Streetscape WSUD Asset Auditing, Maintenance and Rectification

The City of Port Phillip is pursuing pro-active management of its WSUD assets. Our team recently undertook a review of the condition of its street scale WSUD assets, assess maintenance requirements and identify opportunities to improve the design and construction of future systems. The project established a baseline record of the condition of the assets and a prioritised schedule of maintenance activities for every asset. Templates were developed for inspections and a manual was prepared for targeted maintenance to help contractors understand the various maintenance issues and what works are required. A series of common issues and practical design responses to mitigate these were identified. Key findings of the project were:

1. Design, construction and establishment phase issues have led to a number of problems requiring corrective maintenance works and attention to details during these stages could minimise many of these problems.
2. Many rain gardens have significant plant loss due to poor filter media soil moisture retention and inappropriate plant selection. The design and implementation of some systems is not supportive of good plant growth and corrective works are needed for these rain gardens to function effectively.

The project was presented at the stormwater australia conference 2014 and was the Winner for Excellence in Asset Management. 

Water Sensitive City Outcomes:

• prioritising maintenance of assets
• holistic cost benefit appraisal
• capacity building