Current Magazine October 2018

THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE October 2018 Volume 2 No 3

ALL TOGETHER NOW T H E

C O L L A B O R A T I O N

I S S U E

How does working in step make for a more resilient water sector?

Improving regional water security by working together

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How a customer-first mentality is transforming water businesses

Australia’s place in mediating climate change in the Pacific

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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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WORKING WITH VIETNAM Craig Chittick on what it’s like being Ambassador to one of Asia’s fastest growing water sectors.

DIVERSIFYING THE WATER SECTOR Dr Kirstin Ferguson explains her #CelebrateWomen campaign and why diversification is crucial.

LEIGH & NATASHA The latest mentoring pair is making career transition look like a breeze.

COLLABORATION AT ITS FINEST What does collaboration done right look like in the water sector and how can we do more of it?

NEXT-GENERATION TECHNOLOGY AI and machine learning is taking the water sector by storm and the results are truly futuristic.

REGIONAL WATER SECURITY Here’s how the regions manage water security when times get tough and how urban centres are connected.

PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION With the final Productivity Commission report out on the National Water Initiative, there’s plenty of food for thought as to how we should tackle an uncertain water future.

CUSTOMER-FIRST DECISION MAKING How is customer-centricity shaping the way water businesses plan for the future?

ACROSS BORDERS The effects of climate change are falling hard and fast in the Pacific. What can we do to help?

SPLITTING WATER This edition’s Liquid Labs takes a look at an impressive research duo set on building an export market for hydrogen.

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Current CO N T EN TS

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NEWS 10 12 14 16

From the Chief Executive From the President’s desk Association news What’s online?

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Craig Chittick

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Best Water e-Journal Paper 2017

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Operational efficiency

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Water supply

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Urban water planning

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Water supply & risk assessment

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Asset management

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Health-based targets

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Biosolids

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Capital & investment planning

Dr Kirstin Ferguson Mentoring spotlight Liquid labs The Last Drop

EVENTS 89

TECHNICAL

Australian Water Awards Events Calendar Social pages

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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 Jonathan McKeown Email: jmckeown@awa.asn.au National Manager – Events and Marketing: Kirsty Blades Email: kblades@awa.asn.au TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE: Dr Robbert van Oorschot (Chair), GHD; Ted Gardner, 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; David Power, BECA Consultants; Dr Ashok Sharma, Victoria University.

Email: journal@awa.asn.au

Current is the official biannual 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: Cecilia Harris Email: Cecilia@mahlab.co Creative Director: Gareth Allsopp Graphic Design: Sally Keane, Sam Franks Senior Account Manager: Ruth Carnac Email: ruth@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 cecilia@mahlab.co COPYRIGHT: Current is subject to copyright and may not be reproduced in any format without the written permission of AWA. Email cecilia@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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www.awa.asn.au

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From the Chief Executive

EVOLVING OUR DIGITAL PLATFORM TO SERVICE MEMBERS

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Collaboration in all areas of business, innovation, research, and regulation has been made even more possible through digital platforms that did not exist 10 years ago. Harnessing greater digital collaboration is behind the Association’s decision to upgrade our own digital platforms so that members can access relevant information with ease and speed.

Coinciding with the publication of this issue, we’re launching a new ‘info hub’ called Water Source which you’ll be able to find links to on our website. Water Source will provide members with information under the headings of Technology, Community, Environment and Business. It will include articles, feature stories, technical papers, past conference papers, fact sheets, podcasts, videos and other content created and curated by the Association.

This content will come from our conferences, seminars, technical events, webinars, branches, specialist networks, members and partners we collaborate with.

As Australia’s largest water network with over 5,500 members, we’re in a great position to provide a digital information hub for the water sector and the wider public. Water Source will be a place to promote the good work being done by other organisations and stakeholders within the water sector. By sharing access to our digital platform, we want to collaborate with all stakeholders in the water sector to better serve members with richer content.

Through Water Source we will be able to track the content that you, our members, find most engaging. This will help us to better tailor our activities so that we’re delivering content you want in a way most suited to you, whether through webinars, videos or technical seminars.

