Keeping your property safe from floods

Published on 20 July 2023

Council has started works to upgrade the Powhatan Park detention basin on Mimosa Road in Greenfield Park to keep homes in the area safe from flooding.

Fairfield City has a long history of flooding. Due to the large number of creeks and low-lying lands, more than a quarter of our City can be impacted by flooding during significant rainfall.

We can be thankful here in Fairfield City that flooding isn’t as bad in our suburbs as it could have been thanks to the work that we have done with detention basins and other waterway improvements. Since the major floods of the 1980s, particularly in 1986 and 1988, Council has worked hard and spent millions of dollars to protect our City from flooding.

Some of our major sportsfields like Stockdale Reserve in Abbotsbury and Bosnjak Oval in Edensor Park double up as detention basins. They may appear to be flooded, but this is what they are designed to do – collect the bulk of the rainwater and slowly redirect it into our creeks.

Upgrade of our detention basin at Fairfield Golf Course in Prairiewood is almost complete, and we have now started upgrading Powhatan Park and will soon start upgrades on two further detention basins. The Powhatan upgrade is jointly funded with the Australian Government. The sportsfields will remain open for use.

When the Georges River fills because of heavy rain, all creeks that drain into it rise and this stops street drains emptying, flooding our streets and homes. Our upgraded detention basins will better hold the rainfall until our creeks and drains can empty.

Homes are where we raise our families, where we invest much of our earnings and a secure place to come back to every day, it’s important we protect them as much as possible from the devastating effects of flooding.