Current Magazine April 2021

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technology

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community

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environment

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business

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technical papers

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DATA DRIVEN Water sector harnesses digital technology to better serve the community

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THE OZWATER’21 ISSUE

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32 PRESSURE BUILD-UP

A DIGITAL WORLD From artificial intelligence to efficient new uses of data, water utilities are discovering how new technology is transforming their operations

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RISING TO THE CHALLENGE

TRADITIONAL OWNERS

AQUATIC WILDLIFE

SOURCE DIVERSIFICATION

How the water industry kept going through COVID-19

Including Indigenous people in water management

Overcoming harmful effects of bushfires on animals

Greater challenges require resilient, adaptive systems

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HYDROGEN PRODUCTION

Q& A WITH PABLO K ANG

PFAS CONTAMINATION

THE LONG TERM

Perth plant converts biogas to renewable energy

How Australia is supporting clean water in Cambodia

A Northern Territory town in need of clean water

The enduring influence of a pandemic on infrastructure

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LIFTING THE ALERT

HEALTHY LAKES

ENERGY FROM BIOSOLIDS

24 Glasses – Regional Towns Water Supply Program

Seeing results from an effort to clean ACT waterways

A Logan City treatment plant goes energy neutral

Australian Water Association

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THE OZWATER’21 ISSUE

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AWA

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

BIOSOLIDS REUSE

OZWATER’21

A virtual AGM elects new leadership for the AWA

A new report demonstrates increasing resource recovery

The largest water conference in the Southern Hemisphere

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INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS

WATER AWARDS

How water policy can drive economic recovery

Supporting water work in South-East Asia

Congratulations to the 2021 National Awards finalists

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DRAFT WATER REFORMS

MENTORING

AWA advises on the National Water Intitative review

Two engineers forge a relationship in unusual times

Ozwater'21

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BREAKING THE DATA BOTTLENECK

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ACCEPTING RECYCLED WATER

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WATER PLANS FOR THE WEST

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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT

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THE ORIGINAL WATER INDUSTRY

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ACOUSTIC MONITORING

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INDIGENOUS WATER-SENSITIVE DESIGN

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SECURING WATER ON KIRIRRI

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FUTURE WATER SECURITY

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GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION SOURCES

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

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COVID RECOMMENDATIONS

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EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS: Acceptance of editorial submissions is at the discretion of the editors and editorial board.

TECHNICAL PAPERS: Submissions should be 3000–4000 words long and accompanied by relevant graphics, tables and images.

To submit a paper or for more detailed submission guidelines, please email journal@awa.asn.au NEWS AND FEATURES: News tips, submissions and press releases should be sent to kevin@mahlab.co COPYRIGHT: Current is subject to copyright and may not be reproduced in any format without the written permission of AWA. Email kevin@mahlab.co DISCLAIMER: The Association assumes no responsibility for opinions or statements of fact expressed by contributors or advertisers. Mention of particular brands, products or processes does not constitute an endorsement.

Head of Strategy, Member Engagement & Innovation / Deputy CEO: Kirsty Blades Email: KBlades@awa.asn.au Head of Communications and Corporate Services / Company Secretary: Bianca Petrevski Email: BPetrevski@awa.asn.au TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE: Dr Robbert van Oorschot (Chair), GHD; Ted Gardner; Dr Andrew Bath, Water Corporation; Dr Dharma Dharmabalan, TasWater; Robert Ford (rtd), Central Highlands Water; Dr Lionel Ho, Allwater; Karen Rouse, Water Research Australia (WaterRA); Dr Tim Muster, CSIRO Land and Water. Water e-Journal Coordinator: Sharon Hoang Email: journal@awa.asn.au is the official magazine for members of the Australian Water Association.

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Phone: (02) 9436 0055 Email: news@awa.asn.au

369a Darling St, Balmain, Sydney, NSW 2041 Managing Editor: James Chalmers Editors: Cecilia Harris cecilia@mahlab.co Kevin Gomez kevin@mahlab.co Creative Director: Gareth Allsopp Design: Juanita Field, Mark Gray Production Manager: Kathy Little Publishing Director: Jelena Li jelena@mahlab.co Advertising Manager: Lorcan Ryan lorcan@mahlab.co 8

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CEO

FROM THE CEO

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TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE “Our team and volunteers stepped up to the challenges presented and also embraced digital.”

Corinne Cheeseman Australian Water Association Chief Executive

W

hat a year! I joined the Association in May 2020 and it has been quite the journey – but I confess that I have loved every minute.

I started in the role just two weeks prior to Ozwater’20 Online, so it really was a ‘baptism of fire’. I was in absolute awe of the remarkable work the team did to keep Ozwater alive during COVID-19, and it was great to see our members respond so positively with more than 800 people participating virtually in our major conference and exhibition.

It is such a privilege to lead the Association in the industry I have enjoyed working in for so many years.

While meeting people face-to-face is my preference, the shift to virtual has allowed me to connect with my colleagues across Australia and overseas almost every day. Virtual meetings became the norm, and this allowed me to meet our Directors, Branch Presidents, volunteer committees, members and interstate staff despite travel not being an option.

While last year brought with it many challenges, we all adapted to working from our homes, and have become more connected, flexible and innovative. I am delighted with how our team and volunteers embraced digital – connecting our members across the country in different states and territories, regional areas and cities, and internationally with our partners in South East Asia.

Collectively we have stepped up to the challenges presented to us.

More broadly, our industry was acknowledged as essential and while the protection of public health is at our core, it was extremely pleasing to see the impact the water industry was having on keeping our communities safe. Premiers, Ministers and Chief Health Officers reported COVID-19 detection in wastewater data produced by our industry as

an indicator of community health.

Throughout it all, we continued to support our overseas neighbours in developing countries in their response and recovery to COVID-19.

This was made possible by the strength of the partnerships already in place, and our ability to embrace digital and adapt quickly.

On reflection we have much to be proud of and the future is bright.

The return of face-to-face events has been widely welcomed – you can feel the energy when we come together in person – we will also be taking on board what we have learnt about connection, flexibility and innovation moving forward.

The Association is working to become a more member-centric and digitally enabled organisation that will connect, share and inspire our members as we drive towards a sustainable future together.

I am particularly looking forward to the work we are doing with our members on Diversity and Inclusion – promoting women in water, supporting our LGBTIQ+ community through our partnership with Pride in Water, Indigenous Engagement, including the development of our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), and extending our reach into regional and remote areas. These initiatives all form part of Strategy’22 and are also relevant issues in the broader community. We have a great opportunity to be impactful as we deliver more in these priority areas over the following year and beyond.

Finally, we have a great opportunity, to engage with our communities and reimagine our water future in our recovery from the extreme events, health and economic impacts of the past 12 months. We will continue to profile our members’ stories, and showcase the fantastic work and talent that is among us.

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President

FROM THE PRESIDENT

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PASSING THE BATON President Carmel Krogh OAM reflects on her two-year term as President, acknowledging how inspiring the water sector has been through a very challenging time.

I

’m sitting at home watching very heavy rainfall outside my window and keeping an eye on the BOM radar, hoping we don’t get flooded in!

I can’t help but reflect on the fact that Mother Nature always has her way, irrespective of how ‘smart’ we make our lives.

This has been a strong theme in my thoughts as my two-year term as National President of the Australian Water Association draws to a close.

The intense weather events in various parts of Australia and the global pandemic set us all a new stage in which to play out 2019-2021.

The onset of COVID-19 added a new traumatic layer to some communities that were already reeling from drought, bushfires and floods, and the pandemic signalled that life had changed for us all.

Although I have proudly been involved in the water industry for more than 40 years and realised long ago that it was the only place to be, the past 18 months have highlighted just how special the water sector is.

Despite geographical challenges and uncertain political directions, we have come together in ways that set an example to many others.

Our volunteer committees across the country are more enthusiastic, committed and engaged than ever before and have refused to let COVID-19 drain their energy.

I have found that one of the effects of the pandemic has been to clearly demonstrate just how interdependent we are as an industry. Whether it is through supply chains, organisational partnerships or knowledge sources, we are connected in ways that could have been disastrously disrupted when physical travel was limited.

But we have all worked very hard to remodel the connection pathways and, as an Association we strive to support this.

What has also been made very clear is the need for face-to-face connections and the value that we place on actually being together to share our stories.

It has been a challenge to ensure that the pandemic and the responses to it have not created false divisions across our industry.

The Association has been conscious of our role to support the rich and diverse nature of all our members nationally. Never before has it been so necessary to understand and respect the differences between different states and different regions within states, but even more important has been the absolute need to come together as a national organisation and to show leadership in sharing knowledge across the whole water sector.

I believe as a sector that we have a very mature approach to seeking wisdom and direction from both within and outside our own individual paradigms. Our ability to empathise is founded on the essential nature of the resource of which we take carriage. I am very much looking forward to Ozwater’21 in May in Adelaide and sharing the event with as many colleagues as possible.

I will be handing over the reigns as National President to Louise Dudley at the close of the event, and the new Board will then be in place. I would sincerely like to extend my appreciation for the hard work of the current Board, in very challenging times, and particularly acknowledge the outgoing Board members: Francois Gouws, Jeremy Lucas and Jurg Keller.

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SHARE, CONNECT, INSPIRE Carmel Krogh OAM Immediate Past President

Jim Athanas

Peter Dennis

Kate Draper

Dr Sandra Hall

Kariene Maywald

Shelley Shepherd

Daniel Sullivan

Kevin Werskman

WELCOMING THE NE W AWA BOARD OF DIRECTORS New Board of Directors elected during Association’s first virtual AGM.

I

n October 2020, the Association’s first virtual AGM was held, attended by 104 members. During the AGM, the Board of Directors was elected for the next two-year term, from May 2021-May 2023.

National President and Chair, Carmel Krogh OAM, says the online AGM showed that despite the challenges COVID-19 has created, there have been some opportunities.

“The potential for future broadening of our communications for these types of key meetings is an important step in the future of the Association,” she says.

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Louise Dudley President

Ozwater'21

Ten positions were filled by: • Carmel Krogh OAM – Immediate Past President • Louise Dudley – President • Jim Athanas • Peter Dennis • Kate Draper • Dr Sandra Hall • Karlene Maywald • Shelley Shepherd • Daniel Sullivan • Kevin Werksman “I would like to thank all of the candidates who submitted applications for the Board. It was such a wealth of talent that made the task of the Strategic Advisory Council extremely difficult to fill the vacancies,” Krogh says.

Insights

A round-up of key developments in the world of water.

Australian Water Association is well positioned for the future.

DRAFT INSIGHTS RELEASED FROM NATIONAL WATER REFORM

WATER POLICY AN EXAMPLE OF INCREASING EMPLOYMENT AND ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

I

n the wake of COVID-19, the Australian Water Association (AWA) has developed recommendations for the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission, detailing how best to increase employment and economic activity.

The National COVID-19 Coordination Commission was launched to support the federal government’s plan for the country’s economic recovery.

The recommendations made by AWA broadly fall under three categories: water projects for regional economic development, water security, and capturing resilience from COVD-19 lessons learnt. Under all three categories, the recommendations aim to generate immediate employment, short-term stimulus for local communities and businesses, and strengthen water supply chains.

Importantly, AWA recommended the establishment of a national protocol on essential work, a new water industry National Code of Conduct on Procurement, and a water industry Code of Conduct for Communicable Diseases. This includes defining the ‘essential work’ undertaken by the water industry to help eliminate confusion or interruptions to the provision of water services going forward.

On top of this, AWA also recommended a more thorough community engagement plan regarding the value of water, particularly in the context of a pandemic.

The Australian Water Association (AWA) coordinated a member submission to the Productivity Commission on the review of the National Water Initiative.

A draft report has now been released, emphasising the importance of a nationally coordinated water reform. As a sector, water provides essential services to almost all Australians, delivering vital input to agriculture and businesses across the industrial and services sector, and plays an increasing role in the liveability of urban communities. The efficiency and quality of the services can have an impact on the national economy, the productivity of cities, and the health and wellbeing of Australians. The water sector’s importance cannot be ignored.

The recently released draft report shows that there is a compelling case for continued reform, recommending modernising and strengthening the framework to provide clear guidance to governments, communities and industries.

It also recommends improving community engagement and cultural water management practises, with many in the community believing water is no longer just about cleanliness, reliability and adorability, but also about enhancing liveability.

With regards to infrastructure, the report suggests new criteria for infrastructure projects, ensuring water as a resource will continue to meet the future needs of Australians and remain resilient in the face of climate change.

The draft report identifies the major water management issues to be addressed, including any future policy directions. The final report is due to be released in June 2021. For more information, go to pc.gov.au

Australian Water Association

15

SHARE, CONNECT, INSPIRE

Discover more. awa.asn.au

DELIVERING MORE VALUE FOR OUR MEMBERS The Australian Water Association (AWA) and Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) have been working together for decades to deliver opportunities for the water sector.

Since joining AWA as CEO, Corinne Cheeseman (R) has been meeting Executive Director of WSAA, Adam Lovell (L) to discuss areas to collaborate. At the beginning of 2021, AWA and WSAA held a joint Board meeting, discussing the areas where collaboration can provide greater benefits.

“Our continued collaboration and commitment with both associations will support our sector to be successful now and for the future,” says Carmel Krogh, President of AWA. This is supported by Roch Cheroux, Chair of WSAA who says: “Continuing to work together and leverage the strong foundations that both associations have established will help improve the industry’s performance and services for our customers and communities.”

BIOSOLIDS REUSE ON THE RISE

A

report released by the Australian and New Zealand Biosolids Partnership (ANZBP) has shown that resource recovery is on the map for water utilities. The Biosolids Production and Use Survey Summary shows that there has been a significant growth in beneficial biosolids reuse, increasing from 65 per cent in 2010 to 90 per cent in 2019.

The survey was commissioned

by ANZBP in 2010 and repeated in 2013, 2015, 2017 and again in 2019. By this time, more than 320 sites were surveyed in Australia, with a total person count of approximately 24.8 million.

Impressive examples include SA Water’s biosolids reuse performance and Melbourne Water. SA Water achieved 100 per cent beneficial reuse from 2010 to 2019. Wastewater Lead Asset Planner, Dr Nirmala Dinesh,

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Ozwater'21

explains that SA Water had been involved in biosolids reuse research since the mid-1990s, especially focusing on the beneficial reuse in agricultural farmland. “We wanted biosolids to help support our state’s farmers with its nutrient value, as our research proved it’s an effective organic alternative to chemical fertilisers,” Dinesh says.

Melbourne Water’s biosolids program continues to grow, with the utility focusing on other uses for biosolids, including in the production of bricks, cement and energy. Innovation and Partnership Senior Process Engineer Ellen Tao says the success of the application programs relied, and will continue to rely, on ensuring end users were supported throughout the process, and that in order for the burden of testing to be overcome, water utilities must work together.

Insights

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT, BECOMING A MEMBER–CENTRIC DIGITAL ASSOCIATION

Corinne Cheeseman Chief Executive Officer

Kirsty Blades Head of Strategy, Membership & Innovation

Paul Smith Head of International & Industry Programs

Lee Devereux Head of Events, Awards & Digital

Bianca Petrevski Head of Communications & Corporate Services

There’s no denying that 2020 brought its fair share of challenges. But one positive to come from the year that was is how the world, and the water sector, has embraced digital and technology. The Australian Water Association (AWA) itself embraced technology and virtual member engagement, with members responding enthusiastically. In fact, AWA has shown itself to be a leader through a new operating model that will mean the Association can become more member-centric and digitally enabled. The year ahead is sure to bring more opportunity to share, connect and inspire in new and different ways. As part of its new operating model, AWA has defined a number of new roles, in the areas of customer experience, data and digital. The Association is organised as follows: Strategy, Member Engagement and Innovation Group, led by Kirsty Blades, will drive member engagement, retention and growth, and focus on new products and services to enhance the member experience. The Communications and Corporate Services Group, led by Bianca Petrevski, will deliver communications, content and marketing activities. This includes programs such as National Water Week in October, as well as corporate functions including HR, IT, Finance and Corporate Governance. The Events, Awards and Digital Group, led by Lee Devereux, will deliver AWA’s events – both physical and digital – including awards, conferences, seminars, workshops and dinners from State based events through to Ozwater. And finally, the International and Industry Programs Group, led by Paul Smith, will focus on the expertise and experience of our members, delivers industry programs such as the Australian and New Zealand Biosolids Partnership (ANZBP), and continues to grow and strengthen our partnerships and impact though our International Program across Asia-Pacific, including Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia. Working together across our network of volunteers and members as ‘One AWA’, the Association will personalise member experiences using a data driven approach to understand individual preferences and deliver value. All the while continuing to deliver locally and connecting through its many committees such as Branches, Specialist Networks and the International Water Association Australia (IWAA) to inspire and drive a sustainable water future.

LENDING A HELPING HAND

B

etween five storms and two tropical depressions, Vietnam experienced heavy rains, floods and landslides in 2020, displacing 90,000 people and flooding more than 130,000 homes. In response, AWA coordinated with water utilities in Vietnam to deploy water treatment systems, to ensure safe drinking water was available to the victims.

Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, Robyn Mudie welcomes the initiative. “This initiative illustrates the deep ties between our countries’ water sectors and warmth of relationships between our people,” she says.

The Australian-manufactured technology provided 10,000L of safe water per day for schools and community buildings. The systems are designed to provide resilience from future floods.

In another example of international cooperation, the AWA, Vietnam Water Supply and Sewarage Association (VWSA) and Peak Water Supply Association of Indonesia (PERPAMSI) discussed approaches and lessons learnt across the Asia-Pacific as a result of COVID-19. Held virtually, water and wastewater utilities shared the challenges they had faced and the lessons learnt from the pandemic. The key focus is support for water operators to undertake their work in a COVID-safe environment.

This builds on the AWA Water Utility Improvement Program, connecting water utilities in Australia to counterparts in Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia.

Australian Water Association

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Events

Reimagining our Water Future Kauwipira Yangadlitya Mukapapanthi

4-6 MAY ADELAIDE Everyone is glad to see the back of 2020.

But what last year did demonstrate is the water industry’s ability to be resilient, adaptable, collaborative and supportive, despite everything thrown at it. We’re coming together at Ozwater’21 to ensure the industry stays this way and grows even stronger.

T

his year, Ozwater’21 is reimagining our future. The event will bring together industry professionals and leaders, inspiring delegates to embrace a more sustainable water future. And this year’s face-to-face program is not to be missed.

THE PROGRAM Among those headlining Ozwater’21 is Michael Fox, CoFounder of Fable Food Co and Simon Griffiths, Co-Founder and CEO of Who Gives a Crap.

Despite growing up as a selfconfessed meat loving Australian, in 2015, Fox became vegetarian for health, environmental and ethical reasons. For those attending Ozwater’21, Fox will share Fable’s journey and how the company is reimagining the future of food.

Day two will see Simon Griffiths take the stage. An engineer and economist turned social entrepreneur, Griffiths’s true passion is development aid. In 2012, he launched Who Gives a Crap, a toilet paper company that builds toilets in the developing world. Griffiths will be discussing lessons he has learnt from running a purpose-led business.

The program for 2021 features more than 200 technical presentations, 260 presenters and 238 sessions across the three days,

as well as interactive workshop and panel sessions.

For the under 35s in attendance, the YWP Program will connect and inspire you – the future of the industry – with a specificallytailored one-day program. The morning keynote presentation will be delivered by Dr Paul Satur, Australian Young Water Professional of the Year 2020.

New Zealand Young Water Professional of the Year 2020, Hannah Edmond, will also virtually be joining the session.

FACE-TO-FACE EVENTS There is also an active social component of Ozwater’21. Between the exhibition hall and networking events, you’ll be meeting familiar faces and new ones with every step. The exhibition, featuring hundreds of water industry products and services, is the largest exhibition of such products and services in the Southern Hemisphere.

And, of course, there’s the Gala Dinner, where winners for the Australian Water Awards will be announced.

On the back of a very successful 2020 digital conference, the Australian Water Association is looking forward to the water industry coming together again to share, connect and inspire.

Australian Water Association

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Reimagining our Water Future Kauwipira Yangadlitya Mukapapanthi

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REIMAGINING OUR WATER FUTURE

OZWATER’21 WILL FEATURE:

After the challenges of 2020, it’s never been more important for the Australian water community to come together to learn from, support and inspire each other.

3 days in Adelaide

238 sessions

8 daily streams

13 key areas

1

RESILIENCE AND WATER SECURITY Water conservation and demand management Climate and future water security Water resilience planning Water supply and catchment management Water supply and agriculture

SPOTLIGHT:

Go behind ColoSSoS, the game-changing COVID-19 sewage surveillance program, with the Next-Gen WastewaterBased Epidemiology workshop and panel, presented by WaterRA.

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2

SAFEGUARDING COMMUNITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH Explore everything from frameworks for recycled water purification, PFAS remediation, microplastics and more.

Microbiology Contaminants of concern

260 confirmed presenters >200 technical presentations 145 exhibitors

3

EXTREME EVENTS: RESPONSES, RECOVERY AND FUTURE PLANNING Both 2020 and 2021 have started with large-scale events that have highlighted the importance of utilities being prepared for unprecedented events.

Leading figures from utilities across the nation will delve into: Water quality Establishing emergency supply Response and planning

Events

4

ACHIEVING A CIRCULAR ECONOMY Momentum is only growing for the circular economy.

Leading academics, engineers and utilities will share their expertise on: Planning for a circular economy

5 ALMOST

70 SESSIONS

EXCELLENCE IN OPERATIONS, ASSET MANAGEMENT AND PROJECT DELIVERY Advancements in technology are changing what is best practice. Keep up-to-date with sessions on:

Benchmarking Partnerships and training

Sustainable biogas

Wastewater treatment

Resources recovery and more

Nutrient removal, biosolids and anaerobic digestion

Lifecycle planning Odour control Operations and water quality Digital operations Smart approaches to asset resilience and analytics

SPOTLIGHT:

7

Learn about: Outcome-driven approaches Integrating research Decentralised water supplies Socially inclusive design

IN ACTION:

Hunter Water’s new collaborative approach to development planning.

Understanding community needs

Water treatment

Recycled water and potable reuse

8

Energy transition in action: Capitalising on water assets for a zero-cost energy future Presented by SA Water.

Find out what really matters to our customers and then delight them.

Expectations vs. cost to serve

Condition assessment

Wastewater treatment plants

SERVING COMMUNITIES OF THE FUTURE

6

DELIVERING AN OUTSTANDING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Driving behavioural change

9

RURAL, REMOTE AND REGIONAL WATER Faced with ageing infrastructure, remote and rural water needs new solutions.

Prioritising funding based on risk Regional collaboration Dealing with toxic bacteria

INDIGENOUS ENGAGEMENT Tap into the knowledge that Traditional Owners possess for the benefit of all.

