Water Sensitive SA, South Australian and other guidelines.
Water Sensitive SA guidelines
Stormwater management guidelines for small-scale development
A guide to rainwater tank size selection for Kent Town PDF
Raingarden planting palettes – fact sheet PDF
A guide to raingarden plant species selection and placement PDF
Green roofs and walls – fact sheet PDF
South Australian guidelines
Technical manual for water-sensitive urban design in Greater Adelaide – December 2010
Other guidelines
Design
Adoption guidelines for stormwater biofiltration systems and Summary Report | CRC for Water Sensitive Cities, 2015
Maintenance of WSUD systems
WSUD maintenance guidelines. A guide for asset managers PDF | Melbourne Water, 2013
Lifecycle costing
Water sensitive urban design Life cycle costing data, Fact Sheet PDF | Melbourne Water
Guide to the cost of maintaining bioretention systems | Water by Design, Healthy Waterways, 2015
Water sensitive urban design
Urban typologies and stormwater management – achieving a cool, green, liveable Western Parkland City PDF | Sydney Water
Design of biofiltration
The CRC for Water Sensitive Cities released the Adoption guidelines for stormwater biofiltration systems in July 2015. This document provides a comprehensive guide to:
- What are stormwater biofiltration systems and how do they work?
- The business case for biofiltration: Performance for water treatment, benefits and cost-benefit analysis
- Technical considerations: setting management objectives, biofilter function and processes and conceptual design
- Key design configurations: lined and unlined systems or combinations
- Design procedure: sizing, hydraulics, media, vegetation selection and stormwater harvesting
- Practical implementation: designing for successful maintenance, monitoring
The full guidelines are available on the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities website. Note: this version is best viewed on screen as images may not be of a suitable quality to print. Print quality versions will be available for purchase from the CRC in the future, if required.
Plant species selection
When designing your raingarden a holistic design approach to vegetation selection is essential. Consideration of the placement of species in appropriate positions corresponding to inundation frequency and drought tolerance is needed in addition to other considerations such as trees and shrubs for shade, tap rooted plants to maintain filter media infiltration, spreading plants including herbaceous plants may negate the need for mulch.
For guidance on appropriate plant species native to the Adelaide region that are proven to be effective at nitrogen removal and for a selection of potential companion plantings to enhance the amenity of your raingarden, download our fact sheets:
A guide to raingarden plant species selection and placement (PDF)
Raingarden planting palettes fact sheet PDF
- WSUD projects map – search the “WSUD element type” field by “Biofiltration”
At least 50% of the plants you select for a bio-filtration raingarden must be effective at nitrogen removal to ensure suitable stormwater treatment performance of your raingarden. This fact sheet includes photo images of the various plant species to assist your plant selection, courtesy of The Atlas of Living Australia.
Other resources & guidance
- Our top 10 tips for a successful raingarden
Plant species selection for amenity and resilience in stormwater biofilters and wetlands seminar notes by Shaun Kennedy, SA Water.
- Hatt B and Le Coustumer S (2008)
Practice Note 1: In situ measurement of hydraulic conductivity PDF in: Condition assessment and performance evaluation of bioretention systems. Facility for Advancing Water Biofiltration.