The secret suburban stormwater drains being turned into vibrant public wetlands

If you take a walk around any established Australian neighbourhood, chances are you will come across barbed wire fences marked with signs warning people to KEEP OUT.

Behind the gates lies a stormwater drain — an essential suburban utility, but often a banal, neglected and sometimes vandalised eyesore.

But across the nation these so-called ‘dead spaces’ are slowly being converted from derelict wastelands into vibrant community waterways.

Over the past two years, Western Australia’s Water Corporation has worked with ten local…