Featured paper
Walsh, C. J., Imberger, M. J., Burns, M. J., Fletcher, T. D., & Bos, D. G. (2022). Dispersed urban-stormwater control improved stream water quality in a catchment-scale experiment. Water Resources Research, e2022WR032041.An outcome of the Little Stringybark Creek experiment, which aimed to test if creeks downstream of stormwater drainage can be restored. 100s of rain-gardens that allow to water soak into surrounding soils and be taken up by plants, and rainwater tanks for harvesting, were installed in two suburban catchments. Comparing water quality before and after installation, in experimental streams, and in urban control and reference forested streams, we showed that filtering and harvesting stormwater reduced summer temperatures and reduced concentrations of phosphorus and nitrogen, critical contaminants for healthy streams. The reductions were greatest in dry weather, and after small amounts of rain. To achieve water quality similar to forested streams, we need rain-gardens and harvesting systems that catch runoff from nearly every roof and road upstream. Achieving that will require reserving space near pipe outlets to streams for final treatment systems, and finding ways to use the excess water generated by roofs and roads. DOI: 10.1029/2022WR032041
Projects
Little Stringybark Creek Project
Wetland Forest Restoration
My Raingarden diary
Recent posts
Raingarden diary
Work and home life are blending as I attempt to practice what I preach in our newly renovated home. The tank and raingarden system in our new house is teaching me a bunch of new lessons, which I thought are probably worth recording. So, I’ve begun a separate diary about it.
A big step forward – escape from Optus
Happy days! We are finally moving out of our rental house, meaning that we can at last part ways with Optus as an internet service provider.* So, with a new IP address, urbanstreams.net can finally drag itself out of a dark, unvisited corner of the internet, with a proper URL….
Compromising normal human activities
An insightful perspective from Jonathon Green on the ABC website today on the ongoing dismal state of Australian politics. He concludes: “As the IPCC says, climate change, unchecked, will destroy the economy we recognise. Isn’t that what we can read beneath its anodyne, phlegmatic phrasing: “compromising normal human activities”? The…
Attention: Sen. Brandis
Another pertinent contribution from xkcd to the dismal state of Australian politics. As Mr Monroe notes in his footnote for this cartoon “…someone once said that defending a position by citing free speech is sort of the ultimate concession; you’re saying that the most compelling thing you can say for…
This site is maintained by Chris Walsh,
Principal Research Fellow in the Waterway Ecosystem Research Group,
School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences at The University of Melbourne.
He lives in Richmond, where he obsesses about his
house's stormwater runoff.
His research contributes to the Melbourne Waterway Research-Practice Partnership.
Other resources for Chris's research include:
Google Scholar,
The Open Science Framework,
GitHub,
The University of Melbourne's 'Find and Expert' page.
Contact details.
Waterway Ecosystem Research Group,
School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences
The University of Melbourne Burnley Campus
Building 903, 500 Yarra Boulevard
Burnley Victoria 3121, Australia
Tel: +613 8344 9155
Fax: +613 9349 4218
e-mail: cwalsh@unimelb.edu.au
For directions to the WERG,
click on the pointer in this version of the map.
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