Stormwater
Who is responsible for stormwater pipes?
Council is responsible for:
- the barrel drain and associated pits in the road reserve or within formal drainage easements.
The landowner is responsible for:
- stormwater pipes up to and including the connection to the barrel drain. It is your responsibility as the property owner to ensure that your drainage system is clear, which includes all pipes up to and including the connection into the legal point of discharge.
How it impacts the environment
Urban areas negatively impact the health of our waterways, such as rivers, creeks and streams.
In natural environments, most rainfall soaks into the ground or is taken up by plants. However, towns and cities cover land with hard surfaces so water cannot soak directly into the soil. As a result, the runoff goes into drains and waterways as polluted stormwater. For more information on stormwater go to the Melbourne Water website.
What we are doing to protect waterways
An extensive network of wetlands has been built through Pakenham, Officer and Beaconsfield to remove pollutants from stormwater. This series of shallow, plant-filled ponds filter sediment and dissolved pollutants through physical and biological processes. This is a natural way to treat and remove pollutants.
Council harvests water from the wetlands to water our sports fields. This treated stormwater is used to irrigate the soccer fields at IYU Reserve in Pakenham, and we plan to do the same at James Bathe Reserve in Pakenham and Lang Lang Recreation Precinct when they are built.
What you can to to help
You can help by installing rainwater tanks and raingardens at home – go to the Melbourne Water website for more information on how to do this. (A raingarden is a garden bed designed to filter runoff from roofs or hard surfaces and remove pollutants. We have examples of raingardens at Nobelius Heritage Park in Emerald and in Tiffany Close, Pakenham).