We are excited to announce that registration is now available for the upcoming Sustainable Funding Options half-day Workshop on Wednesday, 20 September at Campsie Customer Service Centre l Canterbury Bankstown Council, Campsie. This workshop will be presented by Craig Bush, Dr Andrew Thomas, Craig Naughton, Neil Keraunos & Alexa McAuley.
What you gain from this Workshop:
To ensure stormwater management projects, programs and assets achieve their desired goals a sustainable source of funding is required throughout the whole lifecycle. Current funding models, especially the Stormwater service charge, are not a sustainable option due to significant increases in costs relating to waste disposal, wages, and inflation (construction costs in particular) and no mechanism for review. However, due to the effects of urban expansion and climate change impacts, the need for well-designed and properly maintained stormwater management systems is only becoming more critical.
This forum will provide information as to how Councils are resourcing stormwater management in different ways and to discuss the benefits and or limitations of each option. Come to hear from representatives from Ku-ring-ai, Canterbury Bankstown, Blacktown, and Hornsby, and industry experts in this field. After the presentation, there will be an open forum for discussion regarding the options and opportunities to ask questions to the presenters and others.
Registration:
- Member – $125
- Non-Member – $225
Payment online at the time of registration by credit card only.
Details:
- Wednesday, 20 September 2023
- 9:30 am to 1:00 pm
- Campsie Customer Service Centre, Canterbury-Bankstown Council
- Registration includes morning tea catering
Please note that it is a requirement that all participants bring their own laptop to the workshop.
Spaces are limited, so be sure to secure your attendance early! Please click here to register.
Meet your Presenters
Andrew Thomas – Cooks River Alliance/Stormwater NSW
Over the past 30 years, Andrew has gained experience in industries as diverse as heavy industry, environmental management, and asset management across the government, consulting, research, and not-for-profit sectors. Andrew is currently the Executive Officer for the Cooks River Alliance and Acting President of Stormwater NSW (peak body representing the urban water management industry in NSW, Australia).
Craig Bush – Blacktown City Council/Sydney Water
Craig has over 13 years’ experience in working with Blacktown City Council, the largest council by population in NSW, as the catchment projects officer and since 2021 as the Waterways Coordinator. He has a key focus on WSUD and integrated water management to ensure the best outcome for the environment and community.
Craig will start a new role in September 2023 as a Senior Stormwater Planner for Sydney Water.
Craig Naughton – Ku-rin-gai Council
Craig is a passionate environmentalist who wants to see all the great aspirational ideas that occur in the industry become sustainable long-term programs. By solving problems and working with people, Craig makes environmental solutions practical and achievable.
Craig is currently the Water and Catchment Program Leader at Ku-ring-gai Council.
Alexa McAuley – Civille
Alexa has more than 20 years’ experience in green and blue infrastructure policy, planning and design. Alexa has substantial experience consulting to local government and has helped many local government clients shift water-sensitive urban design from a niche practice to a mainstream activity. In 2021 Alexa reviewed the state of stormwater management in 20 councils across the Greater Sydney Harbour catchment, including a review of financial arrangements.
Neil Keraunos
Neil has been involved in catchment remediation for over twenty years in his role at Hornsby Shire Council. He has been responsible and has contributed to hundreds of projects in relation to treating stormwater pollution and has actively supported the principles of Water Sensitive Urban Design of remediating water pollution in urbanized catchments in regards to the catchment remediation rate program. Neil was awarded a Master of Science (Research) (UTS) in 2008 in water cycle management.
Come and join Blacktown City Council as they share with the industry, information about a large scale bioretention system validation and optimising project they are undertaking. This is a collaborative project involving Blacktown Council, the NSW Government through the Accelerated Infrastructure grant, Ocean Protect and ALS Global. With a view to forming a collaborative partnership, we are in discussions with Western Sydney University to explore the significant multidisciplinary research opportunities created by the project and Western Sydney University.
This monitoring project is possibly the largest of its kind in Australia and will provide an unprecedented level of rigour to the monitoring of various aspects of a bioretention system over a 5-year period including the water quality performance of:
- 6 different filter media types,
- 3 different inlet types,
- grass vs vegetated systems.
The monitoring project will also monitor other components including:
- performance (water quality and waste removal) of 2 gross pollution traps
- effectiveness of saturation zones
- vegetation condition and maintenance requirements
- benefits of these systems to combat urban heat.
