Current
THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE November 2017
Volume 1 No 8
3D flow THE 3D-PRINTING REVOLUTION IS CHANGING WATER LAYER BY LAYER Here’s how to hit the science-policy sweet spot.
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What’s behind India and China’s looming water crises?
Mining makes moves to be more water-conscious.
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T H E AU ST R A L I A N WAT E R A S S O C I AT I O N M AG A Z I N E
FEATURES
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THE TRICKLE-DOWN EFFECT Cynthia Mitchell on the ways water access inequalities affect women. A SHARED PASSION Enthusiasm for their work connects this mentor and mentee. A VALUABLE ADDITIVE What ripple effects will 3D printing have on the water industry? WHERE SCIENCE MEETS POLICY How can researchers and policymakers work together to create world-class water initiatives? CRASH OF THE TITANS China and India are the world’s two most populous countries. How will their respective water industries handle their looming water crises? STATE OF MINES Can the mining and water industries work together to reduce mining’s impact on Australia’s environment? NATIONAL WATER REFORM The Association’s response to the Productivity Commission’s Water Resources Inquiry Draft Report. SEEDS OF CHANGE Academics and farmers are working together to improve water efficiency and boost crop yields.
The whole value chain is moving so quickly that it’s even made the machines we have in our lab outdated already, and some of those are only a couple of years old. P28 CSIRO’s Stefan Gulizia on the rapid growth of 3D printing equipment and capabilities.
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Current CO N T EN TS
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NEWS
TECHNICAL
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From the Chief Executive From the President’s desk Association news Coast to coast: Here’s what the Branch Presidents have in store for 2018. What’s online?
INDUSTRY 20 24 28 34 40 48 52 54
Cynthia Mitchell Mentoring spotlight
Health and wellbeing Water quality Machine learning Water sensitive urban design Water-sensitive cities Innovation in process optimisation Asset management Customer experience Membrane bioreactor Modelling and planning
3D printing Science-policy interface India and China
EVENTS 76
Events calendar
Policy reform
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World Toilet Summit
Water for Profit program
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Social pages
Water-conscious mining
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Current
T H E AUST R A L I A N WAT E R ASSO C I AT I O N M AG A Z I N E
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Jonathan McKeown Email: jmckeown@awa.asn.au National Manager – Events and Marketing: Kirsty Blades Email: kblades@awa.asn.au TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE: Ted Gardner (Chair); Frank R Bishop (rtd), GHD; Chris Davis (rtd), Australian Water Association; Dr Andrew Bath, Water Corporation; Michael Chapman, GHD; 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; Dr Robbert van Oorschot, GHD; David Power, BECA Consultants; Dr Ashok Sharma, Victoria University. Technical Co-Ordinator: Natalija Gagic Email: journal@awa.asn.au
Current is the official quarterly magazine for members of the Australian Water Association. 655 Pacific Highway, St Leonards, Sydney, NSW 2065 Phone: (02) 9436 0055 Email: info@awa.asn.au
369a Darling St, Balmain, Sydney, NSW 2041 Managing Editor: James Chalmers Email: james@mahlab.co Editor: Rebecca Cleaver and Rachael Brown Email: rachael@mahlab.co Graphic Design: Matt Caulfield, Gary Humphrys and Don Tay Senior Account Manager: Ella McGuire Email: ella@mahlab.co Advertising Manager: Val Glendinning Email: val@mahlab.co
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 rachael@mahlab.co COPYRIGHT: Current is subject to copyright and may not be reproduced in any format without the written permission of AWA. Email rachael@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.
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capacity for up to 25,000 tonnes of packaged waste from supermarkets, liquid industrial waste and solid cereals waste, it produced 8.5GWh in 2016 – enough to power more than 2000 households. Electricity is distributed through the local mains network, while the residual heat generated is sold to the nearby Solairgies plant, which specialises in the drying of industrial and urban sludge. The green electricity and heat produced by the facility offers a carbon dioxide emissions saving of approximately 1400 tonnes per annum. Around 35,000 tonnes of green waste, poultry droppings and food industry solid waste is processed each year through the on-site composting plant. Solid digestate that represents only 1000 tonnes per year is co-composted with green waste. This marginally contributes to a global quality standardised compost and organic fertiliser marketed tonnage that reached 21,000 tons in 2016, replacing fossil fuel-intensive inorganic fertilisers. Digestate liquid fraction that represented more than 18,000m3 in 2016 is land spread on agricultural parcels of more than 30 local farmers. Gowans said SUEZ is working hard to bring the expertise and operational knowledge of managing such facilities, as well as the technology and processes refined at Méta Bio Energies to Australian shores in the near future. “We are keen to integrate this biowaste-fromenergy expertise into existing facilities locally and enable our customers to reap the rewards,” he said. “There is huge potential for cost benefit – not only for energy producers and consumers, but also for the environment.”
From the Chief Executive
A NEW NATIONAL APPROACH TO WATER Throughout the year the level of business optimism has grown significantly across the water sector. Members have reported an increase in the number of new business deals, contracts and opportunities as long-waited water infrastructure projects commence. Many of our large water utility members have engaged consultants, project managers and suppliers on new work and state governments have announced new water infrastructure projects with suggestions that there are more on the planning boards. Business and investment in the commercial, industrial, and agricultural sectors has also created new demand for the water industry. The Association’s own measure of increased business demand can be seen in the massive increase in applications for our Australian Water Awards this year. The Association itself has also grown with nearly 300 new members since July and we announced an annual surplus of $186,000 at the AGM in Melbourne last month. Hopefully, this positive trend will continue into 2018 and enable the water industry to enjoy a period of strong but steady growth. However, in the background of these positive economic signs the water sector faces continuing challenges. The Australian community maintains concerns about how Australia is managing aspects of our water resources and how Australia will provide future water security and environmental sustainability. The community concerns on water go beyond the general fear of climate change and can be seen in more tangible matters that include the impact of coal mining on water resources (most recently with the proposed Adani mine in the Galilee Basin); our vulnerable energy markets and the potential of increased hydro-electricity; the misuse of water entitlements for agriculture in the Murray-Darling Basin (in both NSW and Queensland); failure to comply with the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines in regional and remote locations; and the lack of progress in urban water reform (to drive improved competition, the integration of water cycle planning, and investment in new or upgraded water infrastructure). Balancing these competing demands for water needs to become a national priority as we plan for Australia’s future growth industries, massive urban expansion and the increasing value placed on our natural environment. Serious political cracks are appearing in the fabric of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. The compliance regimes of the states have been proved woefully inadequate to prevent misuse of water entitlements. The states themselves are questioning if we have got the model right under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. All of these concerns at both the political and community levels point to the need for a clear National Water Plan that can be administered and enforced with transparency and fairness. The Association has written to the Productivity Commission following the publication of its Draft Report and has called for a major shakeup of the institutional architecture of the rural and urban water sectors. We have called for the preparation of a National Water Plan (to replace the National Water Initiative) that is negotiated with all the states and territories, approved by the Coalition of Australian Governments (COAG) and implemented by a new independent National Water Authority (reporting to Parliament and not the Minister). The proposed National Water Authority needs to be given the teeth and resources to implement the agreed plan. The national plan in essence needs to implement three national frameworks capable of adequately balancing the competing demands for water to provide sustainable water security for all Australians. The three new national frameworks for which we have advocated are water trading, water resource planning and urban water planning (including economic regulation; competitive neutrality; and integrated water cycle management). Australia’s economic development is directly linked to how we manage our water resources. We need a national discussion on how the states, territories and the commonwealth can manage our water sustainably and fairly.
SERIOUS POLITICAL CRACKS ARE APPEARING IN THE FABRIC OF THE MURRAY-DARLING BASIN PLAN.
Jonathan McKeown Australian Water Association Chief Executive
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From the President’s desk
A NEW STRATEGY FOR ASSOCIATION SUCCESS REBUILDING THE PILLARS TO SUPPORT OUR COMMON GROUND Welcome to the latest edition of Current. The AWA is a proud Association with a very rich history that represents a wide range of members with a common interest in water. With the valued help of our Strategic Advisory Council and many other members, we continue to evolve what the Association does and how we can best serve our members within the limits of our financial constraints. Personally, I am a firm believer in not complicating matters and in focusing on what you do well. In line with this, the board has over the last months reflected critically on the Association’s value proposition. I’m pleased in that it did not take long to determine our core offering as being information, networking and recognition. Information: We will be enhancing our digital platforms to incorporate more podcasts and videos to provide increased member engagement. In addition to these digital products we will continue to build opportunities for members to share information through our publications, conferences, and events. Networking: Our industry is somewhat unique in that service delivery to the end customer depends so much on healthy collaboration. For effective collaboration to take place, people-to-people interaction is required and networking events (and new on-line networking) are therefore essential services provided by the Association. Recognition: As an industry we do our work so well that much of what we do has become the accepted norm. It is therefore imperative that we recognise achievements in a formal way. This goes beyond our awards program and includes recognition through profiling at our events, on our website and in our publications. Through the provision of information, networking and recognition, we provide individual members with opportunities for continuous learning and corporate members with business opportunities. These three principles replace the previous pillars, and I trust that they resonate with you as members. Branches are, and remain, the foundation of our Association. Our three principles therefore commence with branch events, state and territory awards, and our publications that all build up to our annual Ozwater Conference and Exhibition. Your board and management team continue to focus on the healthy functioning of our Association and the streamlining and updating of systems and technology to reflect the contemporary water sector that constitutes our membership. Accurate, concise and timely information is crucial to the functioning of any organisation and we are catching up fast. We have also devoted much time to better define the allocation of tasks across the Association’s national structure of branch committees, specialist network committees and staff. Since Ozwater’17 in May, I have been attending as many branch events as my schedule allows and already I sense renewed energy and functioning due to improved role clarity. I am constantly humbled by the dedication of our volunteers and staff that make our events so successful. Finally, the Association’s AGM last month elected Louise Dudley, CEO of Queensland Urban Utilities as a director. Louise brings a wealth of financial experience and water industry knowledge to the Board. She is also a former Chair of the Water Services Association of Australia and is the current Chair of Ozwater’18, set for Brisbane next May. Louise is a strong and effective advocate for gender diversity in the workplace and this month she will be a keynote speaker at our ‘Channeling Change’ event in Vietnam. The Association is taking more than 100 members to attend the Vietwater Conference and Exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City, including representatives from our five water utility members that have been ‘twinned’ with Vietnamese water utilities. I look forward to leading the delegation and I thank DFAT and the Australian Water Partnership for their support.
ACCURATE, CONCISE AND TIMELY INFORMATION IS CRUCIAL TO THE FUNCTIONING OF ANY ORGANISATION.
Francois Gouws Australian Water Association President
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Association news
NATIONAL
WATER WEEK his year National Water Week made a splash across the country with a number of our members holding events and running competitions: the Association held the WA Water Awards Dinner; WIOA held Australia’s Best Tasting Tap Water Competition; and North East Water held a Community Information Stall and also ran a poster competition along with South East Water, Central Highlands Water, Gippsland Water, Lower Murray Water and TasWater. Thank you for helping raise the profile of water in the community.
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INTRODUCING YOUR BRANCH MANAGERS The Association has a dedicated team of Branch Managers across the country who are passionate about delivering information, networking and recognition to you, our members. Say “Hi” to them at an event or reach out to them via email or phone with ideas,
Growing water network We set a target to reach 5200 members by June 2018 – and our current membership of 5019 means we’re well on our way! Our goal is to grow Australia’s biggest water network even further so that our members have more opportunities to network. In the last quarter alone, we had 259 new individual and corporate members join the Association, and we’re looking forward to welcoming many more. See page 67 to find out who our new corporate members are.
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feedback or queries. QLD:
Sharon James
sjames@awa.asn.au
NSW/ACT: Rebecca Hage
membership@awa.asn.au
VIC:
Digna Nichols
dnichols@awa.asn.au
TAS:
Natasha Stapleton
nstapleton@awa.asn.au
SA:
Caitriona Murtagh
cmurtagh@awa.asn.au
WA:
Kyllie Whitehead
kwhitehead@awa.asn.au
NT:
Katie Trevor
ktrevor@awa.asn.au
globetrotting INTERNATIONAL TEAM
CHANNELING CHANGE Over the last few months the Association has hosted a number of successful initiatives as part of the Channeling Change program. These include the NSW Diversity & Inclusion Seminar, the QLD Women in Water Networking Evening in September and the VIC Gender Diversity Seminar in October. As part of Vietwater’17, our International Team will run a Women in Water Workshop for Australian and Vietnamese women in water. Featured at this workshop will be Karen Lanyon, Australian Consul General to Vietnam, Louise Dudley, CEO, Queensland Urban Utilities, and Association Board Director Fabiana Tessele.
OZWATER’18:
To follow the Channeling Change journey, visit: bit.ly/awa_channelingchange
EVOLUTION, REVOLUTION! We had an outstanding response to the call for abstracts, case studies, workshops and panels – we received 446 submissions, which is a 15% increase on Ozwater’17. A big thank you to the 163 reviewers who volunteered their time to ensure that each submission was independently reviewed three times before going to the program planning committee. Your contribution is significant in ensuring that Ozwater’18 once again features a high quality technical program. Stay tuned for the launch of the program and first keynote speakers reveal later this month when early-bird registrations also open. To learn more about sponsorship or exhibition opportunities, visit: bit.ly/Ozwater
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Branch Presidents
KICKING WATER
GOALS THE WATER INDUSTRY WILL FACE MANY CHALLENGES IN THE COMING YEAR, BUT AS THE BRANCH PRESIDENTS WILL TELL YOU, THIS WILL BRING ABOUT SEVERAL OPPORTUNITIES. DAN SPACKMAN AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
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100% renewable energy, waste minimisation and improved water quality. This is already playing out through the delivery of the Basin Priority Project, with further sustainable development made possible using pumped hydro to balance renewable energy, and the development of best-for-region water facilities that aim to deliver good outcomes not just for the ACT but for the whole of the region.
What will the ACT branch focus on next year? The ACT’s focus is ‘smart water’ and the role of technology in water management. For example, our recent technical conference ‘Water Matters’ focused on emerging trends in smart cities, asset management and big data.
EMMA PRYOR
What are the biggest water challenges facing the ACT? The ACT has long suffered from poor water quality in its lakes, particularly Lake Burley Griffin. The Basin Priority Program aims to improve the quality of water entering our lakes and the Murray-Darling system. The Canberra region is growing and becoming more integrated, so there is an increased focus on collaborating across borders as well.
What will the NSW branch focus on next year? Delivering quality professional development opportunities; enabling connection across the industry through networking events and digital enablement of networking opportunities to widen our reach; promoting mentoring; and opportunities to give back. We will also provide and promote information and collateral to support industry engagement with policymakers.
How do you see the ACT contributing to the UN SDGs? The ACT Government has committed to ambitious sustainability targets including
What are the biggest water challenges facing NSW right now? I think creating liveable and resilient places in our cities in a coordinated and integrated
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NEW SOUTH WALES
way. Considering all needs (water, health, transport and education), is a big challenge and opportunity in our sector. So is ensuring communities in rural and remote NSW are sustainable, productive and vibrant places to live and work. How do you see NSW contributing to the UN SDGs? The water utilities of Australia have recently committed to supporting the SDGs. As providers of essential services, our utilities want to see the realisation of SDG6; universal access to safe water and sanitation is key to creating a better future, and we know there is more work to be done. We will promote and raise awareness of the goals and the work our entire sector does to further them. What goal would you like to achieve in the next year? The Association can be a place that generates new insights and conversations among those who share the belief that sustainable water management – from basic hygiene and sanitation to creating liveable places – is fundamental to a healthy and prosperous society. Together with the committee, this is the culture I’d like to create in all that we deliver.
NATALIE FRIES
NORTHERN TERRITORY What will the NT branch focus on next year? Making sure our members have access to the services the Association provides. We are also entering a period where we will have better water information available, so we want to be able to access it, use it and share it. What are the biggest water challenges facing the NT right now? The management of our aquifers in regional and remote areas is a challenge. Another is ensuring water security in terms of quality, quantity and availability.
SANDRA HALL
MARK GOBBIE
What will the QLD branch focus on next year? We have three goals: celebrating our diversity, maintaining our technical programs, and creating more opportunities for the industry to share and network. For the 17/18 year we have a few new projects, including regional engagement and a student project initiative. Almost 30% of our members are outside Brisbane, and we hope this year to ensure that we are providing real value to them. We hope to launch a new platform that will allow our industry and university members to connect on short-term projects.
What will the SA branch focus on next year? The SA Branch has a very active program of events, including our branch conference, awards dinner, our technical program and our young water professionals program. Just getting these to work effectively and provide value to our members keeps all our hardworking committee members very active.
QUEENSLAND
How can the NT contribute to the SDGs? One of the biggest things we can contribute to the SDGs is learning from the lessons of the past to make sure we plan and manage our water use and management sustainably.
What are the biggest water challenges facing your state right now? Queensland is once again staring down the barrel of a hard-hitting drought, with predictions of March 2018 dam levels of 20%. I would say that water security and quality will be a continuing challenge.
What do you want to achieve in the next year? I’d like to better engage our young water professionals, and I’d like to foster collaboration between the northern part of Australia – northern WA, northern Queensland and the NT – to allow for a cross pollination of ideas and solutions to shared challenges.
