Managing stormwater flooding risks in Melbourne
Overview
This audit examines Melbourne’s stormwater drainage system and the shared responsibilities of a range of public authorities whose role it is to manage the risk to the city of stormwater flooding. This audit focused on the performance of Melbourne Water and six councils in managing their drainage systems to effectively mitigate the risk of overland flooding. Five inner suburban councils, Bayside, Boroondara, Darebin, Glen Eira and Stonnington, were selected because they have a large number of properties in flood-prone areas built before the late 1970s before drainage capacity standards were increased. Casey, an outer metropolitan council with significant recent growth, was also examined to determine whether the design of modern subdivisions provided effective flood protection from up to a 100-year storm event.