Engineers and infrastructure managers from across the region have voted Bundaberg Regional Council’s Stormwater Management Strategy best paper at a recent conference.
Presented by Council engineer Timothy Fichera and AECOM engineering consultant Jordan Maultby, the strategy received the award for best paper at the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (Qld) Central Queensland/Wide Bay region.
Tim said it was rewarding to have the strategy recognised by his peers.
“I think it was just a really good opportunity to show other regional councils our strategic approach to how we are going to manage stormwater,” Tim said.
“In developing the Stormwater Management Strategy we have learnt a lot of lessons along the way so it’s great to be able to share our experiences and show other councils how they can also sustainably manage their stormwater networks as well.
“We are definitely one of a few regional Council’s leading the way in this space.”
The 10-year Stormwater Management Strategy provides a framework to prioritise works.
Throughout the process, 150 potential capital projects were identified, demonstrating how essential it is to approach future drainage works strategically.
The best paper award means Bundaberg Regional Council’s Stormwater Management Strategy is now in the running to be presented at the IPWEAQ state conference later this year.
Tim said the strategy represented 18 months’ worth of work and it was pleasing to know it was well received by the conference delegates.
He believes a key to the strategy’s success is the fact that so many different areas within Council collaborated to develop the final product.
“It was a pretty big undertaking and a co-design process.”
Residents can view the strategy on Council’s website.
It’s good to see some new thinking rather than mindlessly continuing to follow previous ideas. Judging by my 20-year-old subdivision, I hope council will run a more-critical eye over sub-division drainage approvals and save the community from the expense of more future remediation works.