Australian Water Management Review Vol. 1 2014 | Page 100

Capturing the
potential of
stormwater
Iouri Vaisman, MD Iouriv Water Solutions Pty Ltd (IVS)

“Capturing the potential of stormwater
by resolving the responsibilities and
accountabilities of government agencies,
water utilities and local government for
stormwater is essential “ (Water Services
Association of Australia, Vision and
Outcomes to 2030).

M

anagement of the urban water cycle
in Australia has changed significantly
over the past few decades. As we
lived through a series of droughts
and floods, we adapted our water
systems to cope with our ever changing
environment. Australia’s variable climate means
that droughts and floods are inevitable – we just
don’t know when they will next occur, or how
severe they will be. Today, we know much more
about our water cycle than ever before and we
have markedly improved our knowledge about
water system management.
The water cycle includes all forms of water –
recycled water, rainwater, stormwater, wastewater,
groundwater, potable water and water contained
in our rivers and bays. The notion of the wholeof-water-cycle management and planning (also

94 | Australian water man age m e nt re v ie w

known as Integrated Water Cycle Management
IWCM) has become an accepted fact and the
common practice amongst water experts and
within the various levels of government and
general public.
Living in the dry country we need to value and use
the rain that falls on our land and the stormwater
runoff generated by that rainfall.
Stormwater management philosophy in most
developed countries has evolved over the last
decades from the conventional, but still important,
flood mitigation paradigm, to the current runoff
quality control approach. It is now progressing
towards the harvesting and reuse concept whilst
retaining the previous two targets.
Urban Stormwater Harvesting (SWH) is one of
the essential components of Integrated Water
Cycle Management (IWCM) that offers multiple
solutions to urban water systems such as
mains water demand reduction, water quality
improvement and in many cases creek ecosystem
health protection. A number of SWH projects have
been implemented in Australia to date and the
number of SWH schemes is expected to grow with
wider uptake of the IWCM encouraged by the State
and Federal Governments.
In this paper the author presents the key
observations gained through his involvement in
the planning, design, construction and operation
of the stormwater harvesting schemes and the
practitioner’s view on some of the key issues that
need to be addressed.

Urban Stormwater Harvesting and its major
components
Urban Stormwater Harvesting can be defined
as the collection, treatment, storage and use of
stormwater run-off from urban areas.
Stormwater harvesting requires a number of
physical facilities. These include infrastructure
for capture, storage, appropriate treatment,
maintenance and supply to end users in costeffective ways. Sufficient runoff must be available
and sufficient space be available to permit storage
or retention, depending on whether the aim is
water supply or to manage stormwater quantity
and quality.
Typical urban stormwater harvesting schemes
include all or a combination of the following
components (Figure 1):
1. Catchment providing the run off volume
2. Diversion structure (DS)
3. Primary screening device
4. Buffer storage
5. Transfer facilities from buffer storage (e.g.
pump and rising main)
6. Treatment facilities
7. Transfer facilities to the clear water storage
8. Clear water storage
9. Distribution pumps
10. Disinfection and supply rising main
11. End use