Waverley Council: Strengthening Stormwater Resilience with Data-Driven Asset Intelligence

Waverley Council manages one of the most densely populated coastal areas in Australia, where steep terrain, ageing drainage assets, and increasingly intense rainfall events create ongoing stormwater management challenges. With properties, roads, and coastal environments at risk, Waverley has committed to a long-term strategy that improves the resilience, reliability, and performance of its stormwater network.

As part of its Stormwater Drainage Asset Management Plan (2025–2036), the council is transitioning toward more predictive, evidence-based practices. To support this shift, Waverley adopted the Vapar AI to streamline stormwater inspections, capture network-wide condition data, and prioritize renewals based on real risk and performance outcomes.

About the Client

Waverley Council covers just 9 km² in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, yet supports more than 78,000 residents, major tourist destinations such as Bondi Beach, and complex hillside drainage paths.

The council manages:

• 100+ km of stormwater pipes
• 3000+ pits
• Ocean outfalls, culverts, GPTs and coastal drainage structures

Given Waverley’s coastal topography and limited redundancy in the network, effective stormwater management is central to community safety, environmental quality, and infrastructure longevity.

Project Snapshot

Waverley Council partnered with VAPAR to digitize and accelerate its stormwater condition assessment program.

Highlights:

• 850+ inspections uploaded into the platform
• 13.75 km of stormwater network assessed
• 11,000+ features automatically identified
• Automated condition grading and defect categorization aligned to renewal prioritization
• Data feeding into long term 10 year renewal and risk reduction planning

The Challenge / Opportunity

Waverley’s stormwater network faces multiple pressures:

• High rainfall intensity due to coastal microclimates
• Ageing pipes requiring clearer visibility of condition and performance
• Dense urban development with limited space for renewals
• Increasing expectations for environmental protection and hazard mitigation

Traditionally, inspection data was slow to process and difficult to consolidate, delaying renewal decisions and limiting the council’s ability to strategically prioritize high-risk assets.

To address these challenges, Waverley sought a technology solution capable of:

• Centralizing all stormwater inspection data
• Automating defect detection and condition grading
• Supporting risk-based renewal planning
• Feeding accurate, repeatable insights into its Stormwater Drainage Asset Management Plan (2025–2036).

The Solution

By implementing Vapar AI, Waverley Council modernized its stormwater inspection and review workflow, enabling each inspection to be uploaded, automatically analyzed, and classified using consistent defect codes. AI-driven tagging provided instant visibility of structural concerns such as cracks, deformation, infiltration, and blockages. The platform also supported the creation of a complete digital condition profile across 13.75 km of drainage network, giving engineers network-wide insights that were previously difficult to access without extensive manual review. Using VAPAR’s risk-based workflow, assets with high structural grades (4 and 5) were automatically flagged, supporting timely and more effective allocation of maintenance and rehabilitation budgets.

Results

Through its partnership with VAPAR, Waverley Council achieved major improvements in speed, accuracy, and strategic planning capability:

📌 13.75 km of stormwater pipe assessed

Providing a comprehensive baseline for future renewal cycles.

📌 11,000 features identified and classified

Delivering unprecedented visibility of network health.

📌 850+ inspections processed through a consistent workflow

Driving improved decision making and faster turnaround from field to insight.

📌 Strengthened 10 year renewal investment planning

VAPAR data feeds directly into risk-based modelling in the AMP (2025–2036).

📌 Enhanced stormwater resilience

Supporting Waverley’s goals for improved service performance, flood mitigation, and coastal environmental protection.

Conclusion

Waverley Council’s adoption of the VAPAR AI demonstrates a strong commitment to proactive, evidence-driven stormwater management. By integrating automated defect identification,streamlined inspection workflows, and data-supported prioritization into its operations, the council is better equipped to protect its community, extend asset life, and invest intelligently in future renewals.

The result is a more resilient stormwater network built on accurate data, transparent decision-making, and modern asset management practices aligned with the Stormwater Drainage Asset Management Plan 2025 to 2036.

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