Events

On behalf of Stormwater Queensland and the International Erosion Control Association Australasia, we are pleased to announce that registration is now available for the ‘Local Governments Role in Managing Erosion and Sediment Control’ Seminar to be held on Thursday, 14th April, 2016 from 1.30 pm to 5.00 pm at Riverlife Brisbane.

Seminar Focus

The implementation and management of erosion and sediment controls on Queensland urban development construction sites has been historically poor with studies undertaken by Healthy Waterways indicating up to 95% of sites are not compliant. Local governments can play a vital role in the management of erosion and sediment control from the development application process through to regulation on the ground. Although there is improvement by some local governments, in general the approach is very ‘hands off’ resulting in poor site management and water quality outcomes.

In contrast many Council’s in New Zealand including Auckland Regional Council adopt a very different ‘hands on’ approach with no cost to Council. This forum will include a panel session, discussion and a presentation from Michael Parsonson from Southern Skies Environmental who has been involved with erosion and sediment control policy in Auckland. The discussions will provide insight into alternative strategies that could be adopted by local governments to provide a greater level of protection to waterways.

Registrations for this Seminar is now closed. 

Seminar Panelists

Stormwater Queensland in conjunction with Stormwater Australia are hosting an update session on the New National Protocol for the Evaluation of Stormwater Quality Improvement Devices will be held at The Greek Club from 1.30 pm to 3.00 pm on Tuesday, 21st June.

Background

There are statewide provisions for stormwater quality management in the State Planning Policy, and many local governments also have stormwater quality provisions within their planning scheme.

Over the past several years there has been concern over the lack of a clear framework to verify the performance claims for proprietary stormwater products, also known as stormwater quality improvement devices (SQID).  This has become a point of tension in the development assessment process.

Over the past two years Stormwater Australia has been developing a Stormwater Quality Improvement Devices Evaluation Protocol (SQIDEP).  The protocol developed this far has a particular focus on providing guidance on field testing requirements, collection, analysis and presentation of data, and ensuring the process is both technically competent and sufficiently independent to support confidence in the outcomes.

The draft SQIDEP can be downloaded by clicking the link below or alternatively please cut and past the following link into your web browser:

Stormwater Queensland in conjunction with Stormwater Australia will be hosting a public event  providing an update on the SQID Protocol,   This event will comprise of a general information session and open to a broad cross section of stakeholders and interest groups including manufacturers and vendors of products. Local government officers, consultants and other relevant stakeholders are also invited to attend in order to understand the basics of the protocol.  This event will be held from 1.30 pm until 3.00 pm on the afternoon of Tuesday, 21st June, 2016.

Cost:  

Free Registration is provided to members of Stormwater Queensland Members.  Registration for non members is $65 per person.

To register your place for the SQID Update Session, click on the button below, which will take you to the online registration form.

Online registration will close on Friday, 17th June

Should you have any questions regarding registration, please email registration@gemspl.com.au.

If you would like to know more about the SQID Update Session, please contact Stormwater Queensland on 1300 721 220.

Stormwater Queensland are pleased to present the 2016 Awards for Excellence Presentation Luncheon.

The award categories for the 2016 Awards for Excellence are:

• Excellence in Strategic or Master Planning
• Excellence in Infrastructure
• Excellence in Asset Management
• Excellence in Research and Innovation
• Excellence in Policy or Education
• Excellence in Integrated Stormwater Design

If you would like to register for this event, please contact Lilly Barker on +61 2 9744 5252 or via email lbarker@gemspl.com.au.

National Awards for Excellence

Under the Awards for Excellence protocol adopted by Stormwater Australia, only the recipients of the State Awards for Excellence will be eligible for the National Excellence Awards. Preceding two years of State award winners (2015 and 2016) will be eligible for the National Awards in 2016. Therefore, entry of a project into a State Excellence Awards is a minimum prerequisite for participation in the National Awards.

The National Awards is held every two years. The next National Awards will be announced at the Stormwater National 2016 Conference in Brisbane, Queensland on Wednesday, 31st August, 2016.

Should you have any questions about the 2016 Stormwater Queensland Awards for Excellence, please contact Event Coordinator, Lilly Barker on +61 2 9744 5252 or via email to lbarker@gemspl.com.au.

The Report Card provides an annual assessment of the pressures facing our waterways, their current environmental condition (A-F grade), and the level of social and economic benefit the waterways provide to local communities (1-5 star rating).

As their organisation transitions into the new entity Healthy Waterways and Catchments, they have leveraged the combined skills and resources of Healthy Waterways and SEQ Catchments to further build upon their holistic monitoring and reporting approach. This includes working with the Council of Mayors to assess the risks to environmental values in each sub catchment. A component of this assessment will be released through the 2016 Report Card, identifying the sub catchments in most need of action to reduce sediment pollution.

To release the results, four launch events will be held simultaneously across South East Queensland.

