Treatment MeasuresSwales : Treatment Performance

The curves below show pollutant removal performance expected for buffers with varying degrees of buffer protection within the treatment measure.

These curves are based on the Melbourne hydrological region and it is expected that different hydrological regions will result in varying treatment performances. The size of the treatment measure can be simply adjusted to ensure suitable performance in other regions throughout greater Victoria. These adjustment factors are provided in Chapter 2 of the WSUD Engineering Procedures (PDF 691kb).

These curves are the basis to the STORM tool, a web based system for assessing the performance relative to best practice objectives for TN.

Melbourne (reference site) Swale TN Removal Melbourne (reference site) Swale TSS Removal

Swale treatment nodes using 1%, 3% and 5% bed slopes were modelled using the following parameters:

Treatment Measure Values used in Music 3.0
Swales Base width = 2.0m
Top width = 6.0m
Depth = 0.5m
Vegetation height = 0.250m
Seepage loss = 0.00mm/hr
TSS k:8000, C*:20.0
TP k:6000. C*:0.130
TN k:500, C*:1.4
Melbourne (reference site) Vegetated Buffers TN Removal Melbourne (reference site) Vegetated Buffers TSS Removal

The curves were derived using the Model for Urban Stormwater Improvement Conceptualisation (MUSIC) (Cooperative Research centre for Catchment Hydrology 2003).

The curves were derived assuming the systems receive direct runoff (ie no pre-treatment) and have the following characteristics: