Storm drain issues

[kaska]

Hi all,

I was wondering if this topic has already been discussed before.

As the city continues to grow I have observed that the rain water draining to the ocean after every rain is more and more polluted and contaminated. This is direct effect of an increase in population, and as population is expected to keep increasing, sooner or later Adelaide will need to do something about it to keep its city beaches nice and clean.

The problem with the Storm drainage system as it exists today is that all the water that falls simply ends up in the shallow part of the beach. That water is not treated (it could also be harvested for agriculture and industry), nor filtered, it is simply dropped into the beach. With that water comes a lot of pollution, for example dogs droppings and urine that are washed out by the rain, transportation smog, rubbish, etc.

If a major rework of the system is not possible, at least the councils should start looking at extending the pipes to make sure that the discharge happens 500 or 600 meters from the shore, and so the water can be kept cleaner all year round.

What are your thoughts? Any current proposals exist? Any examples of good water management in Australia that we could look at?

[Nort]

It's an ongoing issue, but a bunch of councils along the Torrens are involved in plans to increase vegetation and wetlands to help clean the outflows. Only a small part of what is required though.

[PD2/20]

For a number of years now there have been stormwater net traps at various locations on the Torrens where side creeks or major drains feed into the river.

Recently I was at the bridge in Wingfield/Dry Creek on the Gawler Greenway over the Kilburn open channel drain which carries the stormwater from KIlburn and Blair Atholl and was surprised at the rubbish that had accumulated including a surprising number of tennis and other balls. It was a contrast with the rubbish free state of the Dry Creek flowing through Mawson Lakes.

[dbl96]

Piping our stormwater out to sea is such a massive waste. When you consider the scale of the area of impermeable surfaces across Adelaide and our annual rainfall, this surely amounts to an enormous quantity of water. Imagine how much agricultural land could be irrigated and used more intensively and productively if we could collect this water, treat it and then reuse it as we already do for sewerage.

[Ho Really]

Piping our stormwater out to sea is such a massive waste...

Check out the last posts under this old topic: official complaining about the weather thread, and my idea of undergrond reservoirs in the South Parklands. I also had an idea of underground reservoirs at the Adelaide Airport fed by Keswick Creek or by a diversion so that the Keswick Creek corridor could be used for a light rail City-Airport.

Cheers