Greening the pipeline

Greening the Pipeline is the transformation of a heritage listed Main Outfall Sewer reserve into a 27km linear park in Melbourne’s west. The project is delivered through organisational partnerships (Melbourne Water, Wyndham City Council, City West Water, VicRoads), community engagement, and supported by the Greening the West initiative.

The Williams Landing Pilot Park is the first project of Greening the Pipeline, which has transformed a section of the heritage-listed Main Outfall Sewer (MOS) reserve into a local parkland which demonstrates how the transformation can connect the community, provide additional recreational opportunities, provide urban cooling and treat and use urban stormwater for irrigation.

• Lack of open space in area: The local area in Wyndham has a lack of public open space. By creating green space in the corridor, the water industry was able to create a much needed community asset.
• Heritage infrastructure corridor transformed into functional space: Taking inspiration from projects such as New York’s High Line, Greening the Pipeline’s vision is to create a vibrant space that will connect communities, enhance active transport options for the region, manage water sensitively and provide a unique space to meet, play and relax.
• Use of pilot project to gain momentum: The Williams Landing Pilot Park aims to showcase the potential of the Main Outfall Sewer (MOS) reserve as a green linear parkland that takes a more holistic approach to water management, enhances community liveability, and connects the community to the heritage and history of the MOS.

• Local stormwater harvesting system within parkland: Local stormwater flows from Wyndham Waters residential estate are diverted and captured by modifying an existing junction pit. The stormwater is then transferred to ‘primary storage’, using two 11m lengths of slotted 525mm pipe located within the Main Outfall Sewer.
• Raingardens: Raingardens are used for the treatment of locally harvested stormwater flows.
• Reuse storage zone: 51m length of slotted 525mm pipe is located within the MOS invert to provide approximate 28m2 of storage, before pumping the treated stormwater to the irrigation system.
• Stormwater irrigation scheme: Treated stormwater is pumped from the storage zone into the irrigation system, watering trees, plants and the new parkland.
• Sharing knowledge at the Pilot Park: Education is important for the project in connecting the community and industry with the history of the MOS and the benefits of integrated stormwater systems for the environment. Following the completion of the Pilot Park, numerous site visits have been held to share learnings with the industry and the community. This includes with the Bangkok Municipal association and Tianjun Government Leaders program through the UN Global Compact Cities program, the Ecocity Global Summit, China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban Renewal Development, Clearwater, Truganina South Primary School students.

• Early investment in a pilot project can help to justify further investment: A good measure of public/stakeholder interest and feedback may be attained by constructing a pilot park over a fraction of the entire length of the site.
• Transforming old into new: It is possible to transform a 19th century decommissioned sewer asset into a 21st century water sensitive community space.
• Add time to a project which isn't business as usual: An important lesson was how much time it takes to work through organisational barriers when implementing a different type of project that hasn’t been done before. Allowing time for collaboration and supporting champions of change is crucial here.

There may not be many locations which consist of heritage listed water infrastructure which is located in unused linear easements and provide an opportunity for a continuous linear open space. However, this project demonstrates that underutilised green easement corridors and decommissioned open drains across our urban areas can be transformed into the valued community assets. This project also demonstrates the value of early pilot projects to gain momentum and community involvement and support of further investments.