Auckland Botanic gardens

Water sensitive design (WSD) is a nature-based solution to urban stormwater problems which involves intercepting rainfall and stormwater from impervious surfaces using a range of devices.

These devices rely on soils and plants to slow water flows, reduce water volumes and improve the quality of the water reaching our rivers, streams, lakes and oceans. Common devices used in Auckland, New Zealand are rain gardens and swales.

Auckland Botanic Gardens (ABG) has applied a variety of these devices, often in ‘treatment trains’ and focusing on the use of native New Zealand plants, to solve an on-site environmental problem.

You can read the full article about their effectiveness and function at Auckland Botanic Garden in an article published in Sibbaldia: The International Journal Of Botanic Garden Horticulture