The Association’s international activities also continue to expand. Our Water Utility Improvement Program (WUIP) is being expanded into Indonesia based on the overwhelming success of the program in Vietnam.

It is a collaborative program that transfers skills and knowledge between water utilities in Australia and Asia. What has become so appealing about the program is the two-way knowledge sharing and capacity building between all people involved. This has consolidated collaborative links between the Australian and Asian water sectors that will last well beyond the WUIP itself.

In November, the Association is again taking a delegation of more than 80 water professionals to attend the Vietwater Conference in Ho Chi Minh City. The delegation is being supported by the Commonwealth Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian Water Partnership, with sponsorship from our Principal Banking Partner ANZ and the Victorian and NSW Governments.

Through our facilitation of water technology demonstrations in four Vietnamese provinces, we have worked with several of our members, who have joined us at Vietwater, to deliver 75,000L of clean drinking water each day to up to 40,000 people in disadvantaged areas of rural Vietnam.

Through all our international activities, our focus is on empowering women and promoting social inclusiveness through collaboration. This enables us to shape the outcomes of our diversity program, Channeling Change, to make a real and practical difference to the lives of many in Asia. Through collaboration with our international counterparts across the Asia Pacific, we’re proud to be making a small but important contribution to implementing the global Sustainable Development Goals.

THE MOVE TO MORE ACCESSIBLE DIGITAL INFORMATION IS WHAT OUR INDUSTRY WANTS AND WHAT THE INDUSTRY’S CUSTOMERS NOW EXPECT.

Jonathan McKeown Australian Water Association Chief Executive

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From the President’s desk

A MEETING OF MANY GREAT MINDS This edition of our Current magazine examines the potential of collaboration and I am a firm believer that an effective water sector depends on collaboration.

It is further a vital element of success for all organisations, including associations, and individuals. Australia is confronting the challenges of another drought in the eastern states and continued urban population growth. This is placing increased demands on ageing water infrastructure and emphasising the need to harness alternative sources of water beyond surface water. Collaboration within the water sector has therefore never been as important.

During my time as Association President I have been both impressed and inspired by the commitment to collaboration across the water industry. It is a very special collaboration that links our academic institutions researching new methods of water sustainability, our private sector suppliers and contractors, consultants applying new technologies and management techniques, and the water utilities who are adopting innovative strategies to keep prices low and customer satisfaction high.

The Association plays a crucial role in supporting this much needed industry collaboration. As the country’s largest water network, the Association has worked hard to reshape our services to provide a platform for the water sector to contribute and access relevant information. Our industry dinners, conferences, and technical events have attracted record attendance and wide acclaim for their professionalism. Networking events like these provide the most comprehensive means for the water sector to connect, collaborate, and progress. Over the last year, our State, Territory and National Water Awards have received nearly 50% more entries than the previous year, highlighting the value of the industry recognition that is delivered by the Association.

Internal collaboration between our 400+ elected representatives across the Branches, Specialists Networks, Technical Advisory Committee, Young Water Professional Committees and National Taskforce, Strategic Advisory Council, and the Board has never been stronger. All are supported by our small and dedicated staff. It is particularly pleasing to see how the Association is now recognised for its open and collaborative relations with other industry organisations. We have newly energised working relations with WSAA, WaterAid, WIOA, IWA and most recently WaterNZ. It is through these collaborative partnerships that we can work towards stronger sustainable water management and the implementation of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In August, the Association held an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) to change the Constitution. The change was to enable a director to be nominated as President-Elect even if they have already served more than three years of their maximum six years as a director. The change provides more flexibility for the Association to select the best qualified person for the role of President. The change was unanimously supported by all members in attendance at the EGM. Following the EGM, both the Strategic Advisory Council and the Board unanimously nominated Carmel Krogh as our next President-Elect. Carmel’s nomination will be put to members at the Annual General Meeting in Brisbane on 24 October and, subject to ratification, she will take office as President next May at Ozwater’19 in Melbourne.

