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Articles on drainage systems

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A tidal drain at South Yarra, Melbourne, in 2008. The installation of litter-trapping equipment now prevents access. Photo: Victoria Kolankiewicz

What lies beneath: tunnels for trafficking, or just a subterranean service? Time to rescue these spaces from the conspiracists

What was once the stuff of urban legends now spreads virally through social media claims the tunnels beneath our cities are used for child trafficking. The truth is both more mundane and important.
When a stream enters a culvert, the flow can be concentrated so much that water flows incredibly fast. So fast, in fact, that small and juvenile fish are unable to swim against the flow and are prevented from reaching where they need to go to eat, reproduce or find safety. Shutterstock

How did the fish cross the road? Our invention helps them get to the other side of a culvert

Our new invention tackles one of the greatest impediments to fish migration in Australia: culverts, those tunnels or drains often found under roads.
A drain carries water but does little else, but imagine how different the neighbourhood would be if the drain could be transformed into a living stream. Zoe Myers

More than just drains: recreating living streams through the suburbs

Drains take up precious but inaccessible open space in our cities. Converting these to living streams running through the suburbs could make for healthier places in multiple ways.

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