With dam levels reaching historic lows, people everywhere are looking at ways to cut water use, or to substitute. One solution is a rain garden.

Councillor Alex Makin said over the last decade there has been a quiet revolution going on in the world of drainage and stormwater.

“There has been a realisation that traditional drainage is not necessarily the best system as it quickly diverts untreated stormwater via pipes and drains to channels, rivers and bays. This means large amounts of stormwater, containing pollutants that runoff roads and gardens, pollutes and degrades our waterways,” said Cr Makin.

“Rain gardens are a new system, whereby various layers of filtration materials are used in garden beds to detain and treat stormwater for passive irrigation, providing a green oasis and cleaner water that slowly flows into our waterways. They can be located along roadsides, in parklands, shopping centre car parks as well as other public areas,” said Cr Makin.

“Maroondah City Council has recognised this new form of passive irrigation and stormwater treatment and has recently constructed the first rain garden in the municipality as part of a demonstration project,” said Cr Makin.

The rain garden is located in the Council carpark at Braeside Avenue, Ringwood.

To coincide with the installation of the rain garden, the City of Maroondah hosted an industry training session, in conjunction with Clearwater, on Friday 30 March. Entitled ‘˜Rain gardens – lessons from the past’ it was a practical half day program covering key do’s and dont’s on how to design, build and maintain these garden systems.

Clearwater is a joint initiative of Melbourne Water, the Environment Protection Agency Victoria, the Municipal Association of Victoria and the Stormwater Industry Association of Victoria.

The training session was presented by Dr Nick Somes and Dean Lewis, of EcoDynamics, both with many years experience in rain garden design and construction.

“The training session has proved extremely popular, with over thirty five people from councils and the development industry attending, indicating that there are tremendous opportunities for local government to work with the development industries to produce sustainable stormwater solutions,” said Cr Makin.

“Through on the ground projects such as the rain garden construction at the Council offices and industry education in sessions such as these we are able to demonstrate the possibilities that are available to improve the health of our waterways,” said Cr Makin.

For information on future training sessions contact Clearwater at 9235 5335 or info@clearwater.asn.au