Metro Tunnel. Green­blue Infrastructure for Major Projects via a Partnership Approach
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Sheridan Blunt , Louise Barrett , Celeste Morgan , Meg Caffin
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Loci Environment & Place Inc, Melbourne Metro Rail Authority, E2Designlab, Urban Forest
Consulting
Planning is well underway for Melbourne’s most exciting new major infrastructure project in decades
– the Melbourne Metro Rail Tunnel. A world leading approach to driving opportunities for green­blue
infrastructure is a key element in the planning phase via the Metro Tunnel ‘Living Infrastructure Plan’.
To plan Metro Tunnel’s green­blue infrastructure, a ground­breaking partnership agreement was
established between Melbourne Metro Rail Authority and the newly formed not­for­profit advisory
group Loci Environment & Place Inc.
It was through this innovative partnership that Metro Tunnel has been able to receive progressive
multidisciplinary urban sustainability solutions from Loci, and Loci has ensured that the new
knowledge generated by this project will be shared for the benefit of other urban practitioners via its
capacity building program. To deliver these services, Loci has developed an innovative, on­demand
team of specialists through the establishment of The Urban Well ­ a pool of specialists that share
Loci’s goals and vision for more sustainable cities. This approach allows Loci to evolve project teams
as the needs of their projects change.
The green­blue infrastructure initiatives that have been developed for the $10.9bn Metro Tunnel
project include:
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integration of targets and requirements to achieve improvements in canopy cover,
stormwater management and urban ecology as part of the design briefs for the project;
development of guidance for the design, specification and construction of high performance
green­blue infrastructure, including the integration of large soil volumes and passive
irrigation to achieve maximum canopy cover while also achieving best practice stormwater
management targets; and
development of opportunities for ongoing research in living infrastructure, linking delivery
bodies with researchers to trial new techniques and capture lessons.
As planning for the Metro Tunnel progresses and moves into delivery, the Living Infrastructure Plan
will provide the foundation for positive green­blue infrastructure outcomes. The Plan will drive
opportunities to work with stakeholders and the construction industry to deliver broader
sustainability benefits for Melbourne.
The Balcombe Estuary Reserves Group, Community Driven Action
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Tom Le Cerf and Jessica Wingad , Water Technology, Mornington Peninsula Shire Council
The Balcombe Estuary Reserves Group (BERG) is a friends' group formed to preserve and restore the
Balcombe Creek Estuary and surrounding reserves. The Sediment Action Group is a subgroup of BERG
that formed after considerable build­up of sediment at the estuary outlet. It consists of a range of
different members ranging from software engineers to teachers.
The sediment action committee in partnership with the Mornington Shire Council and Melbourne
Water have commissioned a range of studies to try to identify the major contributors to sediment
loads from within the catchment. This ranges from music modelling, community led water quality
sampling and sediment sampling, consultant water quality sampling, sediment coring and radio
carbon dating, and desktop reviews.
From these studies, it has become clear that the sedimentation of the estuary is a complex problem.
Technically it is difficult to know with any certainty the precise contributing factors due to the various
completed studies having different outcomes and struggling to draw definitive answers. This
uncertainty is largely due to the large contributing catchment areas.
The solution to identified issues is also complex as there are multiple contributing factors and
departments/authorities responsible for the management of the various assets.
At the same time, the Sediment Action Group contains a diverse range of members all having high
expectations and expecting clear actions to be taken in short time frames. These high expectations
lead to frustration in perceived lack of clear simple solutions from previous studies.
As the search for clear actions was difficult, the Sediment Action Committee began looking for its own
solutions. Following catchment walkovers and communication with the various departments of the
Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, it became clear that future proposed works such as sealing roads
would result in a significant reduction in sediment loads in some catchments.
Areas with no future planned works were clearly determined as the best place for deploying available
resources and undertaking immediate action. Collaboration across departments at the MPSC and
across organisations including the MPSC, BERG and MW have been vital in developing these
outcomes and delivering direct action on sedimentation reduction within the Estuary.
The New Role for Councils - Driving an Integrated Green-blue Approach
Celeste Morgan, E2Designlab
Under the new water plan, Water for Victoria, integrated water management is a process to be driven
and delivered through local partnerships. Bringing together water utilities, catchment managers and
councils, there is a new emerging role for councils to play in water planning that goes beyond
stormwater management, to driving a holistic vision for liveability, urban greening and community
health.
