Feasibility study: into the design, effectiveness & limitations of installing raingardens within an inner urban environment

Abstract

This study focuses on the inner urban area within the City of Stonnington, a Council approx 5 km South East from Melbourne CBD, the aim of this study is to not only to investigate how bioretention systems (raingardens) can be implemented into the densely populated areas within Council, however the study also to give guidance to Council Engineers in forward thinking in how to design and implement bioretention system within inner urban areas of Council, especially within the suburbs of South Yarra, Prahran and Windsor. This study is to give an insight in what needs to be taken into considerating during the design stages of any civil construction project to ensure that any bioretention systems to be introduced can perform just as effectively as any other bioretention system that would be implemented in outer suburban areas and ensure that pollutant reduction targets are met without compromising on the performance the effectiveness of stormwater treatment due to current constraints within the local environment. To achieve reduction targets and ensure the effectiveness of pollutant reduction within inner urban areas, this study, is to outline current design principals used for bioretention systems and identify constrains within inner urban areas and how can these constraints be overcome by outlining a set of designs, recommendations and a checklist that can be utalised by Council Engineers to assist in successfully implementing bioretention systems within inner urban areas of Stonnington. Even thought this study will focus on inner urban areas the general designs and concepts explained in this study can be extended to other urbanised areas fo Council.