Item 9.7 – Flooding – Melbourne Water Overlay
We’re told the purpose of this paltry one page report is to “recommend further representations to Melbourne Water to improve drainage in areas susceptible to flooding” – in other words, another example of passing the buck, or the pretence of doing something following last Friday’s disastrous flood and the damaging media in this week’s Leader! The emphases throughout is on ‘MW drains’ and Melbourne Water responsibilities. What is unclear from the included map is where MW responsibility lies and where Council responsibility lies. The SBO came into force in 2002 and since then it appears that all Council has done is “made representations to MW asking it to improve capacity in order to avoid flooding of housing and businesses during intense rainfall.”
The recommendation is: “That Council make further representations to Melbourne Water and to the Government to improve Melbourne Water main drains to reduce the risk of flooding of housing and businesses”. In other words, more of the same!!
Far too much is left unanswered and unaddressed here. Firstly, how much of the flood damage is due to the drains ‘capacity’ to handle the volume of water, and how much is due to the lack of maintenance by council and its role to clear and clean drains? If the drains were largely free of debris, could much of the flooding have been avoided? Once again we have reports handed down that contain no detail, no facts or figures. All is smoke and mirrors and passing the buck It is far easier for council to simply lay the blame at the door of Melbourne Water and that’s the end of the story! Yet, on council’s own website there is this notice:
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http://www.gleneira.vic.gov.au/Page/Page.asp?Page_Id=222&h=1
The 2008/9 Annual Report tells us that of this 450 km of drains only 30 km were cleaned. And in 2009/10 the huge achievement of 25 km was reached. We figure that at an average rate of 30 km per year, this should take about another 10 years! Again by way of contrast, Bayside has a ‘Drainage Management Strategy’ as well as a ‘Municipal Emergency Recovery Plan’ – all available online. All Glen Eira can tell us is that it will continue to ‘update’ its Municipal Emergency Plan (Item 9.8) and that the ‘Plan is available for Councillors to view in the Councillors’ Room.” As for future ‘action’ – there is this ‘after the horse has bolted’ recommendation –
“During 2012 the MEMPC plans to develop a flood emergency sub-plan for the MEMP as well as review existing pandemic and heatwave sub plans”
What’s wrong with 2011? Or does Glen Eira live in the hope that nothing will happen in the next 2 to 3 years that would again reveal the shortcomings of maintenance and emergency planning?
Glen Eira Debates 
February 19, 2011 at 9:28 AM
FYI – what a ‘Drainage Plan’ could, and possibly should, look like. Taken from the City of Melbourne’s plan –
Major initiatives addressed by the Drainage Plan include measures to gain a greater
appreciation of current drainage asset condition, planning for asset improvements based on a risk based approach and an ongoing routine underground drain inspection program.
6. The provision of a drainage asset information system is a cornerstone to drainage works.Benefits would include assisting with strategic planning, risk management, access to depreciation information, analysing maintenance history and flooding events and access to reliable and accurate information for staff and customers.
7. Measures to improve stormwater quality are multi-faceted involving the installation and ongoing maintenance of infrastructure (such as litter traps), education programs for schools,residents and businesses and compliance activities.
8. The Plan outlines the importance of measuring the effectiveness of the actions and proposes methods for continual monitoring of the success of the plan. This will act as a feedback loop in the planning process and provide avenues to amend actions if outcomes are not being
achieved.
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Does Glen Eira have anything even vaguely resembling the above? If so, why isn’t it publically available?
February 19, 2011 at 12:43 PM
I simply don’t understand why every important policy which affects staff and therefore the public is kept secret – especially when this is not the case by countless other councils and organisations. I would be extremely interested to know what policies exist that ensure we get value for money from workers and officers.
February 19, 2011 at 10:46 PM
You’ve answered your own question Anon. Keeping things secret means that noone gets to know if you’ve done things according to Hoyle or whether you’ve cut a few corners to get your desired result. The public is no wiser since they’ve got nothing to compare the event/process to. You have to know what the standard is in order to know if there’s a cover up or a major stuff up. Keeping this kind of info out of the publics hands is worth a mint. Just imagine all the claims, all the complaints, all the other possibilities if we were ever told our rights and the kind of services we should expect. Ignorance is definitely bliss for Newton and his gang of four.