What would you like to achieve over the next year? I hope that we have great success in our two new projects and achieve our goals of celebrating diversity, maintaining relevant technical programs and creating more opportunities for the industry to share and network. I want to ensure that we have the right culture to achieve these goals.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
What are the biggest water challenges facing SA right now? Keeping the Association relevant to our members is a big challenge. We need to provide a mix of interesting topics and events covering the technical and policy agenda across all areas so we continue to provide value to our members. How do you see SA contributing to the UN SDGs? The Association provides a very important technical role informing the debate on sustainability. Our members are generally interested in the subject, so it’s important we provide an environment that facilitates informed debate. What goal would you like to achieve in the next year? Improving the technical focus that the Association brings to our members.
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Branch Presidents
TIM GARDNER
LINDSEY BROWN
What will the TAS branch focus on next year? Building our membership base to ensure the Association is representative of the water sector in Tasmania, as well as delivering a strong calendar of activities that deliver value to our members. We’re particularly keen to engage the higher education and research sectors to build connections with the broader industry.
What will the VIC branch focus on next year? We are committed to looking critically at what we do, what value it adds, and finding new ways of increasing our members’ engagement and satisfaction with the Association. We are looking at reaching out to other parts of the industry that haven’t been engaged but have a lot to do with our work, groups such as planners, urban designers and landscape architects.
TASMANIA
What water challenges are facing TAS right now? The biggest challenge will be rolling out urban water infrastructure upgrades at the rate required to get on top of issues surrounding regional drinking water quality, sewage discharge quality and distribution network reliability. How do you see Tasmania contributing to the UN SGDs? By ensuring every community has access to safe drinking water and clean environments through infrastructure investment. We’re currently experiencing an unprecedented level of infrastructure investment, and the community will derive real economic, social and environmental benefit over the next decade. What goal would you like to achieve in the next year? I’d like to ensure the Association is recognised as the voice of the water industry in Tasmania. I’d like it to be a given that if you are a water professional, you will be a member of the Association.
DARRYL DAY INTERNATIONAL WATER ASSOCIATION AUSTRALIA
What do you see as the most exciting challenge for IWAA in the year ahead? The International Water Association (IWA), as the leading global association of water professionals, seeks to inspire change and service members as the global
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VICTORIA
What are the biggest water challenges facing VIC right now? Undoubtedly population growth and climate change, and how we continue to maintain high levels of service in the face of those two compounding challenges. We are also finding ways to put customers at the heart of decision-making. How can VIC contribute to the UN SDGs? Some key water businesses have taken on the challenge of the SDGs and signed the global compact for their delivery. We’ve been active in promoting the industry’s participation in the SDGs and will continue to consider them in our work to raise their profile wherever we can.
DEANNE MCDONALD WESTERN AUSTRALIA
What will the WA branch focus on next year? Our focus will be building connections to engage with stakeholder groups beyond our traditional membership base to include as many professional disciplines and stakeholder groups as possible. What are the biggest water challenges facing WA right now? The changing climate and its impact on water supply options and costs, plus the evolving needs of the community, particularly around groundwater levels, green canopy and impact on public open spaces. These are just some of the biggest challenges we’re facing. How do you see WA contributing to the UN SDGs? Our young water professionals are particularly passionate about the UN SDGs. They always want to consider how today’s decisions might impact future generations and vulnerable communities. Building their participation into our branch structure and deliberations is our starting point.
What goal would you like to achieve in the next year? We have high-quality technical and networking events, but we’d like to explore what else the branch could do to offer value to our members. I would also love to see more diverse membership and participation in the Association.
What goal would you like to achieve in the next year? A broader community engagement on water as a vital component of our economy and vibrant community and drawing in our future leaders in the sector through greater collaboration with the education sector and the Water Sensitive Cities work of the CRC.
source of knowledge, experience and leadership for sustainable urban and basin-related water solutions. The three challenges for the IWAA Branch are: to increase the membership, engagement and value of IWA in Australia; establish the foundation for a pipeline of IWA events to be hosted in Australia; and translate the global advocacy on the Sustainable Development Goals of IWA into action domestically and regionally. These are no small challenges.
In Australia, the National Committee of IWA joined with the Australian Water Association as a branch in 2005. The strategic move was designed to expand the connections of Association membership interests, particularly Young Water Professionals and Specialist Networks, with the global water community, to encourage increased membership and engagemen. Over the past 12 years, the IWAA has had nearly 30 international conferences in Australia, and run four Young Water Conferences.
NLINE?
WHAT’S
Keep up-to-date with the latest industry and Association developments at: awa.asn.au
TUNE IN! The Association has recently launched a podcast and video series focussed on the latest developments in the water industry. Watch and listen as industry experts from all corners of the sector share their thoughts on what’s happening in the industry and where it’s headed. Listen in at: bit.ly/AWAps
CONVERSATION STARTERS Right now the most-read news articles online are:
What we’re
READING Thumb through the digital editions of Current, past and present. You can find them here: bit.ly/Currentmag
LEARN TO BE A TEAM LEADER March intake is now open for the popular Online Team Leadership Course. Want to learn more? Hear from past students here: bit.ly/onlineteamleadership Ready to register? Visit: bit.ly/AWA_training
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Farmers label $13 billion Murray-Darling Basin scheme a failure Teenager invents device to produce clean water in developing countries Water research has potential to unlock enough renewable energy to power Australia
To stay current and impress your colleagues around the water cooler with your water knowledge, head to: bit.ly/AWA_latestnews
A PICTURE’S WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS Haven’t been able to make it to any Association events and feel like you’re missing out? Head online to view pics – and see if you can spot someone you know: bit.ly/AWAimages
www.awa.asn.au
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T H E AU ST R A L I A N WAT E R A S S O C I AT I O N M AG A Z I N E
I N D U S T R Y F E AT U R E S INSIGHTS INTO AND ANALYSIS OF THE FORCES SHAPING THE AUSTRALIAN WATER INDUSTRY.
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THE TRICKLE-DOWN EFFECT Cynthia Mitchell reflects on the ways water access inequalities affect women.
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CRASH OF THE TITANS China and India are the world’s most populous countries. How are their water industries preparing for the future?
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A SHARED PASSION Enthusiasm for their work in the water industry connects this mentor and mentee.
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STATE OF MINES Can the mining and water industries work together to reduce mining’s impact on Australia’s environment?
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A VALUABLE ADDITIVE Here’s how advances in 3D printing technology will ripple through the water industry.
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NATIONAL WATER REFORM The Association’s response to the Productivity Commission’s Water Resources Inquiry Draft Report.
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WHERE SCIENCE MEETS POLICY How can researchers and policymakers work together to create world-class water initiatives?
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SEEDS OF CHANGE Academics and farmers are working together to improve water efficiency and boost crop yields.
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Cynthia Mitchell
The trickle-down
effect
AS DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE FUTURES, CYNTHIA MITCHELL IS LIFTING THE VEIL ON GENDER INEQUALITIES IN THE WATER SECTOR AND ADVOCATING FOR THE ASOCIATION’S CHANNELING CHANGE PROGRAM.
AWA: When did you start to focus on gender issues in the water sector? Mitchell: As a woman engineer who qualified in the 80s, it’s hard not to have a gendered perspective. There were 15 women and 250 men who turned up to day one of engineering at the University of Queensland. By the end of the year, there were only seven women. When I started working at QUT, I was the only woman in 100 academics in the engineering faculty.
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In the mid-90s I did a piece of research with a colleague of mine in anthropology on what it’s like to be a woman in engineering at UQ. Our report went to the Faculty Board, and responses ranged from “It’s the same everywhere”, to “It can’t possibly look like this”, to “Oh my goodness, we should do something about this”. Out of this we got support to start the Centre for Women in Engineering at the University of Queensland, which we called the Catalyst Centre. AWA: How does lack of access to water and sanitation affect women? Mitchell: Women are at risk in places where open defecation is the norm. Not having a private bathroom is for women not only more challenging than it is for men, because of different anatomies, but also women are more at risk of assault. When we talk about young women going to school, menstruation is an incredibly significant issue, and of course there are a whole lot of cultural practices that affect that. For young women to be at school they have to have access to toilets to deal with menstruation.
Collecting water usually falls to women and girls. It’s limiting the life choices of half the population by not having access to toilets or a clean water source. AWA: And how does that feed into how wastewater affects women? Mitchell: Women are more likely to be in the home, with young kids for example, so they are more likely to be exposed to wastewater and more likely to be at risk due to exposure to pathogens. There is also women’s exposure when it comes to reusing wastewater for growing food. As women are more likely to have the responsibility for growing food, they are more likely to be exposed to pathogens found in wastewater. There is also the risk of exposure to all sorts of other chemical hazards. It really is a matter of life and death. AWA: How does the lack of women within the water industry affect these issues as well? Mitchell: Across the world in every country, according to the data that we have, there are no more than 15% women involved in the formal water and
Photo credit: Lucas Jarvis, Eventive Photography.
Australian Water Association: How did you get involved in the water sector? Cynthia Mitchell: My background is in chemical engineering, and I have a PhD in biotechnology. After getting disillusioned with the biotechnology sector and a year spent camping my way around Australia, I ended up at QUT, looking after their new environmental engineering program. I had to create a new research profile for it. If you add up chemical engineer, biotechnology, a passion for the environment and working in a civil engineering department, you get sewage. You could say I fell into the shit and I’ve been there since.
exnate nobis enestiby wanate nobis enestibal
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Cynthia Mitchell
OUR WORLDVIEW LIMITS WHAT WE CAN SEE.
wastewater sector. That’s different from the informal, unpaid work women do in water and sanitation, which I described earlier. This ratio influences where we place our attention. The intent is not to say that blokes are deliberately doing something wrong or bad, it’s just that when you limit which worldviews are in the room, you’re limiting what is seen as important. AWA: Do you have any thoughts on how to get more women working in Australia’s water sector? Mitchell: When I started working as an engineer, there were about 12% women in engineering. The number has grown a little, but it’s still only 17% women coming into engineering now. There are more efforts to get and keep women engaged in these fields, but we also need to look at our hiring practices. What are we missing? Is there unconscious bias in recruitment, promotion and retention practices that we can address? It also goes back to getting multiple perspectives involved. It will take an active effort at many levels, from a bunch of different directions in the water sector to increase the participation of women at all levels of organisations. AWA: Is an interdisciplinary approach important to solving these issues? Mitchell: Yes, it’s not just about gender issues, it’s about a broader set of societal and ecological issues that are implicated in our historical ways of thinking about water and sanitation services, both in developing and developed countries. Our approach to providing water and sanitation services has generally been centralised and segregated. We don’t have the planetary resources to sustain that approach anymore, so we need to shift to a much more integrated approach with more crossover between wastewater, stormwater, working water, risk management, technology, institutional arrangements and more. The ISF did some award-winning work for Melbourne’s Water SupplyDemand Strategy, which demonstrated the economic value of a diverse water portfolio. We showed that investing in ecologically better outcomes gives you economically better outcomes.
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Photo credit: Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).
AWA: What are some things Australia can do to help achieve this goal? Mitchell: Australia has some strengths, but the key thing we need to do is not just export what we’ve always done as the solution, because what we’ve always done is what led us to where we are now: a world that is transgressing many of its planetary boundaries while not meeting many of its human rights obligations. If we’re serious about moving towards net-positive infrastructure and restorative systems, it’s an opportunity for Australia to transform itself as well. There’s an opportunity for collaborative learning between us and other regions. For example, I did some work in Indonesia. It’s a country of 250 million people, but only 3% have access to sewage as we know it. You can look at that and go “Argh!” or you can say, “Okay, they don’t have a lot of existing water infrastructure. What if we do things differently and make real linkages between water, wastewater, energy, solid waste and stormwater in their condominium developments?”. Rather than think we have the answer for places like Indonesia, we need to look at how we can learn together with them and find new ways of tunnelling through cost and integration barriers that we could implement here as well. My dream is to get to a point where regenerative, restorative, net-positive thinking is embedded in the way we think about our infrastructure planning. Water is a fantastic place to make this happen because we have so many opportunities for different ways of thinking about water.
But today’s water professionals also have the hard job of making politicians care about water and sanitation issues ... especially sanitation issues. Basically, we need to make sanitation incredibly attractive for politicians – and for people in general – because there are a whole lot of health reasons why we should be comfortable talking about what comes out our other ends. I’m on a mission to make it all right to talk about pee and poo in polite company, but it makes people uncomfortable. When I recently did a presentation in the UK, I brought it up and got a bunch of little polite titters from the audience. I asked them, “See what you’re doing?”. These were engineers, scientists, social scientists, and they all had this visceral response to talking about pee and poo. The reason Indonesia has those issues is because no one wants to talk about it. If we’re serious about dealing with global water and sanitation challenges, we need to be comfortable talking about this because it’s a wasted opportunity for the water sector to not think about the circular economy and what it means for the water sector. There are so many business opportunities, ecological opportunities, new service opportunities and more that could actually meet people’s needs.
The Association, in collaboration with the Australian Water Partnership, has launched a new program focused on increasing equality and diversity in the water sector. To learn more, visit: bit.ly/awa_channelingchange
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Mentoring
VICTOR ROWAN LEARNING FROM HIS MENTOR’S EXPERIENCE HELPED ONE YWP REALISE THE VALUE OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE. As told to Rebecca Cleaver
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any find the water industry to be meaningful work. But this mentoring pair shows that it’s important to find a balance between professional success and maintaining a personal life.
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VICTOR CANTONE, SECTION EXECUTIVE FOR WATER, SA AND VIC, WSP I like the substance of the water industry and the feeling of working on a critical asset, something that’s vital for the community. Everybody needs water. Working in the water industry has always had a real, underlying meaning for me in terms of it being essential for life. The Australian water industry is full of really great people with a common goal: to do the best we can for communities in terms of water sanitation. I’ve been with WSP for more than 14 years and I’ve worked on a diverse range of projects, from wastewater master-planning studies, to detailed designs for water supply projects with pipelines and pump stations. I’ve been mentoring Rowan since October 2013. I’m used to mentoring people within my own team, but mentoring somebody from another organisation is really refreshing; it gives me the opportunity to think outside of the WSP space and apply some of my learnings and knowledge to others outside of that bubble. Rowan is a very determined individual. He’s eager to succeed and grow and be challenged. He’s been at SA Water for a few years now and he’s taken on four different roles in that Mentor
Mentee
Victor
Rowan
WSP
SA Water
Age:
Age:
37
29
Time in industry:
Time in industry:
14.5 years
5.5 years
Cantone,
Steele,
Industry experience gap
A GOOD MENTEE WILL BE OPEN TO ADVICE, WILLING TO LISTEN AND HAPPY TO TAKE ON CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. VICTOR CANTONE
9 years
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Mentoring
VICTOR ADVISED ME NOT TO BECOME TOO SPECIALISED, NOT TO PIGEONHOLE MYSELF. ROWAN STEELE
time. I can see he’s really keen to learn new things, take on new opportunities and make the most of everything. These are the qualities you need to make a good water professional. A good mentee will be open to advice, willing to listen and happy to take on constructive criticism. Rowan came to me when he was thinking of taking six months’ paternity leave because he and his wife had a baby. He was concerned that he might miss out on opportunities or that it could be perceived as a bad thing. I was able to draw on my experience, because I’ve got kids myself, and I said to him, “Look, you’ll never get that time back with your kids. Your career is over 40
years, so to take six months out is a small amount of time and it’s such a precious time so just do it”. If you talk to most people who work at water utilities and organisations at the moment, they have got a real focus on the customer. I would recommend not just thinking about the application of technical knowledge and fundamentals, but also really thinking about who the customer is and how you can help service them. That kind of thinking will hold you in good stead in this industry. It’s also important that the industry looks at ways of using renewable energy and reducing energy requirements.
Mentee ROWAN STEELE, ASSET PLANNER, SA WATER Water has always been a passion of mine, and as an engineer one of the key things we think about is, “How do we do more with less?”. Living in the driest state on the driest continent, we have our
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challenges – like trying to find drinking water in the middle of the desert, to finding ways to re-use the energy in sewage to power our city. There has been a lot of pressure in the Australian water industry recently to innovate and that’s why we are a world leader in things like resource conservation, water treatment and the
nexus between water and energy. It’s wonderful to be part of an industry that is at the forefront of innovation. In my previous role, I was involved in working out ways our water systems can support the electricity market. Now I am working on a plan for what Adelaide’s water supply will look like in future. How are we going to supply good-quality drinking water to the people of Adelaide, reliably, and keep our customers happy over the medium and long-term? Before I took this role, I spoke to Victor about what things I needed to learn to become a more well-rounded engineer. Victor advised me not to become too specialised, not to pigeonhole myself. He recommended I gain experience across the organisation. Victor is a driven and encouraging person, but at the same time he’s someone you can trust. I’ve had half a dozen managers in only five years, but
I’ve only had one mentor in that time. So it’s been really helpful in terms of having conversations that are of a personal nature as well. He’s followed a similar path to me, in that he’s had a family and worked at the same time, and he’s been able to offer me great advice on maintaining work-life balance. The most important thing for anyone in this industry to remember is that we really are doing our jobs in the interests of the community. We often work in a monopoly industry, and that means you have to have a real focus on delivering what’s best for the customer and respond to changes quickly.
To get involved in the Australian Water Association’s mentoring program, as either a mentor or a mentee, contact your local branch.
