Water Sensitive Urban Design –
Case Studies & Technical Reports
Kingston City Council have designed and constructed a significant number of Water
Sensitive Urban Design projects since 2001 (including over 200 rain gardens).
Document A at the bottom of this page provides an excellent summary of water quality
improvement projects that have been design and implemented by the City of Kingston
such as rain gardens (also known as bio-retention systems), pervious pavements and
wetland.
What is a Rain Garden?
‘Rain Garden’ is the term commonly used to describe a vegetated area that removes
pollutants from storm water runoff (also known as bio-retention systems). Rain water
flows into a Garden bed and filters through a layer of engineered soil. The clean water is
collected by slotted pipes and directed back into the traditional drainage system.
The surface traps litter, leaves and sediment whilst the soil (in combination with the
plants root system) helps to filter and breakdown microscopic pollutants such as
nutrients, heavy metals and hydrocarbons.
Rain gardens are designed to filter pollutants from frequent low intensity showers
(catering for 95% of all storm water runoff). The traditional drainage system (pits and
pipes) are still required to cater for larger infrequent storm events to prevent flooding.
Typical Section through a Rain Garden
Recent Council Projects
Stawell St, Mentone
Rain gardens were upgraded to our current
design in 2008 at a cost of $68,000 (or
$6,800 per rain garden).
This design incorporates the use of attractive
rocks, more interesting shapes, the use of
exposed aggregate concrete paving abutting
the kerb (to address parking concerns) and
the subtle use of treated pine terracing to
avoid steep grades
Peter Scullin Carpark, Mordialloc
This water sensitive carpark was designed to
use stormwater runoff to irrigate the
landscaping and treat the surplus rainwater
via bio-retention swales.
Bear St, Mordialloc
Bear St was reconstructed in 2007 as a narrower
curvilinear road. The layout specifically designed to
create space within the nature strips for 5 rain gardens
and a large 70m long bio-retention retarding basin
(pictured below).
The bio-retention retarding basin has the multi-purpose
function of reducing pollutant load, providing flood
mitigation and enhancing the overall streetscape.
Warren Rd, Parkdale
Warren Rd was completely reconstructed
in 2007 to upgrade the road pavement,
address traffic issues and treat stormwater
runoff.
The project incorporated an unusual rain
garden within a kerb outstand using rock
walls to minimise erosion. The treatment
was designed to look as natural as possible
and minimise maintenance.
Coleman Rd, Aspendale
The beach at Aspendale was suffering from erosion of the
sand dunes and three unattractive stormwater outlets.
This project involved the construction of an attractive erosion
control wall and the removal of the pipes by redirecting the
stormwater runoff into soakage wells (primary treatment) and
then into large bioretention swales (secondary treatment).
Constructed during 2008 in partnership with the Department
of Sustainability & Environment.
City of Kingston Rain Garden Bus Tours
The City of Kingston offers half day bus tours of our rain garden projects in partnership
with Clearwater.
For further information, please contact :
Alan West
Team Leader – Engineering Design
City of Kingston
alan.west@kingston.vic.gov.au
Download Files
Please refer to the following documents for more information about Council’s projects
and related information on water sensitive urban design:
Document A - A snapshot of projects
Document B - USA Study Tour Report
Document C - USA Study Tour Photos
Document D - Stawell St Case Study
Document E – Example Rain Garden Design Plans
(New)
A Recent Magazine Article
The City of Kingston (a southern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria) has retrofitted over 130
rain gardens into residential nature strips across the City and is broadly recognized both
locally and internationally as an industry leader in this field of water sensitive urban
design. Much of this work has been overseen by Council officer Alan West who manages
the City of Kingston’s design team.
‘Rain Garden’ is the term commonly used to describe a depressed vegetated area that
removes pollutants from storm water runoff (also known as a bio-retention system).
Alan explains that Kingston Council has focused a lot of its efforts over the last two years
on addressing community concerns about rain gardens, improving their aesthetics and
developing effective maintenance practices.
Alan maintains that the environmental benefits of rain gardens are rarely questioned but
that many Councils question the longer-term practical implications of the system, their
cost, and how to manage these assets effectively.
“While most industry advice is based on sound water quality objectives and design
principles, not everyone has a full appreciation of other considerations such as
community expectations, public safety, overall streetscape aesthetics, parking needs,
maintenance practices and budgetary constraints,” said Alan West.
“In our experience when discussing the challenges associated with implementing
successful rain gardens, the conversation quickly changes to the perceived lack of
information on maintenance requirements, whole of life costs and the community
acceptance of ‘new’ ideas.” To address these barriers, the City of Kingston’s engineers
embarked upon a detailed community consultation program during 2007. Typical
responses from residents included:
 A lack of understanding or appreciation of their function.
 An impression that the plants were unattractive.
 A perception that steep batters or retaining walls may be dangerous.
 An inability for elderly residents to safely exit the passenger side of a parked
vehicle.

Difficulties with mowing their lawn around the rain gardens.
Having engaged with the community, Kingston Council’s next step was to replace their
old rain gardens with new and improved versions which are now being maintained to a
‘showcase’ standard.
“Our current rain garden designs are proving to be very popular,” said Alan.
“Our community now appreciates and values the unique urban design elements of rain
gardens which have been designed to be practical and enhance the overall aesthetics of
the streetscape. These improvements included the use of attractive rocks, more interesting
shapes, the use of exposed aggregate concrete paving abutting the kerb (to address
parking concerns) and the subtle use of treated pine terracing to avoid steep grades.”
Kingston’s latest set of 30 rain gardens were progressively installed and landscaped
between September 2007 and February 2008 at a total construction cost of $207,000 (an
average cost of $6,900 per rain garden).
After the period of trial and error by Kingston Council, other local governments are now
supporting the installation of rain gardens – either as part of planning permit applications
or implemented under each Council’s capital works program.
In summary, Alan West said he believes that successful water sensitive urban design
requires a long term commitment from a range of Council departments, particularly those
responsible for planning, design, construction and maintenance.
“It is vital that everyone involved in the project clearly understands their role and
responsibilities including community consultation, regular maintenance programs,
performance inspections, GIS mapping and budgeting. Rain gardens need to be treated as
another important infrastructure asset that needs to be recorded, assessed and managed
effectively,” he said.
“Involving a broad cross section of staff also assists with developing an integrated
approach to total water management and funding decisions that appropriately address
flood mitigation objectives, pipe maintenance, water conservation as well as storm water
quality and reuse objectives.”
The City of Kingston’s results have exceeded all expectations and resulted in the Council
receiving Awards at a recent 2008 Storm water Industry Association (Victoria) event that
recognized storm water excellence (see attached story and photo).
The City of Kingston has produced an attractive 4 page educational brochure which
clearly explains how rain gardens work and why it’s so important to protect our bay and
waterways from storm water pollution.
And a final word of advice from Alan…… “don’t be obsessed with achieving prescribed
best practice pollution reduction targets with your rain gardens. Installing an
appropriately designed rain garden that compliments the streetscape (and balances
competing needs within a busy environment) is likely to yield better results than
installing an optimistic rain garden that may become unpopular with residents (and
therefore unsustainable in the long term). Every rain garden contributes to the health of
our waterways and bays and also plays a strong role in educating the community about
the water cycle and how they can contribute to keeping waterways healthy”.