Urban secondary flowpath management
❄
Networking
This 1hr workshop is facilitated by Ian McComb from Tasman District Council
Ian has presented papers at previous stormwater conference on secondary flow controls and the aims and objectives of this workshop are to keep the conversation going around this important topic. It will introduce the topic and outline issues faced around various territorial authorities. It will then get attendees talking about recent experiences and application of best practices to identify, enhance, and protect secondary flowpaths in urban areas.
This workshop applies to the conference themes of embracing change, resilient systems and nature based-solutions as secondary flowpaths are often associated with blue-green corridors and are very much the way forward as we are not going to be able to build primary (pipe) systems to cope with the future climate change rainfall conditions. A systematic approach to proving, protecting and maintaining resilient secondary flow paths is probably the only realistic way forward for urban stormwater management.
The workshop will be interactive gathering of the collective knowledge of the group regarding approaches, examples, resources, challenges, successes and failures. The discussion will be educational for people with little background in the topic, while still beneficial for experienced practitioners as they share their learnings so that a body of best practice can be gathered to improve the efficiency of future activities in the secondary flow management sphere. This workshop is expected to have very practical discussions, for example the impacts of fences and permitted buildings, hazards identification and risk assessments for secondary flowpaths.
The outcomes of this workshop are to capture the shared and collective wisdom of the attendees which will then be summarised and circulated to interested people through WaterNZ and/or future conferences. Learnings and outcomes from the workshop have potential for direct application in attendees work areas, either as council officers, designers or contractors. With significant amounts of future infill housing proposed in areas that may never have sufficient primary networks to avoid property flooding, the importance of secondary flowpaths becomes critical for resilient communities.