Healing relationships Using schools to change behaviour Success through collaboration and respect

4-6 MAY

Lessons from Canada

CASE STUDY:

Logan City’s RAP tested on complex infrastructure.

SEE THE FULL PROGRAM AND RESERVE YOUR SPOT AT OZWATER.ORG Australian Water Association

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AUSTRALIAN WATER AWARDS

Discover more. awa.asn.au

Congratulations to the 2021 National Award Finalists.

The winners will be announced at the Ozwater’21 Gala Dinner.

R&D EXCELLENCE AWARD

ORGANISATIONAL EXCELLENCE AWARD

• Development of Wastewater Epidemiology for NSW. Collaboration on SARS-CoV-2 Monitoring in Wastewater Sydney Water, WaterRA & Water Unit – NSW Health (NSW)

• Enhancing Resource Recovery Icon Water (ACT)

• Naegleria Fowleri in Drinking Water Distribution Systems CSIRO & Water Corporation (WA) • Northern Australia Water Resource Assessment CSIRO and collaborators (ACT) • Rapid Development and Implementation of a Wastewater Surveillance Tool for the Detection of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) SA Water & WaterRA (SA) • Victorian Collaboration on Sewage Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 (ColoSSoS VIC Node) WaterRA and ColoSSoS Project Partners (VIC) • Zero-Energy Sewage Treatment: Harnessing the Power of Biogas The University of Queensland, Urban Utilities, City of Gold Coast, SA Water, Water Corporation and University of Technology Sydney (QLD)

Proudly sponsored by:

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Ozwater'21

• Fulton Hogan Utilities’ Problem Based Learning STEM Program for Primary Schools Fulton Hogan Utilities (SA) • Global Challenge - Partnering to Invest, Influence and Tangibly Impact Sustainable Development Goal 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) Arup (NSW) • Regional Water Industry Worker Pilot Program Mackay Regional Council, Whitsunday Regional Council, Townsville City Council, Cairns Regional Council and Burdekin Shire Council (QLD) • Wara Paring Indigenous Civil Construction Project Aqua Metro Services and Melbourne Water (VIC)

Proudly sponsored by:

INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT INNOVATION AWARD (REGIONAL) • A Water Quality Digital Revolution Partnership for Bathurst D2K Information & Bathurst Regional Council (NSW) • Busselton Water Filtration Plant No. 1 Busselton Water & GHD (WA) • New Wastewater Treatment Plant for Murray Bridge (Brinkley) SA Water, John Holland & KBR (SA) • Ngukurr Leak Reduction Project Power and Water Corporation (NT) • Port Stewart Water Supply Arup and Centre for Appropriate Technology (QLD) • Torres Strait Islands Sustainable Water and Wastewater Management Plan Arup, Griffith University and Ganden Engineers & Project Managers (VIC) • Trevallyn Downstream Bypass Hydro Tasmania (TAS)

Proudly sponsored by:

Awards

Check watersource.awa.asn.au and subscribe to Source to see the winners

INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT INNOVATION AWARD (METRO) • Beenyup Advanced Water Recycling Plant Stage 2 SUEZ & Water Corporation (WA) • Bolivar Wastewater Treatment Plant Clarifier Upgrade Project SA Water & Aurecon (SA) • Cedar Grove Environmental Centre Logan City Council, Downer, WSP and Cardno (QLD) • Deriving Value Through Remote Access to Asset Information CH2M Beca and Western Water (VIC) • Geospatial Planning Tool Sydney Water, Arup, Aurecon and GHD (NSW)

Proudly sponsored by:

STUDENT WATER PRIZE • An Innovative Way of Treating Wastewater and Sludge Employing a Novel AmmoniaOxidizing Bacteria Genus Candidatus Nitrosoglobus Zhiyao Wang, The University of Queensland (QLD) • An Investigation into the Optimisation and Evaluation of Smart Ponds for Sludge Management Raveena Raju, The University of Western Australia (WA) • Controlling Hydrogen Sulphide and Siloxanes in Biogas for Enhanced Cogeneration Efficiency Chris Skellern, The University of Sydney (NSW) • Non-Revenue Water: The Effect of Pressure Reducing Valve Settings on a Reticulated Water Supply System Andrea Georgiou, Charles Darwin University (NT) • Storm Water Channels in a Water Sensitive World Kate Harriden, Australian National University (ACT)

Proudly sponsored by:

• The Development of Novel Nanofunctional Wastewater Remediation Strategies: Creating Clean Water for the Many, Not the Few Piumie Rajapaksha, RMIT University (VIC) • Use of Artificial Neural Networks and Fluid Transient Waves for Active and Passive Inspection of Water Pipelines Jessica Maria Bohorquez Arevalo, The University of Adelaide (SA)

AUSTRALIAN STOCKHOLM JUNIOR WATER PRIZE

Winner announced at Ozwater’21 Gala Dinner

Proudly sponsored by:

BEST WATER E-JOURNAL PAPER – IN HONOUR OF GUY PARKER

Winner announced at Ozwater’21 Gala Dinner

Australian Water Association

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AUSTRALIAN WATER AWARDS

YOUNG WATER PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR AWARD

WATER PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR AWARD

WATER INDUSTRY SAFETY EXCELLENCE AWARD

• Shannon Davies Environmental Engineer, AECOM (NSW)

• Deb Brown Director, Resilient Cities and Towns, Department of Environment Land Water and Planning (VIC)

• Confined Space Entry Simulator, Melbourne Water (VIC)

• Dr Joel Edwards Sustainability and Resource Recovery Coordinator, Icon Water (ACT) • Andrea Georgiou Water Services Engineering Graduate, Power and Water Corporation (NT)

• Dr Annette Davison Principal and Director, Risk Edge (NSW) • Chris Elliott Managing Director, Busselton Water (WA)

• Dr Lachlan Guthrie Research Fellow, International WaterCentre (QLD)

• Professor Jennifer McKay, Professor of Business Law, University of South Australia (SA)

• Kevin Massez Project Manager, Water Corporation (WA)

• Stephen Westgate Senior Water Quality Scientist, TasWater (TAS)

• Adela Parnell Asset Management Systems Lead, TasWater (TAS)

• Professor Zhiguo Yuan AM Director, Advanced Water Management Centre, The University of Queensland (QLD)

• Simon Roberts Senior Integrated Water Management Planner, CityWest Water (VIC) • Meena Yadav Site Engineer, Allwater (SA)

• Mental Health & Wellbeing Strategy, Barwon Water (VIC) • Our Performance Evolution Utilita (JV between Downer Utilities and Ventia) and Urban Utilities (QLD) • The Claw: Eliminating the Need for Confined Space Entry – Mackay Regional Council (QLD) • Water Meter Electrical Safety Simulation, Water Corporation (WA)

Proudly sponsored by:

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AWARD

Winner announced at Ozwater’21 Gala Dinner

Proudly sponsored by: Proudly sponsored by:

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Ozwater'21

Awards

STATE & TERRITORY WINNERS Congratulations to this year’s National Awards Finalists.

Join us at the Ozwater’21 Gala Dinner on 4 May 2021 to celebrate the sector’s most prestigious awards.

QLD

VIC

TAS

SA

NSW

ACT

WA

NT

Australian Water Association

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A thirst for knowledge and the benefit of hindsight has helped two young engineers forge a relationship with benefits that go both ways. Danika Smith and Rebecca Wong were paired up online during COVID-19 restrictions last year and have since connected every fortnight to learn from each other.

As told to Susan Muldowney

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Pic Credit: David Silva, Studio Commercial

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LEARNING FROM AND LEANING ON OTHERS

Mentoring

DANIK A SMITH

Graduate Water Engineer, ARUP MENTOR: Rebecca Wong, 30 CURRENT ROLE: Deloitte E XPERIENCE: 7 years

I studied environmental engineering at UNSW, and I didn’t really go into it with the intention of becoming a water engineer, but I had a family friend who worked in the industry.

When I needed to get some experience on my resume, she kindly took me through her workplace to show me what it was all about. I got a taste for water engineering from that experience and did an internship with a small consultancy, where I worked on a project that looked at watersensitive urban design.

FINDING A MENTOR

MENTEE: Danika Smith, 23 CURRENT ROLE: Arup E XPERIENCE: 2 years

“

I’ve been working with Arup for the past two years. I’m in the water team, and I really like the fact that we are providing a service for people and it’s one of those things that you can do all over the world.

I have a mentor through an internal program at Arup, and I intentionally picked someone who has no background in water. It was more to learn about how the company works.

But, last year, a friend of mine who had done the Australian Water Association (AWA) mentoring program recommended it and I thought it would be great to connect with someone who has worked in the water industry to learn more about it.

I wanted to deepen my understanding of areas of the industry that I’m not used to. It’s easy to work inside in a little bubble and understand what you need to do within it, but it can be hard to Danika Smith know what else is out there.

Rebecca and I were paired up for the program and, while she’s got a background in water, it’s been fascinating talking to her about how the skills can be used in other areas.

She’s got a real leadership energy

Rebecca has given me one of the best pieces of career advice I’ve ever received – that it’s important to be able to say ‘no’.

about her. She works at Deloitte and seems like she’s on top of everything, and yet she was willing to meet up with me every two weeks, which I thought was amazing because she is so busy. We had to hold our meetings online to begin with during COVID, but we’ve since met in person a few times.

Rebecca is very pragmatic, and she told me that a mentor-mentee relationship is a bit like dating, in the sense that someone can be a great person but might not be right for you.

THE PERFECT FIT I think AWA did a great job in teaming us up, and Rebecca has given me one of the best pieces of career advice I’ve ever received – that it’s important to be able to say ‘no’.

As a graduate, you often want to say yes to everything, which isn’t always possible. Rebecca taught me that you can still say yes, but you have to manage the expectations and indicate that what you can deliver may not be up to your usual standard.

That way, the person asking you to do something can determine whether that’s good enough for them.

I think Rebecca and I are similar in a few ways. We are both careeroriented and, as young women in a male-dominated industry, we’ve had some similar experiences.

Another great lesson Rebecca has taught me is how to avoid being expected to be the note-taker in meetings. I was interested in learning about project management and the advice I got from a colleague was to come along and take the notes and minutes during meetings. Rebecca has really helped me to work out how to navigate that expectation and avoid being stereotyped as the admin person.

I’ve gotten a lot out of the program so far and I’d like to do it again. It’s such a good way to learn about the industry and how to build your career from someone who is willing to share their experiences and their knowledge. Once I have some more experience behind me, I would definitely like to offer my services as a mentor.

Australian Water Association

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REBECCA WONG

Manager – Infrastructure Advisory and Contestability, Deloitte

“

I’m learning from Danika at the same time as she may be learning from me.

Rebecca Wong

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Ozwater'21

I’ve had so many good mentors throughout my career and I’ve always wanted to give something back.

That’s the main reason I joined AWA’s mentor program. I think it’s really helpful to have someone impartial to talk to, who understands what you’re going through at work and can give you advice about how to handle different situations. It’s much harder to try to figure everything out on your own.

A HELPING HAND Danika is great. She is super highenergy and proactive with a very positive attitude. She definitely has a huge drive to learn and improve, and move up the career ladder. She’s also very diligent. Every time we catch up, I feel like she has a million questions ready for me, which is great. I find it quite motivating, actually, that she finds what I have to say helpful.

It’s interesting talking to someone like Danika who is just starting out in

her career – we’ve talked about lots of things I’ve learnt along the way.

One example I gave her was how to contribute and add value at meetings rather than being seen as a notetaker. With the benefit of hindsight, there are definitely instances where I could have contributed towards project discussions and asked those difficult questions.

I think having a bit of experience working with the water industry has helped me understand the nature of Danika’s work but because I now work in a different area, I can advise her a bit differently. I studied civil engineering and commerce at UNSW, and our conversations have mainly been around how to handle different scenarios and situations.

I can apply some of my experience to Danika’s work, even if it is in a different environment. I think it has been useful to explain how skills can translate across industries, and Danika is interested in learning about that.

LEARNING FROM EACH OTHER We keep the sessions quite fluid, but Danika comes with her research and she is quite prepared, which has also really helped me. I don’t think I’ve told her this yet, but it makes me want to be a better mentee to the mentors I have. I see the value of being a bit more organised when I have my conversations with my mentors these days, and bring them more details in terms of what my day-to-day looks like and ask advice on how to handle some difficult situations. So I’ve definitely found it valuable. I’m learning from Danika at the same time as she may be learning from me.

I’ve also really liked how the whole program has been run.

Considering that it started in a virtual environment for us during COVID restrictions, the program has done a really good job in setting everyone up together, and then following up with monthly emails and suggesting topics we could talk about. I’d recommend it to anyone.

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Technology, research and trends

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COLLABORATION AND COVID

CASE STUDY: HAZER PROCESS

The water sector had to remain resilient in the face of a global pandemic.

Commercial demonstration plant to produce hydrogen and graphite.

32

HARNESSING THE POWER OF DATA In today’s ever-evolving digital world, with artificial intelligence, real-time data insights and innovation, technology is paving the way for operational benefits, especially within the water sector. Utilities are proactively monitoring and managing water networks, enhancing customer service offerings.

To discover more innovation news, visit watersource.awa.asn.au/category/technology/innovation Australian Water Association

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HARNESSING THE POWER OF DATA It’s a digital world out there, with artificial intelligence, real-time data insights and digital innovation paving the way for transformation.

And the water sector is benefiting.

By Martin Kovacs

Discover more. awa.asn.au

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Innovation

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igital technologies are paving the way for a range of operational benefits within the water sector, with utilities increasingly using real-time data insights to proactively monitor and manage water networks. These insights can be harnessed to enhance customer service offerings, and utilities pursuing digital transformation stand to benefit by prioritising customer expectations.

Customer-centricity is a key feature of digitalisation, with a new breed of online-based businesses having set the bar for service quality. And, while these digital enterprises may be structured to be inherently more service-focused than their predigital counterparts, customers are nonetheless demanding more transparent, interactive and easyto-use offerings across all sectors.

DATA IS E VERY THING

Data is key in this rapidly evolving digital landscape. Utilities need to ensure they have systems in place that support effective end-to-end data management. This will facilitate efficient and flexible decisionmaking and can be integrated as required with the customer-facing end of operations.

As noted by Sean Cohen, SUEZ Water Senior Manager, Smart Water, the greater focus on service provision means utilities no longer have the option of simply getting on with operations in the background.

“It’s only very recently that there has been any expectation at all about any kind of innovation or customerfacing responsiveness from water utilities,” Cohen explains. “People’s interest is starting to pick up, and they’re realising that in most of Australia, there are really not many points of connection that customers have to water consumption and production, where it goes and what it costs.”

“

Technology is just an enabler – it’s actually about the data.

Corinne Cheeseman, Australian Water Association

HANDLING CUSTOMER E XPECTATIONS

Cohen points to a number of convergent factors that are both contributing to a wider shift in customer attitudes towards service provision in the water sector, and compelling utilities to re-examine their service offerings. He notes that customers not only have a growing range of digital tools at their disposal at a household level, but are also becoming more proactive about managing consumption, especially amid a focus on sustainability.

“The sustainability revolution around utilities like water, and the energy revolution around renewables, has really opened people up to paying attention,” he says. “The water industry is also being touched by the customercentric smart-home Internet of Things (IoT) revolution, and people have gotten used to the idea of looking upon their own private infrastructure as something that needs to be thought about.”

Greater transparency about consumption can help customers moderate their usage and deliver cost-saving benefits, with Cohen also highlighting the potential to raise awareness at a broader community level about sustainability issues.

He observes that utilities are increasingly focusing on how data can be used to both cater to customer interests and drive Australian Water Association

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IMPORTANT! EFFECTIVE IWM IS NO LONGER A PIPE DREAM

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Our unique approach to IWM ensures that your water network is effective, spatially connected, and the foundations are robust from the outset. Our five-step process takes an in-depth examination of your piped network, ensuring the fundamental data is established and an effective IWM plan can be achieved. We undertake this by utilising GIS network analysis, data integration, environmental engineering, and

best-practice asset management that allows for continuous improvement and successful IWM outcomes well into the future.

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Innovation

behavioural change, and points to a natural intersection of operational and customer-focused outcomes.

“Having a digital utility doesn’t mean you have to use it for a customer-facing activity – most of the benefit that you’ll get from the digitisation of the water network is operational,” he says.

“However, if you have a smart water network that reports a few times a day, or every hour or 15 minutes, it gives you a closer sense of where the water is going. People are led from smart metering and smart water to the customer space.”

The customer-centric rhetoric is supported by many others.

With customers now demanding more comprehensive service offerings, Grant Dixon, KPMG Executive Director, National Water Lead, observes that utilities need to ensure their offerings measure up to the standards set by other sectors.

Dixon says utilities should be especially aware of customer expectations in seeking to avoid issues related to organisational practises, values and effectiveness.

“If you end up being dramatically out of step with customer expectations, it starts to become a reputation-trust issue,” he states.

“Customer satisfaction is a pretty standard way of assessing performance, and increasingly we’re seeing regulators in the water sector also much more mindful of the customer’s perspective in relation to overall services, not just the core services.”

ASK THE E XPER T S: THE CUSTOMERS

Transitioning to a data-focused, customer-centric approach will typically be underpinned by significant cultural change within an organisation, and Dixon points to the importance of drawing on customer feedback to drive changes in operations.

“Feedback processes are great seeds of opportunity to identify areas that need more attention,” he says. “If you’ve got new digital tools, which are more flexible,

“

If you’ve got new digital tools, which are more flexible, they can also more efficiently allow for change in the way a business works.

Grant Dixon, KPMG Executive Director, National Water Lead

they can also more efficiently allow for change in the way a business works.”

Meanwhile, smaller and regional utilities in particular may not only be limited in their capacity to trial new innovations, but also hesitant to upend long-established processes and integrate digital technologies amid cost concerns.

However, Dixon notes that as the pace of digital change has accelerated in the past five years, the marketplace has also become more varied, with there now being a growing pool of knowledge for utilities to draw on.

“The level of collaboration and sharing in the industry allows smaller water businesses to access ideas, solutions and approaches that are proven, have been seen to work, and have been evaluated against the local need,” he explains.

“While there are constraints in terms of investment dollars, capacity and experience for some smaller businesses, I think some of the solutions will be found in that collaboration space, and by working with organisations such as the AWA and WSAA.” Water Corporation has undertaken extensive customer engagement amid its transition to digital platforms in recent years, which General Manager Customer and Community Group, Karen Willis, says has helped both guide its investment decisions and improve its service offerings.

Among these initiatives, Water Corporation’s Voice of Customer survey collects more than 60,000 pieces of customer feedback annually, delivering the

E X PER T ADVICE

Here are four broad steps utilities can take to prioritise customer feedback when undertaking digital transformation.

1

ENSURE THAT AN INVESTMENT PLAN IS UNDERSTOOD AND AGREED TO BY CUSTOMERS.

2

INCORPORATE THE CUSTOMER VOICE INTO THE DESIGN PROCESS.

3

IMPLEMENT SYSTEMATIC FEEDBACK PROCESSES.

4

REGULARLY MONITOR CUSTOMER FEEDBACK ONCE ANY CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE.

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“

The water industry is also being touched by the customercentric smarthome Internet of Things (IoT) revolution, and people have gotten used to the idea of looking upon their own private infrastructure as something that needs to be thought about.

Sean Cohen, SUEZ Water

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utility a window into customer preferences and potential pain points. “These surveys are provided across a range of different touch points and channels, including telephone, email, website and faceto-face interactions,” Willis explains.

“The results are analysed to identify where we are performing strongly and where we can improve.”

This ongoing engagement has provided additional scope for Water Corporation to weigh up customer expectations as it has rolled out a number of new digital initiatives.

By way of example, Willis highlights the key role customer engagement played in Water Corporation’s development of

an online outages map, which consolidates outages and issues data in one easily accessed location.

“It has improved transparency and trust with customers, helped reduce call volumes to the operations centre, and helped the operations team improve their processes and data quality,” she explains.

A wider overhaul of Water Corporation’s digital offerings saw the utility relaunch its website last year, bringing together a range of functions via the one platform, with Willis stating the website has been designed to deliver customers a “seamless and sophisticated experience”.

“It was a project of significant

Innovation

complexity, integrating data, functionality and content from seven different systems owned by different parts of the business,” she says.

“Most importantly, the new platform has been imperative in supporting our customers during the COVID-19 pandemic, where we have been able to respond swiftly to provide new financial relief services and information online.”

Sydney Water incorporates real-time customer feedback into its operations.

PRIORIT Y ONE

With digitalisation continuing apace in comparable sectors, AWA CEO, Corinne Cheeseman, emphasises that now, more than ever, it needs to be a priority for the water sector, and points to a “massive opportunity that industry has probably not fully tapped in to yet”.

Against this backdrop, Cheeseman observes that water businesses are now faced with the challenge of navigating a digital environment in which customer expectations around service provision are already firmly entrenched.

“Customers know what’s possible and want to have ease of access at a time that’s convenient, to get what they need as quickly as possible with the least amount of effort.

That’s where you tap into digital,” she notes.

Beyond operational and customerfacing benefits, Cheeseman notes that digital transformation can lay the groundwork for wider cultural benefits within an organisation, facilitating free-flowing exchanges of information and more seamless organisation-wide interactions.

However, when integrating digital technologies, she emphasises that businesses should not lose sight of the fundamental importance of being able to effectively manage and use data to deliver a range of specific outcomes. “Technology is just an enabler – it’s actually about the data,” she says. “It’s about the data that the business

CASE STUDY

SYDNEY WATER CUSTOMER HUB: FOCUSING ON THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Sydney Water’s Customer Hub has been in operation since 2017, delivering the utility a real-time overview of its operations and the customer experience, and allowing it to proactively engage with and support customers.

Customer Hub Manager, Darren Cash says customers increasingly expect utilities to be aware of any potential issues before they need to be reported, and to subsequently keep them in the loop via regular status updates.

“Our customers expect that we will keep them informed through various technology means,” he comments.

“Gone are the days of a water interruption happening and customers having to call up to get information.”

Cash says the Customer Hub incorporates a Spatial

Hub, which displays data from different systems geospatially, and a SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system, with Sydney Water also exploring the use of Internet of Things (IoT) sensors to deliver additional network insights.

Highlighting the importance of wedding digital technologies with cultural change, he explains that Sydney Water had expressly set about creating a system that incorporates real-time customer feedback and provides scope for it to be acted on.

“It really does help to shift the culture,” Cash states.

“Keeping the customer informed and making a personal connection are the two easiest things that can be done to increase the focus on the customer experience.”

