Brown Hill Keswick Creek Stormwater

Brown Hill, Keswick, Glen Osmond and Parklands Creeks are important drainage watercourses in metropolitan Adelaide. The creeks have a relatively high flood risk, a history of flood events and a low standard of flood protection. Their combined catchment is mainly contained within the local government areas of Adelaide, Burnside, Mitcham, Unley and West Torrens.

In February 2017, the State Government, five local councils and the Stormwater Management Authority (SMA) reached a historic agreement on a $140 million infrastructure project to safeguard against flooding in the Brown Hill and Keswick Creek catchment.

The flood mitigation works detailed in the Brown Hill and Keswick Creek Stormwater Management Plan will reduce the number of properties affected by a 1-in-100 year flood event by nearly 98 per cent. The infrastructure project will deliver about 73 full-time jobs during construction.

The plan will also yield more than $240 million in community benefit in terms of damage mitigation, reducing flood impacts on Adelaide Airport, minimising economic disruption, and improving stormwater quality across the catchment.

The councils and State Government have called on the Commonwealth to contribute funding toward the project, and will be actively lobbying for this contribution in order to expedite construction and reduce the burden on ratepayers.

The State Government has agreed to fund 50 per cent of the required works via its Stormwater Management Fund over the next 20 years.