A Smart Drainage program has delivered significant flow-on effects for the City of Gosnells’ maintenance and asset management programs.
The program uses smart technologies to improve the way drainage is managed in the City, and was recognised last month at the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia (IPWEA) WA Excellence Awards, with awards for Excellence in Asset Management and Excellence in Innovation – Metropolitan.
Mayor Terresa Lynes said with two major rivers and large areas of wetland within the City’s boundaries, drainage was critically important.
“Drainage is essential but often-overlooked infrastructure that needs to be done well for our City to be a great place to live, work and spend time,” she said.
“The program to implement smart technologies in the City’s drainage management has been a fantastic success, improving the City’s ability to monitor, maintain and repair the drainage network, reducing the effects of drainage work on nearby residents, providing early warning of local flooding and saving the City money.
“Introducing this suite of cutting-edge technologies and strategic planning has improved the way the City manages this critical public infrastructure, in a cost-efficient way.”
The technologies implemented as part of the program include tractor-mounted CCTV to investigate inside pipes, push cameras to go where the tractor cannot reach, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) connected to interpretive software to identify and accurately size voids in the soil surrounding damaged pipes, expanding foam technology to fill those voids and flow meters linked to texting software so the City’s drainage crews are called to the site before it actually floods.
The roll-out of flow-meter technology across recognised high-risk flooding locations within the City is continuing.