Australian Water Association

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CASE STUDY

YARRA VALLEY WATER: EMPOWERING CUSTOMERS

Discover more. awa.asn.au

“

Customers know what’s possible and want to have ease of access at a time that’s convenient, to get what they need as quickly as possible with the least amount of effort.

That’s where you tap into digital.

Corinne Cheeseman, Australian Water Association

needs to make quick decisions, and to also personalise or customise interactions and experiences by knowing what customer needs are.

It helps with capture and access to data, however it’s about the people being able to analyse that data or have the data in their hands to make decisions quickly and efficiently.”

INNOVATING THE FUTURE

BY CHANGING THE CULTURE Cheeseman notes that as digital technologies continue to evolve and become more widely available, more opportunities will, in turn, open up for businesses to connect with customers.

She also emphasises the importance of cultural change and encouraging innovation. “Businesses need to get the data in order, and they’ve got to understand more about their customers. However the biggest challenge is promoting employee mindset and capability change,” she says.

“Being agile and an innovation 38

Ozwater'21

culture is also really critical. Staff need to feel they can play and learn, and test and fail, because that’s how innovation happens.”

A new wave of workers now entering the industry also has the potential to usher in a new era of digitalisation, with Cohen observing that this next generation is, as a rule, more accustomed to dealing with digital technologies and diverse data sources.

In addition to this, he points to the potential for the Australian water sector to look overseas and learn from the experiences of utilities in international markets.

“We’re a couple of years behind in Australia, however we can look to the rest of the world and cherrypick the good stuff,” he says.

“Water utilities need to be in control of their destiny, as there’s a whole world of the free movement of data, including the insights you can get into a business and the improvements you can achieve with customers.”

Yarra Valley Water’s (YVW) ongoing digital water meter trial in Melbourne’s Vermont South area is providing the utility with data insights it can use to both facilitate greater customer engagement and assist with network management.

Digital Metering Divisional Manager, Raghu Bharadwaj (below), says the trial, under which approximately 2000 meters have been deployed, is primarily structured around delivering improved customer experiences.

“Our focus has always been dominated from a customer perspective,” he explains.

“What information, products and services customers want, and how and when they want to receive them.”

Bharadwaj points to the importance of securing customer feedback, as YVW seeks to refine its suite of digital offerings and provide an increasingly customerfocused service.

The metering technology allows YVW to deliver customers a more detailed insight into their household consumption patterns, which can be accessed online in near real-time.

“We’ve also developed a mobile app, presenting all this data to customers, along with leak notifications, and they also get tips based on their consumption patterns, the size of their family and the season,” Bharadwaj says.

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Wastewater sampling. Image courtesy Water Corporation.

COLLABORATION AMIDST COVID

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe personal and economic impact on Australia.

Yet, despite the negative effect there have been some positive outcomes, as the water sector has risen to the challenge to keep Australians safe.

By Cole Latimer

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Innovation

AS OF 31 MARCH 2021 THE WORLD HAS RECORDED

128,540,982 CASES OF COVID-19 + 2,808,308

C

OVID-19 has been an unprecedented event that caused much of Australia to grind to a halt almost overnight.

However, not all of the country shut down.

Essential services, like water utilities and wastewater management, continued to operate to support our communities.

While COVID-19 presented unique challenges to the industry that required it to swiftly adapt and evolve, it is not the first time the water sector has had to shift to meet new or old trials, such as droughts, heatwaves and fires as well as floods and cyclones.

There is a critical need for the industry to build resilience in the face of Australia’s typical dynamic risks as well as those atypical ones, such as COVID-19.

The steps taken by the water sector in the wake of COVID-19 have built a stronger foundation for the industry – one that other nations are looking towards as an example.

A R APID RESPONSE

The speed of water utilities in responding to the pandemic, while learning to adapt to new risks, demonstrated the importance of building resilience and encouraging innovative approaches to both expected and unforeseen challenges.

DEATHS FROM THE VIRUS (SOURCE: WHO)

TESTING TESTING University of New South Wales and International Water Association Water Reuse Specialist Network representative Professor Stuart Khan says while COVID-19 was an unknown risk for the industry, Australia was still well-placed to meet it.

“The level of uncertainty in dealing with a new pathogen was extremely challenging for everyone. There was a lack of information regarding what risk mitigation steps were most appropriate and few similar experiences to draw upon,” he says.

“Water utilities across Australia needed to act quickly to gain an understanding of the risks, and to communicate what was understood to their employees and the wider community.”

However, he said Australia’s water industry was in a better position than many other nations as its ‘philosophy’ is different: applying risk management as the principle approach to ensuring safe water management instead of just focusing on monitoring and reporting on a specific range of ‘regulated contaminants’ in the water.

“Having much of our regulation and practice based on risk management enables water

Testing has been carried out at multiple facilities across Australia, with local nodes checking for COVID-19 on top of existing testing programs. These nodes then collate and report data to measure for any new instances of COVID-19.

67 72

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NEW SOUTH WALES

TESTS ACROSS 60 SEWERAGE PLANTS

VICTORIA

TESTS ACROSS 69 SEWERAGE PLANTS

QUEENSLAND

TESTS ACROSS 39 SEWERAGE PLANTS

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

TESTS ACROSS 15 WASTEWATER PLANTS

Australian Water Association

41

Discover more. awa.asn.au

In Victoria, wastewater testing for SARS-CoV2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – could show if it was present in the community.

Credit DHHS and ALS.

managers to respond to new information and threats in a timely way,” Khan explains.

“There was never a need to adjust water treatment processes because of COVID-19. But if there were such a need, current regulatory frameworks would likely have well accommodated such responses.”

Khan adds that some adaptations made during COVID-19 may become permanent features of the water sector to make it more resilient, such as dividing the workforce into two working groups, Team A and Team B, to mitigate risks of exposure to contagions.

“I anticipate water utilities may maintain these team assignments, even during periods where the separation is not required, as it will facilitate rapid deployment, as well as incorporating it into Professor Stuart Khan, future scenario exercises University of New South Wales and International and incident response Water Association, Water Reuse Specialist protocols,” he says.

Network representative

“

Water utilities across Australia needed to act quickly to gain an understanding of the risks, and to communicate what was understood to their employees and the wider community.

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“Utilities may also pay closer attention to circumstances when skill-sharing among multiple personnel may currently be insufficient.”

Despite meeting the challenges of COVID-19, there is the expectation that Australia’s water industry will face further diverse challenges – some predictable, some unprecedented – over the coming decades, which will require the sector to develop greater resilience, agility and flexibility as essential characteristics if it is to respond effectively.

Khan adds that while the Australian water industry already has some effective cooperation and information-sharing networks these must be enhanced.

“It will require strengthening inter-organisational relationships, development and maintenance of diverse high-level skills, paying attention to expanding scientific knowledge, and close engagement with current national and international research developments,” he says. “In addition to rapid information sharing, longer term sharing of lessons learnt is

Innovation

an essential aspect of how the Australian water industry operates.”

The ability to rapidly share information was in the spotlight when it came to tracking and tracing the spread of COVID-19 through Australia’s wastewater.

A COLOSSOS COLLABORATION

NE W ONLINE HUB DE VELOPED TO ENABLE MEMBERS FROM 30 UTILITIES ACROSS 24 COUNTRIES TO SHARE STRATEGIES ADDRESSING EMERGING COVID-19 NEEDS.

Water and wastewater utilities expertise was relied upon to help trace the spread of COVID-19 in New South Wales, using sewage monitoring, sampling and surveillance – known as the ColoSSoS project – to analyse the prevalence of it within the community.

Water Research Australia (WaterRA) Manager and ColoSSoS Project Director, Dr Kelly Hill says it was a great demonstration of risk management principles and ongoing resilience embedded within the industry.

She also says groundwork for the response to COVID began even before it reached Australian shores.

“The project was established early last year when COVID-19 was really taking off in Wuhan, China.

“They had doctors and nurses walking off the job, they were worried about ensuring communications of the safety for the water industry and reducing any potential risks,” Hill says.

“We were asked to provide support and advice to China in February on any potential risk to their public wastewater workers and public health.”

WaterRA is known for viewing water quality and treatment with a public health lens.

“Members came to us as we have a history of understanding viruses in water and water treatment in general, like norovirus and adenovirus,” she says.

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Innovation

“

“So, one of our members provided advice and a fact sheet for safer operations. What that also showed was that Australia’s standard work health and safety procedures were enough to protect treatment workers from viruses,” she says.

“There was a clear resilience in Australia’s water industry work health and safety guidance.”

This prepared the industry for unexpected events like COVID-19 reaching Australia. Even with all these procedures “it has still been a lot of long nights,” Hill says.

Dealing with uncertainty and new and unforeseen risks is the new normal.

Paul Smith, Australian Water Association

She says while the Australian water industry has a strong, demonstrated history of risk management and the conditions of everyday operations have forced Australia’s water and wastewater treatment industry to have resilient structures, there are still ways to streamline emergency responses.

“In terms of opportunity for improvement, it’d be around being able to set up mechanisms for preapproval, regarding the governance side of things,” she explains. “There are a lot of emergency relief and pre-approved structures for the military to act immediately as an emergency response. Water is also a critical infrastructure and service. We need a similar emergency response structure for fast research, innovation and public health protection.”

She adds that WaterRA was lucky as it was able to start on the front foot due to existing collaborations with health, utilities, and research organisations, and those partnerships came to fruition, “but we may not always be this lucky, so having pre-approved plans in place to speed up response would be good.”

Hill states that the core to the water industry’s resiliency has been collaboration, particularly with the health industry.

“I think it’s vital to note the

importance of having a public health connection for water research and innovation, and WaterRA is the avenue for that in Australia,” she says.

“In other countries, they’ve struggled to get this surveillance up and running because health departments haven’t been as aware of it or across it due to their high clinical loads. But here we’ve had health driving it, so it’s been a world-leading venture with other countries looking at what we’re doing. In that way, water innovation success is more resilient thanks to its public health collaboration.”Australia’s experience and learnings have also been shared internationally to help other nations in Asia improve their own water service deliveries.

BE YOND THE BORDERS

Hill says the Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Australian Water Association have partnered to provide in-country support, providing expertise to these teams to share protocols, and what worked and what hasn’t. The aim is that by the second phase of the project these countries have the skills, expertise and industry resilience to meet the challenge.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) also played a role in helping to strengthen regional hygiene, and water and wastewater management industries through its ‘Partnerships for Recovery’ strategy.

The program supported water and sanitation services, water supply cleanliness and security to help control the spread of infection and improve local utility infrastructure resilience. It also supported specific programs, such as WaterAid Papua New Guinea, to help remote areas.

Companies that develop technology for the water and wastewater industry played a major role in pivoting their products to help Australians affected by COVID-19.

One of these manufacturers was AmpControl, whose technology is used for water and wastewater treatment process control.

Australian Water Association

45

Sewage samples being analysed at the lab.

COVID-19: A TIMELINE 9 JANUARY: WHO announces a mysterious coronavirus-related pneumonia in Wuhan, China 20 JANUARY: First case outside of China confirmed in South Korea 25 JANUARY: Australia confirms its first case of COVID-19

Discover more. awa.asn.au

BREATH OF FRESH AIR

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AmpControl started creating a ventilation system after the NSW Government put out an emergency call in March 2020 for vital medical equipment to respond to the escalating crisis.

Working with John Hunter Hospital, in the NSW Hunter Valley, they developed Ventasys – a ventilator system that can be made locally – in the space of only 18 days, carrying out clinical trials just a week later with production commencing in June.

“To turn a concept into a firstclass lifesaving piece of medical equipment within such a critical timeframe is a testament to our region’s highly advanced capability and skilled workforce,” says Ampcontrol CEO, Rod Henderson.

“The partnership approach adopted to tackle the challenge also demonstrates the industry’s ability to pivot and solve unique problems.”

The lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic may have been difficult ones for the Australian water industry, but the Australian Water Association says the foundation for an effective response was always there.

“Dealing with uncertainty and new and unforeseen risks is the new normal,” explains Australian Water Association International Manager, Paul Smith. He says the focus has always been around developing effective risk management, as “this [specific] situation is just Ozwater'21

30 JANUARY: WHO declares the outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern background noise… organisations need to build resilience to deal with any situation”.

Unlike other industries, the water sector could not halt operations until COVID-safe approaches were found, instead learning and adapting in real time to improve Australia’s water and wastewater industries response capabilities, and teaching others how to do the same.

“The water sector is at the frontline and learnt very fast how the COVID-19 pandemic could affect water services,” Smith says.

Echoing the comments of Hill, he says, “providing reliable safe water, sanitation and sewerage services is the most important part of the preventive public health system.”

He adds that the industry is evolving, but the pandemic did demonstrate that greater digital workforce capabilities are needed if the industry is to remain resilient.

COLL ABOR ATION

In rising to this latest challenge, the sector has undergone a change for the better, strengthening its resilience and understanding of risk management in the face of unprecedented events.

The water sector has also used the industry’s skills and experience to collaborate with other sectors to meet Australia’s challenges head on, reinforcing the reputation of the sector both at home and abroad.

2 FEBRUARY: Australia shuts flights between China and Australia and citizens are evacuated from Wuhan 11 MARCH: WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic; Australia announces anyone arriving from overseas will be forced to self-isolate 16 MARCH: Restrictions on large gatherings are enforced 17 MARCH: For the first time in Australia’s history, a Level Four travel ban is enforced 20 MARCH: Australia shuts its border and enters lockdown MID-MAY: Lockdown restrictions ease across Australia 17 JUNE: 21 new COVID-19 cases are reported in Victoria as a result of outbreaks in the hotel quarantine system 8 JULY: Melbourne is sent back into lockdown. It lasts 112 days.

18 DECEMBER: Sydney’s Northern Beaches is declared a hotspot following an outbreak. The area is placed into lockdown. Restrictions are in place in Victoria and NSW 31 DECEMBER: 28,408 cases in Australia, 909 deaths 31 MARCH 2021: 128,540,982 cases reported globally, with 2,808,308 deaths

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CASE STUDY #1

Aerial view of Woodman Point Wastewater Treatment Plant. Image copyright Water Corporation.

ENERGY FROM WASTEWATER PROJECT: Hazer Group Commercial Demonstration Plant REGION: Perth, WA STARTED: August 2018 LEADER: Luc Kox

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As the first larger-scale, fully integrated deployment of the Hazer Process, the Hazer Group Commercial Demonstration Plant is on target to be commissioned by the end of the year.

By Martin Kovacs

P

erth-based Hazer Group Limited is building towards the commissioning of its Commercial Demonstration Plant (CDP) later this year, having partnered with Western Australia’s Water Corporation to use biogas from the Woodman Point Wastewater Treatment Plant, located in Munster, as a feedstock to produce low-emission, fuel cell grade hydrogen and graphite.

It will be the first larger scale, fully integrated deployment of the Hazer Process, which enables methane gas to be broken down into its constituent components of hydrogen and graphite via thermocatalytic methane decomposition, commonly referred to as “methane cracking”.

While methane cracking to produce hydrogen is not a new process, expensive catalysts have created issues around its economic

Innovation

viability. The Hazer Process stands out due to its use of iron ore.

“The uniqueness of the Hazer Process is the use of an inexpensive and abundant catalyst,” explains Commercial Manager, Luc Kox. “There are no CO 2 emissions from the process, with the carbon in the feedstock captured as a solid graphite. The process produces two products: hydrogen and graphite.

“The Hazer Process enables the production of low-emission hydrogen and graphite from locally produced waste by-products. When it was time to scale up, we decided to use biogas, a renewable form of methane, as the feedstock. That is why we entered into an arrangement with Water Corporation.”

THE BACKGROUND The technology originated at the University of Western Australia. The initial research was conducted by Dr Andrew Cornejo, co-founder and current Chief Technical Officer of Hazer, with Professor Hui Tong Chua as his PhD supervisor.

Hazer, an acronym for Hydrogen and Zero Emission Research, was founded in 2010 and listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2015. In 2018, Hazer successfully conducted pilot tests with the technology at St Marys in New South Wales. The pilot plant was subsequently moved to Kwinana in Western Australia to resume further pilot testing.

THE PR ACTICAL ADVANTAGES Located on site at Woodman Point, the CDP will operate for up to three years, producing about 100 tonnes of hydrogen and 380 tonnes of graphite per annum, with Kox advising it will use up to about 20 per cent of the daily biogas capacity produced by the wastewater treatment plant.

“

The CDP will operate for up to three years, producing about 100 tonnes of hydrogen and 380 tonnes of graphite per annum Luc Kox, Commercial Manager, Hazer Group In addition to the environmental benefits, Kox points to the practical advantages of partnering with the water sector.

“Densely populated areas produce biogas through wastewater treatment plants or landfills,” he comments. “These sources are typically located on the periphery of cities, where you also find depots and industrial activity, which could be a user for hydrogen – so, we see an almost natural geographical fit.”

In addition to an agreement for the supply of biogas, Hazer has signed a collaboration agreement with Water Corporation, with Hazer taking responsibility of the overall design, construction, operation and funding of the project, and Water Corporation facilitating it.

Contingent on a number of conditions, in 2019, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) approved up to $9.41 million in funding to support construction and operation of the CDP. Hazer also successfully secured funding via capital raising and a senior secured loan facility, with the Board of the Final Investment Decision

THE TIMELINE AUGUST 2018: Front-end engineering design commences MAY 2019: Hazer and Water Corp enter into an MoU to collaborate JULY 2019: Primero selected as preferred engineering contractor for the CDP SEPTEMBER 2019: ARENA approves funding of up to $9.41 million MARCH 2020: Binding funding agreement is executed with ARENA, subject to a number of conditions precedent MAY 2020: Binding Gas Supply Agreement and Collaboration Deed executed with Water Corp JULY 2020: The CDP receives final investment decision approval, with Primero appointed EPC contractor LATE 2021: Hazer’s target for commissioning of the CDP

Australian Water Association

49

CASE STUDY #1 ENVIRONMENTALLY SPEAKING Environmental and economic benefits of the clean hydrogen industry

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• Hydrogen as a fuel for transport or heating, a way to store electricity, or as a raw material in industrial processes.

• Renewable hydrogen helps reduce emissions in high-temperature industries as well as some transport sectors.

• It can be transported as a gas, liquid, or as part of other materials, via existing pipelines.

“

announcing the construction of the CDP in July 2020.

“We are grateful for the support from both ARENA and Water Corporation in making this exciting project possible.” Kox says. “We believe it’s a great example of a home-grown technology being able to further develop within Australia.

The CDP will serve as showcase for the technology and will act as a reference site for future commercialscale applications across the world.”

Perth-based Primero Group has been appointed as Hazer’s engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the CDP. “No one has ever built a commercial-scale Hazer plant,” Kox says. “The hybrid delivery model provides us flexibility to be involved in key aspects of its design, addressing a range of engineering aspects. The addition of the catalyst needs to be fully automated, along with the graphite extraction. It can’t be a manual process, which is okay for a pilot plant, but not for a commercial-scale plant.”

The system at the CDP will be the largest of its kind in Australia.

The graphite produced by the Hazer Process also has a range of potential uses, including lithiumion battery anode applications and as a water purification medium, and Hazer is continuing to research its applications and technology.

Hydrogen has a really important role to play in that it complements renewables to give us a way of decarbonising very hard-to-abate areas.

Dr Fiona Simon, CEO, Australian Hydrogen Council

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THE POTENTIAL OF HYDROGEN

Dr Fiona Simon, CEO of the Australian Hydrogen Council, describes development of the hydrogen industry as

The Hazer Process Producing two sustainable and valuable products without creating CO2 in the process

H2

=$ =$

“a major opportunity”, highlighting the importance of laying the foundations for growth.

With the energy landscape evolving amid the development of new technologies and the continued growth of renewable sources, Simon points to the potential that exists for the production of clean hydrogen.

“Hydrogen has a really important role to play in that it complements renewables to give us a way of decarbonising very hard-to-abate areas, as well as providing long-term storage and export opportunities,” she says. “Australia has a number of natural advantages. The risk is that we don’t take advantage in time, because other countries are already in a position to compete with us.”

Hazer’s CDP represents a unique intersection of the energy and water sectors, and the role that the water sector can play in the development of the hydrogen industry is attracting growing attention.

Potential partnerships between the two sectors could include integration of hydrogen production with wastewater facility operations.

“It’s something the water sector should be having a look at — being prepared to take advantage of opportunities as they evolve is quite important,” Simon adds. “It’s really very much a ‘watch this space’ situation with hydrogen.”

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Keeping a firm eye on water quality SOLVING THE COMPLEXITIES OF RELIABLE WATER QUALITY MONITORING WITH PRE-FABRICATED PANEL SOLUTIONS Luc Turner - Endress+Hauser Australia

A water quality measurement point typically contains a sensor, cable, flow through assembly and transmitter. In large water or wastewater projects, dozens of these combinations can be delivered to site. It can be a Herculean task to match these combinations together and install to produce reliable water quality data.

At the outlet of a water treatment plant, you may be required to monitor both turbidity and disinfection at the same location. The low turbidity measurement may require a de-bubbling type system, whilst the disinfection point needs an inline filter to reduce buildup in the probes and assembly. If you install the filter before the turbidity assembly, your measurement result becomes inaccurate since solids contributing to turbidity are removed. If you forget to install an inline filter before the disinfection probes, the excessive build-up will increase maintenance intervals. What’s more, space is often at a premium at the intended measurement point location, and there’s no chance to install elsewhere. Combining multiple analysis parameters into a small location whilst complying with all of the intended installation conditions can be an enormous challenge.

It’s easy to see that some expertise and considerable engineering time are required to ensure water quality monitoring installations are correct.

What is a panel solution?

A panel (or instrument panel) is a plate made of either plastic or stainless steel on which one or more measurement points are pre-assembled. The plate is secured onto a wall or a frame/rack from which sample lines are distributed. Ideally measurement points should be able to be virtually managed and come delivered with all components included, helping you to drastically minimise engineering, installation and commissioning time.

Where can I use panel solutions?

Analytical panel solutions can be used for many applications in both water and wastewater networks. A typical panel solution may involve monitoring ammonium, pH, and free chlorine for environmental compliance at the effluent of a wastewater treatment plant. Alternatively, panels may be required for monitoring water quality from a bore extraction process. Be it high process pressure, multiple measurement parameters, or restrictions in available space for installation, there is an option to construct customised panel solutions to match your specifications.

Safe and future-proof.

Panel solutions designed by Endress+Hauser incorporate a unique modular concept to help you get from conceptual development to implementation and commissioning quickly. All you need to do is connect the sample inlet/outlet, and you are up and running.

Panels are delivered ready for installation with all components for sample preparation and communication to your higher-level systems included. Furthermore, Endress+Hauser provides a local support network to partner with you throughout your panel’s entire life cycle.

Overcoming challenges with ease.