COLLABORATION IS A VITAL ELEMENT OF SUCCESS FOR ALL ORGANISATIONS, AND IT HAS NEVER BEEN MORE IMPORTANT IN THE WATER SECTOR THAN NOW.

Francois Gouws Australian Water Association President

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www.awa.asn.au

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Association News

STATE AND TERRITORY WATER AWARDS RECOGNISED

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wards season has kicked off around the country and we’re pleased to announce the winners of some of our State & Territory Water Awards, including those from QLD and the ACT. Find out who the winners are and nomination due dates for all other states at www.awa.asn.au/awards.

National nominations for the Australian Stockholm Junior Water Prize close 14 December and the Water Industry Safety Excellence Award closes 1 March.

SHARING AUSTRALIAN EXPERTISE ACROSS THE ASIA-PACIFIC

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MAKING BETTER DECISIONS

The Association, with support from the Australian Water Partnership, facilitated a Water Challenges Forum as part of Singapore International Water Week activities. The forum was held to discuss a range of initiatives to be taken to confront the risks of climate change and urbanisation in the supply of safe, secure, efficient and sustainable water services.

Recently, the Board and Strategic Advisory Council of the Association participated in a workshop led by consulting firm, Diversity Partners on challenging unconscious bias. Key learnings were the different ways that unconscious bias can impact decisions – whether that’s hiring or promotion decisions, or general business decisions we make every day. Linked to our Channelling Change program, we challenge all our members to understand more about unconscious bias, and to actively work to promote more diversity at all levels of the workforce.

To learn about the outcomes of the forum, visit bit.ly/ siww_outcomes.

Find out more about this workshop and download additional resources at bit.ly/bias_seminar

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DIGITAL-FIRST FUTURE

FOR THE ASSOCIATION We’re expanding our digital offering for members and the public with a new information hub designed to be a one-stop-shop for all water-related content created and curated by the Association. The new information hub is called Water Source and it can be accessed anytime, anywhere by water professionals and the community.

While we’ve reduced the frequency of our Current magazine to two bumper editions per year, we’re excited to make the move towards becoming a truly digital-first association.

MEETING THE SDGS IN RURAL VIETNAM We’re proud to be working with our members and the Australian Government to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal #6 of providing access to clean drinking water. In the past two years we have enabled Australian drinking water technology to provide 75,000L of safe drinking water every day for up to 40,000 people in remote areas of Vietnam who now have access to safe drinking water from the tap!

To read more about the Association’s International Program, visit bit.ly/ awa-international.

OZWATER’19 THEME LAUNCH

The theme for Ozwater’19 has been confirmed as ‘Transforming our World’, a natural progression from our Ozwater’18 theme, ‘Evolution Revolution’.

Topics that will be covered in next year’s program include asset management and operations, building sustainable cities, working with customers, supporting rural and regional areas, public health and policy.

New this time around is the Wildcard theme, for those few submissions that don’t quite fit under any of the sub-themes but that remind us of the need to think outside the box to solve our water challenges. Stay tuned for the release of the draft program in November and registrations opening.

Visit www.ozwater.org for more information.

EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING OUTCOME In August members of the AWA gathered for the EGM, with members approving the special resolution to change the constitution as per the Information Memorandum circulated in the formal notice of meeting. Following this meeting, Carmel Krogh was unanimously nominated by the Strategic Advisory Council and the Board to become President-Elect, which will be ratified at the Association AGM on 24 October.

Congratulations, Carmel!

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NLINE?

WHAT’S

Keep up to date with the latest industry and Association developments at: awa.asn.au WATER SOURCE WILL MAKE IT EASIER FOR MEMBERS AND THE PUBLIC TO SEARCH FOR WATERRELATED CONTENT. THE DIGITAL INFORMATION HUB WILL BE UP AND RUNNING IN EARLY NOVEMBER.

