Macquarie Park Catchment

The Macquarie Park catchment includes Mars Creek, Shrimptons Creek, Industrial Creek, Porters Creek and Lane Cove catchments. All catchments are tributaries of Lane Cover River. The total catchments area is approximately 1558 hectares (15.58 square kilometres) and covers the suburbs of Marsfield, Macquarie Park, Ryde and North Ryde. The area has a history of damaging floods, most notably in November 1984. 

Council has completed the Macquarie Park Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan, which aims to reduce the flood risks to existing property and future development.

Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan

The Macquarie Park Floodplain Risk Management Plan recommends a series of floodplain management measures to be implemented within the catchments. 

The Plan is the culmination of a lengthy process. 

The first step was the preparation of a Flood Study to determine the nature and extent of flood problems. A computer model was developed to simulate flood behaviour throughout the study area. The community’s comments on the model’s simulation of the November 1984 and February 1990 flood events were used to fine-tune the model. The model was then used to simulate flood behaviour in ‘design’ events, such as the 100 year flood. 

Second was the preparation of the Floodplain Risk Management Study, which evaluates options for addressing the identified flood problems. The options include measures to modify flood behaviour, measures to reduce the exposure of people and property to floods, and measures to improve people’s response to floods.

View the Study & Plan

View Flood Study Report - April 2010

Provides information on the modelling used in the study. 

• Cover page, table of contents and executive summary(PDF, 218KB) 
• Chapter 1: Introduction(PDF, 74KB) 
• Chapter 2: Catchment description and previous studies(PDF, 141KB) 
• Chapter 3: Establishment of computer models(PDF, 112KB) 
• Chapter 4: Modelling of historic floods(PDF, 119KB)
• Chapter 5: Design flood modelling(PDF, 223KB) 
• Chapter 6: Acknowledgements(PDF, 80KB) 
• References(PDF, 92KB) 
• Glossary(PDF, 105KB) 
• Figure 1: Study area(PDF, 933KB) 
• Figure 2: Study catchment plan(PDF, 447KB) 
• Figure 3: November 1984 West Ryde Temporal Pattern(PDF, 46KB) 
• Figure 4: Simulation of November 1984 flood(PDF, 3MB) 
• Figure 5: February 1990 West Ryde Temporal Pattern(PDF, 3MB) 
• Figure 6: Simulation of 1990 Flood(PDF, 3MB) 
• Figure 7: Simulation of 20 year ARI Flood(PDF, 3MB) 
• Figure 8: Simulation of 100 Year ARI Flood(PDF, 11MB) 
• Figure 9 Simulation of PMF Flood(PDF, 4MB)
• Figure 10: Study area flow locations(PDF, 25MB) 
• Appendices(PDF, 2MB) 

View Final Report - February 2011 

Provides background on the consultation process, a summary of flood behaviour, flood damage assessment, evaluation of floodplain management measures and the resulting recommendations

• Cover page, table of contents, executive summary(PDF, 368KB) 
• Chapter 1: Introduction(PDF, 1MB) 
• Chapter 2: Background Information(PDF, 7MB) 
• Chapter 3: Community Consultation(PDF, 424KB) 
• Chapter 4: Flood Behaviour Summary(PDF, 4MB) 
• Chapter 5: Flood Management Assessment(PDF, 15MB) 
• Chapter 6: Evaluation of Floodplain Management(PDF, 12MB) 
• Chapter 7: Floodplain Risk Management Plan(PDF, 130KB) 
• References(PDF, 97KB) 
• Glossary(PDF, 113KB) 
• Frequently Asked Questions(PDF, 94KB) 
• Appendices(PDF, 2MB) 

For more information on flood risk precincts, maps, flood levels and the preparation of floodplain risk management plans, see the Macquarie Park Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan Frequently Asked Questions(PDF, 91KB).