Bring your own umbrella: touring Perth’s stormwater infrastructure in action

Co-hosted by Syrinx Environmental and the City of Perth, a contingent of Water Sensitive City Conference delegates grabbed the chance to see theory put into practice via a guided walking tour of local projects in water sensitive urban design (WSUD).

The tour encompassed the Point Fraser Development, which showcases constructed wetland and swales that use bioengineering to passively manage stormwater and flood. Integrating WSUD within a key tourism and recreational destination, the development demonstrates culturally sensitive design – with interpretation works that reflect Noongar and European culture – and benefits like reduced pollution loads into the Swan River.

And at the Elizabeth Quay waterfront, participants viewed the Perth CBD’s first example of bio-retention swales, learning about innovations, like vegetated swales and tree pits, that are sustaining large existing trees, and providing the means to treat and infiltrate stormwater, to keep it in the local area.

For more, see photos and a short article from Syrinx Environmental.