Tom Bateman Wetlands, Thornlie

The need for earth fill for the construction of Roe Highway, adjacent to the Tom Bateman Sports Complex, provided the opportunity to create an artificial wetland to improve the quality of stormwater leaving the Canning Vale Industrial Estate.

Water quality from the Industrial Area had long been known to carry an unacceptable nutrient and pollutant load. Stormwater drainage previously entered the Sporting Complex grounds ate what is now the south-eastern corner of the intersection of Nicholson Road and Roe Highway. It immediately turned north to leave the Complex to exit via the then Bannister Creek drain into Djarlgarra (the Canning River).

The wetlands were designed to extend the "contact time" of stormwater by intercepting the water before it left the Complex, and taking it on a journey through vegetated wetlands before leaving the site. Construction was undertaken at no cost to the City by the Roe Highway contractors in exchange for the soil that was excavated, which now sits beneath Roe Highway.

The Tom Bateman Constructed Wetlands now take stormwater on an extended journey of more than a kilometre through the northern part of the City's Sporting Complex. This significantly extends the opportunity for the water's contract with vegetation and sediment, and has been shown to greatly improve the quality of the stormwater.

The wetlands are managed by the City, the South East Regional Centre for Urban Landcare and the Armadale Gosnells Landcare Group. They have developed into a richly diverse landscape that, in addition to its water quality achievements, provides much-needed waterbird habitat.