Analytical panel solutions can benefit your projects in many ways. Since the panels are supplied with all assemblies, cables and sensors pre-mounted, commissioning is easy. There’s no more worrying about each measurement parameter’s specific characteristics since the panels are all optimally designed with this in mind. Panels are repeatable in quality and dimensions so that they can be easily specified for small or large projects.

Fully traceable documentation (including factory commissioning tests) is supplied as standard, which can be included in your handover process. Sensors contain Memosens® plug-and-play for simple probe maintenance and Heartbeat® technology to verify the entire measurement point. When you’re ready to integrate into your existing control system, select from a large variety of communications protocols (HART, PROFIBUS DP, EtherNet/IP etc.).

Save time, increase reliability.

Water treatment processes depend on reliable, hassle-free water quality monitoring to ensure environmental compliance. Save time and take advantage of Endress+Hauser’s range of panel solutions in your next project.

Luc Turner is the Water & Wastewater Industry Manager at Endress+Hauser Australia.

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Customers, engagement and public health

64 SUSTAINABLE WATER IN CAMBODIA A Q&A with Australian Ambassador Pablo Kang.

68 24 GLASSES A unique water infrastructure plan aimed to ensure all Tasmanians have safe drinking water.

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WATER FOR ALL Water is our most precious resource and has been cared for by the country’s Traditional Owners for thousands of years. Referred to as the “sleeping giant” of Australia, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander business sector continues to boom, and it has a lot to offer the water industry when it comes to genuine engagement in the modern world.

To discover more community news, visit watersource.awa.asn.au/category/community 55

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WATER FOR ALL

We have a lot to learn from Traditional Owners when it comes to managing our most precious resource: water. How can the water sector work to ensure proactive Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inclusion, engagement and participation?

By Elle Hardy

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C

ommunity consultation and procurement policies recognise the cultural significance of water, caring for Country, and being able to live on that Country in financial independence. The burgeoning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander business sector, which has been referred to as the ‘sleeping giant’ of Australia, has more to offer the indsutry than supplier diversity. According to Supply Nation, Indigenous businesses already generate $8.8 billion in revenue annually.

As utilities continue to take strides forward in their reconciliation plans, leading figures in the water sector explain

how to seek genuine engagement to meet the challenges of the modern world.

TAKING THE INITIATIVE Cail Rayment, Remote Water Demand Coordinator at Northern Territory’s Power and Water Corporation, says Indigenous knowledge is critical for modern water management — and it’s something that needs to be formally incorporated into utilities’ practises.

“Our Indigenous essential services agreement includes a focus on water demand management, aimed at increasing the sustainability of water supplies in remote communities, enabling Aboriginal people to live, grow and do business on

Community

EMPLOYED IN THE INDUSTRY Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons. Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (Next census in August 2021)

Water Corporation – Ord River Diversion Dam - Cultural Immersion Day. Credit Chris Magnay Photography.

their Country,” he says.Rayment says it is critical to help increase urban water cycle literacy with Indigenous people across different generations.

“A key component of the demand management team’s work is That’s My Water! Bush Schools, a school education program inspiring students in Aboriginal communities to learn about where their water comes from and about Aboriginal peoples’ cultural connection to water,” he said. “A significant part of the program is a video series hosted

by Baker Boy, an Aboriginal role model and 2019 Young Australian of the Year. He encourages students to think about their role in their communities and achievable social actions to look after their water.”

The third pillar of their engagement strategy is to not only help create employment pathways for First Nations people, especially in remote communities, but to guide decision-making towards sustainable water use in communities, allowing people to live and prosper on Country.“We have increased our weighting on local Indigenous businesses for procurement. We also place a contractual target of 30 per cent of the workforce being Aboriginal and ascertain a supplier’s capacity to comply with that target,” he says.

One thing Rayment and his team have learnt is that good engagement requires investment, which in turn can defer and reduce unnecessary spend on infrastructure.“It’s also very important to understand that engaging the right people is key, along with engagingmeaningfully,” he says.

Number employed each year:

2011 - 1651 2016 - 1919

WATER

ELECTRICITY

GAS

WASTE SERVICES

GROWTH: 16.2%

Australian Water Association

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Discover more. awa.asn.au

E ARLY CAREER PROGR AMS

58

Shelley Tate (below), Sydney Water’s General Manager of People and Culture, says the utility aims to raise its employment of First Nations Australians from the current 0.8 per cent to two per cent, with an ultimate goal of reaching at least three percent to reflect Indigenous Australians’ representation in the community.

“Part of our strategy to increase Indigenous employment includes early career programs, as well as creating opportunities for experienced hires. Our work with CareerTrackers is focused on helping Indigenous tertiary students gain work experience while they are studying. We have recently taken on two students in our Customer Delivery area over the university summer break as part of this program,” she says.

In addition to commissioning First Nations artwork at its Port Kembla plant, and replicas of the art in its Parramatta office, Sydney Water is working on better connecting all staff to Country, such as starting all meetings with an Acknowledgement of Country, and culture, through on-the-job training.

“We conduct toolbox talks with operational crews so people understand what cultural artefacts might be present and to minimise possible harm on cultural sites. For us, it’s all about taking an integrated approach and building awareness and commitment to reconciliation into our day-to-day work.

We are learning from each other and creating a movement of people who do little things that together make a difference every day.”

Ozwater'21

Learning through a cultural immersion tour.

EFFECTIVE PROCUREMENT

Western Australia’s Water Corporation has firm commitments to providing economic opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses and suppliers by ensuring greater representation in their procurement processes.

General Manager of Strategic Performance, Matthew Cronin, said that while the business is trending in the right direction in terms of meeting targets for engagement with First Nations people, the approach to collaborating with Aboriginal businesses and communities must go far deeper than KPIs. “We recognise that each contract awarded to an Aboriginal-owned business has a ripple effect that helps support lives and livelihoods across Indigenous communities.

In 2019-20, we reinforced this commitment with a more than 50 per cent increase in contracts awarded to WA Aboriginal businesses. We also adopted the WA Government’s Aboriginal Procurement Policy and the extension of our Indigenous procurement target to 3 per cent,” he says.He notes that a key aim for any water sector procurement process is making it easier for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses to engage with utilities to bid for work, which in turn will

help drive financial independence for Aboriginal Australians.

“In October 2017, Water Corporation introduced an Aboriginal Supplier Tradeshow, providing Indigenous businesses with a platform to market their services. Within six months of the trade show, eight contracts with Aboriginal suppliers had been signed, with a further 15 under negotiation,” says Cronin.

In terms of community engagement, Cronin believes it is crucial to work collaboratively with Traditional Owners in developing new and existing infrastructure. “The nature of our work can potentially impact Aboriginal heritage, native title and remote communities. By consulting with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities early and often, we’re able to better

“

Water is all about providing for community, and Indigenous engagement and procurement are just an extension of that role.

Patrick Maiden, GHD

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Community

“

We recognise that each contract awarded to an Aboriginal-owned business has a ripple effect that helps support lives and livelihoods across Indigenous communities.

Matthew Cronin, Water Corporation

In discussion with Uncle Teddy Carlton MG.

understand each other’s concerns and aspirations and improve our service delivery in new and mutually beneficial ways,” he says.

INCLUSIVE COMMUNIT Y CONSULTATION

Geelong-based Barwon Water believes that community consultation needs to be a social project as much as a business venture. Acting General Manager of Strategy, Systems and Environment, Kate Sullivan, says that a key piece of their reconciliation action plan is to understand the priorities of the Traditional Owners and help in their achievements.

“We identified opportunities for social procurement within existing contracts as well as future procurement activities,” she says.

“We are proud to have delivered Indigenous social procurement activities, including an Aboriginal artwork lease with Dreamtime Art, and graphic design services from Little Rocket, an Aboriginal-owned agency based in Melbourne.”

When it comes to best-practice Indigenous procurement, Sullivan emphasises the need for utilities to show a commitment to genuine

engagement rather than paying lip service.“There have been some milestone moments, such as the decision to transfer land near Bostock Reservoir to the Wadawurrung people, as well as a partnership with the Wadawurrung on the land around the Aqueduct in Geelong. It’s a project to create a cultural precinct called Porronggitj Karrong — place of the Brolga.”

Barwon Water is also ensuring that staff at all levels are participating in ‘Caring for Country’ tours, where staff and Traditional Owners share stories and knowledge.

MORE WORK TO BE DONE

Patrick Maiden, Indigenous Services and Aquatic Ecologist at GHD, explains that there are still many opportunities – and challenges – for the water sector in engaging with First Nations communities.

“While there is a lot of focus on the cultural significance of water bodies and maintaining connection with Country, it’s sometimes overlooked that Indigenous people also access water for contemporary purposes, such as for agriculture and business operations. Indigenous people can advise you not only

Australian Water Association

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SUPPOR TING TR AINEES

about their tradition and culture, but also about the modern ways they use water resources,” he says.

Maiden feels that many people underestimate the impact that Indigenous employment can have on a household – and that by extending procurement to Indigenous businesses owners, you

INDIGENOUS EMPLOYMENT R ATES Aged 15-64, by jurisdiction, by remoteness, 2018-19

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2019, Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey 2018–19, Cat. no. 4715.0,ABS: Canberra.

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give them the opportunity to ‘pay it forward’ and hire other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

“The challenge is often changing the mindset, making it okay to try an Indigenous business and balance the value for money considerations with social return,” he says.

“It’s important to be transparent about the risks, provide honest feedback and enable purchasers and suppliers to grow and learn from mistakes. The opportunity is there for the water sector to lead this, because it’s big enough and mature enough. Water is all about providing for the community, and Indigenous engagement and procurement are just an extension of that role.”

Maiden adds that opportunities for enhancing relationships usually begin with changing the buyers’ behaviours to try a First Nations business on small jobs to build rapport and trust, and then moving on to the First Nations business delivering core elements of the project. “It’s really important to build a relationship that’s based on honesty – one that genuinely provides opportunities for Indigenous professionals and builds capacity within the business, rather than ticking the box or ‘black cladding’, where the Indigenous business is structured to exploit procurement provisions,” he said.

Yarra Valley Water has partnered with AFL SportsReady to provide traineeships and career pathways to young Indigenous people. Aboriginal Partnerships Manager, Nina Braid, says that the program has been key in getting new people into the business who would not have considered a career in water.

“For our first trainee, we set up a support network before he arrived. SportsReady and I met with him before the interview process about what to expect,” she explains.

“All of our Aboriginal employment initiatives support staff by having an Aboriginal mentor, as well as having their own educator. We also have an open communication process to make sure that we support trainees to get their assignments completed, and also that they’re placed in the right areas of the business.”

Braid says that part of what makes their programs successful is supporting trainees and cadets by making sure that the managers and staff have undertaken cultural awareness training.

“One of our Aboriginal board members facilitates the training on a quarterly basis. They’ve identified that we don’t just want to be employing Aboriginal people in menial roles – we want Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people working at all levels of the organisation,” she says. “We want to be an employer of choice for Aboriginal people. We have an employment target of three per cent, even though in our demographic area Aboriginal people make up less than one per cent.”

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Investing in Infrastructure (3i) program: Supported 80 water companies, stimulated $27.8 million in private sector investment, using $20.9 million in grant financing AWA-CWA program to connect water sectors

The Cambodian Government has set a target of providing safe and secure water supplies to Cambodians by 2025.

Pablo Kang, Australia’s Ambassador to Cambodia, discusses some of the challenges and how Australian innovation is supporting the country to reach its goal.

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Cambodia has a unique water sector with strong private sector participation in the delivery of safe water supplies. Can you provide some insights into the unique nature of the Cambodian water sector and the country’s journey to enabling private sector participation in water?

Only a limited number of public water companies provide clean, treated water in some major towns – a unique feature of Cambodian’s water sector. Seventy-eight per cent of Cambodians live in rural areas where water is delivered by more than 300 licensed private companies, each delivering water to a few thousand households. Despite improvements over the past few decades, many Cambodians in rural areas still collect untreated water from wells, rivers and ponds for daily use. I’ve seen that first-hand in my travels through the provinces.

Private sector participation in the water sector is crucial to ensure all Cambodians receive clean and sustainable water services by 2025, a target set by the Cambodian Government. High levels of private sector participation in the water market, in conjunction with support from development partners including the Australian Government, is also spurring innovation in water to support Cambodia to achieve its water access targets. But there is still some way to go.

Cambodia faces challenges in achieving their targets for safe and secure water supplies.

Can you outline some of them?

While Cambodia has made some impressive gains, more than three million people in Cambodia lack access to safe water, and five million are without access to improved sanitation. Access to safe water and sanitation disproportionately affects rural communities and in particular, women. The limited supply of clean, piped water makes access to water for drinking, washing, cooking, sanitising, and business more challenging and more expensive.

This slows economic growth, diverts women’s labour to fetching non-piped water, and limits hygiene – particularly during COVID-19, when hand-washing is critical.

Cambodia’s challenges in delivering its policy of universal access to safe water can be grouped into three main categories.

First, increasing capital expenditure. Meeting water access targets and servicing Cambodia’s growing population with safe and secure water will require continued major capital expenditure. New ways of financing water infrastructure, including from the private sector, are required.

Community

Second, strengthening the policy, regulatory and service delivery arrangements so they enable greater private sector participation and innovation. This requires careful risk allocation and a strong enabling environment. Both are challenging to achieve. This is one of the key areas where the Australian Government is supporting Cambodia.

Finally, addressing the impacts of climate change. Cambodia is facing more severe droughts, as well as reduced flows in the Mekong during dry periods and increased flooding during the wet season.

Climate adaptation to these weather extremes will be a major challenge for the small companies that make up so much of the Cambodian water sector. Growing industrialisation and urban development are also increasing pollution of water sources.

Increasing population and industrial demand will put further pressure on diminishing water supplies.

How do these challenges compare to what the Australian water sector has experienced?

Australia continues to face many of the same challenges found in Cambodia, including who can use what kinds of water, how best to deliver it to the end users, and how to do this in a context that involves droughts and floods. In response, several decades of water reform have created a resilient water sector capable of cost-effectively supporting the country’s long-term urban water supply needs. Good governance and accountability have been key as well as creating commercial business structures that provide customers reassurance about prices, management discipline over costs, and confidence in capital investment, including from the private sector. Australia recently reviewed

its blueprint for water reform, the National Water Initiative (NWI).

Colleagues from the Cambodian water sector were involved in consultations on the NWI to learn from Australia’s reform experience and how lessons may apply to Cambodia. This work was part of last year’s virtual Cambodia-Australia Water Policy Forum held by the Cambodian and Australian Water Associations and supported by the Australian Government, which I had the pleasure of opening.

I see many opportunities to bring together leading policy, regulatory and service delivery experts from

“

While Cambodia has made some impressive gains, more than three million people in Cambodia lack access to safe water, and five million are without access to improved sanitation.

Pablo Kang

Cambodia and Australia to share experiences in the development of institutional, regulatory, and service delivery models. I am confident that through these engagements, Australia can help attract more private sector investment to provide efficient and effective water services in Cambodia.

Australia has been actively supporting the Cambodian water sector for many years with impressive outcomes. Can you outline some of these achievements?

Australia has been a strong partner to Cambodia’s water sector since 1986.

We were among the first to offer support for research, good practice and water usage for rice farming through the Cambodia International Rice Research Institute Australia Project. Since then, we have scaled up and diversified our assistance to cover water resource management, drinking water filtration, and irrigation system operation. From funding NGOs to working with development partners on projects such as UNICEF’s Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation Program, the Australian Government has developed a strong profile in Cambodia’s water sector.

Fast-forward three decades and Australia designed the Investing in Infrastructure (3i) program in 2015, our flagship $49 million program in water, energy, and infrastructure. This complements our ongoing irrigation work through the $84 million Cambodia-Australia Agricultural Value Chain Program (CAVAC).

Building on Cambodia’s strong platform for private sector participation, 3i has provided cofinancing support to the private sector to expand the reach of essential piped water and electricity infrastructure in rural Cambodia. Over the past six years, 3i has supported 80 water companies to build and expand water infrastructure, which will enable more than one million Cambodians throughout the country to access piped treated water. The program has stimulated $27.8 million in total private sector investment in piped water infrastructure using $20.9 million in grant financing.

Australia has also been working closely with the Cambodian

Australian Water Association

65

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Government to enhance the enabling environment for effective and efficient water service delivery, including supporting Cambodia to develop an efficient approach to deliver piped water to all its citizens.

We are commissioning studies to assess the investment need, optimal model, and necessary support facility to increase water service coverage for Cambodia.

And of course, there is our work with the AWA. Through 3i, we have supported AWA’s partnership with the Cambodian Water Association (CWA) to connect our two water sectors to share knowledge and innovation and inspire sustainable water management.

The Water Utility Improvement Program under this partnership has linked South East Water from Victoria with three Cambodian water utilities to share knowledge that supports improved water service delivery. Our work with the AWA is strengthening sector linkages on water policy, technology innovation and transfer, business partnerships and peerto-peer young water professional development. In response to COVID-19, the AWA has shared practical guidance with Cambodian water operators on how to safely continue water operations during the pandemic.

Looking forward, what are the focus areas for the Australian Government in supporting the Cambodian water sector?

Australia is committed to supporting greater prosperity and stability in Cambodia and the region through strengthened access to public services and inclusive economic growth. Our investments in water are increasingly empowering Cambodia’s

A day in the life of Australia’s Ambassador to Cambodia, Pablo Kang.

public and private stakeholders to improve access to essential infrastructure (SDG9), increase agricultural productivity and farmer incomes (SDG15), and achieve better health and wellbeing (SDG3). Water plays a critical role in achieving these objectives.

I think it is clear to policymakers in both countries that as Cambodia transitions to a middle-income country, the role of public-private cooperation will grow even further as part of Cambodia’s water sector development. We will continue to

share Australia’s water experience and expertise with the Cambodian Government to support policy and regulatory reform to unlock the full benefits from private sector participation and innovation.

How is Australia’s water expertise viewed in Cambodia, and what opportunities do you see for Australian water professionals and business?

Australian expertise and our technological innovations are highly valued in Cambodia, and the opportunities for our water sectors to work together are moving from strength to strength. As I outlined earlier, this work is far from dry (pun intended). We share many common challenges in sustainable water management including dealing with new climate extremes, droughts and floods.

Australian and Cambodian companies are already forming business partnerships and pursuing opportunities in water and wastewater treatment and distribution, water quality management, asset management, non-revenue water, water efficiency, water recycling, water law, supply-demand planning, business management and energy recovery.

Australian companies are wellpositioned to take advantage of the growing opportunities in the Cambodian water market and I encourage Australian water agencies and individuals to get involved in the AWA-CWA program to connect our water sectors, including attending the annual OzWater and Cambodia Water exhibitions.

I hope to see many AWA members as part of the Australian delegation at the next Cambodia Water Conference and Exhibition.

Australian Water Association

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CASE STUDY #2

LIFTING THE ALERT PROJECT: 24 Glasses Regional Towns Water Supply Program REGION: Tasmania STARTED: August 2016

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All Australians should have the right to clean, drinkable water. Yet, for many areas of regional Australia, this isn’t the case. So Tasmania stepped up to make it right.

By Cole Latimer

J

ust a few years ago, residents in more than two dozen Tasmanian towns were unable to drink from the water supply – a fact that most will attest is simply not good enough.

In an attempt to rectify the situation, a unique and ambitious water infrastructure plan across the breadth of Tasmania sought to ensure all Australians have the right to clean, drinkable water.

A SOLUTION IN PROGRESS

Due to Australia’s size and ruggedness, it is often difficult to reach every remote town to provide clean potable water. This is especially true for Tasmania.

A lack of wastewater and sewerage infrastructure meant some regions of the Apple Isle were seeing regular public health announcements due to poor water quality. Those in affected areas were

Community

“

Having good-quality infrastructure in local communities is essential, and we believe this program will have ongoing positive impacts on Tasmanian water customers.

Rob McPaige, KBR

advised to either not drink the water, or boil it. Often, consumers’ meters were clogged with debris.

For some towns, such as Scamander, the boil-water alerts occurred for almost a decade. This was unacceptable for the island’s water utility, TasWater, which was formed in 2013 following the amalgamation of Tasmanian water and sewerage corporations Ben Lomond Water, Cradle Mountain Water, South Water, and their shared services firm Onstream.

TasWater committed itself to an ambitious task: lifting health alerts from 24 towns affected within 24 months. The aim was simple: customers should be able to safely drink water straight from their taps.

THE PROJECT

The scale and scope of the plan aimed to eliminate the health alerts and reverse years of poor water

quality and public health warnings, overcoming the challenges that both nature and underdeveloped infrastructure presented.

Working with the contractor KBR and trans-Tasman water experts TRILITY as their project management partners and component manufacturers, the 24 Glasses Regional Towns Water Supply Program launched in August 2016, with a budget of $40 million and three set stages.

Within the space of two years, they achieved their goal.

The partnership constructed 17 water treatment plants in the communities across the state to meet the water demand of the towns, which ranged from more than 220 kilolitres (kL) per day down to just over 20kL per day.

All Stage 2 treatment plants were built locally, in Launceston, with a modular design for ease of logistics and installation.

In addition to the treatment plants, the groups built 16 new reservoirs, four re-chlorination stations, 51 kilometres of piping trunk mains, 22 kilometres of reticulation replacement, and water quality confirmation programs.

Key processing focuses for the plants included raw water supply and storage, pre-screening to reduce turbidity, ultrafiltration, granular activated carbon filters, and calcite for pH adjustments. They also utilised ultraviolet treatment of the clean water where necessary.

In addition, TRILITY provided extra operational support for eight of the treatment plants in the state for one year.

A TasWater spokesperson says new innovations were also developed, such as a Tasmanianspecific risk-assessment tool known as the Galaxy Chart, for effective onground solutions to fix water quality.

THE TIMELINE TasWater set a goal to lift 24 public health alerts in 24 months.

Its biggest challenges included a short timeframe, and the scope and logistics of building such a significant cross-state infrastructure project.

2013: TasWater is created through merger of regional Tasmanian water utilities.

PRIOR TO 2016: 24 public health alerts for poor water quality, caused by excessive turbidity and insufficient treatment barriers.

AUGUST 2016: TasWater launches 24-month plan to lift all alerts and ensure potable water across the entire state.

AUGUST 2016: Existing treatment and assessment program, known as Stage 1, involving 12 towns accelerated.

SEPTEMBER 2016: Rollout for development of Stage 2 and Stage 3 begins for towns identified in 24 Glasses project.

JULY 2017: Alerts begin to lift for towns such as Legerwood during Stage 2.

FEBRUARY 2018: 13 public health alerts lifted.

AUGUST 2018: Stage 3 completed.

Original 24 Glasses towns’ water improved, additional five towns added to project.

