Industrial Stormwater Quality Monitoring Report

Tony Barrett, Max Pfitzner / City of Kingston

10/03/2008

The City of Kingston undertook this work as part of the Better Bays and Waterways project (water sensitive urban design and best management practices) to further explore the causes of industrial stormwater pollution and build upon the findings and recommendations of Council’s earlier work.

A stormwater quality monitoring programme was developed and implemented to determine the level of contamination in the industrial sub-catchments. This also provided an invaluable benchmark for use in future water quality monitoring programs. The results of this survey revealed continuous levels of ‘background pollution’ with heavy metals and hydrocarbon contamination present even at small sub-catchment level.

Council provided support for businesses and gained credibility by providing real and practical solutions to stormwater management issues. This support, combined with the acceptance of local government enforcement provided a successful foundation for any future role.