Councils are well­placed to advocate for and deliver integrated water management initiatives that will
integrate well with urban planning, community needs and broader city renewal focusses. The
challenge is to harness that knowledge across council departments and effectively feed into
integrated water management plans for a city ­ importantly broadening the focus beyond water
supply and waterway management which tend to be the focus of other stakeholders at the table.
This paper will draw on several examples and recently released resources to highlight engagement
techniques and recommended methodologies to establish an evidence base for IWM opportunities
that will support liveability, greening and community well­being outcomes.
A key resource that will be drawn on in the presentation is the soon to be released DELWP guidance
‘Planning a Green­Blue City' which shared case studies from various regional and metropolitan
councils that have built a case for shared investment in green­blue infrastructure in streets, open
spaces and developments. Emerging examples for IWM planning in Ballarat, integrated blue­green
infrastructure in streetscapes, and city­wide reviews of alternative sources for open space irrigation
will be shared in the presentation.
Greening the Pipeline - A Case Study of Working Together to Enhance Life & Liveability
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David Howard , Nino Polon , Emma Pryse , Kim Carland and Darren Coughlan
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GHD, Melbourne, Australia, Melbourne Water, Melbourne, Australia, City West Water, Melbourne,
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Australia, Wyndham City Council, Melbourne, Australia
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The Greening the Pipeline initiative aims to transform 27km of the decommissioned heritage listed
Main Outfall Sewer (MOS) reserve, along Federation Trail, into a parkland. The vision is to create a
vibrant space that will connect communities, and provide a unique area to meet, play and relax.
The planning and delivery of the vision for this project is being led by a partnership between
Melbourne Water, Wyndham City Council, City West Water and VicRoads. The project is supported by
the Greening the West initiative, a 23­organisation strong partnership of councils, government
agencies, and industry and community groups committed to greening Melbourne's west.
Initial community engagement in 2013 provided feedback which led to the initiative being divided
into nine zones along the 27km of Main Outfall Sewer reserve, focussing on the needs of the local
community within each area.
Melbourne Water received funding from DELWP to deliver a pilot 100m length of parkland in Williams
Landing to showcase the potential for the broader Greening the Pipeline initiative. The DELWP
funding conditions focus on demonstrating integrated water management solutions through
stormwater collection and reuse for irrigation of a green community park.
GHD developed a detailed design for the pilot, which is based on stakeholder feedback in 2013 and
community consultation in April 2016. The design explores innovative solutions for enhancing this
discrete section of the MOS to achieve the following outcomes:
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Demonstrates a repeatable design solution to stakeholders that is cost effective, safe and
practical to operate and maintain through the application of smart design features;
Addresses high heat vulnerability through creation of shade and cooling (inclusive of tree pit
design and irrigation requirements) based on Greening the West principles;
Enhances community well­being though the creation of a safe activation space with linkages
to the federation trail and neighbouring communities. The creation of the public space
should be based on the Greening the West principles, Wyndham 2040 vision, bike trail
requirements, neighbouring community requirements, and historic importance of the MOS;
and
Showcases how stormwater can be considered part of an integrated water management
solution that contributes to liveability.
Construction of the pilot parkland is expected to be completed in April 2017.
Collaboration to Deliver Integrated Water Servicing Solutions: A Case Study for Sunshine NEC
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Aleks Svazas , Leon Harvey , Ray Martin , Nigel Corby , Muthu Muthukaruppan
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City West Water, Footscray, Victoria, Australia, Melbourne Water, Docklands, Victoria, Australia,
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Brimbank City Council, Sunshine, Victoria, Australia
Sunshine National Employment Cluster (NEC), located 13 km west of Melbourne CBD, nested across
Maribyrnong River and Jones, Stony and Kororoit creeks, is an area identified by the Victorian
Government for major redevelopment over the next 30 years. It covers 2,200 hectares, extending
from Sunshine to St Albans town centres. By 2051 the area is expected to include an additional 22,000
dwellings and 28,000 jobs.
Providing sustainable water services (i.e. water supply, sewerage, drainage and urban landscapes) for
this redevelopment in line with Victorian Government's preferred Integrated Water Management
(IWM) approach requires strong collaboration among the organisations responsible for delivering
different aspects of urban water services to Sunshine NEC. These organisations include City West
Water (CWW) for retail water supply and sewerage services, Melbourne Water (MW) for floodplain
management, waterway health and bulk water and sewerage services, and Brimbank City Council
(BCC) for drainage and urban landscape services. These parties have agreed to work together to
explore integrated water servicing solutions to provide the required services at best value to the
community.
