forecast WSUD asset budget planning: Brimbank CITY council
Case study: Forecasting for cost of maintenance of WSUD assets to deliver benefits to community
Wave Consulting Australia collaborated with Brimbank City Council to develop a comprehensive Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) asset forecast plan. This encompassed the 245 existing WSUD assets recorded in their asset management database.
Forecasting WSUD budget
Wurundjeri lands, Melbourne
Key facts
Brimbank City Council will continue to design, build and maintain WSUD assets
Maintenance cost of a WSUD asset varies from $100 to $5000 per visit, depending the area, location, and complexity of the asset.
The problem
Brimbank City Council has 245 WSUD assets, which includes rain gardens, tree pits, wetlands, swales and rainwater tanks. But it has been difficult to maintain to date.
Without appropriate maintenance, these assets tend to reduce in performance due to factors such as:
sedimentation
reduced vegetation coverage
compaction.
As a result, Brimbank required a thorough asset management plan.
The solution
Modelling costs to maintain WSUD assets
Wave Consulting Australia undertook a thorough modelling exercise of the costs to maintain WSUD assets, by factoring in the age, condition (based on a past audit) and in some instances results from hydraulic conductivity testing.
Extensive financial modelling determined that the cost to maintain the assets over the next 10 years (including rectifications and renewals) would rise to over $500,000 a year.
But this would deliver significant benefits to the community and environment.
The outcome
The WSUD budget forecast plan produced by Wave provided Brimbank City Council with expert modelling that effectively prioritised and estimated budgets necessary to enhance and maintain asset conditions, whilst supporting a robust waterway strategy.
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