Who would benefit from attending:
- Practitioners from Local & State Government
- Consultancy involved in design of bioretention systems and setting policy standards
This session will include a mix of presentations about the project from Blacktown City Council and Ocean Protect. The event will include a visit to the monitoring site where you will be able to see it in action. We have organised for transport to / from Blacktown train station and Tallawong metro stations for those who register they need it.
To register for this event please complete this registration form. If you have any troubles registering please call Kristy Good on 02 9839 6907 or email kristy.good@blacktown.nsw.gov.au
Stormwater NSW is excited to announce our End of Year Drinks for 2023. This is a great opportunity to get all the stormies together, and the committee is looking forward to catching up with you all.
We would love to hear your thoughts on the year that’s been and ideas for the year ahead.
Date: Thursday, 16th November
Time: 5.30 pm – 7.30 pm
Location: Forrester’s, Surry Hills
336 Riley St, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Cost: Members: Free, Non-Members $35.00.
Registration includes one complimentary drink and nibbles.
Final day to RSVP: Monday, 13th November 2023
To register, please click here
- Lessons learnt during the project
- What are the main considerations during the planning, design, construction and operation of the site
- What are the main achievements to date
Member Registration – $195.00
Non-Member Registration – $295.00Please note: Registration fees include transfer to all sites, breakfast, and lunch catering.
Are you passionate about the future of stormwater management in New South Wales? Join us for an engaging and informative webinar hosted by Stormwater NSW, where leading researchers will delve into the latest advancements and future prospects in stormwater research.
Event Highlights
- Discover the broad impacts of stormwater and potential mitigation measures.
- Explore innovative ways to better utilize stormwater as a valuable resource.
- Learn about improvements in modeling, governance, planning, designs, approvals, and more.
- Understand the direct and indirect costs of stormwater management and its benefits for cost-benefit analysis.
- Engage in discussions about future ideas and opportunities.
Special Features
- Expert Presenters: Hear from renowned researchers at Western Sydney University, Water Sensitive Cities Australia, Macquarie University, and the University of NSW.
- Interactive Q&A: Pose your burning questions to the experts during the live Q&A session.
- Networking Opportunities: Discuss potential research collaborations, identify knowledge gaps, and connect with researchers for future engagements.
- Contact Sharing: Request contact details to engage with presenters in more detail after the event.
Presenter Lineup
- Western Sydney University
- Water Sensitive Cities Australia
- Macquarie University
- University of NSW
Call for Presentations
If you have ongoing stormwater research projects that align with the themes mentioned above and would like to present at our event, we welcome you to reach out to Craig Bush at craig.bush@sydneywater.com.au.
Don’t miss this opportunity to stay at the forefront of stormwater research in NSW.
REGISTER NOW: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_iKW1arMvROiyaeWoUin79A#/registration
The Operations and Maintenance Manual Workshop will be held at the Canada Bay Club in Five Dock on Monday 16 April 2024 in conjunction with the franc.sydney Conference. This full day workshop covers all aspects of operations and maintenance for all types of stormwater treatment measures.
The workshop is aimed at Maintenance Managers and Cleaning Contractors, as well as Council staff involved in the sizing, siting and approval of stormwater treatment measures. The workshop focuses on the guidelines, produced by Stormwater NSW, which have become the industry standard and reference document for the maintenance of stormwater assets across the country.
The cost of the full-day workshop includes morning tea and lunch. A copy of the Guidelines will be provided electronically for all attendees.
Stormwater NSW and Partner Member: $595 Non Member: $795
Presenter: Murray Powell, Optimal Stormwater
Future-focused, Resilient, Adaptive and Networked Communities
franc.sydney 2024 is powered by Stormwater NSW and will be held at Commbank Stadium, Sydney on Wednesday, 17, and Thursday, 18 April 2024. The theme for the 2024 Conference is: Charting the Future from Past Lessons
The theme for franc.sydney 2024 is: Charting the Future from Past Lessons
franc.sydney 2024 will build on the success of the previous franc. Sydney conferences and continue to create a place where industry professionals, community members and key stakeholders can come together to collaborate, share knowledge, network and learn together. It will provide an opportunity for attendees to connect, discover and upskill, whilst contributing to the collective knowledge of our industry via our unique participatory knowledge-sharing format.
This conference will help build a community who will challenge the norms of urban water management and work together to change the way the stormwater industry operates to become more future-focused, resilient, adaptive, and connected.
The FRANC community needs to include professionals, scientists, academics, researchers, and advocates that recognise the need for change, and the need to put the long-term prosperity of the health of our waterways, emissions, and sustainable development above short-term political and financial interests. Most importantly, we bring these people together to help us all speak with one voice.