MAY 2019: 24 Glasses project wins Operator and Service Provider Excellence Award.

2020: 24 Glasses project town Rossarden wins Best Tasting Tap Water in Australia award.

Australian Water Association

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CASE STUDY #2

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The Epping Forest Pipeline being constructed for the Conara Dam.

LIF TING THE ALER T S

Testing teams travelled about 27,000 kilometres in five weeks, collecting more than 4000 samples to ensure the installed system met Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.

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Ozwater'21

As the plants were constructed and started operating, filtering and processing the water, the ‘do not consume’ alerts were lifted town by town, bringing potable water to all of the state’s regions.

In the project’s final days, testing teams travelled about 27,000 kilometres in five weeks, collecting more than 4000 samples to ensure the installed system met Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.

The initial program was such a success that five more systems were added to bring clean drinking water to all Tasmanians by 2018.

FROM AMBITION TO SUCCESS

The 24 Glasses project was nationally recognised, winning the Operator and Service Provider Excellence Award at the 2019 National Infrastructure Awards. One of the project’s towns, Rossarden, went on to win for the Best Tasting Tap Water in Australia in 2020.

TasWater CEO, Michael Brewster, says while the goal was ambitious,

the group is proud to have achieved their aim. “The job of installing a large number of small and, in some cases, quite isolated water treatments plants was an immense challenge from the very start,” Brewster says.

KBR Program Director, Infrastructure Services, Rob McPaige, is happy to report that regional Tasmanians have access to water meeting Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. “Having good-quality infrastructure in local communities is essential, and we believe this program will have ongoing positive impacts on Tasmanian water customers,” he says.

Mick Tucker, Mayor of Break O’Day Council, which includes Scamander, is also very appreciative of the project. “Scamander used to truck in water, but in the past 12 months have had no issues,” he says. “Most of the areas we deal with now are being very well-serviced. Having TasWater come online and introduce these small water plants in places like Cornwall has been a godsend for these communities.”

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Diversity is paramount to the long-term growth Diversity is and prosperity of paramount to the our industry long-term growth and prosperity of our industry

Creating the Future of Women in Water

Creating the Future of Women in Water

Women in Construction: A promising future lies ahead Historically, many women have been deterred from ‘male-dominated’ fields such as civil construction or water services, due to underlying systemic cultural factors.

However, the tides are fast changing. More women than ever are entering these fields with unbridled enthusiasm and passion for what they do – bringing with them potentially world-changing ideas and innovations.

Promising careers in construction In Australia, the construction and utility sectors have remained two of the most male-dominated major industries for over 20 years.

A business that acknowledges the importance of equality in the civil construction and water industries is leading pipeline infrastructure company, Interflow.

The Company’s success over its 80+ year history has been underpinned by its people, drawing from the strength and diversity of their ideas.

Interflow recognises the societal, organisational, and cultural benefits that female participation in the construction industry can bring, including increased employee engagement, productivity and profitability.

One woman shaking up the industry is Interflow’s Training Content Manager, Robyn Alderton.

Robyn is a strong advocate for equal opportunity and has championed women in construction at various stages throughout her career.

“I believe diversity is paramount to the long-term growth and prosperity of our industry,” said Robyn.

“How can a business expect to become an industry leader if the organisation does not welcome new ideas, perspectives or innovations?”

Robyn is a firm believer that to accomplish transformation across a national industry, cultural change must first take place at an organisational level. One way to accomplish this is through leadership and mentoring programs.

Robyn has acted as a mentor to a diverse range of workers over the course of her career. Through these programs, she has sought to advise budding young professionals on the opportunities a career in construction can bring and guide them to broaden their skills and horizons simultaneously.

Shaping the future of the industry Bringing over 13-years’ experience in the construction industry, Interflow’s HSE Business Partner, Mivvi Turner, has been on the other side, participating in a mentorship program run by the National Association of Women in Construction as a mentee in 2020. For her, the experience proved to be invaluable.

“It was great to receive guidance and support from someone completely impartial who had experience within the same industry,” she said.

“I could bounce ideas off them or work through professional concerns… their experience and advice has had a profound impact on my work.”

There are proven benefits to professional mentoring, particularly for women in male-dominated fields.

These include identifying career goals, increasing confidence and opening doors to leadership.

We’re striving towards an equitable construction industry The more that organisations, industries, and society as a whole, break down the barriers that prevent women from seeking employment in ‘male-dominated’ fields, the more genuine choice women will be able to exercise over how they choose to participate in the workforce.

Robyn shares her vision for the future of the civil engineering and construction industries.

“The future is looking bright,” said Robyn.

“Together, we’re striving towards an equitable construction industry where women feel empowered to engage, fully participate and thrive.”

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Insights for water professionals on the natural and built environment.

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SOLVING THE PFAS PROBLEM

CREATING HEALTHY WATERWAYS

Addressing contamination in Katherine’s groundwater supply required an overhauled approach.

A program to reduce pollutants in Canberra’s lakes.

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PROTECTING THE PL AT YPUS Welcome rain after a bushfire has an unwelcome side effect: charred debris that threatens the ecosystem in which aquatic wildlife makes its home. Now, researchers from Monash University are looking at ways to save these endangered creatures.

To discover more environment news, visit watersource.awa.asn.au/category/environment Australian Water Association

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RESEARCH INSIGHTS

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CONSERVING AQUATIC WILDLIFE

While the rain following the 2019-20 bushfire season was welcomed, it also brought much devastation to our endangered aquatic wildlife.

By Susan Muldowney

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W

hen rain finally fell over parts of Australia’s bushfire-ravaged south-east in the early weeks of 2020, it was a cause for celebration. The fires had taken the lives of 33 people, burned more than 12.6 million hectares, and killed or displaced almost three billion animals. But the downpour also brought a significant threat to the country’s endangered aquatic wildlife. Washing charred debris into rivers, lakes and dams, the rain helped to contaminate their homes.

Monash University ecologist, Dr Reid Tingley, has spent the past nine months working with scientists from EnviroDNA to study the impact of the bushfires on biodiversity. Using game-changing environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling, which captures the genetic traces that species leave

behind in the environment, the study will assist with rehabilitation.

“What’s going to come from this study is a better understanding of which species have declined and where,” says Tingley. “It will help with conservation in terms of where you should be revegetating or improving water quality.”

WHAT’S LEF T BEHIND

There are two types of eDNA sampling. The first is a single-species detection methodology, that uses a technique known as quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).

A water sample is filtered, DNA gets trapped on a filter and extracted using a blood and tissue kit.

The second method is called metabarcoding. Samples are taken from the environment via

Environment

water, sediment or air, and DNA is extracted and amplified using nextgeneration sequencing. Millions of sequences are generated, which are matched to a reference database to determine which species is present.

The Monash University study uses both methodologies to assess New South Wales and Victoria waterways. Dr Tinley explains that the single-species detection is tracking the platypus, spotted tree frog, river blackfish and the Macquarie perch, and metabarcoding is tracking all vertebrates. “This will give us a more comprehensive picture of biodiversity,” he says.

WHEN SCIENCE AND LUCK COMBINE

The first round of the study aimed to assess the short-term impact of the fires on biodiversity and was completed in early October 2020.

To understand the medium-term impact, sampling from the same sites began in February this year. eDNA in samples from bushfireravaged sites can provide insights when compared to those taken before. Fortuitously, Tingley had taken water samples in 2018 to study platypus distribution through a project with San Diego Zoo Global.

“We know what was there prior to the fires and we can go back to those exact locations, take water samples and see what’s there,” he says. “It’s total serendipity that we have the data from 2018, and it’s a powerful example of how long-term monitoring is useful. We are yet to analyse all of the data, but it already shows a decline of 14 to 18 per cent in the number of sites where the platypus occurred after the fires,”

adds Tingley. “Whether they’ll have come back in the next round of surveys, we’ll have to wait and see.”

WHAT’S NE X T FOR EDNA?

eDNA detection for aquatic species was introduced in about 2008.

Dr Andrew Weeks, Scientific and Technical Director at EnviroDNA, predicts significant advancements in coming years, thanks in part to the global pandemic. “Obviously COVID-19 has been a terrible thing, but from a technology perspective it has created some huge advances,” he says. “At one end, we’ve seen the the ability to fast-track vaccines, and at the other end there is the development of tests that can detect almost instantaneously. Lab qPCR is the gold standard, but there are also different technologies that people have started looking at to cut down detection time.”

Weeks predicts access to unparalleled amounts of biodiversity data. “What really excites me from a biodiversity and conservation perspective is how we can use it to do things better in our environment.” He adds that as eDNA technology develops, the data gathered will be analysed in real time. “Soon we’ll be able to effectively take the lab out into the field and get the results as we’re taking the water sample.”

The work of scientists like Tingley and Weeks will benefit from such developments. While the study will wrap up by 30 June this year, they will be collaborating on other projects, such as continuing to track the platypus, as well as introduced species like cane toads and European newts, which Tingley says are now firmly established in Melbourne.

“I’m very much an ecologist who models data on the computer, whereas EnviroDNA, and Dr Weeks in particular, is like my ecological geneticist who gets the samples and does the genetic analyses,” says Tingley. “And the power of eDNA means we can very rapidly assess a whole community of species.”

BUSHFIRE IMPACT ON BIODIVERSIT Y The bushfires of 2019-20 had devastating impact on human life and Australia’s biodiversity.

A study by WWF-Australia shows that the following wildlife was impacted or killed.

60,000 KOALAS

114,000 ECHIDNAS

1.1 MILLION WOMBATS

5 MILLION KANGAROOS AND WALLABIES

5.5 MILLION BETTONGS, BANDICOOTS, QUOKKAS, AND POTOROOS

40 MILLION POSSUMS AND GLIDERS

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CASE STUDY #3

Katherine Gorge provides drinking water to the town of Katherine.

A PROBLEM WITH PFAS PROJECT: Pilot PFAS Water Treatment Plant REGION: Katherine, NT STARTED: October 2017 LEADER: Skefos Tsoukalis

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Following the detection of PFAS chemicals in the water, largely due to the past use of firefighting foams at the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Tindal base, providing the community in Katherine with safe drinking water became a critical project.

By Martin Kovacs

T

he Northern Territory town of Katherine’s pilot PFAS water treatment plant has been providing residents with safe drinking water for more than three years, with Power and Water Corporation using a leading-edge ion exchange resin technology to address contamination of the town’s groundwater supply.

As explained by Water Services Manager Assets, Skefos Tsoukalis,

Power and Water needed to overhaul its approach following the detection of PFAS chemicals, that resulted from the past use of firefighting foams at the RAAF’s Tindal base, south of Katherine.

A 22-25km PFAS plume had been identified, and Katherine, which relies on both groundwater and surface water from Katherine River, was faced with the looming prospect of a significant supply

Environment

shortfall heading into its peak demand season towards the end of 2017. “We worked closely with the Department of Defence in developing a contingency plan,” Tsoukalis says. “A one ML per day treatment plant was being constructed in Maine, which had been scheduled to go to the Oakey Air Force base, and we expedited its manufacture. All this occurred over August-September 2017, and we had a fully customised pilot plant – using a technology that had never been used before for potable water treatment – delivered and operational by October 2017.”

CATERING TO SPECIFIC CONDITIONS With the plant slated for a new destination, US-headquartered manufacturer ECT2 set about making a number of alterations, ensuring it would cater to Katherine’s specific conditions.

“ECT2 needed to quite quickly look at the design and make a few changes to facilitate the new requirements,” says Mark Kuffer, Project Delivery Manager.

“The plant was fabricated in the US and flown into Darwin via an Antonov aircraft, and then went by road from Darwin to Katherine.

It was about eight weeks after the requirements changed that the plant arrived in Australia.”

Kuffer says that, due to a high presence of calcium in the water, there was a requirement to add on a dosing system upfront, avoiding build-up or issues across the system.

He explains that the Katherine plant initially draws groundwater via a single extraction bore, which then undergoes pre-treatment processing, ensuring it is of a clean enough quality to then focus on the PFAS extraction.

“PFAS is notoriously difficult to extract from water,” he explains.

“We have a series of pre-treatment steps that knock out any other contaminants that might compete for the ion exchange sites on our ion exchange resin.

“These upfront steps remove things like total dissolved solids and total suspended solids, leaving the resin to do the bulk of the PFAS extraction. The water is ultimately treated through our SORBIX TM resin, which is the PFAS extraction powerhouse.”

A NE W AND NOVEL APPROACH

K ATHERINE IN K E Y MILESTONES

Tsoukalis says that an innovative O CTOBER 2017 – Installation approach was required in Katherine, of the one ML per day plant, with there being little precedent for producing 12.5L of drinking dealing with the impacts of PFAS water per second. contamination of a groundwater community supply source.

J ANUARY 2019 – With more “The ion exchange resin was new than 400ML of groundwater and novel,” he says. “It’s the first having been treated, the time in the world that it’s been used resin is changed as part of for solely treating groundwater to routine maintenance. service the potable water needs of J UNE 2020 – More than a community.” one billion litres (one The plant uses two types of resins, gigalitre) of groundwater with the SORBIX RePure resin treated, with no waste regenerable via use of a solvent, streams discharged into removing PFAS from the vessel the environment. and resin beads, which is ultimately condensed down to a solid waste stream, while the single-use SORBIX Pure resin is treated as a solid waste stream from the site.

Power and Water has undertaken the regeneration process at the Katherine plant, with 60 per cent of the resin transported by Defence to the RAAF Tindal base, and the other 40 per Mark Kuffer, Project Delivery Manager, ECT2

“

The plant was fabricated in the US and flown into Darwin via an Antonov aircraft, and then went by road from Darwin to Katherine.

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CASE STUDY #3 THREE STAGES OF THE PFAS WATER TRE ATMENT PROCESS

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STAGE 1

PRE-TREATMENT GROUNDWATER FILTERING, REMOVING ORGANIC MATTER, WITH AN ANTISCALANT THEN ADDED.

STAGE 2

THE WATER IS PASSED THROUGH A SERIES OF FILTERS CONTAINING THE ION EXCHANGE RESIN, REMOVING PFAS FROM THE WATER.

STAGE 3

THE FILTERED WATER IS MIXED WITH TREATED KATHERINE RIVER WATER (90 PER CENT RIVER WATER AND 10 PER CENT GROUNDWATER), WITH SMALL AMOUNTS OF CHLORINE ADDED.

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“

We took a leap of faith with the pilot treatment plant – we didn’t know it would be the success it has been.

cent transported interstate for destruction.

Tsoukalis notes that waste streams had been Jane Dellow, Strategic Communications, Power and Water Corp a strong area of focus ahead of was working and that the water the plant’s installation, however he supply was safe, as they’re part points to its small waste footprint of the community as well.” during the course of its operations.

This community partnership has “To date, the plant has not seen a reduction in peak demand discharged any waste streams from 15ML to less than 10ML per into the environment,” he explains. day, with Power and Water and “That’s something that’s unheard Defence now preparing for the of when it comes to any type of commissioning of a new permanent treatment technology that involves plant later this year. direct filtration.”

RELYING ON THE COMMUNIT Y

With the plant’s one megalitre (ML) per day capacity covering a small portion of the potential supply shortfall being faced by Katherine, Power and Water also needed to embark other measures to ensure the continuity of water services. This included significant demand mitigation, with Power and Water’s Living Water Smart team undertaking extensive community engagement, including auditing for leak detection and providing rebates to assist with repairs.

Against this backdrop, Jane Dellow, Strategic Communications and Engagement, points to the importance of both reassuring and educating the community, with initiatives including community workshops conducted in conjunction with Defence.

“There wasn’t a lot of trust because of the way the whole situation had occurred, and that was obviously a big concern for us,” Dellow says. “Part of our strategy was very much focused on engaging our own people to build trust within the community that the technology

BUILDING A NE W PL ANT

Senior Project Manager, Liam Early, says that the new plant – which uses the same ECT2 technology – will process 10ML per day, making it the largest PFAS treatment plant in Australia.

Based on 30-year planning, the plant is designed to account for Katherine’s growth, and includes a spare train, with all three trains capable of processing 15ML per day.

“The plant’s being built as an industrial plant, in a robust building designed for the Northern Territory climate,” Early advises.

“It has overhead cranes to facilitate the removal of the vessels in an expeditious way, and those vessels will then go to Tindal to recharge the media.”

As noted by Dellow, it has been a difficult few years for Katherine, however the measures implemented in response have been paying off.

“We took a leap of faith with the pilot treatment plant – we didn’t know it would be the success it has been,” she says. “The level of community concern is not there so much anymore – the turnaround has been quite phenomenal.”

Protect valuable water assets with Viega Geopress K

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without having to use an external drilling machine - or disconnecting water from the main line.”

With billions of water lost each year to due ill-fitting, leaking pipes, Thomas says Viega’s Geopress K not only provides peace of mind but also saves money.

What makes Geopress K so significant to Australia’s hydraulic, plumbing, engineering and civil engineering sectors is its revolutionary tapping valve, which combines a tapping band and isolation valve within the one device.

“There‘s nothing else like it in the market,” says Glenn Lewindon, Civil & Utilities Account Manager at Viega. “Live tapping of the main supply line takes only a few minutes. And, due to the integrated miller for PE pipes, drilling can be carried out

“I see Geopress K as being a major player in the market and changing the way works are done,” says Programmed Water Operations Manager Dylan Thomas. Programmed provides maintenance services for City West Water across Melbourne’s West.

Prevent costly water loss Engineers at City West Water in Melbourne describe Viega’s revolutionary system as a game changing product.

“Any leak obviously has a water loss factor as well as a money factor to it, which is compounded when you have multiple leaks on the one system,” says Thomas. “So, any opportunity where you can avoid going back to, is definitely an advantage.”

Special features and benefits of Viega’s Geopress K. ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

Constructed from high-strength, load-bearing polymer specifically developed to be used underground Enables quick installation and permanent connection regardless of weather conditions Internal sealing connectors bypass the problem of deep scratches and grooves on the outside of pipes Tapping valves enable tapping of main supply line in minutes – even in live applications Green pressing marker is easy to identify and provides proof of press with only one view Each connector has a viewing window for checking the pipe insertion depth Entire system is pressure loss optimised Compatible with all standard PE piping materials including PE-80, PE-100, PE-RC and PE-X, with HDPE SDR 11 pipe and available in sizes 25mm to 63mm for water ■ Appraised by WSAA

For more information visit viega.com.au or contact Glenn Lewindon, Viega Civil & Utilities Account Manager Ph: 0431 792 619 Email: glenn.lewindon@viega.com.au Viega. Connected in Quality.

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CASE STUDY #4

Healthy Waterways in action.

Lyneham Wetlands 2019.

CREATING HEALTHY WATERWAYS PROJECT: Healthy Waterways REGION: ACT STARTED: 2014 LEADER: Dr Fiona Dyer

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The ACT’s $93.5 million Healthy Waterways project has dramatically reduced nutrients, sediment and other pollutants from entering Canberra’s lakes.

But there’s still plenty to do, particularly around community education.

By Chris Sheedy

O

ver the past decade, in the depths of summer’s heat, Canberrans have put up with an increasing number of lake closures.

Algal blooms have made waterways unusable for swimmers, rowers, sailboarders and the like.

Triathlons have been forced to become duathlons, families have had to travel to the coast or to river

beaches for a cooling dip, and pets have had to be kept away from the water’s edge.

The assumption around the cause of the blooms was that during the summer months, as the lake formed thermal layers in a process known as stratification, the water at the bottom lost oxygen, causing a release of nutrients that drove the algal blooms.

Environment

However, there was no data to support that theory.

“The assumption was that internal processes were driving the blooms,” says Dr Fiona Dyer, Associate Professor of Water Science at the University of Canberra.

Dyer, as Chief Investigator, led the Healthy Waterways research team, whose job it was to get to the bottom of the lake’s algal issues.

“The first stage of research showed there was about five times the amount of nutrients coming in from the catchment,” Dyer says.

“So, from the urban stormwater drain network, there was about 500 kilograms of phosphorus coming into the lake annually, compared to 100 kilograms that could release from the lake sediments.”

“Without our testing that assumption, there would have been significant investment in something that would have made no difference.

This knowledge totally changed the investment strategy.”

Drone image by Alicia Tschierchke. Other images by Dr Fiona Dyer.

WHERE DID THE INVESTMENT COME FROM?

In July 2008, the Council of Australian Governments announced the Murray-Darling Basin Intergovernmental Agreement.

The Basin, which covers oneseventh of Australia, is home to three million people who depend on its water. Extreme drought and low flows, as well as past practices, placed great stress on the water systems in the Basin.

The Agreement brought the Commonwealth Government into line with NSW, Victoria, ACT, Queensland and South Australia state governments in planning and funding water quality initiatives.

“The ACT’s water management partnership agreement was initially for salinity management,”

says Dr Ralph Ogden, ACT Healthy Waterways Program Manager within the ACT Government’s Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development directorate. “But through planning and a business case, Healthy Waterways evolved into a project about water quality and, more specifically, about suspended solids, nitrogen and phosphorus.”

The Federal Government contributed $85 million, with the ACT Government bringing the balance up to $93.5 million.

INNOVATION AND INFR ASTRUCTURE

In 2019, it was announced that the ACT is now home to the southern hemisphere’s largest rain garden. A filter for stormwater prior to it running into Lake Tuggeranong in Canberra’s south, the garden can treat about 1800 litres of stormwater per second.

That’s just one of 20 newly developed large water-quality infrastructure assets that include rain gardens, wetlands, ponds, channel restorations and a riparian restoration.

The project included the addition to waterways of 465,000 wetland

PROJECT TIMELINE 2008: COAG announces the Murray-Darling Basin Intergovernmental Agreement.

2014: Project planning commences 2016: Contractors sought and signed up; community consultation 2017: Physical infrastructure construction commences 2019: All 20 infrastructure builds complete

“

My feeling is that a significant proportion of the solution will involve community education. We keep the insides of our houses clean by regularly vacuuming and mopping them. We’re going to have to do something similar in the outdoor areas.

Fiona Dyer, University of Canberra

Australian Water Association

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CASE STUDY #4

BY THE NUMBERS 500

ORIGINAL NUMBER OF POTENTIAL SITES IDENTIFIED FOR PROJECTS IN 2014

188

ORIGINAL LIST REDUCED AFTER COST AND FEASIBILITY STUDIES, AND DESIGN TEAM DEVELOPS CONCEPT PLANS AHEAD OF COMMUNITY CONSULTATION IN 2015

24

PRIORITY PROJECTS IDENTIFIED AND PRELIMINARY PLANS DEVELOPED, PROVIDED TO COMMUNITY FOR FEEDBACK IN 2016

3000

NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO VISITED THE PROJECT WEBSITE OR A DROP-IN SESSION TO PROVIDE THEIR INPUT DURING PLANNING STAGES

14

COMMUNITY GROUPS PRESENTED TO BY THE PROJECT TEAM

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plants and, surrounding the assets, 160,000 dryland plants.