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3D printing
Layerby HERE’S HOW 3D PRINTING IS RIPPLING THROUGH THE WATER INDUSTRY. By Thea Cowie
anufacturing is being turned on its head by 3D printing, and the water industry is not immune to the shake-up. “It really does change the world in terms of what you can do now,” said Goulburn Murray Water’s (GMW) Rodney Priest. “It’s just a matter of using your imagination.” Traditionally, manufacturing is a subtractive process: when you machine parts or make injection moulds you start out with a block of material and subtract from it. But 3D printing, on the other hand, is also known as additive manufacturing because it builds, or ‘prints’, parts by depositing materials layer by layer from scratch.
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A THRIVING INDUSTRY According to the International Data Corporation, between now and 2020 global spending on the 3D printing industry is expected to more than double. This growth is being facilitated by the increasing availability of the technology and uptake from industry, entrepreneurs and hobbyists alike. And printer prices are falling accordingly. “People have now got little polymer 3D printing machines in their bedrooms making all sorts of parts,” said CSIRO Research Group Leader Stefan Gulizia. “I’m not sure if someone will have a 3D metal printer in their bedroom in 20 years, but the cost of these machines is already falling dramatically.” The benefits of additive manufacturing are widely touted: parts can be made quickly, affordably and with less waste. There are important design advantages, too – the shorter time from conception to realisation promotes innovation, and printed parts can have smaller tolerances than those that are machined or cast. 28
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Perhaps most importantly, printed parts can have much more complex geometry, enabling the manufacture of stronger, lighter – and therefore safer – parts. For instance, rather than casting a number of simple parts and then fitting them together, 3D printing allows for those parts to be combined (unitised) in a more complex design, which can incorporate an internal lattice structure to reduce the part’s weight and increase its strength. How does that extend to the water industry? Well, it could mean the manufacturing of entirely novel designs that represent better value across their entire lifecycle.
THE SKY’S THE LIMIT NanoSun, a start-up out of Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU), is working on a new nanofibre anti-fouling filter membrane inspired by the way trees transmit water. “It simulates the natural phenomena where leaves can always take water from tree roots, no matter how big the tree is, without a large amount of pressure,” said NanoSun founder Darren Sun. “An advantage of our design is we need less membrane to filter the same amount of water, compared with the conventional polymer and ceramic membranes, which can become irreversibly blocked. “The only way to fabricate this membrane is with 3D printing.” With just one printer, one operator and a small office, NanoSun can now print 300m of the membrane per day. “The market is huge. The sky’s the limit,” Sun said of the potential for 3D printing within the water industry. There’s also great potential for 3D polymer to assist in aid and disaster situations, as Deakin University’s Dr Mazher Mohammed has demonstrated. Mohammed has been working to simultaneously solve two problems commonly faced in the developing world: a lack of access to clean water and ubiquitous plastic rubbish. The solution: a 3D printer capable of manufacturing plumbing and sanitation supplies using discarded plastics. “This kind of 3D technology can be used to rapidly replace broken plastic seals, pipes and other devices essential for water
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supply or sanitation,” Mohammed said. The School of Engineering research fellow also said 3D printing could ensure valuable aid supplies were not wasted in recovery operations at home and abroad. “Instead of sending aid, which may or may not fit the needs of the people on the ground, we could send a printer and materials that could be converted into whatever is needed until a more robust solution arrives,” he said.
GOING METAL Additive manufacturing with metals, on the other hand, offers better long-term solutions, but the capital outlay required has made it cost-prohibitive for the water industry. That is, until recently. CSIRO’s Lab 22 has invested more than $6 million in additive manufacturing machines, many of which are the first of their kind in Australia, and all of which are available for Australian industry to use, CSIRO’s Gulizia said. “Someone in the water industry can work with the Lab 22 innovation centre to design a part, they can be trained to use the equipment themselves, to build the part, put it into service and monitor its performance,” he said. “That’s all before deciding to actually go out and buy a piece of equipment themselves; it’s low risk.” Within the water industry, Gulizia sees additive
3D HOW IT WORKS
BEFORE A PART CAN BE 3D PRINTED, A COMPUTER MODEL MUST BE CREATED.
This is most commonly achieved using computer-aided design (CAD) software, a 3D scanner, or a digital camera and photogrammetry software.
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manufacturing as an opportunity to extend the lifespan of infrastructure. “Anything that’s in contact with water and fouls due to corrosion can be redesigned,” Gulizia said. “Titanium is very expensive to manufacture using traditional technology, but with 3D printing it’s not out of the question to build a whole valve set in corrosion-resistant titanium for the water industry. “There’s also coating technology – using our cold-spray or laser technologies – that can be applied to 3D printed parts to make them even more useful and high-wearing,” Gulizia said.
NOT TOO FAST With both polymer and metal printers, the size and resolution of the final product is limited by the size and resolution of the printer. But Gulizia noted barriers were already falling away. “Machines are getting larger – we demonstrated that we could manufacture a jet engine entirely from 3D printing technology and we could make it lighter, too, by unitising parts,” he said. “The whole value chain is moving so quickly that it’s even made the machines we have in our lab outdated already, and some of those are only a couple of years old.” Another constraint is the time that it takes to make an individual part, Mohammed said. “If you look at injection moulding you could make a part within a matter of seconds or minutes. With 3D printing for like-for-like parts, say a typical-sized water connector, you’d be looking at a few hours to make that one part,” he said. There are also concerns about the structural integrity of products that are made using layer-by-layer building techniques. “It’s inherently non-continuous as opposed to what you’d find in injection moulded parts,” said Mohammed.
THE “INK”
Additive manufacturing materials fall into three categories: Polymers: Including acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, nylon, photopolymer resins, polycarbonate and polylactide. Metals: Ferrous and non-ferrous metals, including steel, titanium and aluminium Ceramics: Including silica, porcelain and silicon-carbide.
THE MARKET [FOR 3D PRINTING IN THE WATER INDUSTRY] IS HUGE. THE SKY’S THE LIMIT. DARREN SUN, NANOSUN “So you have this layering effect which could potentially leave structural weak points in the design.” Meanwhile, RMIT’s School of Science has raised concerns about a number of photopolymers used in 3D printing leaching toxic substances when in contact with water. While the research focused on biomedical applications, the findings may give pause for thought as to wider health and environmental risks. “This process highlighted the toxicity of 3D-printed polymer and allowed us to establish a predictive analytical workflow to rapidly determine the toxicology of a burgeoning number of polymers used in 3D printing,” research team leader Associate Professor Donald Wlodkowic stated at the time. “We have already found one very toxic substance that has recently been reported as leaching from plastic ampoules used for intravenous injections.”
WHAT’S NEXT? As Mohammed always tells his students: “Figure out where the added value comes from for use of this type of technology. “Dare I say it, my own personal feeling is that for the water industry it might actually be quite constrained to high-value, low-volume parts,” he said. “When it comes to high-volume, standardised parts, other manufacturing processes, such as injection moulding, are perhaps always going to be king.” GMW’s Priest came to a similar conclusion. As one of the first water utility representatives to visit CSIRO’s Lab 22, he is currently investigating potential applications for additive manufacturing within the industry.
THE “PRINTERS” VAT photopolymerisation: Uses a vat of liquid photopolymer resin from which the model is constructed layer by layer. Material jetting: Material is jetted onto a build platform using either a continuous or drop-on-demand approach. Binder jetting: Uses powder-based materials and a binder that acts as an adhesive between powder layers. Cold spray: Meltless deposition technology using supersonic speeds to deposit materials, rather than heat, so properties of materials are not changed in the deposition process.
Material extrusion: Also known as fuse deposition modelling, this involves drawing material through a nozzle, where it is heated and then deposited layer by layer. Powder bed fusion: Uses either a laser or electron beam to melt and fuse material powder together. Directed energy deposition: Commonly used to repair or add additional material to existing components; consists of a nozzle mounted on a multi axis arm, which deposits melted material onto the specified surface, where it solidifies.
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3D printing
COMMUNICATING IN 3 DIMENSIONS
Unintelligible lines and numbers on a piece of paper: that’s how a lot of people view hydrogeological maps. “They’re not very intuitive or simple to understand,” said research officer at the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development in Western Australia Nick Wright. “It’s a bit meaningless unless you’re really good at visualising 3D models in your head.” So Wright decided to try his hand at converting that information into something real. “I picked up a $2000 printer and plastic from the United States about three years ago and just started trying to print out these individual layers,” he said. “What we ended up with was something like a plastic sandwich showing the different layers of the geology and groundwater.” At the time, Wright was working on the Department’s La Grange Agricultural Opportunities project to develop irrigated agriculture in Western Australia’s far north Kimberley region. It was an area where some stakeholders were sinking bores that ended up drawing brackish water due to a misunderstanding of the coastal aquifer. The 3D-printed models proved to be a major breakthrough – succeeding in communicating information that had been publicly available but frequently misunderstood for years. “Using these handheld models we were able to illustrate how the aquifer was thickest towards the coast and how it thins out to the east,” Wright said. “We were also able to show where the saltwater interface was and how it interacted with the freshwater.” On the back of that success, Wright and his colleagues expanded the use of 3D-printed models to a project to expand horticulture production in the Gascoyne region, near the coastal town of Carnarvon. “Roughly only every third bore was getting good water and supply, which is pretty inefficient,” Wright recalled. “The 3D model was a useful tool to say to stakeholders, ‘The underground geology is quite variable. You need to have a good understanding of where your target unit is so you don’t waste money by under or over drilling your hole’,” Wright said. With this greater understanding, the number of successful bores has greatly increased.
He said perhaps the greatest potential would be in the replacement of parts within ageing networks. For example, parts that were manufactured more than 100 years ago and for which there are no surviving blueprints. “Remaking parts using the original method is often too expensive so that often means we have to replace a whole component – say a whole pump – just because of one damaged part,” he said. “But with 3D printing we can re-manufacture a part to the existing specifications.” Even better, the replacement part could incorporate improvements, Priest suggested. “You can make it look like the original component on the outside, but on the inside it has all of the advanced technology to improve efficiencies – current seals, lanes for grease, holds for sensors,” he said. As the Australian Water Association’s KPMG-sponsored discussion paper on Procurement Maturity in the Water Industry predicted: “The rise of 3D printing is likely to increase the prominence of the ‘make-in-house’ procurement strategy within category plans, particularly for maintenance, repair and operations spare parts.” The report stated that medium-to-long-term opportunities included the incorporation of artificial intelligence to improve predictive maintenance, as well as self-management of spare parts supply. “For example, allowing for smart machines to order their own replacement parts or to trigger the manufacture of them (using 3D printers) prior to machine breakdowns. The time that is currently spent by procurement to complete this task can be diverted to more value-added and strategic MRO procurement tasks,” the report stated.
FIGURE OUT WHERE THE ADDED VALUE COMES FROM FOR USE OF THIS TYPE OF TECHNOLOGY. MAZHER MOHAMMED, DEAKIN UNIVERSITY
And if the water industry doesn’t act, others will. According to a PwC study released earlier this year, 85% of spare parts suppliers have said 3D printing will play a dominant role in their business within five years. In the meantime, 3D printing may prove most valuable for prototyping within the water industry, Mohammed said. “With 3D printing, if your design changes tomorrow you can just make a simple alteration to your digital computer file and then realise that product instantly with minimal waste,” he said. “That’s unlike using injection moulding, where you would have to make quite costly casts in order to just realise a single product.” At the end of the day, it’s up to individuals and businesses to determine where 3D printing can add value now and as the technology evolves ever-so-rapidly into the future. As GMW’s Priest said: “It’s not perfect, it’s just another tool in your belt.”
To access the Association’s “Procurement Maturity in the Water Industry” paper, visit: bit.ly/discussionpapers 32
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SCANNING WITH WATER There was a Eureka moment for 3D printing when researchers developed a way to scan objects using Archimedes’ principle. The method involves dipping 3D objects into water repeatedly and measuring the volume of water they displace. Researcher, Professor Andrei Sharf from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, said this approach could reconstruct complex 3D objects more accurately than existing techniques. “The key feature of our methods is that it employs fluid displacements as the shape sensor. Unlike optical sensors, the liquid has no line-ofsight requirements,” he said. “It penetrates cavities and hidden parts of the object, as well as transparent and glossy materials, thus bypassing all visibility and optical limitations of conventional
scanning devices.” Using a robotic arm, objects are gradually immersed in a pool of water and the volume of water displaced is recorded at multiple stages. This process is then repeated with the object at a range of different angles. “As the number of dips increases, more geometric details are reconstructed,” stated the researchers, also from Tel-Aviv University, Shandong University and University of British Columbia. The method is not without limitations, however. Researchers said the key restriction as the amount of time it took to complete a scan.
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That said, the method could be used in combination with existing technology to greatly reduce this limitation. “We might be able to utilise the strengths of laser scanners for sampling the shapevisible exterior and the volumetric and occluded information reconstructed from the dip transform,” researchers said. It would seem that not only does the water industry stand to benefit from additive manufacturing, but water itself could play a role in greatly improving the quality and variety of 3D-printed parts.
Science-policy interface
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MEETS
MOVING FROM FUNDAMENTAL SCIENCE TO SOUND, EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY OFTEN SEEMS LIKE AN IMPOSSIBLE JOURNEY. HOW CAN PLAYERS ON BOTH SIDES BRIDGE THE GAP? By Joshua Hoey
esearchers can be left perplexed when solid scientific evidence fails to influence policy, while those making the policy are often frustrated by a lack of timely, feasible research. Which is why those working in Australia’s science-policy interface say success depends on three things: co-learning, collaboration and some forward planning.
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A TWO-WAY STREET Fundamentally, the science policy interface is about evidence and outcomes – drawing on the results of scientific research and enquiry to develop and improve policy and decision-making. But it isn’t a one-way street from research through to public policy. A vibrant science-policy interface requires exchange in both directions.
The director of ANU’s Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy Quentin Grafton described a healthy interface as deliberative. “It’s not just scientists talking to policymakers, saying ‘this is what you must do’. It’s about engaging with decisionmakers to understand their problems so you can feed it back into getting additional evidence, helping generate better decisions,” Grafton said. A strong interface includes scientists thinking about the policy dimensions in their own work, as well as policymakers thinking about the evidence that’s needed to make strong decisions. The types of science and research that inform policy are broad: from fieldwork taking measurements and lab work conducting experiments, to social sciences that draw on surveys, observation, and participatory work with communities.
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Science-policy interface
A CRITICAL CHALLENGE IS TO CREATE A STRONGER LINE OF SIGHT BETWEEN FUNDAMENTAL SCIENCE, APPLIED SCIENCE AND COMMUNITY OUTCOMES. BEN FURMAGE, CRCWSC “There’s also integrative research, pulling together data and other observations to synthesise understanding. We do more of that integrative work,” said Simon Fane, a Research Director at the Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) at University of Technology Sydney. Traditionally, there’s been a strong distinction between fundamental and applied sciences, but moves to a more collaborative process have reduced the distinction between the two. At the same time, escalating concerns over intractable issues such as climate change, waste and sustainability, and regional instability have meant that governments and businesses are increasingly looking to applied science to quickly address these complex issues. “Policy debate on water issues remains a constant challenge between established science on one side, and immediate political imperatives of social and economic impacts on the other side,” said the Association’s Chief Executive Jonathan McKeown. “Getting the balance right will become one of the great dilemmas of the 21st century.”
Applied research institutes such as the ISF, Cities Research Institute at Griffi th University and the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (CRCWSC) have come to the fore in addressing such complex, multidisciplinary issues. But both fundamental and applied science are required to address policy issues. “There is an important role for integrators and advocates who can help non-scientists appreciate the value of both types of research and all the linkages between them,” said Ben Furmage, Chief Operating and Finance Offi cer at CRCWSC. “A critical challenge is to create a stronger line of sight between fundamental science, applied science and community outcomes.”
BRIDGING THE DIVIDE Research Director at the ISF Joanne Chong said such institutes draw together policymakers, researchers and other stakeholders in the process of doing research. “There is value in the science that is in the lab and the fi eld, but the kind of research that we do, at that boundary, is critical,” Chong said. If it isn’t bridged, then the result is often quickly and poorly developed policy. “We need better policymaking and it needs to be evidenced based,” Grafton said. “Things can happen very quickly without proper evidence, and the outcomes are, at best, third-rate.” Grafton sees areas where both scientists and policymakers can work to facilitate better collaboration. All stakeholders can draw on people equipped to facilitate and bring together scientists and key policy and decision-makers.
WATER SENSITIVE URBAN DESIGN In Melbourne, collaboration and a sustained commitment of resources over several years has had a significant impact on policy and practice around water sensitive urban design. In the early ‘90s, Melbourne Water and Melbourne Parks funded the CSIRO to manage the Port Phillip Bay Environmental Study. This research was in response to the need to improve waterway health for the city. The study’s oversight committee included representatives from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Port of Melbourne Authority. The four year, $12 million study was integral in identifying causes of pollution and setting clear policy recommendations, including a nitrogen reduction target. It was the foundation for subsequent research by several cooperative research centres (CRC), but
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also for an iterative process involving further research and policy generation. Proof-of-concept initiatives like Lynbrook Estate, which is Melbourne’s first residential community to fully integrate water sensitivity, and capacity-building programs like Clearwater were able to test research findings and generate new research questions. They also gave policymakers the confidence to scale up and lock in the new approach through policy changes and funding. “This body of work, over more than two decades, has seen innovation in practice and improvements in environmental and community outcomes,” said the CRCWSC’s Ben Furmage. “It is reflected in the 2016 Victorian water policy, Water for Victoria, an achievement that demonstrates that collaboration and commitment to a shared, long-term horizon of thinking can have a significant impact on policy and practice.”
