Blue Factor reports
Blue Factor, formerly the STORM Calculator, is the small-site tool used on many Victorian planning applications to assess stormwater runoff, pollutants and treatment. We prepare the assessment and a report in the form your responsible authority can review. That helps reduce the risk of a late redesign. It does not guarantee approval.
Send us your town planning set and council. We'll confirm the report you need and the fee.
This page is part of Water Design. For when Blue Factor or MUSIC applies, see WSUD in Victoria: Blue Factor, MUSIC and when each applies.
Send the drawings, Victorian municipality, site area, whether public roads or substantial car parking are included, and any council request you already have.
Some councils operate voluntary stormwater offset schemes, and Blue Factor can provide an initial offset estimate. We do not invent offset rates, and an estimate is not an approved offset.
Drainage detailed design stays with the civil or hydraulic consultant. The design originator remains responsible for the design.
Blue Factor helps assess runoff, pollutants and the treatment measures needed against local stormwater quality objectives. Those objectives often draw on EPA Victoria's Urban stormwater management guidance (Publication 1739.1, June 2021). That publication is guidance; it does not itself impose compliance obligations. Your planning scheme and council set what they will accept.
The STORM Calculator has been replaced by Blue Factor for small Victorian developments. Existing STORM projects should be transferred where possible.
The tool's guidance recommends Blue Factor for sites up to 1 hectare. The simplified score is generally for small-scale residential and simple commercial or mixed-use developments with no public roads. Larger or more complex sites, and sites with public roads or car parking, should preferably use MUSIC. If Blue Factor is still used then, look at all of its parameters, not only the score. MUSIC remains part of Water Design. The score is a simplified total-nitrogen method for the low-risk types the tool describes, not a full MUSIC model or detailed wetland sizing. The service area is Victoria unless the software owner extends it.
Acceptance is project-specific. A strong score is evidence, not a permit, and it does not automatically meet Green Star Waterway Protection.
Blue Factor is owned and licensed by Microburst Software Pty Ltd. The specified authority is DEECA, Victoria. Melbourne Water notes the STORM replacement and publishes MUSIC guidance separately; it does not own Blue Factor and is not every project's drainage authority.
[Sound familiar]
STORM has been replaced by Blue Factor for small Victorian developments. We check whether Blue Factor is the right method for the site, then prepare the assessment and report.
Those sites should preferably use MUSIC. We check whether Blue Factor is the right method before modelling the wrong thing.
A strong score is evidence, not a permit. Acceptance is project-specific.
Send the Victorian site and any council request for a STORM or Blue Factor report.
We check whether Blue Factor is the right method before modelling the wrong thing.
You receive the report, annotated plan and assumption notes. Timeframes are confirmed at quote.
Yes. Blue Factor has replaced it for small Victorian developments. Existing STORM projects should be transferred where possible.
The tool's guidance recommends Blue Factor for sites up to 1 hectare. The simplified score is generally for small-scale residential and simple commercial or mixed-use developments with no public roads. Larger or more complex sites, and sites with public roads or car parking, should preferably use MUSIC.
No. Acceptance is project-specific. A strong score is evidence, not a permit.
Not automatically.
Blue Factor can provide an initial offset estimate where a council runs a voluntary offset scheme. We do not invent offset rates, and an estimate is not an approved offset.
No. Drainage detailed design stays with the civil or hydraulic consultant.
Send us your drawings, the Victorian site address, and any council request for a STORM or Blue Factor report.
