Real world applications

Since music was first developed in 2001, the software has been used by thousands of urban stormwater professionals working in private practice and in state, regional and local government agencies throughout Australia.

music guidelines have been, or are being, written for a range of locations across Australia, including Melbourne, Sydney’s drinking water catchments, South East Queensland, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Mackay, Perth and Darwin. Environmental and engineering consultants around Australia use music every day to design urban development proposals that meet Water Sensitive Urban Design standards. music is even being used to look at the effects of wetlands in agricultural catchments near the Great Barrier Reef.

• Who uses music?
• Case studies

Who uses music?

Melbourne Water - eWater Partner
Melbourne Water manages Melbourne’s water supply, sewerage, water courses and drainage systems throughout the Port Phillip and Westernport region. Melbourne Water uses music to assess land development proposals and to design stormwater treatment strategies for new and existing drainage schemes. They have also used music to develop a simpler STORM tool to assist with smaller developments.

Brisbane City Council - eWater Partner
The guiding principles of Brisbane City Council’s Water Management Strategy are centred on achieving smart and responsible water cycle solutions which includes managing stormwater through Water Sensitive Urban Design. Brisbane City Council uses music for urban catchment planning, and to design new stormwater treatment measures in the city.

BMT WBM - eWater Partner
To meet the needs of the environment and community it is essential that urban drainage systems are designed as a total solution. The key is integrating the practices of flood management, water sensitive urban design, stormwater quality control, community needs and preservation of the natural environment. BMT WBM offers an integrated approach, developed by specialists in those fields, which is crucial if total solutions to urban drainage are to be designed.

Sinclair Knight Merz - eWater Partner
Sinclair Knight Merz is a leading water environmental consultancy, with a growing global environmental practice. We have qualified environmental scientists, engineers, planners, economists, hydrogeologists and social scientists with specialised skills in all facets of environmental management. Our objective is to develop ecologically, socially and environmentally sustainable projects.

Design + Planning at AECOM - eWater Partner
Design + Planning at AECOM is working to meet water needs and obligations responsibly, from helping ensure adequate long-term supplies, to preserving wetlands, to applying innovative water sensitive urban design (WSUD) techniques that embrace stormwater management, wastewater minimization and potable water conservation.

Great Lakes Council, New South Wales
Great Lakes Council in New South Wales used music to look at the effects of WSUD both in new developments and in existing urban areas to protect the sensitive Wallis Lake, part of the Great Lakes system.

Storm Consulting
‘music enables us to keep up and keep ahead. We want to be innovative in our field of stormwater and alternative and sustainable water sources.’
Mal Brown, Director and Environmental Manager, Storm Consulting

Gandy and Roberts Consulting Engineers, Tasmania
‘music is a rapid development modelling tool for water quality assessment of stormwater treatment systems. I can quickly develop stormwater models and concept designs. It is well suited for the information that is normally available.’
Dr Colin Terry, Gandy and Roberts Consulting Engineers, Hobart

Eco Urban
‘music adds value as an analysis and an estimation tool for water urban sensitive designs which otherwise would take me longer to develop myself. It gives a quick look of nutrient runoff and sizing wetland parameters to check a typical water sensitive urban design.’
Dan Raymond, Principal, Eco Urban

VDM Group
‘music is good value and makes it easy to demonstrate compliance with the water quality objectives of councils or regulatory authorities, and compare the effectiveness of different treatment systems.’
Steven Chamberlain, Environmental Engineer, VDM Group, Queensland

Opus International Consultants Ltd
‘music is a requirement when doing stormwater management plans for developers and councils. It should be used in the early conceptual planning of all development sites. music is a useful tool, easy to use and works well.’
Tony Loveday, Technical Principal - Stormwater, Opus International Consultants Ltd

Fraser Coast Regional Council
‘I use music in storm water drainage designs. I find the music interface straightforward and it has a good learning guide. There is good science behind the product.’
Chris Raymond, Senior Design Technician - Stormwater, Fraser Coast Regional Council

Breese Pitt Dixon
‘Breese Pitt Dixon produce civil design plans for urban developers. It is a requirement of Melbourne Water to use music to model the performance of stormwater treatment systems, and it has to be provided as part of the conceptual design prior to the detail design. We get approval from Melbourne Water by using music to model stormwater treatment systems. music is the standard.’
Greg Easton, Design Engineer, Breese Pitt Dixon, Melbourne