Almost all human activity relies on water. Water Futures is a commissioned series of eight essays that explore the critical uncertainties, challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
1
5
2 Megacities: complexity, risk
6 Desalination and brine mining
Climate, security and the Anthropocene era Explore the uncertainties surrounding the global and regional climate, together with the relationship between human action and natural ecosystems.
and creativity In an era of urban growth, our cities may well lead the way in breaking down boundaries between energy, water and food production.
3 Distributed, networked infrastructures
Does a radical departure from the ‘one VL]H ÀWV DOO· DSSURDFK WR LQIUDVWUXFWXUH better meet local needs and help drive change?
4 Systems integrators and white space
We look at the emergence of systems and integrators with the vision and power to act across multiple systems and deliver new forms of ecosystem design and engineering.
Digital intelligence Big data and the internet of things are connecting communities with the world. Computing power and the volume of data is growing—but what does it mean for water?
Desalination plants are energy intensive and come with high costs. Did you know that advances in nanotechnology and brine mining could help?
7 Precision agriculture: water security
See how precision agriculture is leading the way to vastly improved crop production and security, as well as step FKDQJHV LQ ZDWHU HIÀFLHQF\
8 Nanotechnology: small worlds,
big disruption? We share information on emerging nanotechnology and new materials science; for example, how graphene has the potential to transform water management.
To read each essay, visit http://au.mwhglobal.com/water-futures or email communications.ap@stantec.com
Science-policy interface
THERE IS VALUE IN THE SCIENCE THAT IS IN THE LAB AND THE FIELD, BUT THE KIND OF RESEARCH WE DO, AT THAT BOUNDARY, IS CRITICAL. JOANNE CHONG, ISF
For scientists, being able to translate technical and lengthy theoretical work into one page briefi ngs that highlight key points is essential for engaging policymakers. By looking long-term and being more strategic in engaging with scientists, policymakers can start to overcome the difference in timescales between research and policymaking: actively engaging with research institutes and scientists on an issue that they can see will require a decision in the future. “It’s like any communication process, anything that involves people. It requires, time, effort and getting out of their offi ces and talking and engaging across these different divides,” Grafton said. While those different timescales can be a barrier to collaboration, the Executive Director Science at the NSW Government Offi ce of Environment and Heritage (OEH), Dr Kate Wilson, said scientists can also build trust by engaging in the short-term. “It’s a willingness to engage with those short-term issues that builds credibility. By doing that, academics build trust and relationships, and then they’re the people we go to when we’ve got bigger issues to look at,” Wilson said.
BUILDING BLOCKS Many working at the science policy interface return to the importance of an iterative process for successfully developing evidence-based policy. “You need individual links between research organisations and policy organisations that allow that back and forth, because the translation isn’t a one-off exercise,” Chong said. Wilson said the OEH is an example of a government department that has developed such links. “We have strategic, managed collaborations with universities, usually where the department has an identifi ed problem and we
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need some research to address that,” she said. The OEH’s research hub model facilitates a co-learning, iterative process by bringing together multidisciplinary teams that include scientists, university academics and an OEH offi cer – providing a direct link to policymakers. Rather than moving in a straight line from science to recommendations to policy, such hubs allow for a fl uid, back-and-forth exchange between team members over time. Although many water utilities have research managers and teams, Simon Fane said the sector could learn from industries such as transport and the environment, which both have strong, collaborative connections with academic research institutes. “Others are already doing this type of long-term, collaborative connection with government and research organisations – the water sector could look to them,” Fane said. Although scientists and researchers bring new knowledge and data needed for sound policy, most working at the interface agree that the focus must be demand driven – set by the policy end of the spectrum. McKeown described the role of the Association as providing a platform to promote scientific and independent evidence and advocate for their inclusion in policy drafting. “This, in turn, will encourage industry-wide debate to inform both our communities and policymakers,” he said. At the OEH, broad areas of research and policy focus, such as biodiversity, and coastal, estuarine and marine environments, are set every five years. Each year, pressing issues within the chosen areas are identified, and this guides the focus of science and research. “We’re not just doing things that are relevant, but we’re producing the most relevant knowledge that policymakers actually need delivered,” Wilson said. Committees with representatives from across the department, including scientists, go through the process of setting those annual focus areas, which are then checked with the OEH executive team to gain high-level commitment. But rather than debate whether it’s scientists or policymakers who set the direction, Ben Furmage said, “We need to put the community’s interests at the centre, work hard to communicate effectively with them and listen to what they have to say”. Ultimately, it’s that focus on effective communication and mutual engagement with diverse players that will see an effective science-policy interface. “The more complex or urgent the issue, the more valuable the co-creation model becomes,” Furmage said.
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China & India
CRASH OF THE
TITANS By Wided Rihana Khadraoui
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THE WATER SECTORS OF INDIA AND CHINA NEED SIGNIFICANT ATTENTION TO ENSURE WATER SECURITY INTO THE FUTURE. BUT WHILE CHINA IS MOVING AHEAD WITH SOLUTIONS, INDIA CONTINUES TO STRUGGLE TO OVERCOME DECADES OF INFRASTRUCTURE NEGLECT, LAX SECTOR OVERSIGHT AND DISORGANISED CENTRAL PLANNING. he world’s two most populous countries have major water security issues. China, with 20% of the world’s population, only has about 7% of its freshwater. And if present use and depletion rates persist, India will have only 22% of its current freshwater capacity by 2050 – even as demand is expected to increase by 32% in the same timeframe.
T
CHINA: PLOUGHING FORWARD Not only is China the world’s most populous country, it’s a global manufacturing hub whose economic growth depends on a secure water supply. The government has relied on Five Year Plans as part of its central planning, and the most recent of these plans (the 13th) is focused on environmental management and protection, including a pledge to reduce water consumption by 35%. The plan caps emissions and fertiliser and pesticide use at current rates, and sets sewerage treatment targets of 95% for cities. It also calls for 80% of major waterways to meet the country’s highest waterway health rating by 2020. While the plan’s targets were only released in November 2016, they have prompted an increase in international engagement in the region. Besides improving urban water management, the Chinese Government has also expressed interest in improving irrigation infrastructure, increasing soil remediation projects and developing technology to monitor clean energy. According to Future Directions International (FDI), an Australian strategic research institute, the Chinese Government has announced ¥430 billion
($84.5 billion) dedicated to 4800 projects aimed at improving its water supply quality. Despite the challenges that come with China’s size and political system, the government is also taking considerable steps to not only combat rising pollution, but also more accurately monitor current levels. In April this year, China unveiled new measures to prevent the misuse of funds for water pollution projects after almost 400 water protection projects did not meet their targets. New legislation was introduced that links funding allocation and incentives with adherence to the new water quality targets set out in the 13th Five Year Plan. With China’s policymakers continuing to prioritise effective environmental management as part of maintaining economic growth, there are considerable opportunities to bring clean energy enterprises, applicable suitable technology, and improved water management processes to the country.
INDIA: ONGOING CRISIS Population growth, political and institutional inaction, and decades of mismanaged and misappropriated funds have conflated to create a water crisis in India that remains largely unaddressed. “Agendas in the water sector are set based on political aspirations rather than pragmatism,” said Udisha Saklani, a policy consultant examining water governance and sanitation issues in India. “Water is a contentious sector and most politicians fear taking radical measures that will reap short-term backlash from the public. Water continues to be treated as a trivial issue. It must
China’s Three Gorges Dam, which spans the Yangtze River. It’s the world’s largest power station in terms of installed capacity.
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41
China & India
AT A GLANCE: KEY DIFFERENCES Asia’s two most populous countries share more than a border. They both have rapidly developing economies and need to balance the demands and opportunities of globalisation with the need to protect their natural resources. Fundamentally, however, the two nations are on different paths.
China is a communist government that consolidates its power through the National People’s Congress. Representatives are chosen through indirect elections.
India has a democratically elected parliamentary system of government, with state and federal governments elected HQT Ć“ XG [GCT VGTOU
China initiated market driven reforms in the late 1970s, and is now a highly industrialised country with a massive economy. Now the country dominates manufacturing – and shows no signs of slowing down.
India’s economic growth has been hindered by crippling infrastructure issues, but the country has OCPCIGF VQ Ɠ PF C niche specialising in the services industry.
In China, a lack of cooperation and coordination between ‘vertical’ health services coupled with the decentralisation of public health are pressing issues in China.
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In India, several administrative districts and units share responsibility for public sector deliverables including healthcare, and misalignment between these sectors has caused problems for the sector.
enter the mainstream so that every institution contributes to managing water demand and reducing pressure on existing water reserves.� Saklani said a lack of comprehensive regulation, enforcement and engagement at all levels have pushed the country’s water security to breaking point. India now uses more groundwater than China and the United States combined. The impact of urbanisation on groundwater sources has been profound; according to the government’s Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) more than half of groundwater sources are contaminated with toxic levels of arsenic, nitrate and heavy metals. There are signs the government is taking some innovative steps to address the country’s increasingly dire water situation. “Delhi Jal Board is an example of an Indian water utility that is currently experimenting with radical new initiatives to bring a halt to Delhi’s water crisis,� Saklani said. Delhi Jal Board is responsible for water supply in Delhi and has implemented a number of programs, including upgrading pipe infrastructure to reduce water loss and installing solar-powered ‘water ATMs’ in areas in Delhi where laying pipelines isn’t technically feasible. Rachel Barratt, Water Industry Alliance (WIA) CEO, said that industry is not going to shut down in India because of water concerns, but if the current issues prove costly governments and corporations will be forced to innovate and come up with solutions. “The CII [Triveni Water Institute in north India] has asked WIA to discuss solutions with them, and bring organisations to meet with their companies to learn about the challenges and start dialogue on how we can collectively provide an offering to help.�
OPPORTUNITIES DOWN UNDER Both China and India are engaging with international experts who can help them form comprehensive water management systems, and are positioned to beneďŹ t from Australia’s extensive water knowledge. “There are areas that we see a lot of commonalities,â€? said Barratt. “One is water security frameworks and planning speciďŹ cally in terms of how to govern and share a very scarce resource. Australian knowledge and expertise in treating water in remote communities, technologies and expertise in treating water is something we can share.â€? Barratt stressed the alliances are long-lasting and collaborative partnerships. Formed in 2016, the Australia China Sponge City Consortium is a group of South Australian-based companies, including Syntec Global, Hassell, Australian Water Environments, Aqueon, Alano Water, and Water Data Services, that are currently running pilot projects in China. The Chinese Government launched the $128 million Sponge City initiative in 2016 in a bid to improve ood management and water supply.
ZINFRA. BUILDING REPUTATIONS
Mike Stokes Renewals and Backlog - Program Manager South East Water “The Zinfra team working on South East Water’s sewerage program on the Mornington Peninsula has been excellent. Together we are on track to successfully deliver 135km of our 230km sewerage services project to 16,500 properties in 18 months. This is one of Australia’s largest projects of this type to be completed in such an accelerated timeframe. Working with Zinfra has made delivery of this project easy. The members of the team have remained consistent for the project, making relationships effortless to manage, and they bring extensive experience with large scale, fast-moving pipeline projects to the table.”
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China & India
KNOWLEDGE IS NEEDED TO MAKE GOOD DECISIONS ABOUT WATER, AND SO IS INFORMATION ABOUT HOW WATER HAS BEEN USED. TONY SLAT YER, DFAT
Chand Baori, a stepwell in the village of Abhaneri in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It’s one of the deepest in India.
“Rapid urbanisation, poor water management and drainage are large issues in China,” Barratt said. The initiative involves 16 pilot sponge cities focusing on aquifer recharge projects and improving stormwater management to ensure consistent, reliable water supply and mitigate flooding. “China has embarked on the Sponge City initiative as a response to cities getting bigger and climate change threatening to bring more extreme weather,” Barratt said. One of the key Sponge City pilots has recently commenced in Jinan in China’s east, and will test using stormwater capture technology to recharge aquifers to prevent flash-flooding. Barratt said the fact the consortium had considerable experience in Australian urban water re-use projects meant they were well placed to meet the needs of the Chinese Government in this area. In September, WIA also coordinated a delegation of Alliance companies, Australian and South Australian Government officials and experts that visited New Delhi to discuss collaborative opportunities in water security. “There is interest in how to govern a very scarce resource, as well as technology and expertise in treating water, alternative storage and usage. South Australia, being a dry state, has shared expertise that is applicable to a lot of states in India,” said Barratt. WIA plans to leverage the skills and experience gained from
delivering several key water management projects in South Australia to partner with private enterprise in India to continue to explore additional sustainable approaches to water security and management. Most recently, the WIA signed an MoU with CII Triveni Water Institute in north India to establish a basis for cooperation, collaboration and consultation on water projects. Australia is part of an 11-member panel convened by the UN and World Bank – the High-level Panel on Water – tasked with shifting how the world looks at water. Australia is also championing the World Water Data Initiative, which stresses the importance of sharing knowledge frameworks, said Tony Slatyer, the Special Advisor on Water for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Enhancing the capacity of developing countries to make evidence-based decisions on their water while reducing the hurdles associated with accessing information is one of the core objectives of global water management drives. “The purpose of the World Water Data Initiative is to simply reduce cost and complexity in water data,” said Slatyer. “Knowledge is needed to make good decisions about water, and so is information about how water has been used.” “The purpose of the World Water Data Initiative is to simply reduce cost and complexity in water data.”
SNAPSHOT: THE BIG ISSUES WATER AND SANITATION: According to the UN, around 30% of all rural populations in China do not have access to safe drinking water. In India, some 70% of households don’t have access to toilets, and the primary source of water for most people is polluted by untreated sewage. INFRASTRUCTURE: China is building dams, but at great cost to its citizens and neighbours. The Tibetan Plateau dam diverts water from 10 of Asia’s major rivers and has caused conflict with India, while the Three Gorges Dam project, the world’s largest hydroelectric dam on the Yangtze River, has destroyed historical and cultural artifacts and displaced 1.3 million people. In India, the water debate is framed by questions of ownership rather than efficiency, and many of the country’s dam projects have been marred by corruption scandals.
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INDUSTRY CONTAMINATION: China’s water pollution is a result of industrial wastewater discharges, untreated domestic sewage and nonpoint source pollution mainly from agriculture. Despite alarming statistics, it’s often cheaper for industry to pay a fine than to build wastewater treatment plants. Similar regulatory inertia is crippling India. Weak penalties have resulted in unregulated small-scale industries and factories pouring waste directly into bodies of water. WATER POLLUTION: Almost half of China’s water sources are polluted, and one-third of the country’s lakes and rivers are deemed unfit for human use. Land use and degradation account for the majority of water pollution there. In India, fertilisers, pesticides and livestock waste are carried into lakes and rivers, and aquifers are affected when pollutants are carried underground.
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China & India
IN HOT
A LOOK AT THE GROWING CRISIS IN CHINA AND INDIA.
WATER CHINA HAS ABOUT
7%
OF THE WORLD’S FRESH WATER
20%
OF THE POPULATION
INDIA HAS ABOUT
4%
OF THE WORLD’S FRESH WATER
17%
OF THE POPULATION
ACCORDING TO THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO):
IN CHINA
14 MILLION PEOPLE PRACTISE OPEN DEFECATION
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IN INDIA
626 MILLION PEOPLE PRACTISE OPEN DEFECATION
IN
2010 1/3 OF CHINA’S SURFACE WATER IS UNSAFE FOR HUMAN CONTACT
PEOPLE WITHOUT ACCESS TO IMPROVED DRINKING WATER CHINA
119 MILLION
OF CHINA’S GROUNDWATER IS POLLUTED
60%
INDIA
97 MILLION MORE THAN
70%
IN CHINA, AGRICULTURE IS THE NUMBER ONE SOURCE OF WATER POLLUTION, ACCOUNTING FOR
50%
OF INDIA’S SURFACE WATER RESOURCES ARE POLLUTED BY HUMAN WASTE OR TOXIC CHEMICALS
CHINA AT LEAST
14%
OF ALL DIGESTIVE CANCERS ARE CAUSED BY POLLUTED DRINKING WATER
INDIA
IN INDIA, UNTREATED SEWAGE IS THE NUMBER ONE SOURCE OF WATER POLLUTION
80%
OF STOMACH AILMENTS IN INDIA ARE CAUSED BY CONSUMING POLLUTED WATER
Source: Global Water Partnership “Water and Food Security – Experiences in India and China”; World Health Organization; The World Bank; WaterAid “Drinking Water and Sanitation Status in India”.
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Mining
STATE OF
MINES WHEN MINES RELEASE WATER INTO CATCHMENTS AND THINGS GO WRONG, RESPONSIBILITY IS OFTEN PASSED ON TO THE COMMUNITY. HOW CAN THE MINING AND WATER INDUSTRIES WORK TOGETHER TO PROTECT AUSTRALIA’S PRECIOUS WATER RESOURCES?
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By Cecilia Harris
ustralia is now home to more large mines than ever before. With head-spinning amounts of water relinquished to mining operations around the country, what can the water industry do to help mediate the mining industry’s legacy?
