Verge soakers
Water is a precious resource and we are harnessing every opportunity we can to limit its waste in our region.
We are using a range of water smart features in our streets, like verge soakers - a type of water infiltration system.
Verge soakers are leaky storage crates, also known as ‘kerbside infiltration units’, ‘water wells’, or, in the City of Burnside, ‘B-Pods’.
They are positioned underground near street trees and plants.
There are different types of verge soakers, such as street tree inlets that divert and capture water into leaky crates. The ‘roof to tree’ type shown here connects to down pipes, so when it rains, water from the roof flows into the pipe, travels underground, and is captured by the verge soaker. This prevents some water from being washed away into the stormwater system, and promotes local use.
Verge soaker with its lid off for maintenance
The captured water slowly releases into the soil so it can be used by plants and street trees in the verge. This helps to keep them healthy, and in turn, they provide our homes, roads and footpaths with shading and cooling during the hot summer months. With climate change, our region continues to experience lower average rainfall, so it is even more important to capture and use as much water as we can.
A verge soaker, close to a street tree.
A ‘roof to tree’ verge soaker is installed by carefully digging a hole in the verge, without damaging any existing plant roots, and placing a leaky crate inside. The crate is connected to the downpipe coming from the house or building. It is surrounded by filtration material (usually small rocks) which help to spread the flow and direction of water. Any excess water overflows back into the pipe and into the stormwater drain. The soaker is covered by an inspection plate to allow for council cleaning and maintenance.
see them in action!
The City of Burnside shows their B-Pods - a ‘roof to tree’ verge soaker they have been installing since 2008, and now have over 250 in their area!
City of Burnside have too many locations to list! Here’s just a few:
Hauteville Terrace, Eastwood
Tudor Street, Dulwich
Union Street, Dulwich
Treloar Avenue, Kensington Park
These systems water trees and reduce the speed and volume of stormwater flowing into creeks. The create holds 105 litres of runoff from household roofs.