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Case studies

Case studies

About 140 local stormwater projects are already up and running under the NSW State Government's urban stormwater program. The case studies we've listed here are a useful opportunity to learn about the experiences of other councils. We will add to this list as local projects develop. If you would like to tell your success stories on this site, then please contact us!

Bankstown Council:	Performances ~ Promotional material ~ Workshops and painting competitions ~ Stormwater pollution bus
Coffs Harbour City Council:	Workshops for developers and builders ~ Media and education campaigns ~ Newsletter for ratepayers
Cooks River Project:	Company assessments ~ Community groups ~ Programs for schools ~ Non-English speaking community involvement
The Council of the Shire of Hornsby:	Catchment model
Lake Macquarie Council:	Informative events and campaigns ~ Site-management training for builders ~ Council work practices ~ Warners Bay community project
North Sydney Council:	Stormwater awareness logo - What did Alex see? ~ Exhibits about stormwater pollution ~ Business focus group ~ Environmental audits
Parramatta City Council:	Drain Strain campaign ~ Council work practices
Warringah Council:	Surveys and audits of local companies ~ Awareness raising ~ Training workshops ~ Pollution Prevention Planning ~ Adopt-A-Drain ~ Information booklets ~ Awards scheme and Green Business Group
See also Waverley Council: Improving the quality of water at the local beaches and the Centennial Park ponds

Bankstown Council

Performances -

Written by members of the community, performances have been used to present the information to minority communities.

Promotional material -

Shopkeepers have been encouraged to display posters and hand out leaflets. A calendar has been produced and distributed to schools, shops and community organisations. It carries a stormwater logo and shows actions to avoid so that stormwater pollution is reduced.

Workshops and painting competitions -

A series of workshops and painting competitions have been held in local libraries. They have concentrated on stormwater pollution's impact on residents' health and lifestyle.

Stormwater pollution bus -

A bus was donated to the campaign. This has been painted with a design from a local school and is a highly visible education resource (link to photograph).

For further information about the Bankstown Council stormwater pollution reduction activities phone Kelly Holcroft, 02 9707 9431

Coffs Harbour City Council

Workshops for developers and builders

A series of workshops will be conducted for developers and builders, to educate them about the impact of construction work on sediment, the stormwater system and water pollution.

Media and education campaigns

Leaflets and media activity will educate the community on the most appropriate means of dealing with lawn trimmings, car washing and fertiliser applications. Priority issues are animal faeces, lawn trimmings, on-site septic management, car washing and fertilisers. Litter is being tackled through a combination of media activity, community education projects, a schools workbook and drain stencilling. Council will be producing sticker and fridge magnets as part of this element of the project.

Newsletter for ratepayers

In January 2000 all Coffs Harbour ratepayers received a newsletter stressing the importance of stormwater management.

For further information about the Coffs Harbour City Council stormwater pollution reduction activities phone Garry Hankinson, 02 6648 4000.

Cooks River Project

The Cooks River Project comprises 13 Councils, with the project management based in Canterbury Council. The project aims to:

	encourage changes in industry practices to achieve cleaner production and better management practice
	encourage individual actions to reduce pollutants and manage stormwater at source
	raise awareness of stormwater as an important community environmental issue

It proposes to achieve this through tackling four main groups.

Industry

The project team intends to visit and assess nearly 2,000 small to medium businesses on their pollution reduction practices and will provide support and education material to show industry how to improve its stormwater activity.

Community

The project has established the Cooks River Key Opinion Makers Group and is inviting high profile community figures to sign on as Cooks River Ambassadors. Both groups are essentially stakeholders who can have a significant impact on the program's success if they are briefed about the campaign and can disseminate information to a wider audience.

Schools

The project has set up a Kids, Companies and Creeks Program and is continuing to develop a school supplement to the EPA's stormwater education program.

NESB Communities

Bilingual educators have recently been trained so that they can educate NESB communities about the campaign and a community mural is proposed.

The Cooks River Project has a strong media element to its activities. It is targeting local English language and NESB newspapers, in order to communicate with diverse sections of the community. It has already issued releases on a number of aspects as the project is being rolled out. These have included announcing:

	the success of its Stormwater Trust Grant application
	its commitment to working with ethnic communities
	the launch of the project with its first newsletter
	the schools element of the project
	the visit of the EPA's the Drain is Just for Rain mobile billboard

Contact: Peter Salier 02 9789 9451

The Council of the Shire of Hornsby

Catchment model

Hornsby's Education Compliance Team has produced a model of a catchment area. The model is mounted on a trailer and towed by car to businesses, schools and public events. The model shows people how catchments operate, and the impact of people's activities on the waterways. The model is highly visible, even when being towed around the Shire. It will be used in conjunction with a number of display boards at public events and the media will be briefed about it, to give it more publicity.

For further information about The Council of the Shire of Hornsby stormwater pollution reduction activities phone Sue Moyes, 02 9847 6816

Lake Macquarie Council

Informative events and campaigns

These have included information nights for the automotive industry, environmental reviews of businesses, a widely-publicised collection of cigarette butts, distribution of posters and leaflets, educations about stormwater issues and stormwater structures.

Site-management training for builders

Builders and owner-builders participate in training courses and audits where they learn about site management. Preventative measures are promoted, such as using sediment fences, filter bags and diversion banks.

Council work practices

Council staff are being educated and their work practices reviewed, to make sure their work is in line with the practices being promoted to the community at large

Warners Bay community project

At Warners Bay, a community project group is coordinating several activities, including: clean-up days, stencilling drains, issuing leaflets, holding stalls at the local market, a carp fishing day with a competition and exhibits, and issuing a Warners Bay map showing sources of stormwater pollution. add pic here: Warners Bay logo

For further information about the Lake Macquarie Council stormwater pollution reduction activities phone Karen Johnson, 02 4921 0564 or Louise Ormerod, phone 02 4921 0393.

North Sydney Council

Stormwater awareness logo

What did Alex see? A special logo has been developed, to reinforce the message that everything going down the drain ends up in the harbour. The logo features Alex the Whale, a whale who stayed in Sydney Harbour for a couple of weeks in 1999, and Luna Park. The logo is used on council literature, in exhibitions, on lunch bags, stickers and fridge magnets.(picture of Alex the whale/Luna Park logo here)

Exhibits about stormwater pollution

Displayed at local events, exhibits attract public attention using measures such as aquatic wildlife displays, or Whizzy the Waterdrop (a character in costume) who distributes information in an amusing, attention-grabbing manner.

Business focus group

A focus group with members of the local business community gathered ideas about how to educate businesses about stormwater pollution. One of the ideas suggested was an award for the business with the best impact on stormwater.

Environmental audits

Council conducts environmental audits of local businesses, with the focus on education rather than regulation. The audits point out the environmental impacts of business activities.

For further information about the North Sydney Council stormwater pollution reduction activities phone Chris McEvoy, 02 9936 8233.

Parramatta City Council

Drain Strain campaign

This campaign is primarily aimed at educating the community about litter. Council has attached a number of litter traps, up-stream of drain grates, to catch litter before it is washed into the drain. These devices were chosen because they are not as large as end-of-pipe stormwater traps, they won't be 'out of sight, out of mind' like stormwater traps, and can be used for education purposes. The devices are accompanied by a plaque attached to the drain, bearing the locally-recognised eel logo. They each feature one of five captions chosen as part of a competition educating children about pollution. Local media have been briefed about the role of the devices and have run a number of articles about them.

Council work practices

Council has had to change its own work practices for cleaning the traps. Originally the gutters were flushed, with the result that the trapped litter was washed down the drain. Council found that the best way to empty the traps was through mechanical street sweeping.

For further information about the Parramatta City Council stormwater pollution reduction activities phone Les Green, 02 9806 5568

Warringah Council

Training workshops

Local businesses attended a workshop training session on reducing stormwater pollution. Those that attended spread the information to other businesses, so general awareness of stormwater issues was greatly increased.

Surveys and audits of local companies

Companies were given training on stormwater and pollution issues, provided by Council. Their knowledge about these issues was then assessed during interviews by local school students. Follow-up audits of companies were carried out by Council staff.* The schools' surveys were used to generate media releases that attracted significant media coverage. (*Note in the source document says 'If you think we can use it, then link to it from here' — what are we referring to here?)

Awareness raising

Businesses and the wider community were made aware of the impact of their activities on stormwater pollution. For example, it was pointed out that stormwater drains emptied into two well-known lagoons in the area that are now polluted.

Pollution Prevention Planning

Following on from the workshops, companies were invited to draft their own Pollution Prevention Plan, identifying risk areas, and strategies and timetables for resolving these risks.

Adopt-A-Drain

Companies have subsequently been asked to 'adopt a drain', indicating they are actively ensuring that only clean water enters the stormwater drain. This initiative has been popular, with companies seeing it as a good marketing and advertising opportunity for them.

Information booklets

A case studies booklet has been compiled, featuring case studies, success stories and strategies adopted by companies. In addition, Warringah Council has produced a booklet entitled Stormwater Action Project: Companies Preventing Pollution at Source which provides an excellent overview of the project, some case studies and photographs.

Awards scheme and Green Business Group

These have been set up, to lead the business community by example.

Council has also been involved in community drain stencilling projects; catchment walks and has developed its own web site. Many articles about the project have been generated in the local media.

For further information about the Warringah Council stormwater pollution reduction activities phone Renate Gebhart-Jones, 02 9942 2518.