A
PEOPLE POWER “In the past few decades, the industry’s gone from regularsized mines to huge mines. The amount of water that mines need now is no longer modest,” RMIT School of Engineering Associate Professor Gavin Mudd said. “We’re talking tens of gigalitres for an individual mine. The demands on and risks to water are astronomically high and there’s a lot of community concern.” University of Queensland Regional Water and Land Resources Professor Neil McIntyre said that with water issues in the spotlight, stakeholders are raising questions about potential post-mining water releases too. “Internationally, Australia is a leader in terms of good water management practice. That’s not to say that all the issues are
THERE IS A LOT OF UNCERTAINTY ABOUT PREDICTING MINE IMPACTS ON THE WATER ENVIRONMENT. NEIL MCINT YRE, UQ
resolved,” he said. “These problems have always been around in mining. But they have come to public attention much more in the past 20 years.” But McIntyre said the public hubbub over mining practices is a good thing for raising the stakes in terms of accountability. “It’s had knock-on effects in terms of social and financial licence to operate. A lot of lenders will only provide money for mining projects if they can be confident that sustainable practices are being followed,” he said.
REGROUPING REGULATION While market forces can help shape the practices of mining operations, the strongest force is often regulatory, an aspect that University of Western Sydney’s Dr Ian Wright said has lagged in years past but that is improving. “My introduction to mining was a regulation meeting regarding the Westcliff mine in NSW. I was dumbfounded,” he said. “The contaminated wastewater discharged from the mine, which made up about 90% of the flow of the upper Georges River, was a highly complex effluent.
“The periodic table was alive in that water. It changed the chemistry of the Georges River radically. The NSW EPA was regulating that mine with an environmental protection licence, but they had four of the most innocuous measures of water quality you could imagine. It was like trying to catch sardines in a net with holes big enough for a blue whale to swim through. “And as far as the mine was concerned, it was doing nothing wrong. The party that was wrong was the EPA; they didn’t regulate the pollution properly.” Wright said the NSW EPA has since revised the license, specifying hazardous pollutants with much more responsible discharge limits. “Mines are now embracing environmental impacts and sustainable water management. Mines are doing their best – they care about their corporate image and they want to be good environmental citizens,” he said. “They are doing everything the authority tells them to do.” UQ’s Neil McIntyre said the solution lies in improving accountability and monitoring, which requires a more concerted effort from authorities. “There’s always going to be risk associated with unexpected long-term consequences in mining,” he said.
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Mining
“But there’s a big question; how is that risk managed? What level of liability risk is being passed to government and is it acceptable? “There is a lot of uncertainty about predicting mine impacts on the water environment. It’s very difficult and requires a lot of investment in adaptive monitoring and modelling.” For example, a spokesperson for the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (EHP) said issues with regulating mining discharge are related to the increasing unpredictability of weather events. “There are a number of coal mines in central Queensland that release water into receiving environments when stream flow allows. EHP works with companies to ensure these releases are managed and controlled in the best possible way to minimise the potential for adverse environmental impacts,” they said. “In regulating water releases, the most significant challenge for EHP is the nature of Queensland’s extreme weather events. “EHP meets these challenges by ensuring that environmental authorities contain conditions requiring companies to install and maintain appropriate infrastructure to manage extreme weather events and requiring reporting to the department prior to the wet season each year.” RMIT’s Gavin Mudd agreed that concerns with mining water pollution are largely an issue of regulation. “We need much better monitoring, much better reporting, and much better accountability when things go wrong,” he said. “And it’s not difficult from a scientific point of view, but you need governments to be proactive.”
CROSSING THE STREAMS Although the water industry has great insights to offer in relation to environmental monitoring and water treatment processes, mining and water are two separate sectors only beginning to shake hands. “Historically, given their modest scale, the mining industry never had to worry about engaging with other water users,” Mudd said. “These days the world is different. Mines are operating on a large scale in areas like the Hunter Valley and Bowen Basin, where there are a lot of farmers and local communities. Glass half full or half empty; this can be viewed as an opportunity or threat.” UQ’s Neil McIntyre said there are definitely opportunities for the mining and water industries to become more involved with
THE PERIODIC TABLE WAS ALIVE IN THAT WATER. IAN WRIGHT, UWS
each other, particularly in regard to the application of treated effluent once a mining operation has ceased. “Essentially, mines are not just mining the commodity that they’re after; they are mining groundwater as well,” he said. “Groundwater has value and, traditionally, it’s been a nuisance for mining companies. More and more, they’re looking for ways to use that water beneficially.” Water treatment technologies and data analysis are two areas where contracting companies like SUEZ and GE Power can help mining companies become more sustainable operators too. “Dust management is a massive issue on mine sites and uses up a huge amount of water. We have a range of products, wetting and binding agents, which we apply on coal sites to help mines significantly reduce the amount of water they need to use,” GE Water and Process APAC Regional Technology Leader Chris Harpham said. And aside from applicable technologies, Harpham says water sustainability practices in mining are moving with data. “Data is helping us understand how we can optimise things as we go forward within the mine site operation. Digitalisation is where innovation will develop over time – being able to effectively manage a water system around a mine site to make sure you’re getting the absolute optimised outcome,” Harpham said. “It’s about reducing costs, but it’s also about reducing waste.” But data on site is a different issue to data off site, and Wright said managing impact has everything to do with ensuring reliable data is available on all sides of a mining project. “I think coal mining can learn a bit from the water industry here,” UWS’s Wright said. “It could be the dawn of a new industry but we need quality data, and mines happy to share their data and talk to the community about it and improve that trust.”
HARNESSING DATA FOR SUSTAINABLE WATER USE In an effort to ensure sustainable water stewardship across its portfolio, global resources company South32 has adopted a process to screen its operations for potential exposure to water risks. Using the World Resources Institute Aqueduct Tool, South32 can identify potential water stress, including under or over-supply risks. Parameters used in the screening include climate modelling and population growth estimates. At its Worsley Alumina operation in Western Australia, the company has used the approach to understand the short, medium and long-term implications of operations on the business and the wider catchment. Chief Sustainability Officer Rowena Smith said the process helps to inform South32’s water stewardship.
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“Worsley has experienced a water shortage due to significant changes in rainfall patterns over recent years,” she said. “We use scenarios to assess the magnitude and timing of water scarcity, with the information then used to develop future stewardship strategies, including continuing efficiencies, recycling and re-use, or exploring different sources of water supply.” Smith said that water is a shared and valuable resource that must be managed responsibly at the catchment level. “In consultation with our stakeholders, we are working to address water security for our operations and, importantly, ensuring we consider the whole catchment in the process,” Smith said.
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• Rhodamine
The submersible nanoFlu can be used in diverse range of applications including the real-time monitoring of: • sea, river or freshwater reservoir systems, • incoming/outgoing flow at drinking and wastewater treatment plants, and • potential filter membrane leaks during rhodamine testing. In order to cover a wide range of possible monitoring applications, TriOS offers an extensive list of mounting alternatives. These include inline fittings, flowcell (e.g. water quality panels), small sensor floats (e.g. plantbased monitoring) and unmanned buoys. As with the enviroFlu oil-in-water sensor, mobile lab staff can couple the nanoFlu with a TriOS Pocket Power G2 that not only provides battery power and WiFi connectivity but GPS logging for instantaneous indication and location of possible algae bloom issues.
For more information on the TriOS range of online sensors please contact Control Components.
Control Components Pty Ltd Phone: +61 (0)2 9542 8977 Web: www.ccezy.com.au Email: Help@ccezy.com.au
Water reform
A call to AUSTRALIA’S WATER PROFESSIONALS HAVE THE CHANCE TO HELP SHAPE THE FUTURE OF WATER REFORM AND REGULATION. By Cecilia Harris
he Productivity Commission’s National Water Reform draft report had a timely release; the second half of 2017 has been awash with serious water management allegations regarding the Murray-Darling Basin, as well as concerns over drought preparedness in our regions and cities as we enter the summer season. Although the message from the Productivity Commission is largely positive – states and territories have made good progress in implementing the National Water Initiative (NWI), including the implementation of legislative and policy frameworks – the Commission also believes a new national water reform agenda must be devised in order to safeguard Australia’s water from future drought and population challenges.
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ROOM FOR GROWTH Australian Water Association Chief Executive Jonathan McKeown said although the NWI has played a very important role in ensuring more efficient water use to date, there’s still a lot more that needs to be done to safeguard Australia’s water resources. “The National Water Initiative was a major catalyst for change in both legislation and water practices across Australia, particularly in the Murray-Darling Basin. It’s changed the philosophy of many of the state and territory governments in how they address natural resource management,” he said. “There’s no doubt that Australia’s experience in legislative reform is world leading. But there’s much more that we can do and we shouldn’t be resting on our laurels.” One of the key reform priorities listed under the draft report is to maintain strong water management to prevent bad policy, and McKeown said this prerogative is two-fold. “There’s been political interference in the independent pricing of urban water,
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but in the future this needs to be held very firmly in the hands of a truly independent economic regulator. “Water utilities need certainty in order to manage their assets and deliver the services required from them by their communities,” he said. Secondly, McKeown said the rural water sector requires more stringent regulation of licensing laws, with recent Murray-Darling Basin water theft allegations offering a poignant example of current management flaws. “On the rural side, there’s been a bad habit of allowing the manipulation of the Murray-Darling Basin to be detrimentally used for agricultural interests, although this only applies to a minority. The issue there is poor enforcement of water management in rural areas,” he said.
DIVERSE VOICES Further to stronger water management practices, the report has prioritised the improvement of national policy settings in aid of Indigenous water requirements, and McKeown said ensuring Indigenous voices are heard will be crucial to meeting this goal. “We need to understand with more clarity what water means to Indigenous people and their culture. We need more consultation, more involvement of Indigenous views in management plans, whether it be on a catchment or state management level, so we have a better understanding of Indigenous perspectives,” he said. The draft report also calls for enhanced national policy settings for environmental water management by strengthening institutional and governance arrangements, and improving monitoring and evaluation. “The question that many people are asking is: have we swung too much in favour of the economic benefits of irrigation
THE WAY FORWARD The Association’s submission has called for an overhaul of how the Commonwealth, states and territories work together on the management of Australia’s water resources. The submission calls for additional reforms in the following areas:
versus the balance of environmental flows?” McKeown said. “There was a feeling a couple of years ago that the pendulum had swung too much in favour of environmental flows, but that view seems to have reversed. Getting the balance right is always difficult; it’s based on season fluctuations, issues with population growth and competing interests and demands – but we need flexibility.” And getting the balance right is not just about managing environmental flows. McKeown said balancing supply and demand touches all areas of the Productivity Commission’s recommendations in preparing for future water challenges. “The single biggest thing we need to do under the NWI is get the supply and demand balance better calculated in the long term. What we learned through the Millennium Drought was that balance was nowhere near right – we tried to reduce the demand only to find that even with reduction of demand from particular urban areas, we were going to have insufficient water,” he said. “The supply-demand balance is the crucial thing, and if we can do it more accurately in light of population growth, increased urbanisation, and increased technologies around water production and sourcing, then a lot of our other problems can be dealt with in advance.
Rural water, including: • Lifting the quality of drinking water supplies in remote and rural areas with transparent subsidies; • Water trading markets, price registers, settlement processes, and the recognition of water as a tangible asset; and • Improved enforcement of the rules around water usage. Urban water, including: • Clearer separation of powers between ministers, boards of water utilities, and regulators; • Processes to achieve integrated water cycle management within planning frameworks as our cities expand and require more liveability; and • Increased access to private sector capital and competition. The Association has called for a new National Water Plan to be negotiated between the Commonwealth, states and territories to be approved by COAG – a plan that is capable of providing water security, an equitable balance of
competing demands, sustainable economic and environmental management, proper data analysis, and transparent accountabilities. The Plan needs to include managing three national frameworks on water trading, water resource management and urban water planning (including economic regulation, competitive neutrality, and integrated water cycle management). To implement the National Water Plan, the Association has called for the establishment of an independent National Water Authority that reports to Federal Parliament and not the minister. The Authority needs statutory powers and resources to enforce the agreed National Water Plan, analyse data and distribute incentive payments to the states and territories as and when agreed milestones under the Plan are reached. The Association hopes the submission will help shift some outdated thinking about how the Commonwealth currently facilitates water management with the states/territories and how the Australian water sector needs to move beyond the Murray-Darling Basin to provide national coordination of our water resources. View the Association’s submission by visiting bit.ly/PCsubmission
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Liquid Labs
By Rebecca Cleaver
SEEDS HOW ACADEMICS AND FARMERS ARE WORKING TO IMPROVE WATER EFFICIENCY AND BOOST CROP YIELDS.
“Previously, academics would go off and do their research in isolation. That could take two or three years to prove the results and then communication would follow. It could take years before anyone got any benefit from the research. “What’s different about this approach is that savvy growers and farmers are acting as co-investigators and helping to figure out what the answers are. We also ensure the process has academic rigour and relevance.”
PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH niversities are often criticised for conducting research in a vacuum. It can take years for lab research to produce usable data, and years more for that data to translate into practice. The Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA), a partnership between the University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Government, is working to overcome this by putting farmers at the heart of research, including through the innovative Water for Profit program.
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REAL-TIME RESULTS TIA’s Deputy Director James Stronach is particularly proud of the institute’s involvement in the Water for Profit program, which he said already has some wins for the state’s farmers. “The purpose of the Water for Profit program is to conduct academic research in a way that engages the community and helps maximise the outcomes for farmers,” he said.
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One of the aims of the Water for Profit Program is to support producers to improve soil management so they can achieve greater returns on irrigation investments and enhance sustainability. TIA is working closely with farmers to gather and share data so recommendations can be implemented as quickly and effectively as possible. Sue Hinton, leader of the Water for Profit program, described the soil management laboratory work as a beneficial tool to support “a participatory research process”. “We’re actually getting the growers involved in participatory action as part of the research,” Hinton said. “A lot of the farmers have said to us they really don’t have a good understanding of the behaviour of some of the soils once irrigation is added into the system. In the laboratory the researchers are able to analyse the various depths of the soil profile for moisture holding ability – they are looking at
ACADEMICS WOULD GO OFF AND DO THEIR RESEARCH IN ISOLATION. THAT COULD TAKE TWO OR THREE YEARS TO PROVE THE RESULTS. JAMES STRONACH, TIA
the structure and chemistry of the soils and how that might impact water management. “The results of this research can help farmers make decisions around how much water to apply to particular soils, so they’re not over-watering and causing potential waterlogging or runoff.” Stronach said there are many tangible examples of data being used to help farmers improve crops yields and reduce water usage. “A lot of farmers, when they run irrigators, are not sure what size pump they should be using. Often they will go for the biggest pump, but that’s not always the right thing. “By consulting with farmers, collecting the data and doing the research, we can determine what pump size is required and that makes a big different to their water and energy consumption.”
BROAD APPLICATIONS Stronach is confident universities can play a much bigger role in sustainably supporting the agriculture and water industries. “If you’ve got the right data and can interpret it, you can help farmers improve decision-making. We showed that a community better regulates water usage when they have the right data than would happen in the usual regulatory environment,” he said. Hinton hopes the findings of the Water for Profit program can be extrapolated and used around the world. “The learnings and technologies we’re developing as part of this project are transferrable globally: anywhere there is soil and water being used to grow crops,” Hinton said.
“We’re getting incredibly positive feedback on the benefits of being involved in the program. A lot of the producers are getting a greater understanding of the soil water monitoring tools that are available, and they are able to work out what’s the best instrument for them to put into practice to help them with irrigation scheduling and decision-making around water use.” The Water for Profit program is led by the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, with funding from the Tasmanian Government and support from the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association.
Sue Hinton is an industry development and extension officer at the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture and leads the Water for Profit program. She is an experienced agronomist.
James Stronach is the deputy director of strategy and engagement for the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture. James has a strong commercial background, with expertise in finance, human resources and strategy.
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THIS WILL SOON BE SYDNEY’S VIBRANT NEW FINANCIAL HUB. Containing thousands of copper pipe fittings that will ensure sustained drinking water hygiene for the future. International Towers Sydney is being developed by Lendlease as a future economic centre for the Asia-Pacific region, right next to Sydney Harbour. Viega ProPress copper fittings are being used throughout to provide the 131 floors of the three towers with a reliable supply of drinking water. Not only does the system impress with its excellent hygienic properties, it is also quick and easy to install – a significant advantage for a major project like this on a tight schedule. Viega. Connected in quality.
International Towers Sydney, Sydney, Australia
viega.com.au/About-us
T H E AU ST R A L I A N WAT E R A S S O C I AT I O N M AG A Z I N E
T E C H N I C A L PA P E R S SUMMARIES OF THE LATEST TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES AND INSIGHTS FOR WATER PROFESSIONALS.
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HEALTHY START What role can the water industry play in promoting health and wellbeing? A NEW GENERATION It’s been 25 years: What are the ongoing socioeconomic impacts of deepwater ocean outfalls? SOLVING SEWER STRANGLEHOLDS Using machine learning to predict chokes in sewer assets. GO WITH THE FLOW How to optimise water sensitive urban design using evolutionary algorithms. BIG CITY BLUES A look at the messy route Ballarat took to become a water sensitive city.
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IN COLOUR A statistical model for anticipating filter breakthrough during high colour raw water events. THE HOT SEAT Monitoring humidity and its role in microbiologically-induced corrosion in sewers. BUILDING TRUST How can water utilities and property developers work together? PEELING BACK THE LAYERS Improving wastewater treatment processes using an immersed membrane bioreactor. MAPPING WATER’S FUTURE Creating a strategic planning framework process for water management systems.
