Stormwater Management

Stormwater is the rainwater that does not soak into the ground, but travels over the land and into the drains, pipes and creeks and on hard surfaces such as driveways, paths and roofs. The water collects and is passed into small pipes that enter our road gutters. This water enters one of Council's 19,600 drainage pits before being conveyed underground along some of the 407km of piped drains within the Local Government Area.

This water, along with all the pollutants it has picked up, is eventually transported into the 65km of natural creeks or 13.4km of open channel that form the lifeblood of our catchment. From here, the majority ends up in Parramatta River, and then Sydney Harbour.

There are three stormwater management plans that include: 

• Central Business District Stormwater Asset Plan
• Commercial and Industrial Stormwater Asset Plan
• Combined City of Parramatta Stormwater Management Plan

Stormwater pollutant traps across the City

We've installed 169 pollution control devices to help reduce the amount of litter, sediment and organic pollution entering our waterways.

Council has also constructed 18 vegetated rain gardens and/or bio-filtration systems to further improve stormwater quality within urban streetscapes, parks, and town centres.

Council’s gross pollutant traps (GPTs) collect litter from the stormwater system. The traps are the last chance to catch litter before it ends up in our waterways and does nasty things to our water quality and our wildlife.

Council has 37 GPTs and our catchment team has started a new project to determine what is causing the litter in the upstream catchment. Results will help them identify sources of pollution and measures to help clean our waterways. 

For more information on GPTs see our Gross Pollutant Trap project page.