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JONATHAN MCKEOWN, AWA CEO

ed ting elat t er-r rce. Si t a r w r Sou r o e f v rch Wate ill deli lic sea , b r to nt hub urce w the pu e v e e t So d n n n r a o a e h t c t a l rs and sier igita site, W embe arch it ea new d m b e e r g s u n e w i o ,r our mak on’s t to tion are on with sociati onten ova n ers, i n c We i s t ma e A levant . stom ike r l h u o t s c f e e ic in ut ies top nts. nd r gsid gor abo nme alon sting a y cate tion on ow o n r i k v e a re l en s, d to th. inte r four k inform nee ic heal natura eration : e y u d g o l n y d o p l u ub ilt an hno nd o hing dp -Tec trends. everyt ent an out bu ssets a : b a m y it new munit ngage ation a hts on ty. hen e m si uw m ig r r y a s e . t o i n f v g i -Co i n or mun test nt: i nd d rce. com ronme l the la aces a sou r e i l l t v a -En iness: a workp w.w s s, ww t a -Bu ership b tn t hu er. par nten vemb o c o e N h t y earl lore Exp hes in c laun

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WAT E R

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SCIENCE

TECHNOLOGY

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Current THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE

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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WORKING WITH VIETNAM Craig Chittick on one of Asia’s fastest growing water sectors.

DIVERSIFYING THE WATER SECTOR Dr Kirstin Ferguson explains her #CelebrateWomen campaign.

LEIGH & NATASHA The latest mentoring pair is making career transition look like a breeze.

AUSTRALIAN WATER AWARDS Take a look at the people and projects that took top spot this year.

COLLABORATION AT ITS FINEST What does collaboration done right look like in the water sector?

THE COLLABORATION TOOLKIT Here’s how the AWA can help members connect, diversify and grow.

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NEXT-GENERATION TECHNOLOGY AI and machine learning is taking the water sector by storm.

REGIONAL WATER SECURITY Here’s how the regions manage water security when times get tough.

PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION How should we tackle an uncertain water future?

CUSTOMER-FIRST DECISION MAKING How is customer-centricity shaping the way water businesses plan for the future?

ACROSS BORDERS What can we do to help the Pacific mediate the effects of climate change?

SPLITTING WATER A look at a research duo set on building an export market for hydrogen.

www.awa.asn.au

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Craig Chittick

WE WERE PLEASED TO PLAY A PART IN HELPING VIETNAM ACHIEVE ITS TARGET OF 85% OF THE RURAL POPULATION HAVING ACCESS TO SAFE WATER

The POWER of WATER CRAIG CHITTICK

AUSTRALIAN AMBASSADOR TO VIETNAM CRAIG CHITTICK HAS WATCHED THE FAST-PACED DEVELOPMENT OF ONE OF SOUTH-EAST ASIA’S MOST INTERESTING AND INNOVATIVE WATER SECTORS.

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Australian Water Association: The Australian Government has been actively supporting Vietnam for nearly two decades, with impressive outcomes. Can you outline some of your achievements and current investments?

Craig Chittick: I’m very proud of our work over many years to support Vietnam in extending access to safe water.

When we commenced work in this sector, we were focused on helping national and provincial government agencies deliver water services to the rural population. We provided support for nearly 10 years to the National Target Program for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation. We were pleased to play a part in helping Vietnam achieve its target of 85% of the rural population having

access to safe water, and 65% having access to hygienic latrines.

In 2015, we began to move to a model much more focused on building the capacity of Vietnamese institutions and empowering the private sector to deliver water services.

Through the Australian Water Partnership, a program through which we share Australian water expertise across the IndoPacific, we have been able to establish successful Water Utility Improvement Program between 10 Australian and Vietnamese water utilities, facilitated by the AWA, to assist in implementing target set for drinking water, asset management, pricing, planning and information system reforms. We’re also delivering a range of regional programs which are assisting Vietnam in

www.awa.asn.au

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Craig Chittick

OUR DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION IS MATURING AND GROWING ALONG WITH OUR WIDER RELATIONSHIP.

