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Clearer water in Pine Rivers

A pioneering stormwater strategy has been produced by the engineering team at Pine Rivers Shire Council in Queensland. Conscious of the impact stormwater management at the local level can have on the wider environment, the strategy is designed to fulfil all requirements under State Environmental Protection legislation.

This includes minimising negative impacts on the environment, ensuring a high standard of water quality for all the Shire's watercourses to meet ANZECC guidelines and meeting community expectations.

New Design Standards and the Best Management Practice Strategy provide a model for other Councils. The Strategy is designed to be easily used by other Councils while at the same time encouraging innovative locality specific practice.

Community participation in planning and design is a cornerstone of the model which is already being used as a benchmark for other Queensland Councils. Emphasis is placed on retaining the natural features of local watercourses for the benefit of residents while the use of concrete channels and drains is actively discouraged. At the same time, it embodies the principles of catchment management and establishes a basis for equitable distribution of catchment management costs.

Andrew Vanderent Council's Subdivisions Engineer, and Lindsay McLeod, Supervising Draftsman, who directed the study said that the focus was on minimising the environmental impact of all forms of development, including Council works, on the Shire's water resources. The Strategy makes Pine Rivers one of the first Councils in the State to translate the State Government's environmental objectives into practice. Copies of the Strategy and Design Standards are available from Council.

For further information contact Andrew Vanderent or Lindsay McLeod, telephone (07) 3205 0624.

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