This paper describes the collaborative process followed by CWW, MW and BCC to identify the
integrated water servicing solutions for Sunshine NEC in line with the IWM approach. The process
involved formation of a working group at mid­management/technical level with support from upper
management, initiating technical work under the supervision of this working group to identify water
servicing options that achieve agreed outcomes, and working together to identify beneficiaries and
explore approaches for allocating benefits and costs. The case study demonstrates the importance of
cross­sector collaboration in delivering integrated water services.
Towards Predicting Future Imperviousness: How the Melbourne Urbanisation Mapping (MUM)
Project took on this Challenge
Kristina Sestokas, Melbourne Water
Urban sprawl and development typically results in additional hard surface areas and increased overall
imperviousness. Estimation of future imperviousness is vital for flood management activities, as well
as for any other planning activities interested in where additional stormwater runoff is likely to occur.
However, predicting how population and dwelling forecasts might change imperviousness across
different suburbs and municipalities is a courageous task.
We have assembled past development knowledge to help predict the future, to identify where and
how future development and therefore imperviousness changes could occur. Firstly, a detailed Land
Use/Land Cover (LULC) data was assembled and updated to form a reliable base from which to
estimate Fraction Impervious (FI) for each parcel within Melbourne Water's management region.
Secondly, parcel size versus FI trends were then determined for different Planning Scheme zones
across the region for each municipality. Finally, the project used the best available population and
urban development data, and applied logical and transparent methodologies and decision­making
processes to analyse past development trends to inform the future forecasting.
Through the project we have developed a series of spatial layers that provide a good indication of
how Greater Melbourne imperviousness will change over time with development trends.
The information primarily informs an associated distributed storages project, understanding where to
prioritise flood management efforts linked to urban renewal, but also provides an excellent resource
to inform decision­making across the region generally.
Stony Creek Naturalisation Project
Aleks Svazas and Simon Wilkinson
City West Water, Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
The Stony Creek Naturalisation Project is a collaboration between Brimbank City Council (BCC), City
West Water (CWW), Melbourne Water (MW), Green Fleet (GF), Places Victoria (PV) and Department
of Environment Water Land Population (DEWLP), the Consortium. The project includes removal of 1.3
km of concrete culvert and returning the alignment to a naturalised waterway creating a community
cool zone. Stony Creek is located within the suburb of Sunshine, Melbourne and the local government
area (LGA) of Brimbank. The project is in detailed design phase with construction to commence in
mid­2017.
Stony Creek is a flagship project from the Greening the West, a collaborative strategy aiming to
increase the health of the community through urban greening. The Stony Creek project idea
precipitated when CWW initiated the sale of its old premises which adjoined the concrete drain.
Flood mitigation and creek naturalisation were identified as key deliverables of the project. To
address the complex issues of naturalising the creek MW, CWW and BCC collaborated with private
enterprise, GF, to secure sufficient funding. GF will invest in carbon offsetting via planting and
maintaining terrestrial and riparian flora. GF's work has provided crucial input with substantial
investment from Department of Environment.
Converting the concrete drain to a natural waterway provides an opportunity to observe how
change's in physical environment may affect public health and micro climate. The BCC Local
Government Area scores poorly on Socio Economic Indices For Areas (SEIFA) and other related indices
with lifestyle diseases and poor health statistics as issues. The vision includes creating green open
space, encouraging people to improve personal health. Similarly, creating green open space increases
water retention in the built environment which has the potential to reduce the heat island affect. The
Consortium has collaborated with Victoria University, Monash University and Clean Air and
Landscapes Hub to investigate health and climate impacts, quantifying financial benefits for future
projects.
To be successful Stony Creek naturalisation has required collaboration from different industries to
secure funding. The project includes public health and climate research to monitor how improvement
in green open spaces positively improves health and micro climate outcomes.
Strategic Prioritisation of WSUD Opportunities
Simon Roberts and Dale Browne, E2Designlab
Most Councils across Melbourne have integrated water management strategies with a vision and
objectives for water management. This strategic approach provides purpose and direction and
numerous water sensitive urban design (WSUD) programs and projects have been implemented as a
result. A key objective is to work towards best practice stormwater treatment for existing areas.
However to date the selection of projects has tended to be ad­hoc and focussed on opportunistic
rather than strategic implementation of WSUD. As a result, there is potential for significant strategic
opportunities to be missed while funds may be spent on projects that deliver limited gains towards
stated objectives to reduce stormwater pollutants. As a result, many Council's have made limited
progress in reducing stormwater pollutants from existing areas.