Australian Ambassador Craig Chittick at the Australian Pavilion at Vietwater’16

CRAIG CHITTICK

developing a water pricing strategy for agriculture and improved water, sanitation and hygiene services in key areas. As your readers will be familiar, we have also recently initiated a program with the Australian Water Association to pilot private sector approaches to rural water supply in Vietnam. This work has included installing innovative, low-cost water treatment and supply technologies in remote areas, establishing a rural publicprivate water partnership, and facilitating attendance by water professionals from government bodies, water utilities and private companies at the annual OzWater and VietWater conferences.

This work is in its early days but has shown promising results.

AWA: Could you tell us how the Australian Government investments in Vietnam are supporting Vietnam deliver on its developmental objectives??

Chittick: We’ve been supporting Vietnam in its remarkable economic transformation for many years through our development assistance. Our current Aid Investment Plan identifies ways we can support Vietnam’s national reform priorities, including improving market institutions, promoting human resources and developing infrastructure. This year we will provide around $84 million across six areas to support Vietnam’s development efforts.

Our development cooperation is maturing and growing along with our wider relationship. In March 2018 we became Strategic Partners and resolved to consider our development cooperation in the wider context of our economic partnership. This change recognised that, while development cooperation would continue to be important, the impact of those initiatives on supporting Vietnam’s development would only be a small part of the story.

Our bilateral trade is now close to $13 billion annually and that is a substantial contributor to Vietnam’s growth.

AWA: the role of the private sector in Vietnam’s water sector has rapidly accelerated over the past 2 years. Can you offer some

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remarks on how the Australian private sector can play a role in this journey?

Chittick: I think it is clear to policy-makers in both countries that as Vietnam enters middle income, the private sector will be a much larger and more important component of Vietnam’s development.

The Vietnamese Government has set a target to equitise all of Vietnam’s water utilities by 2019. In 2018, 35 water utilities made open calls for private investment. This year Vietnam also passed a new competition policy, which will drive further microeconomic reforms.

In many ways these changes resemble Australia’s own water reform journey, which commenced in earnest in the 1990s.

Today, the private sector operates and maintains over 80 per cent of our water infrastructure and, by some estimates, this change has generated $80 billion in productivity improvements to the Australian economy. As a government we will continue to share what we’ve learned and contribute expertise where we can. But increasingly Vietnam will be looking to private firms that can offer investment, technology and solutions to rural water supply challenges.

Australian companies will be placed to take advantage of these opportunities in the Vietnamese market. We share many common challenges in sustainable water management, including dealing with new climate extremes, droughts, floods and salinisation.

Australian companies are already starting to secure or become aware of opportunities in waste-water treatment and distribution; industrial park waste management; water quality management; asset management; non-revenue water; water efficiency; water recycling; water law; supply-demand planning; business management and energy recovery. Vietnam-Australia enterprise partnerships that are forming to harness manufacturing efficiencies across Vietnam are another area of growth I find particularly exciting.

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Craig Chittick

OUR CURRENT PARTNERSHIP WITH THE AWA IS HELPING TO ENSURE THE EXPERTISE OF AUSTRALIAN COMPANIES ACHIEVES A HIGH PROFILE IN VIETNAM. CRAIG CHITTICK

Australian Ambassador inspecting the DFAT-supported water treatment plant in Ha Nam Province

More and more delegates from both countries are attending annual Ozwater and Vietwater exhibitions, which I think reflects a growing awareness of these opportunities.

AWA: How can the Australian water sector get involved through AWA? Chittick: I think this will be an increasingly important question as the private sector takes on a more central role in the development of Vietnam’s water sector.

The Australian Government will continue to support Vietnam’s national development efforts, advocate for policy changes that open up the market for Australian companies and provide market services to Australian exporters and investors, including through the Australian Trade Commission.

However, it will be AWA, as the peak industry body, that will be the engine room for opening up exchanges and links between the two private sectors.

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Our current partnership with the AWA is helping to ensure that the expertise of Australian companies achieves a high profile in Vietnam.

AWA is currently doing a lot of work to facilitate partnerships and support tendering for major water and wastewater infrastructure. It has been linking water utilities and building demand for Australian technology, research and development by showcasing Australian technology.