Eleven agencies and organisations combined for what is agreed to be an ongoing, 30-year catchment strategy to manage the series of assets. Collectively the assets have been estimated to have the capability of intercepting 1900 tonnes of sediment, 14 tonnes of nitrogen and 2.5 tonnes of phosphorus annually.

However, during a major rain event the new infrastructure is not going to catch all of the water before it runs into lakes. The major changes still to be made are upstream, in suburbs, in front yards, gardens and driveways.

HOW TO CHANGE BEHAVIOUR

Another assumption busted by Dyer’s research team was the one that said most nutrients move around the landscape attached to clay particles during rainfall events.

“We found that almost half the phosphorus in that urban environment was in dissolved form,” she says. “That’s significant, because it’s as if liquid fertiliser is being applied to the lake. Cyanobacteria are able to use phosphorus more easily when it’s dissolved.”

The next part of the puzzle was to figure out where the nutrients are coming from. There are no obvious major contributors, meaning they’re coming from the urban landscape.

“We don’t have an exact answer right now,” Dyer says. “But in Tuggeranong, for example, we know it’s not coming from reserves or

“

farmland. We know it is coming from suburban areas. I think the most likely culprit is the leaves and the organic matter that gets caught up in the drains in the streets.”

Research is continuing, but if Dyer’s suspicions are correct, the solution will involve a massive public education campaign. When people are sweeping and blowing leaves from driveways into the street, for example, they must now be convinced of the value of instead picking up those leaves, mulching them and using them on their gardens, or putting them in Canberra’s newly distributed green bins for fortnightly collection.

Ogden agrees that community education is a large, missing piece of the puzzle. So far, he says, the program has simply “dipped a toe in the water”. The ACT Healthy Waterways team erected lakeside signage and stencilled messages on pathways, developed social media campaigns and held educational sessions and stalls at community gatherings, such as the National Multicultural Festival and the Canberra Show.

A total of 37 per cent of residents saw some form of messaging around the ACT Healthy Waterways program, but a community education program that changes behaviour in the suburbs is going to take a lot more work. “We will get into this in earnest in the next phase of the program,” Dr Ogden says.

The assets have been estimated to have the capability of intercepting 1900 tonnes of sediment, 14 tonnes of nitrogen and 2.5 tonnes of phosphorus annually.

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Advertorial

Long-term view for new Xylem Managing Director

by Erin Riley

Balancing customers’ short and long-term priorities with a sustainable approach to water management is one of the biggest challenges for water technology company Xylem Oceania’s new managing director Brian Krishna.

“One of the challenges the industry faces is the payoff between what’s going to get done right now, and what’s going to be more beneficial five or ten years down the track,” Krishna told Water Source.

“At Xylem, we take a holistic view of water management.

We don’t come with a product mindset. We believe that we’re here to solve a bigger problem, and that is relevant to whatever the customer’s needs are. But I think the big one is water scarcity, and in this country, there’s not an industry I’ve worked with that doesn’t have that issue.

New Xylem Managing Director, Brian Krishna

13 19 14 | xylem.com/au

“We really take the approach around asking how can we manage your water better on site, whether that’s helping you find a source, pumping the water, treating the water, testing the water, and then making it sustainable, considering how we deliver it back to the environment in a sustainable manner.”

Krishna believes it’s important to maintain a long-term perspective and look at the effects a decision can have well into the future.

“We’re very quick to jump to the solution or the need in the moment. My view is what about 200 years time or 300 years time,” he said.

“We came on to this earth with the same water today as we had 10,000 years ago. How are we going to leave that same source or that same water in the condition that we found it?

Through industrialisation, we’re doing a lot more to water than we have ever done in the past.

“We have to think not just in the moment, but think about how we discharge the water, where it is going afterwards and what is the impact, not just for future generations, but also for the existing aqua life in river streams and the livelihoods that are dependant on us looking after the water.”

Krishna said that one of the ways Xylem is addressing this challenge is through technology. While new digital tools are part of that, it also includes improving and upgrading existing solutions.

“There is a lot of work being done with existing equipment to regenerate it to be more efficient. For example, for a submergible pump, making more efficient motors to provide a better outcome on energy consumption,” he said.

case of utilities, a better outcome for the end user, which is us, the homeowner.”

Krishna’s appointment to managing director comes after more than 25 years in the industry and 17 years at Xylem, where he started in an account manager role. He worked across business development and product management, getting to understand the water industry.

In 2009, Krishna and his family moved to Perth for five years, which provided a different perspective on the region’s diverse water needs.

The digital future of Xylem is very exciting.

“Many of our brands are over 100 years old. We’ve been in the sector for a long, long time. We’re using the new digital presence we have to also make us more efficient in the legacy business.

“There’s a lot of equipment out there that we just can’t make smart. So how do you pay attention to that infrastructure that’s ageing, that’s breaking, that is highly costly for utilities, businesses, miners? We can’t just replace it all at once …

We work with our customers not just to find solutions for the digital future, but for the ageing equipment and infrastructure we have today.”

Xylem is also providing better information to customers to inform their decision-making and help improve their businesses.

“The digital future of Xylem is really exciting,” said Krishna.

“We have a lot of enhancements in our existing portfolio that is going to take us to a position with our customers, where they will be able to make more informed decisions around capital expenditures, op ex planning and, quite frankly, in the

“That gave me a really good sense of the two-speed economy, with the mining business and really understanding the water needs of remote miners, as well as the unique landscape of Western Australia and their water needs as well,” he said.

“I was also looking after Indonesia at the same time. That gave me a good aspect on an emerging economy, and what their demands were on water, and wastewater and their sanitation needs. That was a really good experience, because it was vastly different to our needs in Australia.”

Between 2015 and 2021, Krishna worked as sales and marketing director for Xylem Oceania, during which time he continued to develop relationships across the industry.

“I’ve gotten to know a lot of people across that period, both within the company and externally, through peers at networking events, like the AWA and others. I’ve really enjoyed a cross-section of customers.”

For anyone looking for a career where they can make a difference, Krishna says he sees the water industry as a wonderful place to be.

“I would say to anyone who wants to join this industry, whether you are a young grad student or you’re leaving school and thinking about ‘what’s a sector that I could work in and make a difference’, that the water industry can do that,” he said.

“Over 25 years, I have enjoyed every part of where the journey has taken me. I would say to any young person wanting to make a difference in the world … please come to the water industry.”

Join us in our mission to ‘Solve Water’.

Assets, operations, partnerships and the workplace

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DIVERSIFYING THE SOURCE

FROM SEWAGE TO SOIL

Amid increasing challenges from population growth and climate change, source diversification is more important than ever.

How one Queensland council is turning biosolids from wastewater into a power source.

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PL ANNING IN A PANDEMIC COVID-19 threw the world into chaos. But how has the water sector fared? In the short term, COVID-19 has had influence over water infrastructure strategy, especially regarding priorities, threats and opportunities. But water infrastructure operates on a long-term scale. What will the impact be in 10 years?

To discover more business news, visit watersource.awa.asn.au/category/business Australian Water Association

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MORE SOURCE, PLEASE Between population growth, climate change and weather extremes such as drought and fire, source diversification is a crucial element of water security planning.

By Martin Kovacs

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Business

T

he role of source diversification in water security planning is an important focus for industry amid the increasingly pressing challenges brought about by population growth and climate change. However, while there is broad recognition within the water sector that all options need to be on the table, building momentum for change is an ongoing and cumulative process.

In addition to technical and logistical considerations, transitioning to new water sources requires supply and demand forecasting, assessment of the practical and economic feasibility, and ongoing stakeholder and community engagement, undertaken in line with the regulatory requirements.

Locking in investment decisions involves alignment of a range of moving parts, with Hunter Water Acting Water Resilience Program Director, David Derkenne, noting that source diversification mitigates against risk by paving the way for varied and flexible planning.

“Water resilience is not only about providing a robust system,” Derkenne comments. “It’s providing a system that is able to adapt to future changes, whether they be in technology, environmental conditions, or changes in community attitudes and perceptions.”

“Because planning for one particular future won’t necessarily meet the community’s needs if things turn out differently – just like we’ve seen with the impact COVID has had on the way we work.”

THE POSSIBILIT Y OF WATER RECYCLING

Water recycling for potable use remains a contentious issue, with the Water Services Association of Australia’s (WSAA) All Options on the Table report pointing to community acceptance as often

CASE STUDY

HUNTER WATER

being the most challenging aspect of setting up a scheme.

Western Sydney University Senior Lecturer, Science, Dr Ian Wright, describes recycled water as a “low-hanging fruit” among source options, stressing the importance of informed dialogue. “It does require careful engineering, management and science, but it’s presented sort of like a shock,” he says. “The way we share it with people is as if it’s never been done before and it’s a huge risk.”

As the WSAA report notes, purified recycled water schemes span every continent, while Wright also notes that in areas across Australia, indirect reuse already occurs when treated sewage is discharged into feeder rivers.

Dr Meenakshi Arora, The University of Melbourne Associate Professor, Environmental Engineering, points to the power of direct experience in breaking down preconceptions, highlighting the role demonstration facilities can play in engendering community acceptance. “I think the community is at the point where they are quite keen to see things in operation,” Arora says. “The biggest way forward, to bring the community onboard, is going to be having enough political will to demonstrate systems at large scale.”

BACKED BY LEADERSHIP

The Australian Water Association’s submission to the Productivity Commission’s National Water Reform Inquiry highlights the risks of water reform benefits stagnating, magnified by extremes including drought, fire, flood and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NSW government’s Lower Hunter Water Security Plan is currently under review ahead of the expected release of a new plan this year, with Derkenne stating that source diversification is a key consideration in planning for a resilient water supply.

“One of the principles we took into the work was all options are on the table,” he says. “Having a merit-based discussion on all supply and demand options is a key part of ensuring we have a planning process that people can have confidence in.”

This has allowed Hunter Water to identify and progressively narrow down the different options at its disposal over the course of a distinctively staged planning process.

“The first stage was understanding community values about their water future, and the second stage was building our understanding of the supply and demand options we have available in the Lower Hunter,” Derkenne explains.

“We’re now at the stage of pulling those supply and demand options together into a number of portfolios designed to meet our water needs into the future.”

These portfolios comprise a range of demand-side and supply options, with Hunter Water undertaking modelling to assess how they perform against various social, economic and environmental criteria.

Beyond building an investment case for new supply sources, Derkenne emphasises the importance of integrating community input into security planning.“Strong engagement with the community and stakeholders is central to the planning process,” he stated.

“The critical part has been engaging with our community, ensuring their views and values are incorporated.”

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The submission stresses the importance of national collaboration and calls on the federal government to take on “a renewed leadership role in water policy”, helping to set the agenda across the public and private sectors. Additionally, it details the scope for a national reform agency to provide leadership and direction to oversee a revised National Water Initiative, facilitate inter-jurisdictional collaboration and coordinate knowledge-sharing to overcome barriers to reform.

As reform becomes increasingly urgent, Arora points to the issue of a short-term political memory regarding water security issues, noting this “generally leads to a panic stage, which means less sustainable, more expensive solutions put in place”.

Wright describes a cycle variously alternating between panic and business as usual, using the example of Sydney dam levels reaching near capacity following the recent

Inside the Bundamba Advanced Water Treatment Plant.

CASE STUDY

SEQWATER

“

The biggest way foward, to bring the community onboard, is going to be having enough political will to demonstrate systems at large scale.

Dr Meenakshi Arora, The University of Melbourne

Bulk water supply authority Seqwater’s updated water security program is due for release next year, with Wayne Middleton, Manager, Water Security Direction, highlighting the evolving nature of supply and demand forecasting.

“Providing water security is underpinned by an assessment of demand into the future, and then considering unexpected circumstances and other uncertainties,” Middleton says. “Our system will require augmentation around 2041.

The work we’re doing now will likely see that brought forward because of increasing demands and climate change.”

This encompasses a strategic assessment in line with the Queensland government’s business case development

framework. Middleton explains that Seqwater is both assessing needs and examining a range of interrelated factors influencing the feasibility of potential supply initiatives.

Among different source options, Middleton points to Seqwater’s Western Corridor Recycled Water Scheme and purified recycled water’s strong potential as populations grow and wastewater volume increases, and emphasises the importance of Seqwater’s community initatives. “We have been doing a lot of educating and garnering support for recycled water as a viable water supply option,” he comments.

“It’s a high-potential initiative in terms of the next water supply – it’s definitely not off the table.”

Australian Water Association

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shortages, and believes it will be a term of parliament before it becomes an issue again”.

“We need bipartisanship to sort this out, because we’re heading for many perfect storms, particularly for inland communities that don’t have an option of desalination,” he comments. “I think we need a different narrative. It should be above politics, it needs leadership, and I think it needs to be federal, state and local.”

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WATER SOURCE OP TIONS SURFACE WATER SOURCED FROM ABOVEGROUND WATER BODIES, SUCH AS RIVERS AND LAKES.

GROUNDWATER EXTRACTED FROM UNDERGROUND AQUIFERS.

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DESALINATION THE PROCESSING OF SEAWATER INTO DRINKING WATER.

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PURIFIED RECYCLED WATER PRODUCED FROM TREATED WASTEWATER. 94

Ozwater'21

The Gibson Island Recycled Water Treatment Plant

CASE STUDY

OR ANGE CIT Y COUNCIL Orange City Council’s Blackmans Swamp Creek and Ploughmans Creek stormwater-to-potable schemes form a critical component of its water supply strategy and have bolstered its resilience to drought.

The council had initially set about exploring diversification feasibility against the backdrop of the Millennium Drought, with Wayne Beatty, Water and Sewer Manager (Strategic), noting that a community in the grip of drought was more than receptive to the initiative.

“It set us up really well for this current drought that we’ve just been through,” Beatty says.

“Without the works that we did in the Millennium Drought we’d have struggled big time in this drought just finished. But, in saying that, there’s still a body of work to be done in the planning aspects.”

The Blackmans Swamp Creek Stormwater Harvesting Scheme Stage 2 has been proposed to further augment supply, with Beatty stating that all options need to be considered as part of the ongoing process of getting the supply balance right.

Among other source diversification options, Beatty pointed, in particular, to the potential for the integration of recycled water, which he said the council is currently looking into.

“We all know you can recycle it for drinking, and you can recycle it to use for irrigation – you can do all of these things technically, but the biggest battle is winning over the community, engaging with the community and getting acceptance,” he explains.

“Now we think we’re half the way there with our stormwater harvesting, given the community’s taken that onboard.”

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PLANNING IN

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A PANDEMIC Has the COVID-19 pandemic had an influence on water infrastructure strategy? In the short term, yes.

But over the long term, the effects could be much more significant.

By Chris Sheedy

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A

ccording to Peter Colacino, Infrastructure Australia’s Chief of Policy and Research, the direct impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the water sector have been relatively minor so far.

This makes sense. After all, water infrastructure is a long-term play.

That’s not to say there have been no changes. However, if we contrast what has been occurring around broadband as a result of the pandemic to the effects of the pandemic on water, we see that broadband has experienced a major acceleration and fundamental change in use and purpose. This is thanks to working from home, video

conferencing, online shopping, different locations and uses of data, among other things. Water has not experienced such a sudden shift.

What has changed in water infrastructure over the past 12 months, Colacino says, are the priorities, threats and opportunities that come from external influences, such as the stall in immigrationfuelled population growth. “Net overseas migration has paused, and this will likely last two-and-a-half years,” he says. “In cities, this offers a reprieve from the pressure. We still expect Melbourne to grow larger than Sydney, and we expect trend growth to return over time. So this has given us a breather in our cities.”

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In regional areas, Colacino says, there hasn’t yet been a noticeable effect on infrastructure planning from the increase in migration away from cities, which could eventually create dramatic change for regional infrastructure.

“If the effect we’re currently seeing of increased migration from cities to regional areas carries on, we will expect to see more pressure on regional water utilities,” Colacino says. “So far, some regional water utilities are having minor delays to their CapEx programs. They’re working on things like digital tools and thinking more about how to support business continuity so they can have a greater focus on resilience as well as the capital program. Of course, there has also been an impact on hardship cases, which means less cash flow and less attractiveness of spending on capital programs.”

The priorities and strategies developed by water utilities have always been most heavily influenced by population patterns and weather.

The pandemic has had relatively little impact on the former, and none on the latter.

So, how will the effects of the pandemic on water infrastructure planning be felt over the years and decades to come?

LOOKING UPSTRE AM

Ten years from now, if we look at water infrastructure priorities and strategies and ask how the pandemic affected decisions, what will the answer be?

Angela Reidy, Civil Engineer and Principal of Inxure Consulting, says we currently have a great opportunity to drive towards increasingly sustainable outcomes, particularly in terms of the changing needs of communities.

“In my own research, I have looked into decision-making around things like integrated water management – things that create a lot of value for communities around greener spaces and healthy communities, for

example,” Reidy says. “In a COVID sense, that becomes even more important. In Melbourne, when we were in lockdown, we couldn’t go beyond five kilometres from home.

So the parks in our local areas became far more important. From this perspective, investments in green space become a priority.”

If organisations are not thinking about the integrated water and green-space nexus, they should start, Reidy believes. “Some water managers are already further down that path,” she says. “They’re justifying decisions, that aren’t necessarily the most cost-effective because they’ve got a policy context that helps drive such outcomes.

A lot of what will drive this change is the re-prosecution of policy.”

This doesn’t just apply to cities, Reidy says. In townships, green spaces are just as important as hubs where people can wander and gather.

We’ll also likely witness a growth in local capacity around skillsets, materials, and the manufacturing and production of parts, products and chemicals that are required in water management.

The sudden breakdown of supply chains that occurred when the pandemic struck was a wake-up call for all industries and sectors.

Water was no exception. “This will lead to local capacity building and innovations that could result in new processes, products and technologies,” Reidy continues.

Finally, Reidy says, there may be an interesting and potentially powerful shift in terms of engagement of other parts of the economy and community. “The arts sector, for example, has struggled enormously,” she says. “So are there ways to engage such sectors, or such parts of the economy?

Are there partnerships? Are there ways to broaden the diversity of thinking around water? Can we look at supply chain more widely, and employment, engagement of contractors, and procurement of services and products?”

“

The fact that many of us have been working from home has also meant we have been able to focus on thinking about how we can do things better, rather than being distracted by the busy nature of the office.

Carmel Krogh OAM, AWA President

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Lake Hume Village, Australia

The idea may seem far-fetched, Reidy says – just as far-fetched as sewage treatment plants operating as early warning systems for the existence of a virus within a region.

However, a decade from now, it’s highly likely that we’ll see out-ofthe-box solutions perfectly tailored to out-of-the-box challenges.

“

We currently have a great opportunity to drive towards increasingly sustainable outcomes, particularly in terms of the changing needs of communities.

Angela Reidy, Inxure Consulting

ACCELER ATING THE TECH PIPELINE

Clearly, the pandemic has created new and difficult challenges for those in the water sector, says Australian Water Association (AWA) President, Carmel Krogh. From the fact that crews have had to split

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into ‘red’ and ‘blue’ teams to ensure continuity in case of infection, to the disruption of major projects after the breakdown of international supply chains, it has been a tough period for all involved.

“As an association, we have been working with people to identify opportunities – ways we could accelerate processes,” Krogh says.

“There have been changing growth patterns, particularly in regional areas. The fact that many of us have been working from home has also meant we have been able to focus on thinking about how we can do things better, rather than being distracted by the busy nature of the office.”

One sector-wide shift in priority that appears to be revealing itself is a focus on digital, and on the opportunities offered by the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence, remote control and remote monitoring. “This has been around for a while,” Krogh says. “But we’re now seeing an acceleration around automation, which introduces enormous efficiencies.”

This could be a recipe for success in regional areas, where water managers have traditionally had to operate far more infrastructure on a per-capita basis than their urban cousins, Krogh believes.

“The optimist in me sees that the pandemic has brought the whole paradigm of decentralisation front of mind,” she says. “People who might have been thinking of moving from a city to a regional area in 10 or 15 years are now just doing it. For those regional areas, it has always been difficult to attract skilled staff.

This migration might cause a shift in how utilities can operate, and the technology they can bring onboard.

“In the end, I hope to see all those things we thought we might implement by 2025 instead being implemented in 2021. The timeline we’re looking down has shifted, and I’m hopeful we’ll see, looking back, that the sector took a quantum step, particularly in terms of technology, to accelerate itself into a stronger and more sustainable place.”

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CASE STUDY #5

The biosolids gasification trial facility in Logan City.

FROM SEWAGE TO SOIL PROJECT: Loganholme Wastewater Treatment Plant

Logan City Council is turning biosolids from its wastewater treatment plant into a power source, making the facility energy-neutral.

By Chris Sheedy

REGION: Logan City Council

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J

ust what do you do with treated biowaste? This is an ongoing question plaguing many Australian councils.

Once it has been treated, you’re left with a product that could potentially be used in agriculture.

But for many, the costs outweigh the benefits of moving it. You’re left with a mess that many councils simply bury and forget.

But not one council, which saw a way to turn waste into a win using power from the people.

Logan City Council in Queensland,

Australian engineers Pyrocal and the contractor Downer Group – with a little help from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) – have partnered to develop a unique Australianfirst, conerting the Loganholme Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), so that it can turn its biosolids – sewage sludge – into a power source. This makes the facility energy-neutral, reduces operating costs and emissions, and even creates a product that improves soil for farmers.

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BE T TER BIOSOLIDS

The gasification treatment facility works by creating a biogas fuel from the dewatered and dried treated biosolids. This gas created from the sewage is used to heat and bake the remaining biosolids, in what is known as a thermal carbonisation system, into a substance called biochar. The heat energy produced during the process is reused, making the entire system heat-energy-neutral.

This process reduces the plant’s carbon emissions by almost 5000 tonnes per year.

The biochar left after gasification is an environmentally-friendly soil improver containing carbon, phosphorous and potassium, which will create a new revenue stream for the council. This soil conditioner also increases farmers’ water efficiency and agricultural yield, and aids in carbon sequestration.

“

POO TO PROFIT

The gasification project has had a major impact on the WWTP. Before the facility was built, the treatment plant dewatered the sewage using an energy-intensive mechanical drying process. After this treatment method, Logan City Council typically required four to five trucks every day to move an average of 90 tonnes of this dried solid waste about 300 kilometres away to the Darling Downs to be used as a soil improver on farms.

Shifting this waste accounted for nearly a third of the plant’s entire operating cost. On top of this, the plant’s treatment and disposal costs were rising due to increasing electricity prices, a growth in population, and tightening government regulations around carbon reduction and managing organic pollutants in soils.