Central Launch 

Host: Healthy Waterways and Catchments
Venue: Riverlife Centre – Naval Stores, Lower River Terrace, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane

Northern Launch

Host: Unitywater
Venue: Mooloolaba Yacht Club, 33-45 Parkyn Parade, Mooloolaba QLD 4557

Western Launch

Host: Somerset Regional Council
Venue: Kilcoy Information Centre, 41 Hope St, next to Yowie Park, Kilcoy, QLD 4515

Southern Launch

Host: Scenic Rim Regional Council
Venue: Tamborine Rainforest Skywalk, 333 Geissmann Dr, Mt Tamborine QLD 4272

For more information and/or to register your attendance, head over to http://healthywaterways.org/eventscalendar .  You don’t want to miss this one!

Sponsored by;

Time: 8.30am for a 9.00am start and finishing with lunch from 12.30pm

The commencement of the new Planning Act in mid-2017 has been a driver for the Department of Infrastructure, Local Government & Planning (DILGP) to review how State interests are expressed in the planning system. In November 2016, DILGP released consultation drafts of theState Planning Policy (SPP), the State Development Assessment Provisions and the Planning Regulation. These drafts can be downloaded from this website. The draft SPP includes some important changes to the State interest – water quality. 

The changes associated with the policy are likely to have some noteworthy implications for urban development, communities and the environment.

Stormwater Queensland is hosting a forum to assist in understanding how the Draft SPP proposes to change regulatory requirements for stormwater quality management.

The event is recommended for those involved in urban stormwater planning, policy or development. Submissions on the draft SPP close 10 February 2017 so the Forum is also recommended for any person or organisation considering making a submission on the water quality aspects of the policy.

An expert panel from a broad cross section of the industry has been convened for this event to provide different perspectives on the policy. The panel will include a range of speakers including:

Sponsored by;

Time: 8.30am for a 9.00am start (concluding with lunch from 12.30pm)

As part of any development approval, local governments request developers to meet stringent stormwater quality requirements before allowing stormwater to discharge to local receiving waterways or adjoining public stormwater infrastructure. For over a decade now, these requirements have been met by use of various types of proprietary and non-proprietary stormwater treatment devices or systems, including Gross Pollutant Traps, Oil and Silt Arresters, Sediment Fore-Bays, Trash Racks, Litter Baskets, Sediment Ponds, Swales and Bio-Retention Systems, etc. All of these systems need maintenance in order to consistently meet the quality requirements of their design. When reflecting on our efforts in stormwater quality improvement over the last decade, a number of important questions arise, including:

• Are these systems, both public and privately owned, being maintained according to manufacturer specifications and/or design guidelines?
• Who is responsible for maintaining these systems? How is local government responsible for publicly owned assets? What obligations do private asset owners have to maintain these assets?
• What regulatory or incentive frameworks are currently in place to ensure these assets are maintained? What regulatory or incentive frameworks could be considered in the future?
• How does local government keep a track of these assets? Do they know where they are located? How much data or information do they have?
• How do they use this data or information? How do they store it? Who is responsible for it?
• To what extent are systems owned by private entities, other than local governments, being maintained?

Stormwater Queensland is hosting a forum to assist in understanding the management situation for public and privately owned systems and to find answers to the above. The event is recommended for those involved in urban stormwater planning, policy or development, asset management and maintenance. An expert panel from a broad cross section of the industry is being convened for this event to provide different perspectives on this topic.

An expert panel from a broad cross section of the industry has been convened for this event to provide different perspectives on this topic including;

• Claire McAsh – Senior Environmental Engineer, City of Gold Coast
• Russell Cadman – WSUD Compliance Officer, Blacktown City Council, NSW
• Aaron Marmara – Operations Supervisor, Cleanaway
• Mark Bibby – General Manager, Regen Australia
• Jack Mullaly – Crazed Founder, Ideanthro

There are some fantastic examples from the UK and other parts of the world that use a naturalistic approach to floodplain management. The question is, however, can these types of techniques be practically applied in SEQ? Given that the local climate and other components are vastly different to these areas, will these approaches be feasible and if so to what degree and how would they be best used?

Recent discussions within some organisations have pinned hopes on naturalistic floodplain management as “the answer” to several common issues, which makes it well worth considering. However, there are unresolved issues regarding the importance of revegetation weighed against the potential for increased flood levels upstream (and potential decreased flood levels downstream) also the quantification measurement and modelling of such approaches, climate, storage, practicality as well as the cost of implementation.

Key items that will be discussed include:

• Applying Natural Floodplain Management Techniques in Queensland. What is the likelihood for success?
• Lessons learned from the UK on Natural Floodplain Management. Application of natural techniques should as floodplain reengagement, revegetation, infiltration and temporary storage through leaky weirs etc.
• Discussion surrounding the future Bremer River Catchment Study and the opportunities for integrated water approaches
• Application of revegetation etc in Bremer/Lockyer systems and possible implications for the regional area.
• The power of using flood mitigation as a mechanism to get other benefits (water quality, bank stabilisation, more trees in the ground)
• Hurdles such as property resumptions, increasing flooding upstream whilst benefiting downstream property, lack of legislation power to enable greater community good and working with landowners on useable land.
• Previous case studies and a quick look at what Ipswich is looking at for a natural floodplain management pilot project

Stormwater Queensland is hosting a lunchtime presentation to facilitate a transfer of ideas and assist in understanding a natural floodplain management approach.

Phil Smith (Waterways Health Officer) and Adam Berry (Floodplain Management Engineer) from Ipswich City Council will be co-presenting and will provide time at the end for discussion/questions and answers.