Kalparrin Gardens: stormwater harvesting project

In 2013 we rejuvenated the lake in Kalparrin Gardens in Greensborough, improving water quality and habitat for local wildlife as well as capturing stormwater to use on our local parks and sports fields.

The project is an innovative water conservation and quality improvement system that captures, treats and store stormwater underground and is part of how we ensure our open spaces have their own water supply into the future.

Find out about Kalparrin Gardens location and facilities.

Benefits

The Kalparrin Lake project harvests up to 17 Olympic swimming pools worth of stormwater per year, (worth about $110,000).

The system removes approximately 50 tonnes of litter, 120 tonnes of sediment, 700 kilograms of nitrogen and 200 kilograms of phosphorous from stormwater flows to Kalparrin Lake, the Plenty and Yarra rivers.

How it works

Stormwater is harvested from a main drain flowing into Kalparrin Lake, then treated, stored and distributed for irrigation use in neighbouring sport and recreation reserves at Partingtons Flat, Whatmough Park and Greensborough Park.

Innovative filtration design

The Kalparrin Lake project features a ‘double-decker' design with a wetland built on top of an underground storage which is partly filled with light volcanic rock called ‘scoria'. The stormwater is cleaned by the wetland and algae building up on the scoria and then further treated through a sand filter and ultra-violet light.

Construction

We excavated 9,000+ square metres for the underground storage. Equipment put to work included 6 excavators/scrapers, surface levellers, bulldozers, bobcats and trucks.

A video and photographs of the project during construction are provided to show the scale of what has been undertaken.

Find out about our work on integrated water management.