And it all begins by having ‘franc’ discussions. We look forward to your participation at franc.sydney 2024.
Please visit our franc.sydney 2024 website for more information !
Join Stormwater NSW on a tour of prestigious projects that have been recognised for excellence in relation to stormwater design, asset management and landscape architecture. The projects will vary in scale and complexity, and we guarantee everyone will learn something that will benefit them and their organisation. This site tour will be held on Friday, 19 of April, the day after the franc.sydney Conference concludes.
The ‘Showcase of Excellence’ site tour will feature 4 parks within City of Sydney. Each of the parks have received an award by Stormwater NSW or Landscape architects over the last 7 years. The parks and their awards include:
1) Drying Green, Australian Institute of Landscape Architects NSW – Award of Excellence – Parks and Open Space – 2023
2) Johnston Creek naturalisation, Stormwater NSW Award in excellence for Asset Management in 2021
3) Victoria Park, Stormwater NSW Award in excellence in Integrated stormwater design in 2019
4) Sydney Park, Stormwater NSW Award in excellence in Integrated stormwater design in 2016
The cost of the full day site tour includes bus transfer, morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea. Stormwater NSW and Partner Member: $195 Non Member: $295
REGISTER NOW: https://gems.eventsair.com/francsydney-2024-conference/pre-post-rego
Stormwater NSW hosted a free webinar to compare and contrast how different Australian states fund stormwater management. Hearing from leading stormwater practitioners about their state’s funding models as well as supporting governance arrangements.
The seminar concluded of lessons and opportunities for stormwater funding in NSW.
To view the webinar, click here
Stormwater NSW – Webinar Summary of State Vs State – Origins of Stormwater Funding
Webinar Presenters –
Alexa McAuley, Director, Civille
Alexa has more than 20 years of experience in green and blue infrastructure policy, planning and design. Alexa has substantial experience consulting to local government and has helped many local government clients shift water-sensitive urban design from a niche practice to a mainstream activity, she also has an excellent understanding of the challenges facing local government in funding stormwater management.
Dr Jeremy Cheesman Director, Marsden Jacob Associates
Jeremy is an experienced environmental and resource economist specialising in urban and rural water infrastructure funding and financing. Jeremy works with governments and water businesses across Australia advising on stormwater infrastructure financing and funding mechanisms as well as supporting governance reforms. Jeremy was a member of the Victorian Stormwater Ministerial Advisory Committee in 2018, led the development of the Victorian approach to urban stormwater offsets and helped regulated water businesses across many Australian states to gain funding for discretionary stormwater investments through customer-facing price submissions.
Cath Thrupp, CEO & Founder of Carbon Planet
Cath is an aquatic ecologist and catchment manager with 25+ years of experience delivering major water and natural resource projects within the private, public & non-profit sectors in Australia and internationally. Cath’s career has encompassed managing environmental aspects of dam operations, wetland and fish assessments, environmental flow monitoring, landscape restoration programs and urban water planning and policy. She is now focussing on innovative business models for natural resource management. Cath is also President of Stormwater Australia.
Matthew Edgerton, Economist, Frontier Economics
Matthew Edgerton is a consulting economist with more than 20 years’ experience in regulatory economics and public policy. Matt has advised government departments and utilities on a range of issues related to the water sector including regulation, governance, investment evaluation, pricing and cost recovery. This has included, for example, advice to the NSW Department of Planning and Environment on catchment-wide stormwater and waterways governance and cost recovery arrangements in Western Sydney. Matt has also held a senior role in IPART which included overseeing IPART’s regulation of Sydney Water’s prices and charges for its stormwater services and reviewing high-value local council infrastructure contributions plans including proposed charges to recover stormwater infrastructure costs.
To View the Presenters Presentations, click below:
Financing and Funding IWM_WSAA_stormwaterNSW – Jeremy Cheesman
Stormwater management funding slides Alexa June 2024
Stormwater NSW – Financing our Future – Cath Thrupp
Stormwater funding – Matthew Edgerton
To view the webinar, click here.
Embark on a journey of discovery and innovation at the ALDE 2024 Conference: ‘Connecting the Pieces – Crafting the Future of Land Development.’ Picture land development as an intricate puzzle, where each piece plays a vital role in shaping the future of our communities. Join us to unravel the complexities, explore cutting-edge solutions, and connect with industry leaders who are shaping the landscape of tomorrow.
Register for the Conference Today!