For SMEs, AWA has been playing a role in enabling market entry and facilitating business and joint venture introductions to support the uptake of water technology and consultancy services.

I strongly encourage Australian companies interested in exploring opportunities in Vietnam to engage with AWA on how they can get involved. I would also invite them to join the Australian delegation taking part in Vietwater’18 in Ho Chi Minh City from 5-9 November.

www.awa.asn.au

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Dr Kirstin Ferguson

Celebrating

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION As told to Cecilia Harris

WITH A DIVERSE CAREER, LEADING HER FROM THE PARADE GROUND TO THE BOARDROOM, DR KIRSTIN FERGUSON HARBOURS MANY LESSONS ABOUT LEADERSHIP AND HAS TURNED HER ATTENTION TO GIVING EVERYONE THE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE THEIR VOICE HEARD. AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION: Tell us about your career path to date. How did you come to find yourself where you are today?

DR KIRSTIN FERGUSON: After Year 12, I was accepted to the Australian Defence Force Academy, where I trained to become an Air Force Officer while completing a Bachelor of Arts.

I was fortunate to do well in that environment despite being only one of a small number of women and ended up graduating Dux of my Air Force graduating class.

Following my time serving in the Australian Air Force, I went on to study law and became admitted as a solicitor. Although I never went on to practice, I joined a large corporate law firm as part of their executive leadership team. Eventually an opportunity appeared to join a business of psychologists who were offering health and safety training services to the mining and resources sector. I jumped at it and eventually became CEO. As CEO, I was invited to join my first corporate board, which was in the water industry – SunWater Ltd. I have now sat on boards for a decade, including large ASX listed boards, large private companies, sporting boards, arts boards, government and not-for-profit boards. I also completed a PhD in leadership and governance.

AWA: What has been your experience of working within male-dominated fields as a woman?

DR FERGUSON: It is hard to recall a time when I wasn’t in an environment that was mainly comprised of men; it is something I adapted to at a very young age. When I went to

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ADFA in the early 1990s, I was one of a small handful of women at the Academy. The legal firm had primarily male partners and the clients I worked with in the mining and resources industry were overwhelmingly male. I have been on boards as the only female director, but also on others where there was greater gender diversity.

For much of my career, I was determined not to focus on my gender and hoped no one would notice I was a woman! I was largely in denial about the structural barriers in place preventing women from progressing to more senior leadership roles. My view has changed significantly now; the more senior I become and the more influence I have, the more important it is to seek to address the inequalities faced by so many women.

AWA: Tell us more about the #CelebratingWomen campaign: how did it come about and what was your aim?

DR FERGUSON: I am active on social media and use Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram to stay connected with the world around me. If you are active on social media, it’s easy to find examples of abuse and denigration aimed at women who have an online presence.

I started #CelebratingWomen because, frankly, I had had enough.

One day I saw a thread of tweets abusing a high profile woman employed by an organisation where I sat on the board. I knew if the abuse had been said while I was standing next to that person I would have done something and, in fact, I may have called the police. Yet online it is easy to feel powerless.

My thought was: rather than spend my energy thinking about or focusing on the abuse, I wanted to find a way to see more celebration, and hopefully less denigration, of women online.

I believe every woman is a role model to someone else, whether they realise it or not. I had an idea to share women’s stories in order to celebrate them. I made a very public commitment to celebrate two women, from all walks of life and from anywhere in the world, every day for a year on Twitter and Facebook. Much to my surprise, and thanks to so many women who were willing to put themselves forward as role models, I ended up celebrating 757 women from 37 countries, and inadvertently created a movement of women around the world celebrating and supporting one another.

AWA: Tell us about your upcoming book: Who is Women Kind for? Is there a specific readership you have in mind?