Johanna Johnson, Logan City Council’s Sustainable Projects Lead, says the council was looking for a way to reduce biosolids disposal costs and future-proof its WWTP, as well as achieve greater sustainability.

“This project is about Logan City Council providing a better outcome for the ratepayers and also the environment,” Johnson says.

“The project is one of the many ways that the council is moving forward to carbon neutrality by 2022, as part of a corporate plan endorsed in 2017.”

Not only has the project’s success been feted in the local community, but Logan City Council says there have been enquiries nationally as to how this process could become available in other communities.

The project is one of the many ways that the council is moving forward to carbon neutrality by 2022.

Johanna Johnson, Logan City Council The construction cost about $17.5 million and was supported in part by a $6.2 million grant from ARENA. The demonstration plant began construction in July 2020, with successful trials completed in February. The facility is expected to be fully operational by July 2021.

IN NUMBERS $17.5 MILLION COST OF THE PROJECT

1.5 MEGAWATTS

AMOUNT OF ENERGY PRODUCED

4800 TONNES

OF CARBON OFFSET ANNUALLY

300,000 PEOPLE SERVICED BY THE TREATMENT PLANT

34,000 TONNES OF BIOSOLIDS TREATED ANNUALLY

300 KILOMETRES

DISTANCE BIOSOLIDS PREVIOUSLY HAD TO BE TRANSPORTED

MORE THAN 70%

OF ENERGY IN BIOSOLIDS RECOVERED

90% REDUCTION IN VOLUME OF BIOSOLIDS

$500,000

IN OPERATION COSTS SAVED ANNUALLY

30% SAVING

IN OPERATIONAL COSTS

Australian Water Association

101

CASE STUDY #5

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SE WAGE SUPPOR T

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“

“There has been significant interest in the project as it illustrates a way forward for biosolids management and produces beneficially reusable product,” Johnson says.

“Many other utilities and councils are waiting on the results so they can build their own business cases for installing a gasification facility at their wastewater treatment plants.”

Councillor Teresa Lane, Logan City Council’s Infrastructure Committee Chair, adds that the success of the project has also drawn attention from beyond Australia’s borders.

“Using synthetic gas in this way is something that hasn’t been tried before, so everyone has been watching to see how it would pan out,” Lane says.

“To be able to say that this technique was perfected in Logan is something we can all be proud of.”

Not only has the project’s success been feted in the local community but the Logan City Council says there have been enquiries as to how this process could become available in their own community.

Ozwater'21

Australian engineers Pyrocal were the brains behind the biosolids transformation process, using their Continuous Carbonisation Technology, which has been used in a number of other countries.

The Logan facility is a first-of-itskind, thermally integrated biosolids treatment system for Australia.

The Pyrocal team says the process also deals with pollutants like perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and micro-plastics contained within the biowaste, destroying them during the gasification process.

This is significant, as some countries have already pushed back on using treated biowaste as soil improver due to the presence of micro-plastics in the material, meaning that it had to go either to landfill or be carbonised in processes such as this.

Downer has already begun its $27 million construction of a permanent gasification facility.

It is also upgrading the WWTP’s main treatment process, installing a membrane bioreactor treatment facility. Chris Yeats, Downer Group General Manager – Water Services North, says this development is part of a continued evolution in water treatment that the company has seen during its partnerships with the Logan region over the past 11 years.

“Our partnerships with Logan Water and with Pyrocal have enabled this innovative and potentially industry-changing technology to be successfully trialled and now built. A number of the major authorities and councils across Australia have been closely watching this initiative, so reaching this milestone is both exciting and significant,” he says.

Downer adds that the technology can also be retrofitted to existing wastewater treatment plants.

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CASAUSTRSAT AN

FIR

Ideal for contaminated grounds.

Potable water supply in redeveloped industrial site at Port Melbourne, VIC. What is PROTECTA-LINE®?

PROTECTA-LINE® PE pipe is specially manufactured to allow it to be laid in contaminated land such as previous industrial sites for potable water applications. The product is manufactured with an outer Aluminium layer and PE skin and can be laid like regular PE pipe and joined by butt welding, electrofusion fittings and mechanical fittings.

Generally plastic pipes such as PE and PVC cannot be laid in soils contaminated with substances hazardous to human health. In particular organic compounds eg, hydrocarbons, phenols, benzenes, etc. will permeable through the plastic pipe wall and affect the water quality. ®

How did PROTECTA-LINE PE pipe provide a solution?

PROTECTA-LINE® PE is routinely used in Europe at contaminated sites and could provide a solution in Australia. Vinidex and GPS discussed the product with Melbourne water authority South East Water (SEW) and they were interested. Approval for the product was applied for and an Interim approval granted in May 2020.

At around the same time the Winslow Group were seeking options for a 400m long DN180 potable water pipeline in a tender they were pursuing on a re-zoned industrial Port Melbourne site which was being converted into a commercial business area as part of the Fishermans Bend rezoning strategy. The industrial site, established in the early 20th century, contained large amounts of uncontrolled fill. Together with its function as a heavy industry site and association with the Government Aircraft Factory, it has left the ground containated and not suitable for regular plastic pipes for potable water transportation.

Vinidex presented the PPROTECTA-LINE® solution to the Winslow Group who were excited by the benefits it provided over traditional methods. Winslow in turn offered the solution to SEW who were eager to use this project as a trial for Protecta-Line®.

The Installation and testing of 400m of DN180 PROTECTA-LINE® pipe was completed in November 2020. Comments from the contractors were favourable and described the pipe as being easy to use providing all the traditional benefits of PE pipelines. A PE product was of particular benefit in this installation as it was fully restrained and easily adaptable where existing services or obstructions can affect the proposed alignment.

Vinidex offers a PE pipe solution for heavily contaminated grounds. It’s an innovative, easy to lay, cost effective, light weight and safe water transportation solution over other methods.

Visit us at Ozwater 2021 in Adelaide in May to talk more about our innovative solutions available.

13 11 69 | sales@vinidex.com.au | www.vinidex.com.au

The latest technologies and insights for water professionals

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OPERATIONAL ANALYTICS

INDIRECT POTABLE REUSE

WA SUPPLY AND DEMAND

NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT

INDIGENOUS EXPERTISE

The potential of Big Data — and the pitfalls of bottlenecks.

A three-year trial seeks to gain community acceptance.

How the western state is coping with changed circumstances.

Pursuing alternate wastewater treatment strategies.

Drawing on the knowledge of Australia’s first water industry.

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ACOUSTIC MONITORING

INCORPORATING MAORI VIEWS

ENSURING RESILIENCE

GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION

Sydney Water’s new approach to detecting and repairing leaks.

Water sensitive design in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Drawing on non-traditional water resources for the future.

Distinguishing between different sources.

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ME ASURING AFFORDABILIT Y Advancements in data and digital analysis have allowed the water sector to better understand the impact of bills on customers.

Thanks to this new information and advanced computing capabilities, measuring affordability and innovating for change has never been easier.

To discover more technical papers, visit watersource.awa.asn.au/category/publications/technical-papers 107

Discover more. awa.asn.au

“

Measuring affordability can be used as a mechanism to replicate the forces that exist in the marketplace to drive innovation.

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Ozwater'21

Technical Papers

Driving innovation by measuring affordability Francis Pamminger is the Manager of Strategic Research at Yarra Valley Water.

With the advancement of technology, data and digital analysis, utilities are able to understand the impact of bills on customers.

The water sector is no exception. Thanks to new information and computing capabilities, measuring affordability and innovating for change has never been easier.

26% TO 35%

RISING NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS IN WATER BILL STRESS

A

dvances in computing capability, data linkage and geospatial analysis enable the aggregation of previously large data sets managed by different entities. This presents the water industry with many new possibilities to generate evidence that can inform strategies to improve service for customers. This paper presents one such possibility, with the recommendation that water utilities can get a direct benefit from measuring and monitoring affordability.

Affordability is a concept that provides a quantifiable measure of financial stress. A commonly adopted threshold used internationally is 3%, above which customers are considered to be in financial water stress. Some countries even use this threshold as a fundamental requirement for water utilities to provide their services.

Yarra Valley Water has mapped affordability both spatially and temporally back to 2010.

At the highest aggregated data level, it found that it had improved affordability over the past eight years. However, when the data was disaggregated into different income categories, it revealed an increase in affordability stress for the lowest income groups – with the number of customers in financial water bill stress rising from 26% to 35%.

Measuring affordability provides the water industry with three potential improvement opportunities: improving the management of concessions, improving assistance programs to help financially vulnerable customers, and driving innovation.

First, from an ideal perspective, concessions should be designed to lift all customers above the water stress threshold of 3%. Our study highlighted that the total concession amount the business processes is in the correct order to achieve this theoretical objective, however actual payments were only about 80% effective in practice, hence providing an opportunity for improvement.

Second, with financial stress now a major societal problem, many companies are exploring what their role will be to tackle this challenge. It is well known that financial stress has an adverse impact on both personal and community wellbeing.

This study identifies that affordability stress existed more widely than just the lower socio-economic regions and also had a transient nature, potentially affecting any person at different times in their life – from young couples to retirees.

Knowing the unique differences in customer circumstances provides a water utility with the opportunity to tailor their assistance programs to these different groups.

Finally, measuring affordability can be used as a mechanism to replicate the forces that exist in the marketplace to drive innovation. In a competitive marketplace, businesses utilise innovation to pursue product improvements over their competitors, while keeping their prices down – a benefit that customers would appreciate.

TO READ THE FULL PAPER visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal or scan the QR code Australian Water Association

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Thank you to the following corporate members who have supported the Australian Water Association for 30+ years.

You inspire us every day to keep driving towards a sustainable water future.

AQUATEC-MAXCON

Interested in joining the Australian Water Association as a corporate member?

Check out awa.asn.au/membership for more information

Technical Papers

Operational analytics: complex calculations, simple execution Patrick Bonk is Innovyze’s Asia Pacific team resident Sewer Hydraulics Engineer with the role of Software Solutions Lead.

The Big Data era provides potential for higher degree of integration between operations, response teams, planning and management.

However, the current live data bottleneck stifles innovation.

Jonathan Klaric is a mathematician and numerical engine developer, and is the Resident Scientist at UQ’s Wonder of Science program.

W

hen the skill sets of technical and non-technical staff from all segments of a utility can access live data, water, sewerage and drainage networks will, in effect, be monitored by many more staff by way of stored logic, sampled and derived data feeds, templated and scalable calculations and associated alert generation.

Design. Automate.

Offload. Action

In pursuit of proactive decision making, operational analytics allows for the prioritisation of response resources and deployment of accompanying action plans.

The operational analytics web-based application, Info360 by Innovyze, contains workspaces designed to be utilised on a daily basis including mapping, geospatially-located sensors and alert mechanisms, visualisation of data through charts and built-in analytics dashlets, pre-designed visuals and metrics to monitor sensor health, and data quality to provide deeper insights on the operations and performance of water, sewerage and drainage networks.

Informing Info360’s workspaces for network insights and subsequent action is a data modelling application which consumes multiple categories of live data (AMR/AMI, SCADA, water quality, demand, flow, pressure, level, pump data and hydraulic model historical/ predictive runs).

The application is source agnostic, designed for operational analytics to be a fundamental aspect of proactive decision making and quicker to action when reacting to a system event. When action is necessary, operational analytics provides information regarding where, when, why and how an operations, field and engineering team can react and respond to system issues as they arise.

System benefits include: • Sensor health • Event detection and management • From reactive to active system operation • Better customer service • Simple statistics and/or pattern recognition for system anomaly detection • Configurable calculations, or automated workflows for scalability of complex calculations • Templated approaches and methodologies for less effort on data cleansing and increased attention to decision making.

Using internal and external expertise

More data and dashboards are not enough for behaviour change and adoption by users in their everyday practices. The paper shows that operational analytics are within every utility and council’s grasp, utilising their existing skill sets, data sets, IT infrastructure and software tools, discussing a step-by-step approach for operational analytics grounded in the discussion of successful case studies.

TO READ THE FULL PAPER visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal or scan the QR code Australian Water Association

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Technical Papers

Community acceptance for indirect potable reuse

Discover more. awa.asn.au

Daniel Healy, Duncan Middleton, Andrew Salveson, Dougals Owen, Jeremy Bishop and Nicholas Turner.

Seqwater has commenced a threeyear process to validate process performance, gain community acceptance and regulatory approval for the Western Corridor Recycled Water Scheme (WCRWS).

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he Seqwater study compared the validation of process performance of the WCRWS with that of relevant Indirect Potable Reuse (IPR) schemes in the United States, including site visits to Orange County Water District’s Ground Water Reuse Scheme and Fountain Valley Advanced Water Treatment Plant (AWTP), City of Wichita Falls Cypress AWTP, City of San Diego’s Pure Water Program demonstration facility and Stone’s Escondido brewery (involved in a purified recycled water collaboration). The study found that improving the validation of reverse osmosis should be the highest priority for future research.

The study also argues that an improved knowledge of LRVs and chemical removal can avoid over investment and inform incident management processes.

The Australian guidelines and typical regulation limit the maximum credit for any one barrier to a LRV of 4-log for microbial removal to promote a multiple barrier approach in the design and construction of AWTPs. This limits the LRVs demonstrable for processes such as ultraviolet-advanced oxidation (UV-AO) and disinfection.

The study also examined programs for community acceptance and explored its interdependence with regulatory approval and the role of an effective validation. It is important that the treatment technology

WATER REUSE SCHEMES 1 Orange County Water District’s Ground Water Reuse Scheme 2 Fountain Valley Advanced Water Treatment Plant 3 City of Wichita Falls Cypress AWTP 4 City of San Diego’s PURE Water Program 5 Stone’s Escondido brewery

will remove microbial and chemical contaminants, that regulation will protect public health without being unnecessarily conservative, and increased community awareness fosters understanding. The study argues that community acceptance is more than attitudinal and is dependent on an effective validation that provides assurances of safety and explains how IPR processes work. Community engagement was found to be best achieved through leveraging off the medical community and trusted industries, and linking engagement with process validation and resource sustainability. Mobile demonstration plants and demonstration facilities (e.g. San Diego, El Paso, Denver) and promotions using purified recycled water (PRW) in beer and resource sustainability messaging (e.g. Stone Brewing Full Circle) were found to be effective in changing community attitudes and increased the momentum of outreach programs.

TO READ THE FULL PAPER visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal or scan the QR code 112

Ozwater'21

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Technical Papers

Modelling Western Australia’s water demand and supplies Daniel Ferguson is a Principal Water Planner for Western Australia’s Department of Water and Environmental Regulation.

Doubling the state’s water use together with climate change has compromised Western Australia’s water supplies.

How has the water sector coped?

S

ustained growth of Western Australia’s economy and population brought about a doubling of the state’s water use in the thirty years following 1985. Over the same period climate change intensified in the state’s south-west land division causing historically low inflows to dams and recharge to aquifers that comprised the region’s water supplies.

In a response to the challenges faced in Western Australia, the WA Government invested in large-scale seawater desalination and wastewater recycling to augment the Perth Integrated Water Supply Scheme, which supplies drinking water to the majority of the population.

The situation also prompted Government and industry to initiate coordinated, long-term planning of the water resources and supplies that were needed for sustainable economic growth across Western Australia.

Estimating future demand

In carrying out long-term water supply planning the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation developed the ‘Water Supply and Demand Model’ (WSDM) to estimate the future demand and availability of the state’s groundwater and surface water resources to 2060.

To test the validity of WSDM results, a comparison of water

demand projections and actual water abstraction since 2008 was undertaken.

The evaluation showed that modelled growth rates for industry output, gross value added, employment and population are suitable indicators for projecting the long-term water demand trends of different water usages. It also found that consulting across government and industry was important for identifying ‘trend-breaking’ growth scenarios and aligning the model results with established land use plans, development proposals and water efficiency initiatives.

In southern Western Australia, the availability of groundwater and surface water resources is limited and will not meet the projected water demand for urban expansion and increased food production, so increased water efficiency and alternative water sources are needed.

Understanding the state’s needs

Sharing data and knowledge is fundamental to the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation’s stewardship of Western Australia’s water and environmental systems. The WSDM program provides relevant, transparent and credible information about the water resources and supplies that are needed to support Western Australia’s future economic and population growth.

Increasing awareness and knowledge about the state’s water challenges and opportunities is expected to help deliver the actions needed to maintain economic growth and urban livability with limited water resources in a drying climate.

TO READ THE FULL PAPER visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal or scan the QR code Australian Water Association

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Technical Papers

Exploring nutrient management practices

Discover more. awa.asn.au

Jamie Barnes, Justin Todhunter and Reece Wong

Wastewater utilities face pressure from population growth and reducing nutrient discharge limits. This is reflected in the cost to customers. Urban Utilities is pursuing alternate nutrient management strategies to deliver long-term sustainability and value to communities.

D

eriving from environmental economic concepts, cost-decision making tools can be developed to understand both environmental and economic impacts of wastewater treatment activities, allowing for better informed decisions.

Growth and environmental challenges

To date, improvements in plant performance relative to treatment costs have been achieved through process optimisations. In the case of Queensland’s Urban Utilities’ largest treatment plant, process optimisations at Luggage Point have resulted in a 53ton reduction in annual nitrogen mass load discharges since 2018, delaying costly capital upgrades. However, this strategy cannot be sustained as continual process improvements may be limited due to diminishing returns. Once these options are exhausted, capital and operational investments are required to manage increased nutrient loads or achieve greater performance.

Investment decisions must aim to increase the social benefit over the life cycle and ensure efficient allocation of resources.

Decision-making tools

Urban Utilities has started investigating new cost-benefit, decision making tools through

integrating environmental economic concepts, such as Marginal Abatement Cost (MAC) and Marginal Damage (MD), to understand the relationship between the cost to treat and the cost to the environment.

A MAC is a function derived from the unit cost incurred to remove an additional unit of pollutant. Similarly, the MD function is derived through quantifying the environmental damage imposed for each unit of pollutant released.

By evaluating these together, externalities can be identified to internalise the costs and identify the equimarginal point, designating the point where the marginal cost of both nutrient abatement and environmental damages are equal, and the social costs are at a minimum.

Bringing these concepts together enables the business to compare different investment decisions whilst acknowledging the full spectrum of private and external costs, helping to evaluate the effects of conventional versus emerging technology.

For example, the comparison of nitrogen short-cut technologies that focuses on asset utilisation and intensification illustrates that the marginal abatement cost for these options are lower, compared to the conventional upgrade and may result in lower marginal damage, providing improved net social benefits by achieving a reduction in environmental damage at a lower cost to customer.

TO READ THE FULL PAPER visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal or scan the QR code 116

Ozwater'21

Hydrographic Technology Z-Boat Mapping

Z-Boat is a reliable, accurate, and surveyor-tested remote survey system for inshore hydrographic work for jobs where access to the survey area is poor or conditions are unsafe. With echo sounders selected specifically for use on a remote vessel, the Z-Boat can be configured to suit every survey challenge and budget. The hull shape, propulsion, radio communication, and sonar instrumentation combine to offer an easy to use and powerful option for hydrographic work.

Taylors offers unmatched value and convenience for hydrographic surveys conducting shallow water inshore bathymetric surveys using the Z-boat.

Instead of mobilizing a manned boat or putting people on the water in a hazardous location survey, simply launch the Z-Boat and start surveying immediately. The Z-Boat echo sounder and GPS are integrated with a radio modem data transmission system allowing the operator to view the boat track in real time on the shore laptop. Not only can soundings be reviewed as the data is collected, but survey lines can be easily followed with help from the laptop display ensuring consistent and accurate survey data.

The Z-Boat 1800 is particularly suited to conducting fast and convenient volume surveys in industrial water storage ponds such as frac water pits, wastewater ponds, or tailings storage facilities. Instead of mobilizing a full survey crew, a single operator can determine the water volume in a fraction of the time and at a much lower cost with no compromise in personnel safety.

Water Industry Specialists enquiries@taylorsds.com.au

Cost Z-Boat technology captures more accurate data within a sonar scan than a 2-3 person field party can capture in a day.

Time Z–Boat technology can capture more data in less time than conventional bathymetric survey methods using a driver and operator.

Fast Response Quick and easy deployment of the Z-boat system makes this an extremely responsive solution.

Further time can be saved by reducing the safety risks associated with launching a manned boat, making permits and SWMS easier to achieve.

Safety Z-Boat technology can reduce or sometimes eliminate the need for contact with water bodies significantly reducing the risk of drowning.

Technical Papers

The original water industry

Discover more. awa.asn.au

Michael Frangos, Bradley Moggridge, Torres Webb, Troyson Bassani and Phil Duncan

At the highest level, the water industry is a custodian of the communities’ responsibility to maintain public health, manage a vital resource which is the essence of life, and to ensure that the environment remains protected and ultimately habitable.

T

hrough interviews, anecdotes, literature and industry knowledge, it has been confirmed that the Original Water Industry not only existed, but also holds value or learnings for the modern water industry, the three concepts of sustainability, equitability and distribution being prime examples of the value that is on offer, all which culminate to produce an efficient and effective industry.

Adding value to the water industry

Indigenous Australians are renowned for their custodianship and care for country.

This obligation of custodianship produces excellent environmental outcomes in nearly all activities undertaken, meaning Indigenous solutions are naturally sustainable.

A result of the nature of Indigenous culture and the connection to country is the ability to integrate human activity within a local ecosystem, interlocking natural indicators or signals to the way human activity is managed within the Original Water Industry.

As a result of this organic environmentalism, Indigenous solutions are naturally sustainable.

A key principle to maintaining this connection between the local environment and human activity is generational knowledge transfer.

Indigenous Australians transfer knowledge about

local environmental indicators verbally, and in far more personal and human nature than the modern document-heavy approach.

Sharing is also deeply rooted in Indigenous culture, meaning water resources and services were fairly distributed among communities. The current mainstream economy is changing and moving toward a model that mirrors the established Indigenous economy.

Finally, Indigenous Australians were far more evenly dispersed throughout the country than Australia’s population is today which meant a decentralised or distributed economy was a necessity, as was trade or collaboration between nations. This trend holds much economic, social and environmental value today.

Turning point

We are at a unique point in time where the water industry faces many existential threats including aging assets, rapidly evolving technologies and emerging environmental concerns. These new risks and opportunities place the water industry in a very uncertain time, facing challenges that have never been faced.

Before we leap into the future we must learn from the past.

In line with user-centred design, there is significant opportunity to apply Indigenous science and solutions to Indigenous challenges. There is also opportunity to apply this knowledge to issues in the industry more broadly.

