In early February, Stormwater Queensland held the 2020 Awards for Excellence, designed to encourage and celebrate excellence in the innovation, development, completion and management of stormwater projects and the people involved. Below is the full list of projects and project teams who took home an award, along with the comments from the judges.

Winner of Excellence in Strategic or Master Planning: Providence North Integrated Stormwater System by Engeny Water Management, Okeland Communities and Cusp.

“The entry demonstrates that the project is a unique, innovative, complex and sustainable best practice stormwater management plan within an urban environment. The project incorporates multiple aspects of integrated stormwater management into the urban environment.”

“It provides a very good example of the integration of a broad range of best planning approaches to achieve multiple benefits for the site. Improvements to the local ecological values and amenity with multi-functional use of land use demonstrate triple bottom line outcomes for the development”

Winner of Excellence in Infrastructure: The Pine Rivers Park River Restoration Works by Alluvium Consulting, Moreton Bay Regional Council & Stringybark Consulting

“This project demonstrates how to manage multiple problems through an exceptionally well-considered and implemented approach. The careful planning and monitoring of the tidal influence, maximising the ecological niche of tidal species and planning for successive natural regeneration demonstrate exceptional understanding of the site, which were then used to develop suitably responsive solutions. While Moreton Bay will greatly benefit from the immediate improvement to stormwater, the project team was clearly able to see past this need and deliver multiple additional benefits”

“An excellent example of subtle engineering design. Natural materials and a deep understanding of riverine processes have been used to control erosion at a pollutant hotspot, and have brought life and biodiversity back to a prominent parkland, whilst creating an asset for the community.”

Winner of Excellence in Asset Management: SPELCheck – an online portal to manage all maintenance of all stormwater treatment devices by SPEL Stormwater

“The SPELCheck app will greatly assist stormwater treatment asset owners and managers to effectively manage the maintenance requirements of their assets.”

“Asset management of stormwater treatment devices has long been overlooked and few steps have been made to facilitate improvements in this regard. The SPELCheck tool facilitates and simplifies maintenance for public or private organisations by a ready-made online database, reporting, auditing and forecasting tool for its users. SPEL is to be commended for filling this gap in the industry.”

Commendation – Excellence in  Research and Innovation: Golden Beach and Bellara Avenue Storm Watered Street Tree Trial by Sunshine Coast Council & Design Flow Consulting

“This project demonstrates Council’s willingness to lead a research project which seeks to resolve many of the challenges with these types of assets and therefore has relevance to the stormwater industry nationally. Innovative designs which meet triple bottom line objectives are a key feature of the project while the use of control trees establishes a platform for challenging business as usual approaches.”

Winner of Excellence in Research and Innovation: Stormwater treatment systems within North Queensland agricultural catchments by Terrain NRM on behalf of the Wet Tropics Consortium, AWC, and Department of Environment and Science.

“The project has identified a need within an area close to the heart of Australians and critical for that of Australian tourism. The project has taken steps to move forward with a study and information that has not been previously assessed in order to build a framework that has a chance of being adopted.”

“This practical study into the performance and efficacy of various stormwater systems provides critical information that the industry needs to better understand the mechanics of stormwater treatments. The results of the study will provide reliable data which will benefit the design and construction of effective stormwater treatment systems. The project is located in the critical catchments draining to the Great Barrier Reef, an endangered natural ecosystem that was at the centre of developing stormwater quality management for the state in the first place. The project is providing a tangible benefit to this critical catchment and the stormwater industry in Queensland.”

Winner of Excellence in Policy or Education: Zero Litter to Ocean by Ocean Protect & Stormwater NSW

“This project made a significant contribution to water quality policy in Australia. Stormwater NSW and Ocean Protect have led the development of a tangible policy that has already been adopted by some local governments in Queensland. This policy provides tangible targets and describes a pathway for its implementation. It is fit-for-purpose and if implemented would provide substantial benefits to communities, ecologies, economies and Australia’s amenity.”

“It is a shining example of the benefits of collaborative research and policy development for environmental benefit”

Thank you to everyone who came along to support the awardees and to celebrate the great stormwater projects of last year!