A sneak peek of what's on offer for the Stormwater Qld WSUD event up in Toowoomba

1. Up the Range
Goingto be delibratelyvauge onthe detail of thisandnotshare much at all as thiswill formpartof a
future stormwaterQldevent: http://stormwaterqueensland.asn.au/event/incorporating-water-
sensitive-ideas-city-toowoomba/?instance_id=450
I had the pleasure lastweekof beinghostedbyToowoombaRegional CouncilwithAdamGould,
Josie RafertyandIan Ryan. I have metAdam before andfrequentlycollaborate withTRCona variety
of issuesaffectinglocal government,particularyToowoomba’sesperience withEmergency and
FloodplainManagement.
But todaywas different,we didabitof a tour aroundsome primarilywaterquality sites. Ihave
showedasnippetof whatwe saw,I was impressedbysome of the stories(goodandbad) of the
creeksinthe area. I was evenmore impressedwithTRC’sofficersraw honesty(muchthe same as
mine) sowe got onsweet!! Adaminparticularopenedupabouthischallenges, learnedlessons,
whathis passionsare andwhere he has done goodworkas well. Refreshingtosaythe least.
I have purposely leftsome detailsandphotosof TRC’sEast Creekwhichisfascinatingsome of the
drasticchangesin character overitslengthandchangesoverhistoryandwhere itis heading. If you
rememberthe devastingfloodsinToowoomba,EastCreekwas at the centre of the destruction. I
have alsoleftoutsome of the recentmajorprojectsTRC have constructedthathave some great
outcomes. East Creekandthese proejctswill feature inStormwaterQld’sevent.
Checkingoutsome of the classicgullyerosionissuesinthe Condamine catchmentarea. Iam
fascinatedbythe Condamine/MurrayDarlingcatchmentaswell asthe inland Australiacatchments
of Lake Eyre andtheirupstreaminlandfloodplains. Soseeingthe topcatchmentof one of these
systemswaspersonallyveryrewardingforme. Adam isalsoa hobbyfarmerandknowshisstuff,so
hisknowledge of soilsandvegetationisquite impressiveandaddsanotherelementtotalkingabout
stormwaterissues.

2. Thissite wasa goodone too. Thiswas a retrofitbyCouncil of an existingdam. It’s somewhatsimple
design(simple isgoodsometimes),some would alsosaynotveryinspirational. Butit’seffective,
healthyandservingitspurpose. There’ssome reallyeffective thingsgoingonat thissite thatyou
won’t(deliberately) be able topickupfrom thisphoto that I personally gotsome learningsfrom…..


3. My mostenjoyable aspectasa practionerinstormwaterwaschattingto Adamabout hischallenges
inurban developmentandimplementingoutcomes,similartothe rest of us justina different
postcode. Havinga laughabout attemptsmade and sharingandlearningfromthemwastruly
refreshingandeasytorelate to. Thissite is one of those earlyeffortsinstormwatermanagement
whichisa goodlearning!!
If you can’t relate to lessonslearned youhave made withothers,well thenyouare probably
somebodynotworthtalkingto!!

4. Thiswas anotherhighlight. Anotherangle tostormwatertreatmentfromanurban development.
Don’tneedto putwordsto why thisisa good outcome as seeingthose kidsplayingaroundinthe
creek afterschool catchingyabbiesorsome othercritterssays enough.

5. Some classics. One of the firstattemptsinToowoombaCityI have beentold. A grass swale with
one way crossfall roads,Iactuallyspotteditonthe way to anothersite andI HAD to pull over!!Ilove
thisstuff. Somewhatineffective overall Iguessyoucouldsaybutheyit’sa hell of a lotbetterthan
watergoingstraightto the pitsand downthe pipe….A little bitof imperviousdisconnectionanyone?
There’sevenapermeable pavingcarpark up the top there!!! AtleastI thinkit isfromwhat I saw.

6. Downstreamfromthe grassedswale wasanotherearlyattemptatsome formof bioretentionbasin
(Ithink). I couldn’tquite gettothe bottomof design (lookingdowngullypits,chasingpipesand
tryingto findoutlets!!) butIwouldimagineitusedtohave plants(now replacedwithrock) and I’m
toldthere issome formof storage tank underneath………………….frequentflowcontrol perhaps
anyone? Againnotthe bestexample rightnow,butthe conceptisthere,it’sstill doingsomething
and witha little more tinkeringyoucouldhave a really greatoutcome!!!

7. AdamG putsome effortinachievingthisoutcome.It’snotatraditional one youwill see much,butit
iseffective. It’sbig@ 200,000 plantsand it reflects some of mythinkinginwhere floodingconcepts
needtoalignwithwaterqualityinthe biggerpicture. Thisisa scaleddownversionof that……….not
much more to say onthisone…..oris there?

8. Thisfunnilyenoughimpressedme the mostoutof all the siteswe visited. Itwasan accident. I only
caught thisout of the corner of my eye lookingatanotherproject.
Nobodyknewthiswasreallyhere andreallywhatitwas. Maintenance haventtoucheditin10
years. Its managedto evolve intoit’sownlittle systemandisa simple,unintentionedyethighly
effectiveshowcase of watersensitive urbandesign……………………..ahint(Brisbane CityCouncil
rebadgedthe conceptintosomethingwithafancyname recently butimnotgoingto tell you
anymore thanthat……………..youwill have tocome to the event!!!
No more detailsprovidedhere……………Ihope mydeceptionisworkingintweakingyourinterestto
attendthe event!! http://stormwaterqueensland.asn.au/event/incorporating-water-sensitive-ideas-
city-toowoomba/?instance_id=450