For extended papers on the latest research in the Australian water sector, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal www.awa.asn.au
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executive summary health and wellbeing
The water industry’s role in health and wellbeing INSIGHTS FROM CONTEMPORARY PUBLIC HEALTH STUDIES IN VICTORIA. F Pamminger
he water industry has always had a strong focus on health and wellbeing, but we have few effective ways to measure our contribution in this area. The industry made a large contribution to health and wellbeing around 100 years ago, when sewers and reticulated water systems were first constructed. However, the impact the water industry’s day-today decisions have on this area in 2017 remains unclear. The public health industry measures health and wellbeing in life expectancy and disability-free life years. By measuring these figures across Victoria, we can see a seven-year difference in life expectancy between the most- and least-privileged municipalities and a seventeen-year difference in disability-free life years. This translates into an economic burden to Victoria of between $3 billion and $5 billion a year.
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In addition to these large social and economic impacts, public health experts estimate that approximately 1,500 deaths occurring in Victoria each year are avoidable. This is a catastrophic public health crisis that warrants urgent action from us all. When relative populations are considered, the magnitude is like the crisis Victoria faced in the 1890s, when the state suffered 400 deaths a year from typhoid – a serious public health issue that was also recognised as avoidable. In the 1890s the water industry’s role was clear – construct sewers. But today, our role is much less obvious. By unbundling the differences in health and wellbeing between municipal regions,
public health experts have found that the largest determinants to health and wellbeing are socioeconomic (40%), behavioural (30%), clinical (20%) and the physical environment (10%). These insights open up a range of diverse ways that the water industry can potentially contribute to health and wellbeing. They move us from thinking about just providing safe water and sanitation services to considering aspects such as our vulnerability and education programs, and our role in encouraging
more people to replace sugary drinks with water. But to translate intent into concrete, justifiable actions, we need a way to measure the material contribution to health and wellbeing of different projects and stakeholders. Yarra Valley Water is currently piloting a new approach to measuring its contributions to health and wellbeing by quantifying social impacts in financial terms – an emerging discipline known as integrated profit and loss (IP&L). The methodology produces insights that help us prioritise our efforts to maximise social value beyond the traditional business case, particularly as this value relates to health and wellbeing.
We believe history will regard our era as one that produced a step change in public health of equal magnitude to the eradication of communicable diseases 100 years ago. But to get there, we need to improve how we assess our contribution to health and wellbeing, and translate this into day-to-day decisions that maximise the outcomes for our customers and communities. Francis Pamminger is the manager of strategic research at Yarra Valley Water.
To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water-ejournal
executive summary water quality
Putting a value on cleaner beaches in Sydney THE SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE DEEPWATER OCEAN OUTFALLS 25 YEARS ON. N Nelson, M Mountford
The total value of beach access for Sydney residents is estimated at around $1.2 billion per annum.
ydney Water’s Deepwater Ocean Outfall program at Manly, Bondi and Malabar began 25 years ago to contribute to cleaner water at Sydney’s coastal beaches. Alongside other changes to wastewater treatment, beneficial re-use and the trade waste policy, this program has improved water quality at beaches, resulting in a range of benefits and contributions. Sydney Water engaged Deloitte Access Economics to consider the wider social and economic benefits and contributions to improved water quality for Sydney beaches. Outcomes of the study include: • The total value of beach access for Sydney residents is estimated at around $1.2 billion per annum, based on estimates of an individual’s value of time, with $93 million of this attributable to
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beach water quality. It was also found that beaches were valuable even for people who did not visit the beach. • Overall, the total value of Sydney’s coastal beaches for Sydney residents is estimated at around $1.3 billion per year. Using a 7% discount rate, this equates to a lifetime value of almost $19 billion. • The net value add associated with beach water quality is worth around $332 million per year to the NSW economy through tourism, with around 80% of this value coming from international visitation. • Cleaner water at the beach also has health benefits for the population, with a reduction in sewage pollutants associated with a decreased incidence of gastrointestinal, respiratory, eye and ear conditions. With around 31 million visitors to Sydney’s coastal beaches
each year, cleaner water may contribute to the avoidance of illness for around 180,000 people annually. It is estimated that the avoided costs of absenteeism could be around $140 million per year. • The Deepwater Ocean Outfall program has significantly improved water quality in and around Sydney’s shoreline and has not had any identifiable impact on the marine environment around the new offshore discharge. • Finally, the study found that Sydney’s coastal beaches are a key part of Sydney’s iconic, or brand, value with beaches ranked in the top three when visitors think of Sydney – alongside Sydney Harbour and the Sydney Opera House. Dr Nicola Nelson is manager of health, environment & asset science at Sydney Water. Michelle Mountford is associate director at Deloitte Economics.
To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal
executive summary machine learning
Predicting sewer chokes through machine learning USING ADVANCED ANALYTICS TO PREDICT THE NUMBER, LOCATION AND TYPE OF CHOKES IN SEWER ASSETS. B Cameron, M McGowan, C Mitchell, J Winder, R Kerr, M Zhang
ewer chokes cost Sydney Water and its customers more than $10 million in 2015. Sewer chokes are blockages typically caused by external factors such as tree roots, fats and grease, and foreign items in the pipes such as wet wipes. Chokes may lead to sewage overflows through designated sewer system overflow points, or uncontrolled overflows onto public or private property, or, in rare cases, inside houses. The likelihood of any particular main choking may be influenced by many environmental, social and structural factors. Traditional forecasting and prediction techniques are currently not capable of accurately predicting sewer chokes in the Sydney Water network. This limits the extent of the network where preventive maintenance strategies can be economically employed. Sydney Water, through working with CSIRO’s Data61, has used machine learning techniques to analyse factors that might contribute to sewer chokes and have developed a pilot model to
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Machine learning and factor analysis techniques can be applied to improve the prediction of sewer chokes.
predict the likelihood of future chokes in every sewer main asset. This could enable Sydney Water to shift from a reactive approach and move towards a more proactive approach to sewer choke management. The pilot predictive model was developed in four stages: 1. Factor analysis: identifying the relative importance of each feature (potential factor present in dataset) to contribute to accurate predictions. 2. Model development and training: identifying and ‘learning’ the patterns in the data which lead to chokes. These latent blockage patterns were then incorporated into four different algorithms, with one for each main choke type. 3. Validation: the model was then ‘back tested’ to predict chokes in 2015. 4. Prediction: potential chokes, their location and likelihood, were then predicted for 2016. The project showed that machine learning and factor analysis techniques can be applied to improve the prediction of sewer chokes. The model provided a 33% improvement in the ability to predict sewer chokes when considering pipes with the highest probability of chokes. However, the project highlighted the potential need for improved or new data that is currently not readily available. Using data analytics can assist Sydney Water to improve our ability to predict future events, such as sewer chokes. This will support Sydney Water’s
corporate strategy by delivering worldclass service to our customers, the community and the city. The project showed that a machine learning model could be built to predict the occurrence of sewer chokes if a significant amount of relevant data is available. The ability to predict the number, location and type of chokes likely to occur may be able to inform future resourcing, business and operational planning. Bronwyn Cameron has worked in civil delivery, network operations and strategic analytics at Sydney Water. Mark McGowan is a civil engineer with more than 25 years’ experience in the water industry. Craig Mitchell is a civil engineer with over 27 years’ experience working for Sydney Water. Judith Winder has over 20 years’ water industry experience and has been employed by Sydney Water since 1998. Rod Kerr has over 27 years’ water industry experience within the NSW Environment Protection Authority and now Sydney Water. Dr Matt Zhang is a senior research scientist at Data61 CSIRO.
To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal
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executive summary water sensitive urban design
Optimising WSUD using evolutionary algorithms THE DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF A FRAMEWORK FOR INCORPORATING WSUD INTO AN OPTIMISATION. C McPhail, S Vial, R van der Pennen, B Heidrich, A Simpson, J Cantone
opulation growth and urban consolidation have resulted in a move away from the natural landscape creating a greater proportion of impervious area and an increase in urban stormwater run-off. The increase has typically been handled using traditional drainage infrastructure such as pipes, pits and detention basins. A review of the literature identified that the optimisation of traditional drainage infrastructure can result in great cost-savings and ensure that other hydrologic and hydraulic performance criteria are met. An alternative to implementing traditional stormwater collection and conveyance infrastructure is Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD), which has been shown to counteract the effects of increased run-off by decreasing the proportion of impervious area and utilising natural retention/detention. To date, the optimisation of WSUD practices has focused primarily on large-scale practices such as wetlands, detention basins and stormwater harvesting schemes. It is evident that little research has been conducted to identify the impacts of utilising lot-scale
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WSUD practices, such as rain gardens and rainwater tanks, on the catchmentwide hydrologic response. This research aims to utilise evolutionary algorithms as a means of identifying the most efficient combinations of WSUD practices at the lot scale to meet designated hydrologic objectives at the catchment scale. In addition, this research will use optimisation to determine and further explore the trade-offs between WSUD practices and more traditional drainage infrastructure practices. A case study on the proposed South Campus Research Park at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign (UIUC) was optimised to determine the combination of traditional and WSUD infrastructure to meet flooding, freeboard and peak flow criteria at minimum cost. To facilitate this, decisions associated with implementing alternative WSUD practices were scripted in JavaScript and integrated into the Optimizer WCS software. The optimisation results showed that for a variety of rainfall Average Recurrence Intervals (ARIs) it is cheaper to use a combination of traditional drainage infrastructure and WSUD than to only use the traditional drainage infrastructure. It is also apparent that optimising a combination of infrastructure types produces a cheaper cost when detention storage is used. These results show that for the proposed Research Park it is most cost effective to include WSUD in the final plan. The results generally showed that more WSUD was used at the downstream end of the catchment. The spatial placement of the WSUD was consistent for most optimised solutions suggesting it is an
important factor. For the one-in-100 year rainfall ARI between 5% and 35% of the paved areas utilised permeable pavement. It was also found that rainwater tanks were applied to most buildings. The framework applied to this case study is generic and can be applied to any stormwater system. Cameron McPhail is a PhD candidate at the University of Adelaide. Sean Vial is a graduate civil and environmental engineer at stormwater management consultancy Southfront. Bonnie Heidrich has a Bachelor of Civil and Environmental Engineering with honours from the University of Adelaide. Rebecca van der Pennen is a recent graduate of the University of Adelaide with a degree in Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering (Honours). Angus Simpson is a professor at University of Adelaide’s School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering. Dr Joshua Cantone is product manager atinfrastructure planning software supplier Optimatics.
To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal
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executive summary water sensitive cities
Ballarat’s messy path to a water sensitive city A LONG-TERM INVESTIGATION OF WATER MANAGEMENT IN A CITY. D Ebbs, P Dahlhaus, H Kandra
ater security is a vital part of ensuring a sustainable future. This is particularly true for many cities in Australia where relatively low rainfall, growing populations, increasing demand and climate change places communities under water stress. The ‘Water Sensitive City’ is one in which water is drawn from a range of water supplies and that sustainably interacts with its surrounding environment. A framework developed by Brown, Keath and Wong demonstrates the multiple stages of development through which many cities progress, with the Water Sensitive City being seen as a potential future state. However, every city has a unique water history in which the economic, environmental and social history have impacted on the development of water management. Tracking the evolution of water management of a city and its deviation from a standard pathway can provide information around what drives decisions about supply and demand. Ballarat is a city that is faced with many of the issues confronted throughout the world – growing population, increasing water demand, climate change that will adversely impact supplies, and a reliance on supplies from outside the local water catchment. The water supply in Ballarat was established in the 1850s at a similar time to other Australian cities. Water management in Ballarat has been tracked from then until 2016 using historical records from the local water authority. These records show some key
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Cumulative Socio-Political Drivers Water supply access and security
Public health protection
Flood protection
Water Supply City
Sewered City
Drained City
Supply hydraulics
Separate sewerage schemes
Drainage, channelisation
Service Delivery Functions Figure 1: Urban Water Management Transitions Framework
Tracking the evolution of water management can provide information around what drives decisions about supply and demand. differences between Ballarat and the classical water development model. For example, the impact of flooding on the mining community, and sluice mining on the downstream waterway, made drainage a much higher priority in Ballarat than sewerage. This highlights that decisions are a function of the individual situation and circumstances in which a city resides. Of particular interest is that, despite a common understanding that demand increased throughout
Social amenity, environmental protection
Limits on natural resources
Waterway City
Water Cycle City
Point and diffuse source pollution management
Diverse, ďŹ t-for-purpose sources and conservation, promoting waterway protecton
Intergenerational equity, resilience to climate change
Water Sensitive City
Adaptive, multi-functional infrastracture & urban design reinforcing water sensitive behaviours
(Source: Brown et al., 2009)
the 20th century until the impact of the Millennium Drought, the data shows water usage declined from a peak in 1980 – well before climatic conditions and severe water restrictions were implemented. This was not due to a significant change in industrial use but was predominantly driven by a reduction in domestic water demand, and sewer flows indicate that from 1970 to 2010 there was a significant reduction in the percentage of water used outside the home. Understanding the social, environmental and economic drivers of the sustained reduction in demand that Ballarat has experienced, over a longer period than was expected, may assist in future urban water management decisions. Alternatives to the traditional local surface water supplies have been established in Ballarat. However, when these decisions were made, the comparative analysis that determined the best option was predominantly economic, although environmental hurdles were included earlier in the decision-making. If the optimum water resource management decision is to be made, all factors that are considered important must be included in the comparative analysis. David Ebbs developed hundreds of water management plans for industry during the Millennium Drought. Dr Peter Dahlhaus has worked across the private, public and academic sectors in engineering geology, geohazard risk management and hydrogeology. Dr Harpreet Kandra is a research professional with experience in water management, environmental management, environmental reporting, data management, and policy analysis, teaching and training.
To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal
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executive summary innovation in process optimisation
Anticipating filter breakthrough during high colour raw water events A STATISTICAL MODEL DEVELOPED AND APPLIED IN SYDNEY WATER’S WATER TREATMENT PLANTS CAN BE USED TO OPTIMISE CHEMICALS AND ELIMINATE FILTER BREAKTHROUGH. A Mohiuddin, Y Wang
ydney Water operates the Nepean Water Filtration Plant (WFP), which treats raw water from the Nepean Dam situated south-west of Sydney. In the last few years, the plant has been receiving raw water with higher true colour which, combined with historical lower turbidity of the dam water, has challenged the plant operations team to treat the raw water and maintain the plant’s performance. It is evident from higher true colour raw water that lower flow strength is the key issue, which causes turbidity breakthrough in filters. The filters’ breakthrough significantly decreases the filters’ run time, and eventually the plant’s production rate is reduced by 34%. Therefore, a process model has been developed to anticipate filter breakthrough during higher true colour of raw water and to optimise chemicals to eliminate filter breakthrough. The process model used the previous few years’ performance data of the dual media gravity filters, and analysed each performance indicator during each filter’s turbidity breakthrough events. It also included the study of a range of process parameters. The process model then correlated all the parameters and differentiated between the optimum and suboptimal condition of the plant under a range of model input scenarios. The model developed this equation to anticipate filter breakthrough: Filter breakthrough = f (raw water quality, chemicals dose rate, filter design, filter performance indicators).
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The model can indicate any potential plant performance issue relating to raw water quality change. As an output: • The process model can predict any filter turbidity breakthrough and plant performance deterioration due to any sudden rise of raw water true colour. • The process model can provide instantaneous solution of optimum chemicals dose to eliminate the filter breakthrough, and can provide forecast of plant performance improvement at model optimum chemical doses. • The model user can select a wide range of data sets from data selection criteria to see all the correlations among parameters. The developed process model was applied at Nepean WFP during October to December 2016 for raw water turbidity around 2 NTU and true colour at 400 nm around 25 HU. Prior to the application of process model, all the five dual media gravity filters had severe turbidity
breakthrough, and as a result the filters’ run times were reduced to 10-25 hours and the plant production rate was reduced to 180 L/s. Applying the process model, the chemical dose rates were gradually adjusted to stop filter breakthrough. By applying the process model, the filters’ turbidity breakthroughs were fully eliminated, plant production rate was increased by 31% (235 L/s), all the filters’ run times increased by 60-300% (40-48 hours) and significant savings in chemical use was achieved by reducing the dose rates in the range of 20-51%. The statistical process model is a very quick guide for the plant operators that can indicate any potential plant performance issue relating to raw water quality change, and can continuously guide the plant operators about the optimum chemical dose for any raw water condition. The developed process model is fully transferrable and can be applied to any WFP. Asm Mohiuddin is process and technology manager in customer delivery – treatment at Sydney Water. Yue-cong Wang is a modelling specialist at Sydney Water.
