In collaboration with the City of Monash’s engineering design team, SVC developed a kerb inlet prototype designed to passively irrigate street trees using stormwater collected from the road. This unique system also filters out primary and secondary debris particles from the stormwater, providing an innovative solution to reduce the need for manual watering.
Stormwater collected in the kerbside drainage channel is diverted into a dual chamber catch pit via an 8mm pedestrian-safe grate, preventing leaf litter and heavy debris from entering the unit. The stormwater then passes through a 6mm debris screen followed by a removable 1mm fine mesh basket, which effectively captures and filters the medium and fine particles in the water. The fine mesh basket is covered with a solid top access cover that can be easily removed for access, with the mesh basket itself also easily lifted out to be cleaned and maintained.
The filtered stormwater exits the precast catch pit and enters the sub-surface drainage system where it travels into an underground vault system, providing water to irrigate the street trees. This passive irrigation system significantly reduces the need for the manual watering of immature trees by council staff, introducing time and cost savings. Maintenance is simple and involves a 3-6 month cycle to empty out the lift-out silt basket, with the frequency of maintenance being conditional on the site environment (i.e. leafy suburb).
The passive irrigation kerbing prototype was installed on Atherton Road in Oakleigh as part of an initial field trial in 2019. Learnings from this and subsequent field trials have been very helpful in developing and refining the system, which led to the eventual launch of SVC’s official Monash Grated Inlet. Significant interest was generated from this project, which has encouraged installation at other sites in the City of Monash and beyond.
