The Outlet e-Newsletter

E-NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2022

Message from the Vice President - Alice Lisitca

Hi Stormies! Welcome back to yet another edition of The Outlet. We are now on the home stretch to another sitting committee year and are about to hold our general elections. We will surely miss those choosing to step down along with all their industry expertise and tireless dedication to the organisation, and stormwater industry at large. On the plus side, we are excited to see some new faces in our midst! Perhaps this is you? We’ll circle back to this.

Our committee members have been hard at work in the weeks leading up to the AGM, planning the year ahead, reshaping the organisation to maximise the output of our hard work, and finding ways to provide the most benefit to our membership base this coming year.

We have achieved so much this past year! We have been reliably delivering webinars to our industry on a range of topics, keeping you all updated on industry changes. We have re-joined the real world with our first in-person conference in years, with barely a hitch. And, we have been pushing forward our plans for a state-wide policy document; the Victorian Urban Drainage Manual, better known as the VUDM.

And yet, as confirmed after our annual Stormwater Victoria committee planning day, we have so much more we want to deliver. This year, we are directing an event series to support members navigate the EPA stormwater targets, developing the much-needed and much-anticipated VUDM, planning more in-person networking events and online webinars, and planning our next state conference, to name just a few.

Now, getting back to our upcoming AGM, this is where you come in. With our AGM just around the corner, we are keen to welcome new committee members to our fold. We need members new to the industry. Those with decades of experience and everything in between. Mostly we need people who are enthusiastic, who, like us, have a passion for the stormwater industry.

If this sounds like you, don’t hesitate! Jump online and submit your nominations before Tuesday, 16 August at 5.00 pm. You are guaranteed to learn a lot, meet an amazing group of passionate Stormies and have fun while supporting our wonderful industry!

In the meantime, please sit back and enjoy another of our committee-driven initiatives, The Outlet.

Case Study: How much can Integrated Water Management reduce flooding in the Elizabeth Street Catchment

The Elizabeth Street catchment covers the majority of the Melbourne CBD, with approximately 308 ha of catchment area discharging into Birrarung (the Yarra River). The City of Melbourne recognised the need to take a catchment-based approach to address flooding in the catchment.

The Elizabeth Street Integrated Water Cycle Management Plan was developed which recommended a range of Integrated Water Management (IWM) measures be delivered across the private and public realm to reduce flood risk. Rain Consulting recently undertook a review of the Plan and undertook subsequent modelling and reporting focusing on what could be practically implemented and where, predominately focusing on public realm interventions. The review included:

A history of flooding in the catchment, including key mechanisms of flooding.
What hazard level can currently be expected in the 5% AEP event across each street and links the implications of these hazard levels on safety to people, cars and buildings.
Where impervious reductions and flood storages can be positioned to help reduce flooding.
Sub-catchments/streets which could worsen flooding along Elizabeth Street if storages were implemented – helping understand areas for focus and areas for avoidance.
The resultant level of flooding that would remain even if flood reduction and impervious area targets were reached (i.e., the ‘flooding we would have to live with’).

The results showed that, when utilising IWM interventions for flood management in the CBD, location is critical. Further, successful intervention options rely on altering the complex timing of flows through the catchment.

If you’d like some more information, contact City of Melbourne (Penny Ball: penny.ball@melbourne.vic.gov.au) or Rain Consulting (Luke Cunningham: luke@rainconsulting.com.au)

Meet the Speaker - Dr. Bahman Esfandiar

This month, we sat down with Dr. Bahman Esfandiar, a Senior Engineer with Arup. Bahman also has completed his master’s in Civil Eng. Focusing on Coastal flooding whilst in Malaysia and his PhD in Environment and Infrastructure Eng.

Bahman recently presented alongside Mr. Brett Disley, a Technical Director at Arup, at the Stormwater Victoria Conference held in Geelong discussing various applications of Australian Rainfall & Runoff in a Peri-urban Victorian catchment.

SV: Hey Bahman, thanks for taking the time to sit down and have a chat. Firstly, can you tell us how you came to be in involved in the stormwater industry?

Bahman: Growing up in Iran, my father was a groundwater practitioner and as a child he’d take me along to field surveys from time to time and we’d take measurements of groundwater from bore holes within the field. I think this initial introduction to water sparked my interest in the field.

Moving forward, I decided I wanted to learn more about water, so I studied civil engineering with a particular interest in the hydrology and hydraulics courses whilst in Iran and then went on to do my Masters in Malaysia which focused on flooding in coastal areas and then completed my PhD on Environment and Infrastructure Eng. where I worked on flow and transport in porous media.

When I moved to Australia, I was sort of tossing up whether I wanted to focus more on groundwater or stormwater and surface water management, and I decided to focus on stormwater management as I found it interesting and challenging.

SV: You’ve got so much experience in many facets of the water industry and also different countries. What differences did you notice the most when working in different countries?

Bahman: Besides general country specific standards and guidelines, I found that the way that Australia considers risk with a lot of projects is a big factor. I find that the community engagement and consultation can have significant influence on the outcome of the project and the level of information which communicated to the community is both interesting and comprehensive.

Whilst in Malaysia I was part of a pioneer study that determined risk associated to tsunamis which was one of the first of its kind for Malaysia and we adapted some of the studies and methodologies, developed in Australia to inform our study and define and categorize coastal flooding risk.

SV: Can you tell us about your favourite water related recreational place in Victoria?

Bahman: We haven’t been able to get out and explore for a while now, but I really like spending time near rivers. It is very calming and pleasant. One of my favourite spots is a campsite near Little river at Cathedral Range State park.

SV: Thanks for spending some time with us Bahman and sharing your story. Looking forward to seeing what you get up to in the future!

Stormwater Australia – Website and Database Update!

Stormwater Australia's new website is progressing well! The design has been completed and we are just reviewing all the existing website copy to update it for the new site.

Building of the site will now progress over the next few months. Our new CRM database and membership portal is being developed in parallel, starting with mapping of workflows and looking at how we can automate some of the manual processes like membership applications and payment gateways.

Any feedback or suggestions, feel free to send them our way at: president@stormwatervictoria.com.au