StormCast December 2021

Stormwater NSW have reimagined their state conference and the inaugural franc.sydney conference will be held at on the 29th and 30th March, 2022 at Dockside Darling Harbour, NSW.

With the support of Stormwater NSW’s conference partners:

• The Sydney Institute of Marine Science
• Parramatta River Catchment Group
• Cooks River Alliance
• George’s Riverkeeper
• UNSW Water Research Centre
• Water Sensitive Cities Australia
• Stormwater Queensland
• Stormwater Victoria; and
• CSIRO.

This conference aims to join stakeholders in the urban water management sector across multiple disciplines to become more future-focused, resilient, adaptive and connected.

Keynote Speakers at franc.sydney are:

• Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons, Resilience NSW
• Tony Weber, Alluvium
• Gary Jubelin, former NSW Police Detective Chief Inspector
• Professor Kenneth Leung, City University of Hong Kong
• Professor Thomas Astell-Burt, University of Wollongong
• Distinguished Professor Lesley Hughes, Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists

Invited speakers and panelists include:

• Chris Quin, Resilient Projects
• Dr. Katherine Dafforn, Macquarie University
• Professor Holger Maier, The University of Adelaide
• Associate Professor Gary Sheridan, The University of Melbourne
• Dr. Jocelyn Dela-Cruz, NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
• Associate Professor Will Glamore, Water Research Laboratory, UNSW
• Dr. Ana Bugnot, The University of Sydney
• Keysha Milenkovic, Blacktown City Council
• Prue Tucker, Midcoast Council
• Dr. Britta Denise Hardesty, CSIRO
• Dr. Mark Thyer, The University of Adelaide

To register to attend, visit www.franc.sydney

The Stormwater Queensland Committee are commencing preparations for the 2022 State Conference, to be held in the late 2022, and will be presenting our annual awards at the conference dinner.

We are seeking nominations from members who would like to be involved through:

• Identifying and liaising with keynote speakers
• Promoting the event and encouraging submissions (for both the conference and awards)
• Reviewing conference papers / award submissions
• Coordinating social events

Please reach out to Katie Fletcher (SQ President) as soon as possible to submit your interest – president@stormwaterqueensland.asn.au.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2021 NSW Awards for Excellence.

• Young Professional of the Year 2021:  Oscar Bentham
• Excellence in Policy or Education: Blacktown’s Community Stormwater Education Program by Blacktown City Council
• Excellence in Stormwater Design:  Gannons Park Water Quality Improvement and Stormwater Harvesting Scheme by Georges River Council, NSW Government, Australian Government, Alluvium & Civil Constructions
• Excellence in in Strategic or Master Planning:  Integrating Recycled Water and Stormwater in the Mamre Road Precinct: A Template for Australia’s Largest Water Sensitive City by Sydney Water
• Excellence in Infrastructure:  Manly – Safe and Beautiful once again by Northern Beaches Council & Optimal Stormwater
• Excellence in Research & Innovation:  BOM the Builder: A Free Online Meteorological Template Generator by Cleanstormwater
• Excellence in Asset Management:  Johnstons Creek Naturalisation by Sydney Water, Diona & Thompson Berrill Landscape Design

Further information about these projects is available here.

A joint submission was provided by the Cooks River Alliance (CRA), George’s Riverkeeper (GRK), the Parramatta River Catchment Group (PRCG) and the Sydney Coastal Council’s Group (SCCG), about the Draft State Environmental Planning Policy (Water Catchments) (Catchment SEPP). Together the submission represented 23 of the 30 local Councils in Sydney. Submission on Draft Catchment SEPP 2021

A new study by University of Maryland researchers, helps clarify the role of urban trees in mitigating stormwater flows. The study found that even isolated trees lining a street, or planted in a park, may have a significant effect.  The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, found that individually planted trees capture, store and release stormwater back into the atmosphere—a process called ‘transpiration’—at a rate three times that of trees in a forest.  For further information, click here.

The Cooks River Litter Prevention Strategy has a goal of halving the amount of litter entering the Cooks River by 2025. The strategy was recently finalised and has been endorsed by all four Cooks River Alliance member councils – Inner West, Canterbury Bankstown, Bayside and Strathfield. Read the finalised strategy

Researchers at UNSW are conducting a project about how waters are known, placed and heard across the surface and subsurface waterscapes of eastern Sydney.

The research study is looking to interview people with an interest in water, from the urban design, planning, landscape architecture,
urban geography, and water engineering, management, and governance fields.

The research aims to tackle issues of water health, flooding, and urban environmental justice.

Please contact Taylor Coyne, PhD Candidate, taylor.coyne@unsw.edu.au  to register your interest in taking part in the research or download the information sheet.

Queensland’s ban on single-use plastic straws, stirrers, plates, bowls with lids and cutlery, and expanded polystyrene takeaway food containers and cups started on 1 September 2021. The Queensland Government would like to know what Queenslanders think about expanding the ban to include other single-use plastic items, such as takeaway coffee cups and lids, drinking cups, magazine wrapping, fruit and vegetable bags and fruit and expanded polystyrene fruit and meat trays.

The survey closes 28 January 2022.