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Would it have killed them to design this playground with some drainage?

For some time I’ve had my doubts about the competence of the City of Maribyrnong engineering department, specifically the people who design and manage drainage.

This is because in the eight years I’ve known Marita, the section of street in front of her house has always flooded at the merest hint of rain.

These doubts have not been quelled by the sight of this brand new playground near the Farnsworth Avenue, on Sunday morning. Granted the playground is not quite complete, but surely adequate drainage is not something that is added at the last minute?

New park in Maribyrnong underwater

Look! It’s Nessie!
New park in Maribyrnong underwater

At least there’s a life buoy. It might well be needed.
New park in Maribyrnong underwater

By Daniel Bowen

Transport blogger / campaigner and spokesperson for the Public Transport Users Association / professional geek.
Bunurong land, Melbourne, Australia.
Opinions on this blog are all mine.

8 replies on “Would it have killed them to design this playground with some drainage?”

Hmmm … well I do drainage design for a living amongst other stuff!! I’d suggest having a low permeability soil surface surrounded by a bund in all directions wasn’t too good an idea!!

If you have a blocked drain in the street I’d contact the council. We had a rear-of-allotment drain blocked by the neighbour’s beloved fig trees (their roots are notorious for penetrating pipes) and a rat problem under the house as a result every time it rained. Two days later council were out with a root boring machine and problem fixed!

Some councils are better than others though on this matter. The City of Greater Dandenong has all drainage assets on a GIS database and so had a printout of there the pit and pipe system ran when they came.

While I understand how difficult it can be to get levels correct for drainage (ok, my paving wasn’t perfect, but I tried) I am surprised how many times supposed professionals seem to get it wrong, especially asphalted car parks. I suppose it all comes down to the budget.

Daniel
Not to worry. The local council staff who approved the design and the contract to build the playground met all their performance indicators and got a bonus. So what’s the problem?

Brings to mind trying to park on the 2nd level at Fountain Gate SC. Whoever designed that car park needs their a*** to be kicked and I might just do this with the gum boots which I need to wade through the water up there after it rains! :-)

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