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Published: 28 May 2012
Inner urban stormwater system wins national award
Willoughby City Council in Sydney has been awarded a national engineering award for its new stormwater reuse scheme through which the treated water is reused for air-conditioning cooling towers, irrigation and toilet flushing.
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Artist’s impression of The Concourse, Chatswood, Sydney, showing a cross section of the underground 5 megalitre stormwater tank. Credit: Willoughby City Council
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To combat the affect of floods in Chatswood CBD and increase the capacity of the existing stormwater drainage network, the council has devised a sub-catchment stormwater system to be implemented as part of the redevelopment of The Councourse. The Concourse is a live arts and entertainment venue that is home to a concert hall, theatre, library and other cultural facilities.
The system combines a flood mitigation project, a stormwater re-use scheme, and a state of the art early-weather warning system. The system’s 5 megalitre tank captures the excess run off from the 20 ha Chatswood CBD catchment.
The scheme sets a benchmark for the treatment of urban stormwater for use in air conditioning cooling towers. It is the first such system of its kind in an urban environment that does not rely on bio-filtration to enable stormwater to be reused.
The award is the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia (IPWEA) Engineering Excellence Award. The IPWEA awards are designed to encourage excellence in innovation, development, completion and management of local government and public works projects.
Source: Willoughby City Council
