A new dashboard is now available sharing lab results from the 2022 Fishermans Bend Innovation Challenge winner, Remix Raingardens.

Since May, the Remix Raingardens on Turner Street have been put to the test, filtering stormwater applied to the gardens. Water samples have been collected and tested in labs to understand how the gardens are performing. Across the board, all three Remix Raingardens are removing a good amount of phosphorous. However, the nitrogen levels aren't being reduced enough. This is not surprising as nitrogen is mostly removed by plants, which are still growing and getting settled in the new gardens.

The dashboard will be regularly updated with the most recent lab tests. The tests analyse the quality of the stormwater after passing through the gardens. On the dashboard, ‘poor’ means when there are more contaminants, ‘moderate’ means 0 to 45% reduction of contaminants, and a greater than 45% reduction of contaminants is 'good'.

Overall, the gardens are performing better than the last round of tests. However, based on standards published by the National Water Quality Management Strategy, they are not performing as well as conventional raingardens. This is consistent with data from our nursery tests which took five months to stabilise and perform the required filtration of a raingarden.

There have been two rounds of lab tests already and another round of tests will be shared soon. We will update the dashboard and share progress over time. We predict the next tests will show an improvement in their performance.

The dashboard will also be updated to include data from some of our sensors including water level sensors and soil moisture sensors. We will also be adding data about the average plant health per raingarden. Currently, all plants are healthy, however we are closely monitoring them.

To stay updated and get behind-the-scenes footage follow Remix Raingardens: Repurposing local waste for good, or follow @remixraingardens on Instagram.