It is recognised a more strategic approach is needed. The Maribyrnong­Kororoit WSUD Scoping Study
was a partnership project between the Cities of Hume, Brimbank and Hobsons Bay. It focussed
primarily on the Maribyrnong River and Kororoit catchments within the municipalities. The study
identified the best value sub­catchments for investment in WSUD assets for existing urban areas
based on values and risks.
WSUD opportunities within these were identified and assessed through an iterative screening and
assessment process with a growing level of detail. Economic, quantifiable and intangible costs and
benefits were assessed in terms of reduced pollutant loads and improved waterway health, cost
effectiveness, alternate water supplies and urban greening using a robust assessment framework
developed through consultation with the stakeholders.
The best opportunities (16 in total) were further developed as concept designs to confirm viability
and quantify expected outcomes. Collectively, the concept design projects can make significant
progress towards stormwater management objectives while delivering a range of benefits for
Councils and Melbourne Water.
Catchment masterplans illustrate what catchment areas are treated, can be treated with assessed
sites or are suitable for small scale distributed WSUD.
The project provides a clear focus and strategic implementation plan for Councils with a ready list of
priority projects. The outcomes are enabling Councils to confidently pursue funding and deliver WSUD
projects with strategically worthwhile outcomes.
Collaboration to Integrate WSUD into Highly Urban Areas
Vaughn Grey and Kathryn Skidmore, Moreland City Council
The Moreland municipality is a highly urbanised area with public open space in high demand and with
many competing uses. Fitting water sensitive urban design (WSUD) into these constrained public
spaces needs to balance with direct competition of other site priorities and community interests, and
requires collaboration with many other stakeholders and integration within other non­WSUD projects
in order for them to be successfully implemented. Through taking a collaborative and integrating
approach Moreland City Council has recently delivered a number of highly successful projects
achieving not only stormwater management objectives but also activation of public space, improved
amenity, increased biodiversity and both organised and passive community recreation.
This presentation will focus upon four recently completed showcase WSUD projects in the Moreland
municipality.
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Integration of a stormwater harvesting around organised sport, passive recreation, school
use and a high urban heat island effect
Re­establishing a small segment of urban stream to provide ecological and natural resource
management improvements
Inclusion of WSUD tree pits capturing all the stormwater runoff from the retrofit of a closed
road into a new public space
Squeezing a green­wall raingarden into an activity centre laneway renewal project
Each of these projects has differed in the overall aim and issues faced, but a common theme of
collaborating with many stakeholders and integrating WSUD into a wider project was integral to each
of the projects and improving the final project outcomes.
Can Water Quality Assets have a Detrimental Impact on Downstream Ecological Values?
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Bertrand Salmi , Cintia Dotto , Maree Keenan
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Water Technology, Notting Hill VIC 3168, Australia, City of Greater Dandenong, Dandenong VIC
3175, Australia
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The health of native vegetation reserves across urban areas is declining, and the City of Greater
Dandenong is no exception. Water stress is believed to be a key contributing factor in the decline in
the ecological health of vegetation. The Fotheringham Reserve contains a revegetated billabong
system (Floodplain Riparian Woodland), dependent on streamflows from Yarraman Creek. Changes in
the flooding regime caused by land use changes are likely to have contributed to the decline in
condition of the billabong vegetation. Further loss may reduce the long­term viability of the
billabongs and associated wetland vegetation. The hydrological behaviour of the upstream catchment
was altered by both the construction of major road infrastructure and associated WSUD assets.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the water quality assets may have a detrimental impact on the
downstream billabong, by altering its inundation frequency.
A monitoring program has been initiated to capture ecological values and key hydrological
parameters, including rainfall and water levels, to assist Council in understanding current billabong
water regime. The data will be subsequently used to calibrate and validate hydrological and hydraulic
models, to assess future flooding frequency. Ultimately, the project will lead to a better
understanding of the system and the model findings will inform future management plans for the
reserves. This may include identifying possible mitigation measures to reinstate a suitable water
regime.
Additionally, the work to­date suggests that best practice focusing solely on water quality targets may
result in detrimental impact on valuable riparian habitats. It is anticipated that this project will act as
a case study demonstrating the benefits of a more holistic management approach and further
interaction between natural resource manager (bushland officers) and hydrologists.