AECOM Civil & Water Group
‘With music I am able to put a cost on different stormwater treatments to meet the same water quality criteria. music is a powerful decision making tool for stormwater treatment systems and it has a good graphical interface.’
Dr Christian Zammit, Principal Environmental Scientist - Water Resource Management, AECOM, Perth

Arup Infrastructure Design
‘I use music to check that a road design project meets the water quality objectives set by the relevant catchment management authority, such as Melbourne Water. The music analysis contributes to the overall project design.’
Mark Bridger, Senior Highway Engineer, Arup, Melbourne

BCS
‘music is a good piece of Australian software, a great product and easy to use. It is universally accepted by the local and state governments and as a water quality standard in Victoria.’
Jon Buckle, Civil Engineer, BCS, Melbourne

Department of Environment and Resource Management
‘I have been provided with output from music which has filled a significant information gap in a whole-of-catchment study. I am not aware of any other software product which would have produced this data for the urban part of the catchment’
Vivienne McNeil, Department of Environment & Resource Management, Queensland

Case studies

	BMT WBM Maroochydore Library for Sunshine Coast Regional Council, Queensland Nominee - 2009 Healthy Waterway Awards, Water Sensitive Urban Design Category At Maroochydore, where the Maroochy River had shown signs of stress, including impacts by excessive stormwater runoff, BMT WBM assisted the Sunshine Coast Regional Council in retrofitting multiple WSUD elements into existing areas around the Maroochydore Library. The elements include porous pavements and bioretention systems as well as grassed swales, rain-gardens and rainwater tanks. music was a key tool for site selection and design stages.
	Eco Urban ‘music adds value as an analysis and an estimation tool for water sensitive urban designs which otherwise would take me longer to develop myself. It gives a quick look of nutrient runoff and sizing wetland parameters to check a typical water sensitive urban design.’ Dan Raymond, Principal, Eco Urban
	Storm Consulting Ashgrove Residential Estate, Regents Park, New South Wales Winner, Stormwater Industry Association Award for Excellence in Stormwater Management, 2008 This development of a large area of former industrial land features an award-winning stormwater management plan that successfully addresses significant constraints in relation to the stormwater system.
	Storm Consulting, Exfiltration Stormwater Treatment System In partnership with Hornsby Shire Council, Kiama Council, CABP, UTS and HydroCon. Winner, Stormwater Industry Association Award for Excellence in a Stormwater Quality Measure, 2008 Storm Consulting has developed the award-winning ‘Exfiltration Stormwater Treatment System’, an advanced stormwater treatment system where the stormwater goes through a pipe wall, then leaks out through another filter to a sand filter. The stormwater system has been applied in many locations including Ashgrove Residential Estate, Kiama CBD project at Hindmarsh Park and Kinross Business Park which is an industrial estate in Newcastle, New South Wales.
	AECOM, Tapping into Singapore’s urban stormwater The ambitious project to turn Singapore’s fully urbanised environment into a water supply catchment is attracting attention from around the globe. Singapore’s Public Utilities Board (PUB) has commenced to convert Marina Bay, in the heart of the city, into a freshwater reservoir fed by stormwater runoff from a third of the metropolis. Professor Tony Wong and colleagues at Design + Planning at AECOM have been advising PUB on the implementation framework for water sensitive urban design in the catchment, and the latest science from the Facility for Advancing Water Biofiltration (FAWB) at Monash University and music have assisted in its development.
	VDM Group, Genesis Development, Coomera, Queensland Water Sensitive Urban Design - Major Award Winner 2006, Stormwater Industry Association, Queensland The award-winning Genesis Development is regarded as one of the most significant projects of its kind in Queensland.
	Breese Pitt Dixon, Point Cook Gardens Estate, Point Cook, Victoria Begun in 1998, Point Cook Gardens Estate comprises over 1000 allotments and contains a wetlands, for water quality control, of more than 5 hectares. Other major reserves provide extra open space. Board walks surround the wetlands area, creating a tranquil environment.
	Breese Pitt Dixon, Koolamara Waters, Ferntree Gully, Victoria Located in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges, Koolamara Waters estate takes in 100 home sites and features 14.2 hectares of parkland and wetlands.
	Opus International Consultants: Eight sites for fast food outlets in Queensland Opus is engaged in designing stormwater management plans for eight restaurant sites in Queensland for a major fast food chain. Development Applications for the sites are to be submitted to Councils.