Transcript for Stormwater and drainage workplace interview

[Speaker: Emily Plymin]

My name's Emily Plymin. I work in the Stormwater Policy Team at DEECA. I've been in this team since around mid-2020 and been in the broader water sector since late 2017.

What do you love about working in water?

I love working in water. Firstly, because it's integral to everything we do. It's central to our way of life, and everyone in the community needs water whether they think about it or not. But I think more importantly, it's a constantly evolving, really broad space. No matter what you wanna do or what interests you, there's probably something you can do in the water sector and that's what I love about it.

What is stormwater harvesting?

If you live in a city or a town, no matter where you are in the state or across the world, you are probably surrounded by stormwater and stormwater infrastructure without even realising it. As we build cities and towns, we create hard surfaces where there used to be soft surfaces.

Rain would fall on the ground, infiltrate through, and eventually, slowly make its ways to rivers as what we call base flow. When we cover those surfaces with concrete for roads, with buildings and roofs, that rain can't soak into the ground anymore. So, we drain it away and it makes its way very quickly to waterways as stormwater. This changes the water cycle pretty dramatically and impacts on the health of those waterways and the species that live in them and rely on a certain amount of water flowing at all times.

Right now, what we're trying to do is look at stormwater as an opportunity. You know, if we can harvest stormwater and stop it from reaching the waterways, store it and treat it, we can actually use it as a beneficial resource. So, parks and gardens can be irrigated with stormwater, so your local oval can stay green all year round, no matter what sort of water restrictions might be in place in future.

For example, we know that as Melbourne grows outwards, and we start to develop new areas that haven't been developed before, some streams that currently support, you know, species of platypus and those sorts of things will have more stormwater drain into them. And that might mean that platypus get pushed out of these areas and can't live there anymore. So, improving stormwater management is really vital to supporting Victoria's nature and biodiversity.

Who is involved with your job?

I work most closely with councils and water corporations, but more broadly, I also work quite closely with some Traditional Owner groups across the state, with catchment management authorities. Sometimes with community groups. There's a really wide range of organisations who are involved in water cycle management, and so my team and teams around me try to bring all those organisations together.

What technology is used across drainage and stormwater?

More and more recently we are seeing technology being used in really new and exciting ways to better manage stormwater. So, for a long time we have used spatial mapping and modelling to predict the impacts of urban development, building new cities and towns, on stormwater generation and waterway health.

Recently my team used AI to model hundreds of different scenarios at once. So, we were looking at urban development and the best stormwater management techniques to manage the stormwater run-off from that. AI allowed us to look at all those scenarios at once, find the best solution for each case, and we are using those results to inform the policy and regulation that we are developing. for Victoria.

Some councils and Melbourne Water have started using drones to inspect their stormwater constructed wetlands. So, they fly the drone over and they can very easily see how the vegetation is doing. Perhaps if they need to replant some of the areas, or even if there's blockages and buildup that's affecting the wetland's function. Using the drone, they can easily see those areas and fix them as needed.

How might I see stormwater in action?

One really simple example of a stormwater asset that's commonly used in Victoria is a rainwater tank on your home. So, when new homes are built, or even if you already have a home, you can add one on, having a rainwater tank collects rain that falls on your roof, and you can then use that to flush your toilets, wash your clothes and water your garden.

And what that does is it prevents that water from your roof from then flowing into the street into the drainage system, which would then make its way into the local waterway. So, you, by having a rainwater tank and using that water at home, you're actually preventing storm water from being generated in the first place. And as an added benefit, you save water.

The second is that you can walk around your local neighbourhood and when you know what you're looking for, stormwater management's actually all around you. In some areas of Melbourne, you can actually see where councils and Melbourne Water have started daylighting creeks. So, turning what were pipes underground or concrete channels into a more natural waterway. And I think seeing those real on ground examples and seeing how nicely they turn out is one of the things I love about working in stormwater.