Integrated Catchment-River Modelling of the Parramatta River to Support Achieving Swimmability
Targets
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Lydia Cetin , Phillip Pedruco , Elizabeth Smolinska , Kate Byrnes , Natalie Quinn , Pei Tillman ,
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Jonathan Dixon , Sarah Clift
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Jacobs Group Australia, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Jacobs Group Australia, Sydney, New South
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Wales, Australia, Sydney Water, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Parramatta River Catchment
Group, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
In 2014 the Parramatta River Catchment Group (PRCG) was established with a vision for making the
Parramatta River swimmable by 2025, otherwise known as the ‘Our Living River’ initiative. The aim of
the initiative was to provide the planning and implementation of the Parramatta River Masterplan.
The Parramatta River Masterplan will provide an evidence based strategy to achieve the PRCG
objective of making the river swimmable by 2025.
The modelling work conducted as part of this project informs the Parramatta River Masterplan, with
the objective of identifying expected microbial levels at 15 potential swimming sites under a range of
policy and intervention scenarios. The overarching modelling framework explores:
� The major sources of Enterococci within the catchment and the risk of non­compliance with
regulatory water quality objectives
� The quantity and quality improvements gained in the catchment by the implementation of
infrastructure, water sensitivity urban design and/or policy solutions to mitigate high risk
pathogen contamination sites.
� Is swimmability achievable in the Parramatta River by 2025? If not what needs to be done to
achieve the required water quality objectives?
Population growth and urban intensification within the Parramatta River catchment are key threats to
water quality improvements in the river, and underpins the scenario modelling. The scenario
modelling will support Sydney Water and the PRCG in planning water quality management policies
and reduction targets in order to achieve the overall Parramatta River Masterplan objectives.
The project was a collaborative effort between Jacobs (Melbourne and Sydney), Sydney Water and
the PRCG. An integrated catchment modelling framework was co­develop by Sydney Water and
Jacobs to model runoff and pollutant generation to the Parramatta River, incorporating wet weather
overflow point­sources (From Sydney Water MOUSE modelling), as inputs to a hydrodynamic
receiving water quality model carried out by Sydney Water. The integrated river model was used to
model future scenarios that assessed business as usual, implementation of stromwater harvesting
and bioretention, and animal waste control.
Eastbank Lake - A Catalyst for Integration and Change
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Damien D'Aspromonte , Geoff Dobson , Alan Tyson , Pat Feehan
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Spiire, Melbourne, Australia, Community Member, ex Mayor City of Greater Shepparton, Shepparton,
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Australia, Goulburn Valley Water, Shepparton, Australia, Feehan Consulting Pty Ltd, Shepparton,
Australia
The project is located within the Eastbank civil precinct in Shepparton Victoria. The precinct includes
an anabranch of the Goulburn River, which is part of the original alignment of the waterway which
once was a key focal point for the town and Monash Park which is located at the western gateway
into Shepparton.
The project lead, Geoff Dobson has had a vision for the precinct for over 5years. Geoff has been
instrumental in leading stakeholders on a journey to revitalise the precinct by:
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Reconnecting the community of Shepparton with the Goulburn River and riverine bushland
Improving the quality of stormwater discharge into the Goulburn River and harvesting over
30ML/year for
Creating a destination and a gateway entry statement into Shepparton
Developing a showcase project that becomes a regional educational project demonstrating
integrated water management
The stakeholder group leveraged the leadership of key representatives from City of Greater
Shepparton, DELWP, Goulburn Valley Water, Goulburn Broken CMA, River Connect, Shepparton RSL,
Shepparton Ethnic Council, Committee for Greater Shepparton, Parks Victoria and Goulburn Valley
Environmental Group.
The functional development drew on the ideas and innovations from the stakeholder group. The
design has been developed around a design matrix that associates a key amenity feature with each
functional element of the stormwater harvesting and reuse process.
The overall design includes the following treatment process and associated amenity asset:
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Stormwater outfalls ­ Memorial deck
A primary treatment pond ­ Turtle Deck and Amphitheatre
Ornamental pond ­ Avenue of honour tree planting
Raingarden ­ Art sculpture
Storage Pond ­ open water body with boardwalks
The outcomes for the project to date have included:
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A positive cost benefit analysis that demonstrates economic value through health and
wellbeing, uplift in property value and potable water offsets
An engaged stakeholder group who are all backing the further development and delivery of
the project
A catalyst project that has become a demonstration of the value of IWM
Interest from public and private investors looking to fund the project
Acknowledgements ­ DELWP, Greater Shepparton City Council, Goulburn Valley Water, Goulburn
Broken CMA