DR FERGUSON: As a result of the success of #CelebratingWomen, I was approached to write a book about what leaders and organisations can learn from the campaign about diversity and inclusion and more broadly, what it tells us

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Dr Kirstin Ferguson

I THINK WE NEED TO FORGET THE LADDER; A LADDER WILL ONLY EVER HELP ONE WOMAN AT A TIME AND IS DESIGNED SO THAT YOU HOLD ON TIGHT, SO YOU DON’T FALL, ULTIMATELY BLOCKING THE WAY FOR OTHERS.

about the power of women supporting women. I teamed up with Walkley Award winning journalist Catherine Fox as co-author and we wrote Women Kind: Unlocking the Power of Women Supporting Women. While the book is clearly for women to read themselves and to give to other women, it is very much a book designed for men who are keen to support women, as well as for leaders – men and women – of all kinds.

Women Kind offers new and simple ways that we can all harness the often-untapped potential of half our workforces and avoid expensive and ineffective diversity programs – we think it is time to assess the disparate efforts across workplaces and design initiatives with women who engage and amplify their existing networks and organisations.

Just like the AWA’s Channeling Change program, we can all draw the net wide to elevate, amplify and reinforce existing networks to improve access for everyone in our businesses.

AWA: What does the AWA’s Channeling Change program mean to you?

DR FERGUSON: As a leader, the message of Channeling Change requires us to look around the room and see whether the people in it reflect the wider community. That means ensuring you are hearing from, promoting, amplifying and including diverse voices, whether that’s diverse in terms of gender, age, experience, ethnicity or physical ability. If you look around the room and realise that everyone is just like you, then you are missing out on tapping into skills and experiences that will make your organisation more successful and, frankly, a more interesting place to work.

It is important for leaders to know that if they don’t take the time to take stock of how diverse their organisation is, they can rest assured knowing someone else will. It is impossible not to notice an all-male leadership team, for example.

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The question will be asked by your employees, suppliers, customers and stakeholders – what is happening in this particular business that doesn’t allow women to succeed? Is this a business that includes different perspectives?

The Channeling Change program also reminds us that it is not just about diversity, but inclusion is critical. We need to truly ensure that new people are set up to succeed by ensuring they are included within the culture of the business. It is vital that inclusion is the strategy; from that, diversity will follow.

AWA: How might women, and leaders more broadly, work towards achieving diversity and inclusion in their workplaces?

DR FERGUSON: As leaders we have always been told that if we become successful, we must remember to drop the ladder back down behind us to help another person up. I think we need to forget the ladder; a ladder will only ever help one person at a time and is designed so that you hold on tight, so you don’t fall, ultimately blocking the way for others.

What I learnt through #CelebratingWomen, and my own experience as a leader committed to diversity and inclusion, is that we can throw down a fishing net and bring up many, many people together. It removes competition for that one spot at the top of the ladder. We all benefit when diverse voices join us and we rise up together.

Published by Murdoch Books, Dr Kirstin Ferguson and Catherine Fox’s book, Women Kind, is available for purchase on Booktopia: www.booktopia.com.au/women-kind-kirstinferguson

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Mentoring

Mentor

Mentee

Leigh

Natasha

Melbourne Water

DELWP

Age:

Age:

42

30

Time in industry:

Time in industry:

15 years

3 years

Industry experience gap

12 years

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Leigh & Natasha CAREER TRANSITIONS CAN BE TRICKY, BUT THE AWA MENTORING PROGRAM OFFERS A PLATFORM FOR HELPING ONE YOUNG TALENT FIND COUNSEL. As told to Cecilia Harris

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hen Natasha signed up for the AWA Mentoring Program, she expected an opportunity to grow professionally, but ended up finding a lot more.

Leigh has helped Natasha focus on what he’s found to be the key ingredients required to build a happy and meaningful career and, in turn, Natasha’s enthusiasm has found Leigh reflecting on his own career and exploring the insights he has to offer.

Mentor LEIGH SMITH AREA LEAD – WATERWAYS ASSET MANAGEMENT, MELBOURNE WATER I’m at the point in my career where I want to broaden my industry involvement and exposure. I’ve got a good network, and I’ve benefited from the advice of a number of people across the industry throughout my career and I wanted to share my experience. I was approached by a colleague who was involved with AWA and she said, “I think you’d be really great. You’d make a really good mentor, you should check out the mentoring program from AWA.” That’s what got me in the door.