To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal
Welcome to our New Members* NEW CORPORATE MEMBERS
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NEW INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS
*New members 1st July to 17 October 2017
executive summary asset management
Innovation in corrosion monitoring in sewers USE OF NOVEL PHOTONIC SENSORS FOR HUMIDITY MEASUREMENTS IN GRAVITY SEWERS. H Bustamante, L S. M. Alwis, K T. V. Grattan, T Sun, L Vorreiter, J Gonzalez
ydney Water’s current Sewer Rehabilitation Program costs about $50 million annually. The program relies on chemical addition to minimise hydrogen sulphide (H2S) transfer from the wastewater to the sewer air, as well as the use of ventilation. Humidity plays a key role in microbiologically-induced corrosion of concrete gravity sewers, and minor reductions in humidity are known to reduce corrosion rates. However, no reliable long-lived (>1 week) humidity sensors are available, thus limiting the development of useful models to better manage corrosion; our experience using commercially available electrical sensors has demonstrated that they typically fail after around one week. Accurate and long-term humidity measurements will enable a quantitative
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The use of photonic sensors in Sydney Water will both improve the monitoring of humidity and help optimise ventilation. 68
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correlation between allowable H2S in sewer air and acceptable corrosion rates of ≤ 0.5 mm per year. This paper describes collaborative research between Sydney Water, City, University of London (CUL) and Edinburgh Napier University on the use of photonic sensors to measure humidity. The photosensitive sensors used in this study were designed and manufactured specifically for this project by CUL and their collaborators, to meet the requirements for high performance photonic sensors with specialised, tailored coatings, designed to operate under both highly biofouling and corrosive conditions in headspace of gravity sewers. The experimental program was carried out in the headspace of a balancing tank that receives the building’s wastewater upstream of the on-site wastewater treatment plant at Sydney Water’s Parramatta office. The gaseous hydrogen sulphide concentration typically varied during the day between 5 and 130 ppm by volume
with relative humidity between 97 and 100%. The temperature of the gas phase was around 20-23 degrees during the day and night. The results indicated that the sensors produced strong dynamic responses and accurately recorded the high humidity levels (between 97 and 100% RH). Furthermore, in two cases where the humidity was rapidly lowered by removing them for exposure to the ambient air, the sensors rapidly responded and measured ~100% humidity when replaced in the overhead tank. Thus, the sensors showed their dynamic capability as they could respond to drastic increases and decreases in humidity.
The results with various sensor designs showed that using a thinner coating takes less than 15 minutes to saturate while thicker coatings take nearly an hour for saturation. However, the sensitivity of the thicker coating is approximately more than 2.5 times that of the thinner coating. Depending on the application, it should therefore be possible to select the coating thickness to achieve faster response or higher sensitivity. Thinner coatings for rapid response are more suitable for this study. Furthermore, visual observations of the photonic sensors indicated that the aggressive and biofouling sewer conditions had only minor impact on the physical integrity of the photonic sensors after five months. This study demonstrated that photonic sensors can be used to monitor humidity in the range where hydrogen sulphide is converted into sulphuric acid. The use of photonic sensors in Sydney Water will both improve
Photonic sensors can be used to monitor humidity in the range where hydrogen sulphide is converted into sulphuric acid.
engineering at Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland.
the monitoring of humidity and help optimise ventilation. It will also provide information for the design and management of future sewer systems.
JosĂŠ GonzĂĄlez has more than 28 years of experience and has conducted fieldwork and laboratory analyses ranging from trace organics to trace metals.
Professor Kenneth T. V. Grattan has been researching novel optical instrumentation at City, University of London. Professor Tong Sun is director of the Research Centre of Sensors and Instrumentation. Louisa Vorreiter is currently service planning lead in asset strategy with Sydney Water.
Dr Heriberto (Heri) Bustamante is principal scientist – treatment at Sydney Water Dr Lourdes S M Alwis is a lecturer in electrical, electronic and information
To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal
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executive summary customer experience
Improving the developer experience with water utilities HOW WATER UTILITIES CAN CREATE TAILORED SOLUTIONS FOR PROPERTY DEVELOPERS. A Kirkwood
rban centres throughout Australia are attempting to cope with very high levels of population growth. This growth means the traditional mechanisms for providing housing are changing. While there are still high levels of land released for urban dwelling, Australians are getting used to the idea of living in smaller properties closer to central business districts. For water utilities, this creates challenges in ensuring that both greenfield and infill development are serviced without impacting the amenity of existing customers.
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poor communication, multiple contacts, no access to decision-makers and unclear accountabilities for decisions. This feedback is not in step with community expectations of service industries, or Sydney Water’s strategic intent of having customer at the heart of what we do. In response, Sydney Water looked at a study of the developer journey to gain insights into their current pain points and expectations. The study involved in-depth interviews with developers, intermediaries (hydraulic consultants, plumbers and asset constructors) and staff to truly understand their issues, concerns and views on organisations’ business processes. The key finding was that developers wanted to be able to deal directly with Sydney Water. Although they understood that intermediaries played an important part in various phases of a development, they felt that Sydney Water had pushed too much interaction onto intermediaries, whereas many issues could have been resolved much earlier if the developer could have met with the utility directly. The feedback from the research phase and customer interviews was that the developers felt that, due to the way interaction is currently managed, Sydney Water did not want a relationship with them. In response, Sydney Water is redefining its relationship with infill developers. The analysis of the developer’s journey and their pain points highlighted that the following change components are required:
Developers don’t feel their experience with a water utility was satisfactory when having an infill development assessed. It is projected that more than 36,000 dwellings will be constructed in greater Sydney each year for the next five years, with only a marginal tapering off after that. Over 55% of these new development proposals will be for infill development. This places a challenge for the way a water utility assesses the servicing and connection of these developments, as the traditional approach and associated business processes are based on greenfield servicing. Added to this, industry expectations have dramatically changed. Developers don’t feel their experience with a water utility was satisfactory when having an infill development assessed. It was typified by
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A direct relationship with developers: Changing the mindset of the organisation so developers are treated as business partners that create new customers for Sydney Water. The customer value proposition: Providing a fully integrated end-to-end service that incorporates servicing requirements, asset protection requirements and connection approval in one application. This will also include the option of Sydney Water providing design and construction services to the development. A new channel: Creating a new online system where developers can interact without the need for engaging an agent. It is essential that utilities operating in today’s market have robust mechanisms in place to gather customer insight and truly hear the voice of the customer. However, this insight is of no value unless there is a desire to use it to change how they operate.
Andrew Kirkwood has worked in the water industry for more than 35 years, primarily in front-line customer servicing areas servicing developers and the non-residential sector. In that time he has been responsible for introducing many major customer experience improvement programs at Sydney Water.
To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal
executive summary membrane bioreactor
A hybrid of a new technology and a natural purification process HOW IMMERSED MEMBRANE BIOREACTOR TECHNOLOGY CAN IMPROVE WASTEWATER TREATMENT PROCESSES. R Kulkarni
n 2014, Unitywater, a water distributor/ retailer in South-East Queensland, embraced immersed membrane bioreactor (iMBR) technology at Maleny Sewage Treatment Plant (STP). Increasing process capacity, in conjunction with higher effluent quality, and fostering a community-based partnership and an ecosystem-based approach for disposal of effluent to vegetated forest and treatment wetland were identified as the foremost drivers for successful implementation. Operational results under a range of operating conditions such as diurnal flows, wet weather events, and fluctuating membrane fluxes including varying mixed liquor feed quality were analysed. The iMBR process consisting of two ultrafiltration trains (UF1 and UF2) demonstrated a ‘stable performance’ in the first two years of its operation. Figure 1 summarises the iMBR performance and its indicators (MPIs) expressed as ‘plant health’. Identical results were found for both trains indicating ‘higher-end’ of the membrane operating system under dynamic operating conditions (>75% versus the normal range of 50-80%). The iMBR surmounts its capability to produce a superior water quality effluent, especially with specific performance on parameters such as turbidity (0.11 and 0.13 <0.2 NTU [50th percentile], Escherichia coli [<1 versus <100 {median} CFU /100 mL] and Enterococci spp. [<1 versus <40 {median} and <150 {max} CFU /100 mL]). A clean-in-place (CIP) performed on one occasion found minimal impact on permeability recovery. No membrane damage, pinning, fibre-pull-out or fibre-rub-through were sighted due to
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‘high’ agitation when in use. Typical permeability recoveries achieved were between 62-67%. Getting a membrane recovery protocol ‘right’ depends upon choosing which condition-based triggers and/ or time-based conditions should be considered prior to CIP operation. Excess chemical dependence and higher energy consumption (kW per kL of permeate produced) were the operational drawbacks requiring refinements moving forward. A validation in chemical cleaning protocol and recurrence interval for permeability recovery clean is mandatory in order to achieve desired economics in plant operation. An important parameter to watch is the mixed liquor concentration in the bioreactor and solids mass flux on a daily basis. A marginal drop in permeability was found when operating at >12g up to 15g MLSS/L. Operating within hydraulic capacity and with long sludge age resulted in additional thickening, which is first of its kind in membrane operation in Australia. Predicting useful life of in-situ membrane fibre(s) remains an ongoing challenge. Approximately 175 ML of reclaimed water is annually discharged for nighttime application to vegetated forest, and an engineered treatment wetland has led to restoration of an old dairy’s pasture land. This essentially transformed a monoculture into a rich habitat land full of biodiversity, flora and fauna in the Maleny Community Precinct. Performance of the treatment wetland was ‘competitive’ in removing nutrients. Nearly 94-97% removal was achieved in nitrogen especially with nitrate-nitrogen. Approximately 525 and 412kg of nitrogen
and 63 and 84.5kg of phosphorous was reduced from being released into Obi Obi Creek – a major drinking water source for the Sunshine Coast. A SWOT analysis was undertaken to improve operational excellence and extend useful service life of membranes, including areas that critique the selection of the membrane technology highlighted: • An iMBR is distinctly a decentralised process suitable for remote and/or isolated communities such as Maleny. • Stable performance and a high quality of reuse water was produced. • Membrane life is a function of operating within MPIs. From an operational perspective, the iMBR carries additional costs associated with cleaning chemicals and energy cost for air scouring and permeate pumping. • Combined with irrigated forest and treatment wetland, the STP upgrade worked well in creating flora and fauna biodiversity in the Maleny Community Precinct, which is a perfect recipe for a win-win proposition. • Collaboration with the local community, Sunshine Coast Council, and other stakeholders yielded a range of benefits delivered back to the community and the environment. This paper was presented at the IWA World Water Congress and Exhibition, Brisbane, October, 2016. Ramraj Kulkarni is a treatment services planning engineer at Unitywater.
To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal
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executive summary modelling and planning
System blueprints ALIGNING SHORT-TERM INVESTMENT WITH LONG-TERM STRATEGY. A Jaiswal, C Moore, M Wilton, M Healey¸
merging trends and challenges including growth, community expectations, liveability, environmental requirements, changing climates and ageing assets are shaping urban water utilities.
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THE OPPORTUNITY To better manage these challenges, Sydney Water has capitalised on Big Data by developing an adaptive strategic planning framework that efficiently integrates portfolios and product drivers in the development of system blueprints. The blueprints map current and future system priorities (integrating treatment and networks assets) in the context of the above multiples drivers, provide a clearer picture of the long-term requirements and promote optimised investment decisions and improved customer services. This paper presents the foundation of the strategic planning framework process, which is considered to be more: • Intelligent – tapping into systems, technology, data, information and knowledge • Integrated – whole-of-system synergistic planning process that incorporates multiple drivers and stakeholder groups • Innovative – producing optimised top-down strategies that are balanced with bottom-up risks, issues and opportunities • Adaptive – develops potential future strategic pathways to inform prudent and efficient investments in the context of potential futures and potential adaptive pathways.
THE METHODOLOGY The key principles that define the successful adaptive strategic planning framework approach are: • Collaboration across many internal stakeholder groups to capture inherent knowledge, opportunities and risks, as
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Sydney Water has capitalised on Big Data by developing an adaptive strategic planning framework.
well as to gain a common goal across business functions; • Leverage asset information, performance data, progra investment plans, risk and opportunity (Big Data) within a geographical information system for spatial and temporal analysis; • Robust risk framework to determine strategic and non-strategic risks, issues and opportunities; • A top-down tiered systems approach that integrates across systems, service growth and defer growth programs, networks and treatments; investments; and • Bundling of opportunities for detailed • Understanding emerging constraints planning; in the long-term to feed into integrated • Adaptive pathways to produce five- and Sydney-wide master planning. 30-year investment plans; and In summary the process provided • A repeatable documented process. synergy across the business, including transparent and demonstrable decision making, improved operations and emergency responses, demonstrable The three system blueprint case study prudent and efficient investment decisions examples (Prospect and Woronora, Nepean, and Macarthur delivery systems) and adaptive strategic pathways to guide future investments. cover over 90% of the Sydney drinking water system that supplies 4.9 million people with 1700ML per day of drinking Anil Jaiswal is a collaborative services water. They demonstrate how short-term planning manager with Sydney Water, and long-term priorities for a system have responsible for integrated water been aligned over a 30-year planning infrastructure planning. horizon in the context of multiple drivers. By combining local drivers with Christopher Moore has 18 years’ system wide objectives, an improved experience with Sydney Water and understanding of system resilience and currently works as senior analyst in capacity was gained by looking at the service planning and asset strategy. systems as a whole (treatment and networks). This presented alternative Mark Wilton is AAJV’s water planning adaptive pathways and resulted in: lead and has over 16 years’ experience • Improvements in system operations in water infrastructure network planning that leveraged existing assets such and modelling. as in-system storage and operational responses to short-term supply issues; Mike Healey is a civil engineer with • Adjacent systems interconnectivity for 27 years’ experience in the water and overall improved resilience across those wastewater industry. systems and deferral of major renewals (over $60 million); • In-system connectivity to leverage To read the full article, visit the Water existing system capacities to better e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal
THE RESULTS
10TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WATER SENSITIVE URBAN DESIGN
ARE YOU COMING? To the 10th International Water Sensitive Urban Design and Hydropolis 2018 Conference to hear from industry leading experts. On behalf of the Organising Committee, I am delighted to invite you to attend the 10th International Conference on Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD 2018), which is being held in conjunction with Hydropolis 2018.
We are delighted to announce our internationally recognised keynote speakers, who will provide valuable insights into best practices from a international, national and local perspective.
Water Sensitive Urban Design Conferences are a recognised premier technical event hosted by Engineers Australia. The conferences attract leading experts, and have a reputation for high quality papers covering a range of water sensitive urban design topics.
Kaia Hodge Manager City Futures Sydney Water
PRINCIPAL PARTNERS
wsud2018.org.au
Standard registration closes 30 January 2018
I look forward to welcoming you in February 2018.
Jim Singleton Strategic Planning & Environment City of Wanneroo
Kristy Chandler Chair, WSUD/Hydropolis 2018 Organising Committee
The main conference will be held from 13 to 15 February 2018 and include a full technical program of oral sessions covering both peer reviewed and nonpeer reviewed papers.
Sponsorship and Trade exhibition opportunities for WSUD and Hydropolis 2018 are available.
KEY DATES Early bird registration closes 7 November 2017
The conference will be held at Crown Towers, which is a world-class facility overlooking the banks of the Swan River. There are a number of accommodation options nearby and a number of excellent restaurants and bars which will provide limitless opportunities for the all-important break out and networking sessions.
Mark Fletcher Global Water Leader ARUP
WSUD / Hydropolis 2018 is also supported by the Australian Water Association (AWA) which aims to deliver information, expertise and collaboration for sustainable water management. The focus of WSUD / Hydropolis 2018 is “Creating Water Sensitive Communities” and aims to challenge delegates thinking and knowledge, and expand their views on what represents urban water management best practice and its vital role in developing our future communities.
Optional pre–conference workshops / field trips will be offered on 12 February. A formal conference dinner will be held on 14 February where Engineers Australia and Stormwater WA Industry Awards winners will be announced, alongside some light entertainment.
Conference 13 -15 February 2018
SUPPORTING PARTNERS
Email: wsud2018@engineersaustralia.org.au or phone: 073226 3026 for more details GOLD SPONSORS
wsud2018@engineersaustralia.org.au
07 3226 3026
WaterAid / Tom Greenwood
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WaterAid transforms lives by improving access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene in the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s poorest communities. Partner with WaterAid on a state, national or global OHYHO WR EHQHĹ&#x17D;W \RXU EXVLQHVV DQG LPSURYH OLYHV Memberships and sponsorships are available.
Call 1300 858 022 Email info@wateraid.org.au Visit www.wateraid.org/au
T H E AU ST R A L I A N WAT E R A S S O C I AT I O N M AG A Z I N E
A S S O C I AT I O N E V E N T S SHARING EXPERTISE ACROSS THE WATER INDUSTRY.
Guests at the Queensland Gala Dinner & Awards Night networking with Association National President Francois Gouws (far right).
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EVENTS CALENDAR Plan your continuous learning with the latest listing of the Association’s event calendar.
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PROUD PEDIGREE The Victorian branch hosted members of the state’s water industry for a dinner celebrating 55 years of excellence.
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WORLD TOILET SUMMIT WASH and sustainability are the main attractions at this two-day conference in Melbourne.
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LEADING THE WAY Winners of the ACT’s Water Awards were announced at the annual event, which included a Gala Dinner.
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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT South Australia discussed the key role water plays in thriving communities.
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REGIONAL RELEVANCE The Water in the Bush conference covered environmental, economic and community challenges.
WHERE THE WATERS MEET What are the forces shaping the water industry in Tasmania? The state’s professionals gathered to find out.
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A WIN FOR WATER WA’s professionals gathered to celebrate National Water Week and hand out its Water Awards.
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SHINE BRIGHT Queensland celebrated the achievements of its water professionals at the annual Gala Dinner and Awards.