TO READ THE FULL PAPER visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal or scan the QR code 118

Ozwater'21

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Technical Papers

Enhancing Sydney Water’s leak prevention through acoustic monitoring

Discover more. awa.asn.au

Rebeka Nikoloska, Lili Bykerk, Dammika Vitanage, Jaime Valls Miro, Fang Chen, Yang Wang, Bin Liang and Sunny Verma

To create a better life with world-class water services, Sydney Water is continually exploring and implementing new technologies to improve its service to five million customers, including finding new approaches to sensing and fixing leaks.

L

eaks and breaks pose an issue for all water utilities, and each year Sydney Water experiences 6500 leaks and breaks. This causes disruptions to the network and customers, and results in 8% of unaccounted water loss.

Now, with smart technology and the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), acoustic leak detection sensors can detect a water main leak before it turns into a break.

204 ACOUSTIC

SENSORS DEPLOYED

Acoustic sensors

Sydney Water in collaboration with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) deployed 204 acoustic sensors in the Sydney CBD, Bankstown, Liverpool and Penrith and Chatswood to enhance their leak monitoring system. These locations have been prioritised for sensor deployment through the Sydney Water-UTS pipe failure prediction tool model. Acoustic sensors are attached to a hydrant and detect a leak by measuring the vibrations induced on a pipe when a leak occurs. To date, a total of 35 leaks have been detected, of which 21 have been repaired.

With the hustle and bustle of Sydney’s CBD, environmental noises picked up by acoustic sensors can be so high that false alarms of leaks are triggered, resulting in the need to reduce the number of false alarms through the development of a machinelearning algorithm to reflect accurate leaks within the system.

The future of leaks and breaks

This proactive approach to fixing leaks and breaks will be integrated into Sydney Water’s business-as-usual with future maintenance works being planned and scheduled. This will empower Sydney Water to repair a leak with minimal disruption to motorists, residents and the public, conserve water, support ongoing drought resilience efforts, and reduce the cost of maintenance in fixing pipes.

The ability for acoustic sensors to approximate the location of the leak also reduces the time spent on manual surveying of the water pipe and significantly improves the safety of the work environment.

With the deployment of acoustic sensors, Sydney Water is on its way to enabling assets to manage themselves.

Sydney Water is aiming to achieve a reduction of 50% reactive leak detection work and reduce 50% unaccounted water loss in the five CBD areas within three years.

TO READ THE FULL PAPER visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal or scan the QR code 120

Ozwater'21

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collaboration

{col•lab•o•ra•tion}

noun. The action of two or more people or organisations working towards a common goal. A focused effort to accomplish a task or project together. synonyms: cooperation, partnership, participation

innovation

{in•no•va•tion}

noun. The introduction of new things, ideas or ways of doing something that can create value and/or gain a competitive advantage. synonyms: change, revolution, break with tradition

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We approach everything we do with integrity and an unwavering commitment to collaboration and innovation.

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Technical Papers

Indigenous water sensitive urban design: an Aotearoa New Zealand perspective Troy Brockbank is a Kaitohutohu Mātua Taiao with WSP

The economic, social, amenity and environmental values of water sensitive design are widely understood, however, incorporating local culture is important.

“

Emily Afoa is a Partner and Environmental Engineer at Tektus Consultants Ltd

T

he indigenous Māori (NZ) culture recognises that environmental management has integral links with the mauri (wellbeing) of the environment and concepts of kaitiakitanga (guardianship).

Te Ao Māori (Māori worldview) further promotes stewardship and protection of these resources, through the intrinsic relationship of people to water, and Te Tai Ao (the natural environment).

Integrating core water sensitive design values with mātauranga Māori (indigenous knowledge) and principles of tikanga Māori (traditional indigenous practices) provides a holistic, culturally enhanced approach to water management and promotes water stewardship. Prioritising the mauri (wellbeing) of the community and their surroundings benefits the wider environment (people and natural) and ensures that cultural and social outcomes are not diminished as a result of monetary focused cost-benefit analysis.

Different, but crucial approach While this approach may be considered different, a holistic culturally enhanced water sensitive design approach can mitigate the effects of urbanisation.

The implementation of both culture and water management can be a successful, long-term, holistic ‘stewardship’ solution to what is becoming an increasingly complex and important environmental objective.

There is an intrinsic relationship between people, water, and the natural environment embedded across both the physical and spiritual planes within Te Ao Māori. These connections promote stewardship and protection of te taiao (the natural world), and therefore, indigenous values – specifically holistic values reflected in Te Ao Māori – which can inform, enhance, and complement WSUD as it is commonly implemented.

The implementation of both culture and water management can be a successful, long-term, holistic ‘stewardship’ solution.

TO READ THE FULL PAPER visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal or scan the QR code Australian Water Association

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Technical Papers

Working with community and council: the Kirirri story Cara Beal, Bernard Dorante, Patrick Pearson, Safaa Aldirawi and Noora Abdallah

While many of us associate poor and inadequate supplies of drinking water with developing countries, there are remote communities in Australia that struggle to access safe and reliable drinking water.

I

t is becoming clear that businessas-usual, Western solutions are not providing suitable social or cultural answers to remote community water management. However, the strengths of a community can be harnessed to work toward greater sustainability and resilience of water supplies in remote First Nations communities.

The Kirirri project

Increasingly, focus has been on understanding and integrating local people and place into water supply and demand management.

The Kirirri (Hammond Island) community lives in the traditional lands and seas of the Kaurareg people.

The community-based water demand management trial project on Kirirri was initiated by the Torres Strait Island Regional Council (TSIRC) as part of the larger Sustainable Water and Wastewater Management Project (SWWMP) undertaken in 2018-2019.

Residential-scale water consumption was monitored using high-resolution digital water meters and loggers which were installed at 20 of the 25 participating households.

An essential component of the research approach was obtaining qualitative data through face-to-face, two-way engagement with the participants and wider community. Informal

discussions that focused on ‘listening and learning’, rather than ‘talking and telling’ enabled deeper insights into the behaviours, attitudes, concerns and challenges that the local community face with respect to their water supply.

Positive, regular and consistent engagement and water conservation messaging is likely to yield more successful results in terms of sustained community engagement with CWDM strategies.

The response

Based on responses from the two participant surveys and key informant interviews with community Elders, approaches such as ad-hoc water restriction notices without any visible enforcement, and punitive or negative messaging around water use, particularly singling out individuals, is unlikely to produce effective and long-term behaviour change around high-water use activities.

There needs to be a broader framework for a community-based water demand management approach for remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The importance of increasing reliance on community-based demand management approaches rather than externally led measures cannot be ignored. Engaging and encouraging the community, and education and knowledge strategies, especially local water storytelling and traditional water literacy education, have greater potential to be locally supported than the more traditional enforcement and economic measures.

TO READ THE FULL PAPER visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal or scan the QR code Australian Water Association

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Technical Papers

Australian exemplars of sustainable and economic managed aquifer recharge

Discover more. awa.asn.au

Joanne Vanderzalm, Bruce Naumann, Simon Higginson, Declan Page, Andrew Jones, Vanessa Moscovis, Stacey Hamilton, Dennis Gonzalez, Graeme Dandy, Karen Barry, Peter Dillon, Henning Prommer and Mike Donn

Population growth and climate change are not only increasing the demand on traditional water resources, but also increasing the need to consider other nontraditional sources in order to ensure water security and resilience for the future.

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anaged aquifer recharge (MAR), or intentional groundwater replenishment, is a means of improving water security by using aquifers to store water when it is abundant until required for use. When coupled with water recycling, MAR can increase the use of urban stormwater and treated wastewater to reduce the demand on traditional surface water supplies, or to augment groundwater supplies.

Two Australian MAR operations are said to be exemplars of sustainable and economical MAR: Perth’s groundwater replenishment scheme (GWRS), with recycled water to increase security of urban water supply; and Adelaide’s multisite urban stormwater MAR, for suburban non-potable water supply.

Standardised approach necessary

A standardised approach to economic and sustainability assessment provides a synthesis across vastly different schemes regardless of scheme type, water source, or hydrogeological setting.

The novel development of environmental and social sustainability indicators has highlighted the value of a risk-based regulatory framework based on the Australian Guidelines for Water Recycling: Managed Aquifer Recharge (“MAR Guidelines”).

Currently, the Australian MAR Guidelines are the only example globally of risk-

based MAR guidance for protecting health and environment which addresses both water quantity and quality. Perth’s GWRS and Adelaide’s Salisbury stormwater MAR were deemed to be at a good standard for sustainability due to their implementation in accordance with the rigorous approach adopted in the MAR Guidelines.

The economic assessment was based on the levelised cost and benefit cost ratio of MAR scheme development in relation to the next best alternative source of water. Levelised cost per kilolitre was calculated using a present-value analysis and determined from the constant level of revenue necessary each year to recover all the capital, operating, and maintenance expenses over the life of the project, divided by the annual volume of water supply provided by the MAR scheme.

Economic cost-benefit analysis undertaken for one of Salisbury’s stormwater harvesting hubs assessed eight configurations for stormwater MAR to be used for public space irrigation, residential non-potable supply, and drinking water supply. The options for public space irrigation and drinking water supply had positive economic net benefits, while residential non-potable supply (third pipe options) weren’t favourable due to the cost of constructing an additional extensive distribution network.

These case studies serve to build confidence in MAR using alternative water supplies for both potable and nonpotable end uses.

TO READ THE FULL PAPER visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal or scan the QR code 126

Ozwater'21

how can you help address the global sanitation crisis?

Engineers Without Borders Australia develops innovative technologies & practices that can transform access to water & sanitation for millions living in remote and challenging environments.

Partner with us and join the leading edge of humanitarian engineering.

To discuss partnership opportunities contact:

Heidi Michael, EWB International Programs: h.michael@ewb.org.au Jacqui Bell, EWB Australia Programs: j.bell@ewb.org.au

www.ewb.org.au

THANK YOU TO OUR

Members and Partners FOR YOUR SUPPORT OUR PRINCIPAL MEMBERS

OUR UNIVERSITY PARTNERS

Interested in upgrading your corporate membership?

Find out more at: www.awa.asn.au/membership

Technical Papers

Characterising sources of groundwater contamination William McCance, Prof. Oliver A.H Jones, Dr Aravind Surapaneni and Assoc. Prof. Matthew Currell

The potential for wastewater treatment plants to cause adverse groundwater impacts is a global challenge, with the prevention of impacts on aquatic biota and water resources being a major regulatory focus.

D

istinguishing site-derived impacts, as opposed to those from other sources such as agriculture, is particularly important for wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), which are frequently located in environments with multiple potential contamination sources.

Despite the potential for these impacts to create environmental and health risks, conventional monitoring and assessment methods are often unable to distinguish between multiple contamination sources.

This can lead to significant uncertainties when assessing the nature and extent of site-derived impacts, resulting in difficulties determining compliance with the local regulatory framework and assessing suitable management or remedial actions.

How it’s done

A set of novel groundwater tracers – radioactive isotopes, stable isotopes and contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) – can be used to assess and manage contamination risks relating to site activities. The use of these tracers can provide greater insight and certainty into the assessment of groundwater impacts.

Real application of the use of novel groundwater tracers is illustrated via a case study, which details how novel groundwater tracers were applied to a WWTP located in south-east Australia to assist

THE COMBINED USE OF RADIOACTIVE ISOTOPES, STABLE ISOTOPES AND CECS CAN ASSIST IN: 1. Identifying areas where leakage may have led to groundwater impacts 2. Determining the potential origin and timescale(s) of contamination 3. Identifying the pathways of groundwater contamination 4. Tracing wastewater derived impacts through the subsurface, enabling separation of site versus off-site derived impacts. in constraining the nature and extent of an identified nutrient plume.

This resulted in the identification of three distinct hot spots related to site-derived impacts that could not be identified using conventional methods.

Finally, commercial availability of potential analytes, typical cost range and turnaround times involved in the application are summarised, which highlight current potential limitations to commercial use and barriers to adoption.

However, despite limited commercial availability (particularly for CEC analysis), given most commercial laboratories do have the instrumentation required to undertake CEC analysis, this paper notes the possibility of commercial laboratories expanding their capability if the market determines a need for the use of novel groundwater tracers to assist in the assessment and management of wastewater derived impacts, as distinct from other sources.

TO READ THE FULL PAPER visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal or scan the QR code Australian Water Association

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Resourcing the world. veolia.com/anz

Advertorial

Budget battles The case for Water Authorities to invest in predictive models

To learn more about how Hubgrade Blockage Prediction could assist your organisation, contact quentin.bechet@veolia.com.

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any Water Authorities struggle with tightening budgets, as well as increasing maintenance costs to repair ageing water assets. Read on to learn how predictive modelling will become a game changer for managing and optimising water network infrastructure, and ultimately, providing better customer experiences.

With ageing water infrastructure, the chance of network failure grows each year while customer expectations continue to rise.

What if Water Authorities could accurately predict which networks were likely to fail in a given year, with a clear view of the most ‘at risk’ areas? What if they could understand the direct impact of investment on network performance and downtime? And what if, armed with the right data, they could reduce or even eliminate network downtime over time?

This was the challenge given to Veolia’s Quentin Bechet, Smart Water Manager.

Quentin and his team responded with Hubgrade Blockage Prediction, at tool that takes the guesswork out of critical investment decisions for Water Authorities. “As part of our Hubgrade Digital solutions, we developed a predictive, machine learning model, so our clients could see where to best allocate network maintenance investment. Armed with accurate data, they can understand the cost, and likely benefit, associated with a particular level of investment in pipeline repairs and maintenance, over a given period of time.” says Bechet.

Hubgrade Blockage Prediction has been in development and testing for the last 3 years, using real time asset data. The tool can benefit organisations facing the trade off between short-term fixes and cleans, and long-term strategy and planning: while maintenance operations (such as cleaning) can reduce failures in the short term, this ‘band-aid’ approach is not a substitute for strategic pipe renewal in the context of ageing infrastructure over the longer term. Thanks to smart data, Water Authorities can now predict network failures with a high degree of accuracy over a number of decades.

By having the right data, conversations begin to shift - from how much money should be put aside for repairs and cleaning (short term) versus pipeline renewal (long term), to one about acceptable risk and downtime: How much risk and network downtime is the Water Authority willing to accept for a given level of investment? Over what time period are they willing to spread the investment? And what is the optimal level of (short term) investment in maintenance versus (longer term) investment in pipeline renewal? And importantly, how will this decision impact overall network health, and the experience for their customer?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Energy saving optimisation for water distribution networks

Components of Energy Costs

Pump energy costs can be a major component of total operational expenditure for water utilities and it is a challenge to reduce pump energy costs while ensuring the continuous supply of high-quality water. Data61 and Sydney Water have worked collaboratively to develop intelligent network optimisation models to address the above challenge. Specifically, an energy saving optimisation model has been built to identify the optimal pump and valve operating schedules, so that peak-hour and shoulder-hour pumping is minimised and energy costs are reduced, while the required level of water quality performance is achieved. A simulation over three months demonstrated that a potential saving of around 15% in energy costs can be made with this approach. bit.ly/3qr3k7G

By Y Zhao, B Liang, S Dang, R Taib, Y Wang, F Chen, G Matthews, T Hua, D Vitanage, C Doolan

Discover more. awa.asn.au

Third pipe water recycling

VRK Framework

Third pipe systems for recycled water are on the periphery of options for more resilient urban water management in the face of water scarcity.

A number of schemes in the Australian water industry provide useful learnings. Even though direct supply costs are often higher than the potable water price, there are distinct circumstances where such schemes can be justified economically.

Even where schemes have not been economic, there can be valuable lessons around the institutional alignment required to enable innovation for integrated urban water management. bit.ly/3v5D8mm

By D Livingston

Effective monitoring of trihalomethanes in water supply systems Schematic of Method 2 based on system-specific yield

To ensure public health safety, water supplied to consumers should meet both microbiological and disinfection by-product (DBP) requirements.

Water utilities are ensuring microbiological safety of water, but there is considerable variation in monitoring and reporting trihalomethane (THM) levels across Australia, for the obvious reasons of cost and lack of resources and skills to monitor total THMs (TTHMs). Such practices lead to neglecting the long-term health risks from DBPs, which are often exacerbated by overdosing chlorine. To overcome these problems, we suggest two simple methods, which calculate and record the maximum TTHM levels in a system from regular monitoring of chlorine. Both methods calculate the TTHM concentration by multiplying the chlorine demand by the yield. bit.ly/3qmTPGw

By A Sathasivan, G Kastl, I Fisher

Using artificial intelligence to improve pipe condition assessment

Inspection and condition assessments of network infrastructure are critical for water utilities and city councils to ensure the structural integrity and functionality of sewer pipes and stormwater drains.

These assessments are necessary to identify the pipes requiring rehabilitation before they deteriorate past the point of renewal. In practice, these assessments are performed manually through camera inspection of the pipes. However, the visual observation of the resulting footage can be biased by the operator’s subjectivity. bit.ly/3emETGa

By Q Bechet, X Philoleau, M Mellado-Ruiz, A Siqueira, M Aguilar Example of a minor joint displacement identified

by VAPAR algorithm (score = 2) but typically not reported by operators.

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Technical Papers

TO DISCOVER MORE TECHNICAL PAPERS, visit watersource.awa.asn.au/category/publications/technical-papers

Data-driven water quality prediction in chloraminated systems

Travel time estimation for each zone.

One critical aspect of overall water supply management is to monitor drinking water quality across the entire water delivery network. This paper proposes a data-driven method that provides water quality prediction within the entire Woronora delivery system in Sydney. A Bayesian parametric decay model is formulated using the key factors to predict water quality. To estimate the water travel time, which links the upstream (reservoir) data to the downstream (resident) data, the hydraulic system is employed to capture the topology of the delivery system. Moreover, the uncertainties of both data and the model are analysed to define the boundaries of prediction for better decision making. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been validated using the data collected by online water quality analysers. bit.ly/3v4ZOmH

By A Peters, B Liang, H Tian, Z Li, C Doolan, D Vitanage, H Norris, K Simpson, Y Wang, F Chen

Innovation through collaboration

Chlorophyll-a concentrations (green line, left-hand axis) during an algai bloom on Saltwater Creek.

Blue line is salinity (right-hand axis)

With little data available on the quality of stormwater discharging from urban catchments to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), the driver for the Smart Catchments: Saltwater Creek project was “If we don’t monitor, we can’t manage”. To do this, near real-time high-frequency discharge and water quality data are needed. Working collaboratively with industry, community, educators and scientists, the project, led by Cairns Regional Council, fulfils a commitment to the Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan. This paper presents a more holistic and effective approach to monitor and manage water quality runoff from urban catchments. bit.ly/3ccc4JD

By L Powell, HS Lim, I Brown, T Huang, N Munksgaard, M Randall, J Holdsworth, H Cook

Feasibility of waste to energy at Gladstone Wastewater Treatment Plant Proposed general arrangement for Waste to Energy facility at Gladstone WWTP.

Gladstone Regional Council (GRC) has recently developed a Biofutures Strategy for the Gladstone region. Anaerobic digestion is a sludge stabilisation process to produce stabilised grade B biosolids, converting organic matter into biogas, to generate electricity, and produce heat and digestate, a valuable fertiliser and soil conditioner. The Gladstone Wastewater Treatment Plant’s (WWTP) solids handling facility is currently undergoing augmentation. This is an opportunity for GRC to take an integrated approach and investigate the feasibility of co-digestion. This paper discusses the impacts of different quality substrate on anaerobic digester performance, biogas production, biosolids production and the maximum substrate that can be added for co-digestion without compromising anaerobic digester performance. bit.ly/3v6MfDp

By G Bharambe, C McKewen

Educating customers on water consumption

The myh2o website

Mackay Regional Council’s social marketing strategy was introduced to enable and support the implementation of a Demand Management Program.

MiWater and myh2o applications were implemented, leading to a higher level of customer satisfaction and providing more proactive communication from Council. Customer leaks are being fixed quickly, saving both Council and the customer money. The strategy encouraged residents to sign up to myh2o, and by signing up, residents can track their water consumption and expenditure, which means there is less “bill shock” within the community when the water bills are issued every six months. bit.ly/2PMeqaH

By L Roberts, J Stewart, Dr N Davis

Australian Water Association

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Next Wave

MOVING INTO THE FUTURE

A

fter studying environmental management, Dr Paul Satur joined the fight as an environmental and social science researcher as part of the Monash Sustainable Development Institute’s (MSDI) Water unit.

Discover more. awa.asn.au

EQUAL ACCESS FOR ALL

Dr Paul Satur was surrounded by a network who were “fighting the fight for environmental justice, advocacy and stewardship”, inspiring him to do the same.

“

Satur has worked in integrated urban water management for more than a decade. His experience includes research projects with the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cites, and the development and delivery of waterway health engagement and capacity-building programs with Melbourne Water. It has provided a deep understanding of the role water authorities play in supporting vulnerable communities.

“I’m interested in how water shapes people’s lived experiences, in terms of wellbeing,” he says.

Satur cites the example of the Millennium Drought that triggered water restrictions across much of southern Australia. His research found that women in single-parent families were disproportionately affected. “It’s much more difficult to be able to afford a rainwater tank, to pay for its installation, to pay for its maintenance and its upkeep, even with an incentive program.”

Satur was AWA’s 2020 Young Water Professional of the Year and recently established the Our Future Cities program. This aims

I’m interested in how water shapes people’s lived experiences, in terms of wellbeing.

to “bring together a community of people from across diverse disciplines and backgrounds who share a passion for supporting the sustainability and resilience and vibrancy of the places that we live in”. He believes that collaboration across the broader water industry is essential in addressing water security and sustainability. “The processes we’ve had in the past, particularly around sustainable water management, are no longer going to be sufficient in the face of rapidly growing populations and climate uncertainty,” he says. “We need a multifaceted approach that takes into consideration technology and institutional processes, as well as cultures, values and expectations.”

FIT FOR THE FUTURE

Satur cites work with Indigenous communities as his most rewarding career experience to date.

“I’ve been working on projects recently that have sought to answer questions like, ‘how do we support traditional owner-led research, education, impact and advocacy outcomes?’.” he says.

Despite challenges that come with supporting vulnerable communities, Satur sees great potential for the water industry in promoting a sustainable future.

“Australia is a world leader in this space,” he says. “We are thinking holistically within the water sector about different forms – like storm water, recycled water and drinking water – and the opportunities they present for promoting liveability and wellbeing.”

NAME: Dr Paul Satur, 33 FIRST JOB: Pizza chef at the local pizza shop in my teenage years CURRENT JOB: Lecturer/Researcher for Water Sensitive Cities at Monash Sustainable Development Institute STARTED: June 2019 CAREER GOAL: To empower people in place for the enhancement of environment, culture and wellbeing. In particular, I’m interested in how principles of deep ecology and planetary health can sit at the heart of resource and place-based planning management to support these outcomes.

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