The State of the Marine and Coastal Environment 2021 Report tells us that stormwater has a direct impact on the health of coastal waterways.
Stormwater is water that runs off surfaces into drains. As stormwater drains, it carries pollutants with it, including litter, sediment and oil. These are a major cause of pollution in our rivers, creeks, lakes and bays. This has implications for marine life as well as the health of people engaged in water-based recreational activities.
Edithvale Recreation Reserve Integrated Water Treatment and Reuse Project
The City of Kingston is helping their local community by constructing an innovative and award-winning environmental project in Edithvale, with the support of the Victorian Government and Melbourne Water.
This project is located within the Edithvale Recreation Reserve and was completed in 2018. It provides multiple benefits that include flood protection, stormwater treatment and stormwater reuse.
The City of Kingston installed a large 1.5 metre diameter pipe along Fraser Avenue and under the Edithvale Public Golf Course. This has helped reduce the number of flooding incidents within the southern streets of Edithvale.
A key part of this integrated solution is collecting stormwater from Fraser Avenue. It is then pumped into a large 800 square metre bioretention system containing plants and sand, which act as a filter to remove rubbish and pollution. The clean water is pumped into five tanks that can store a combined total of up to 1.2 million litres of water.
The treated stormwater is then used for sports ground irrigation and council’s street tree watering program. The harvested stormwater is estimated to offset around eight million litres of potable drinking water per year, which is the equivalent to around 50 households.
Population growth and urban development will influence the volume of stormwater entering Victoria’s receiving water bodies in the future.
You can read more about the impact of stormwater in the State of the Marine and Coastal Environment 2021 Report.