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Association events
EVENT CALENDAR
N OV EM B ER
17 SA: GALA DINNER & AWARDS NIGHT 20 – 21 NAT: WORLD TOILET SUMMIT, MELBOURNE NSW: REGULATORS FORUM & LEGENDS 23 OF WATER DINNER VIC: YWP SEMINAR PD 3 – ABORIGINAL WATER VALUES WA: WATER AWARD WINNER SHOWCASE
DECEM B ER
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SA: CARBON NEUTRAL ADELAIDE AND SUSTAINABILITY WITHIN THE WATER SECTOR
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ACT: DEBATE BY THE LAKE
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QLD: CHRISTMAS TRIVIA NIGHT
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VIC: WATER AWARDS LUNCHEON
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WA: YWP END OF YEAR SOCIAL EVENT & CITY FARM TOUR
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23 November Regulators Forum and Legends of Water Dinner
WOMEN OF WATER 24 QLD: NETWORKING EVENING
BLUE MEETS GREEN, IN 30 VIC: PARTNERSHIP WITH AILA TAS: GALAH DINNER & DEBATE
The NSW Regulators Forum is a new event that provides a unique opportunity for industry practitioners and regulators to openly discuss topics of mutual interest, including health-based targets, water security and licencing. Then at night head to the Legends of Water Dinner to recognise the leaders of the NSW water industry.
FOR MORE DETAILS AND TO REGISTER, VISIT BIT.LY/AWAEVENTS 76
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FROM NETWORKING TO PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION’S CALENDAR IS OVERFLOWING WITH EVENTS FOR EVERY TYPE OF WATER PROFESSIONAL.
FEB R UA RY
MARCH HEADS OF WATER GALA DINNER & 09 NSW: AWARDS NIGHT NSW: HEADS OF WATER FORUM
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NAT: AWA & IWA NATIONAL YOUNG WATER PROFESSIONALS CONFERENCE IN MELBOURNE
SAVE THE DATE KOREA EXHIBITION, 20 – 23 WATER GO-YANG CITY. INTERNATIONAL DELEGATION PROGRAM AND OPPORTUNITIES RELEASED SOON.
TAS: WOMEN IN WATER LUNCHEON
TAS 30 November Galah Dinner and Debate
The Tasmanian branch of the Association invites you to have some fun and join in on the (mostly serious) debate about whether ‘being smart about water is a dumb move’. The evening also includes the YWP Awards ceremony and a fundraising event for WaterAid.
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NAT 22-24 February AWA & IWA National Young Water Professionals Conference
Calling all young water professionals! Join your peers at this conference and help shape the future direction of Australia’s water industry. This year’s theme is: Connect. Collaborate. Accelerate. To be held in Melbourne, the event will be a powerhouse combination of the national conference and the Victorian regional conference, so don’t miss it!
FOR MORE DETAILS AND TO REGISTER, VISIT BIT.LY/AWAEVENTS www.awa.asn.au
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World Toilet Summit
The porcelain throne TOILETS – WE TAKE THEM FOR GRANTED IN AUSTRALIA. BUT FOR AN ESTIMATED 2.5 BILLION PEOPLE, THEY’RE A LUXURY WHOSE ABSENCE IS FELT. By Cecilia Harris or the first time in it’s 17-year history, the World Toilet Summit will be held in Australia from 20-21 November, bringing together an array of sanitation stakeholders to collaborate on global solutions. Hosted by the World Toilet Organization and the Australian Water Association, this year’s event aims to raise the profile of sanitation issues worldwide, while empowering delegates, exhibitors and sponsors to share their insight on best practice. World Toilet Organization Founder Jack Sim will be presenting a keynote address highlighting how far the conversation around toilets and sanitation has come since the launch of the World Toilet Organization in 2001. “The World Toilet Organization began the course of discussing a subject that was embarrassing and unspeakable, but one that required action,” Sim said. “Prior to that, toilets and sanitation was referred to as ‘water’ issues. The sanitation agenda was hidden under another bigger, more glamorous problem. It received low visibility and low funding because other water-related concerns were put first. “The World Toilet Summit now triggers a lot of political action by putting toilets centre stage. Something that was once unspeakable has become a revolution.”
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Sim said he is excited about the event taking place in Australia and is looking forward to learning about and discussing the region’s specific challenges and concerns. “I want to promote the importance of toilets for education, tourism and public health in this region. I want to discover what other challenges Australia is having and continue to work with local governments on solutions,” Sim said. “I would personally like to see Australia and New Zealand’s relationship with Pacific Islanders strengthen in this area. Helping them with sanitation issues is crucial to development. “Development grows if people are productive, and sick people cannot be productive. Contaminated drinking water causes so much sickness. Prevention is cheaper than medical provision; the toilet is the cheapest medicine in the world.” This year’s Summit has six key themes: movement to meet Sustainable Development Goal 6; sanitation and hygiene in crisis zones; WASH and menstrual hygiene in schools; behavioural change; social enterprise solutions; and collaborative approaches to sanitation solutions. Presenting a keynote address on the latest WaterAid 2017 State of the World’s Toilets Report, WaterAid Australia CEO Rosie Wheen said she is excited to share their latest research. “The State of the World’s Toilet Report will be shining a light on sanitation and looking at it from a gender equity angle. The report will be focusing on sanitation and how important it is as a pathway to gender equality, but also as a vehicle for women and girls’ empowerment,” Wheen said. “Everyone has a right to health and dignity, and everyone has a right to sanitation, but girls and women have specific needs. I’ll be talking about those needs, but also highlighting that if women and girls aren’t actively participating in decision-making, those needs can’t be met.” Similarly to Sim, Wheen has been involved in the sanitation sector long enough to see the conversation around toilets and hygiene shift; sanitation has moved from a background health issue to being understood as fundamental to development.
PREVENTION IS CHEAPER THAN MEDICAL PROVISION; THE TOILET IS THE CHEAPEST MEDICINE IN THE WORLD. JACK SIM, WORLD TOILET ORGANISATION
“Water and sanitation are now recognised as human rights. With sanitation being added as a human right, it’s changed our approach to the issue,” Wheen said. “We’ve realised as a sector that water and sanitation aren’t engineering challenges, they’re human challenges that need to be approached from a behavioural change perspective.” Importantly, Wheen said the introduction of sanitation as a specific issue under Sustainable Development Goal 6 has highlighted it as a fundamental concern requiring focused action. “It’s such a historic and exciting time. We know what needs to be done. It’s not rocket science; the technology is there, what’s missing is the financing and a focus on human resources to do it. We shouldn’t see SDG6 as some lofty ambition, it is absolutely achievable,” Wheen said. “It is essential that water and sanitation is addressed if we are to achieve the other SDGs. We must create a healthier, fairer and more sustainable world, and we can’t do that if millions of people don’t have access to a toilet.” And while the World Toilet Summit will dedicate two days to the discussion of global sanitation issues, Sim encourages the Australian water and sanitation sectors not to forget World Toilet Day on 19 November, saying the occasion is a great opportunity to raise awareness within communities. “I encourage Australia to take this auspicious day to think about and discuss toilets and sanitation,” Sim said. “When you legitimise the taboo, lots of positive things come about. We go to the toilet six to eight times a day – using toilets is actually a cultural thing. And we can use these events to promote the need for a good toilet culture.” The World Toilet Summit will be held from 20-21 November at the Melbourne Convention Centre. To register, visit: bit.ly/WorldToiletSummit
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Out and about
WATER IN THE COMMUNITY | SA ater is essential for thriving communities, and conference speakers encouraged attendees to think more about the challenges and opportunities facing the industry when it comes to community engagement. Paper presentations showcased the excellent work happening in SA on water resources, urban water and cultural perspectives in water management.
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Elsie Mann, SA Branch Vice President; Alana Duncker, Stantec; Alex Gunn, Monash University.
Closing panel: Neil Palmer, Tonkin Consulting and GWI; Craig Katz, Purus and Australian Produce Collective; Kerry Rowlands, SA Water; Paul Shanks, Barossa Infrastructure; Ben Bruce, DEWNR.
Sandy Pitcher, DEWNR. Ken Long, dsquared Consulting.
Professor Craig Simmons FTSE, National Centre for Groundwater Research & Training and 2017 Water Professional of the Year.
Allwaterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Caroline Herman continues the conversation during a break.
WHERE THE WATERS MEET | TAS
ndustry professionals from the private, government and research sectors gathered to look at the forces shaping the future of water business in Tasmania.
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Industry colleagues from GHD at the Conference Breakfast, sponsored by TRILITY.
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Myles Coker, GHD, presented on Smart Seeds.
Lindsey Brown, Foundry Associates, inspired the audience with her address on gender diversity.
GALA DINNER AND AWARDS NIGHT | QLD
he Queensland Gala Dinner and Awards Night brought together water industry leaders and professionals to celebrate the achievements of Queenslandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s awards finalists and to consider what the future holds for the water industry. To view the full list of award winners, visit bit.ly/Qldawards17
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DeGa. Andi ut essequiam laut et etProfessional quo eni conseri onsecup tatatur, conessit Water of the Year Colin Hester (kneeling left) dolorum, sus eatur ma ipsanihita into et, and Queensland Urban Utilities attendees.
MP Chris Whiting and John Betts, Distinguished Service Award Winner.
MC Gerry Gannon.
Tim Grosser, Matt Geddes and Francois Gouws.
Kim Moore, Naomi Lock and Cassii Rusk.
Thakshila Balasuriya, Nicholas Convery, Alice Connell, Dave Ollerton, Jane Stokeld, Elena Mejia, Likosova and Francois Gouws.
Sandra Hall, Queensland Branch President, with Justin Ridge and Jonathan McKeown.
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Out and about
55TH ANNUAL DINNER | VIC
he Association’s Victorian branch hosted members of the state’s water industry to celebrate the previous year’s accomplishments and toast what’s ahead. David Kirby was toasted as his term as President came to an end and he handed the reins over to Lindsey Brown.
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David Kirby, Victorian Branch Immediate Past President and Francois Gouws, National President recognising outgoing committee member Therese O’Brien. Four other outgoing committee members were also recognised – see below.
Nan-Maree Schoerie, Ventia.
Ann Pugh.
Stephanie Rich.
Jane La Nauze.
Mark Bartley.
The team from RM Consulting Group.
The team from Programmed Facility Management.
Rodney Glocer, Steel Mains and Lindsey Brown, Victorian Branch President.
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Amelia Leavesley, Water Technology; Paul Luscombe and Brad Gale, Jacobs.
WATER LEADERS DINNER | ACT
he ACT’s top minds were honoured at this event, where the winners of the state’s Water Awards were announced. Winners from this event are now in the running to take out a National Water Award at the Ozwater’18 Gala Dinner. To see the full list of award winners, visit bit.ly/ACTawards17
T Garry Chanker, Downer and Brent Palidwar, SMEC.
Luke Hartsuyker, Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister and Student Water Prize winner Aparna Lal, ANU. Guests from Icon Water.
Water Award winner representatives Sagar Khadka, Ben Byrant, Aparna Lal and Nicole Vonarx with Australian Water Association CEO Jonathan McKeown (second from right).
WATER IN THE BUSH | NT his annual conference brought together water professionals and industry representatives to discuss environmental, economic and community challenges. The winners of the NT Water Awards were revealed as well. Find out more by visiting bit.ly/NTawards17
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Royce Water Technologies and Aquatreat NT showcasing their wares.
Lauren Moss, Northern Territory Minister for Environment and Natural Resources, gives the Ministerial Address.
David Sheehan, Coliban Water; Xavier Schobben, NT Department of Health; Steve Capewell, Water Corporation; and Rob Brito, Power and Water at the day one symposium,
Nadine Reithmuller, NT Branch Vice President; Dr Jill Woodworth, GHD; Natalie Fries, NT Branch President.
Joel Spry, Living Water Smart; Jacqui O’Neill, Power and Water; Tori Hampton Power and Water; Themelis Mousellis, Charles Darwin University.
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WATER AWARDS DINNER | WA
Dr Steve Capewell, Water Corporation for WGV in White Gum Valley; Daniel Nelson, Rhonda Harvey and Kristen Nelson, City of Kalamunda for Hartfield Park MAR Project; Alison Luobikis, Water Corporation for Kimberley Projects; Renee Blandin, Young Water Professional of the Year; Peter Rice and Kenneth Widjaja, Environmental Engineers International for Implementation of the Anammox Process at Dardanup Butchering Company and representing Water Professional of the Year Dr Raj Kurup.
he state’s water community gathered to celebrate National Water Week and honour its best and brightest at this annual ceremony. Minister for Water, Fisheries, Forestry, Innovation, ICT and Science David Kelly spoke. View the minister’s media release at bit.ly/WAawards17
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Student Water Prize finalists Laura Senge, Murdoch University and Flavia Steinauer, Curtin University and GHD with winner Sean Ding, University of Western Australia and Water Corporation, and the Hon. Dave Kelly MLA.
Ann-Elise Charles, Ashwyn Nayak and Halinka Lamparski.
Peter Morrison and Roger Makins with WA Branch Manager Kyllie Whitehead.
Guidera O’Connor’s Gareth Tasker and Permeate Partners Jason Jetten accepting their award for the Rottnest Island Water Treatment Plant Upgrade from Rodney Glocer, Steel Mains.
Deanne McDonald, WA Branch President.
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T H E A U S T R A L I A N WAT E R A S S O C I AT I O N M A G A Z I N E
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urrent Current
TT HH EE AA UU SS TT RR AA LL I I AA NN W W AA TT EE RR AA SS SS O O CC I I AA TT I I O O NN M M AA GG AA ZZ I I NN EE THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE F eAbur g uu a sr yt 2 0 1 7
Reach industry decisionmakers using the Australian
AUGUST 2016
Volume 1 Volume No 51 No 7
Volume 1 No 3
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P WER CASH FLOW PLAY HOW ALTERNATIVE FINANCE MODELS CAN RESHAPE THE WAY PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE IS FUNDED.
LOOMING CHALLENGES MEAN THE WATER AND ENERGY SECTORS MUST LEARN HOW TO MIX
The market for digitally enabled devices is set to swell in coming years. How can the water industry connect itself?
Fairer sector: gender The Australian expert bringing Preparing for the rise in diversity in water water to weather Syrian refugees extreme events.
The of water-sensitive Water down under: the Doing wellbest by doing good state groundwater urbanof development with social responsibility.
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The Last Drop
GARY MCLAY SEES HIS WORK IN WATER ASSET MANAGEMENT AS A WAY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN DEVELOPING COMMUNITIES. AND HE FINDS THAT LEARNING IS A TWO-WAY STREET. GARY MCLAY
With 20 years experience in the water industry under my belt, when the opportunity to work overseas came up I jumped at it. I was excited by the opportunity to help other people and share some of the things that we in Australia take for granted. I wanted to make a bit of a difference, I guess you could say. My background is in business planning, asset management and institutional strengthening. I’ve been in the water industry now for 43 years, and overall I’ve spent about 15 years working overseas – nine of those years in South East Asia.
SHARING THE KNOWLEDGE I started my career in water supply planning, and then I started to play around with asset management. It was in the very early days of holistic asset management and life cycle management – looking at the holistic management of infrastructure. It grew from there and I’m passionate about it now. I’ve been with Wannon Water in Victoria for 10 years, and I’ve helped develop a wonderful team here. Last year, we became involved in AWA’s AustraliaVietnam twinning program. Twinning is very much about mutual sharing and developing capabilities together. Our twin is a company called Binh Duong; they are a water and environment company to the north of Ho Chi Minh City. We’re sharing with them mostly in the area of asset management, and we’re learning a lot from them too. Binh Duong is very good with managing water losses in non-revenue water; they’ve developed very strong capabilities in this area. They are also very good at working closely with
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their communities, and that’s an area Australian utilities are now looking into. We’re asking, “How can we be closer to our customers and our stakeholders?”
GIVING AND TAKING As for what they’re learning from us; we’ve talked a lot about water safety plans and we’re building an asset register with them. Vietnam has become very good at building new water supply, sewerage systems and solid waste collection systems, and now they’re moving into ongoing sustainable service provision. We are helping Binh Duong explore what areas of asset management they could improve upon and the strategy they might follow. The most challenging thing about working in developing countries is not so much the technology, but the cultural differences. The status quo isn’t challenged as much, so you don’t do or say things that might offend the authorities or other respected people. I’ve had to find different ways of demonstrating results rather than just saying, “This is the way you should do it”. We often demand things. I find working in Vietnam, there’s an understanding that it’s about more than regulations.
The regulations are important, yes, but we need to move beyond that and look at what benefits we can provide on the service provision side of things.
The regulations are important, yes, but we need to move beyond that and look at what benefits we can provide on the service provision side of things. I think that’s where twinning works really well. Both companies are on an even par. It’s not that one side has a higher status than the other. There is mutual respect and sharing.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE I’m of the older generation and I think one of the challenges the Australian water industry is facing is that we’ve learned a lot in recent decades, but we need to make sure we build on that for the future. Baby Boomers will be moving on from the industry soon, so I hope the next generation can build on what’s come before, respect what’s been learned and find ways to keep adding to it. The advice I would give to someone thinking about a career in water is to ask yourself, “What kind of difference can I make?” Working with an essential good, you can really make a difference to the communities you work with. If you want to make a big difference working with water is a good way to go.
Gary McLay has been a water supply and sanitation engineer for more than 40 years, including 20 years with Melbourne Water, 12 years in international aid projects and 10 years with Wannon Water. He has various qualifications in engineering, management and asset management – his passion.
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