provided by existing drainage were even more substantial. These outcomes clearly demonstrate the important role that WSUD can play within a broader drainage and flood management program.