With Natasha being quite early in her career, it’s fair to say she has a broad interest. We have informal catch-ups. We chat about what we’re both interested in, and what’s brought us to where we are today from a career and life point of view.

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Mentoring

Mentee NATASHA SERTORI PROJECT OFFICER, DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, LAND, WATER AND PLANNING

We have a lot in common in terms of the experience that I’ve had through my career and the career aspirations that Natasha has. We’ve been quite well matched; there’s a lot of alignment between what I feel I can share and what Natasha has come to the program needing.

At the moment, Natasha’s trying to find her feet; does she want to specialise and be a technical expert, or does she want a bit of diversity, or does she ultimately want to move into leadership? Natasha is interested in a lot of things. At the moment, our conversations explore the whole spectrum, which is really good.

Natasha is very personable and she’s very knowledgeable.

We are currently working on helping her back herself more and build that self-confidence. She applied to be on the AWA Victorian committee and got accepted, which is tremendous. I could tell she had that real confidence boost because she contacted me right away and was very enthusiastic about it.

Natasha has been a great mentee because she’s engaged and she really wants to get the most out of the program. It’s not a token gesture on her part, she’s come wanting to share who she is, which makes it a lot easier to help her get what she wants out of it. I think she’s got a lot of potential and will be a great asset to the industry.

From the mentor’s perspective, being matched with someone whose development needs and early career aspirations are aligned with my capabilities and experiences was a really enriching experience. As a mentor you feel that you have something valuable to offer, that’s a really key part of it, and the AWA does really well in getting the match right.

Working closely with a mentee from across the industry greatly benefits me as a mentor because they continually bring you an interesting perspective and challenging discussion – it keeps you fresh. It’s reminded me of what it was like when I started off in my career. It’s an opportunity to reflect, look back on your career and then share that with someone. The selling point is that it’s not a one-way thing. As a mentor, you get a lot out of it as well. You get that feel-good factor from helping someone, but they also challenge you as well – the best way to learn is indeed to teach.

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Before moving to my current role with DELWP, I was at Gippsland Water in the environmental science team. I was working in environmental science, both in environmental governance and later in the wastewater team. My current work at DELWP is in the Water and Catchments Group, in the Water Resource Assessment and Planning branch.

I joined the AWA at the start of this year and went to a couple of events. I’d noticed people mentioning mentoring programs here and there, and then the AWA Mentoring Program popped up and I thought it seemed like a really good fit for me.

Leigh and I have a pretty informal mentoring relationship.

Through early conversations, we found that we have common professional interests and goals, as well as similar career paths.

Once we established that, it became really easy to talk about setting future goals. Leigh has helped me with identifying my priorities and clear steps, as well as focusing on being a bit more strategic regarding career moves – working out if something is actually right for me instead of just taking the next thing that comes along. We started our mentoring partnership six months into my new role. The work that I do now changes quite a bit.

It’s quite a busy project. It’s been really good to tell Leigh what’s going on with me and get advice then and there. Leigh really understands the challenges involved in career transition and having a mentor that can give me advice that’s directly relevant to my situation is really helpful.

We did a few career planning exercises. We talked about considering not just the specific role you want, but also the kind of work you want and how you want work to be a part of your life. And a lot of that was relating back to my personal needs and goals. Leigh helped me work out how to balance all of these priorities more effectively. Just because a job title sounds good, doesn’t mean it aligns with what you want to contribute and what you need from a role. This has spilled over into my personal goals as well: to reflect on why we’re doing what we do and what keeps us motivated to keep going.

I’ve learned so much from pairing up with someone who is not from my organisation. It’s been good to learn from another perspective. Overall, it’s been about having good connections with people, creating new connections, both with Leigh and then through getting more involved with the AWA network in general, it’s been such a supportive environment. I would definitely recommend the Mentoring Program, but it is one of those things: if you want to get a lot out of it, the opportunity is there and you really can, but you’ve got to put the effort in.

To get involved in the Australian Water Association’s mentoring program, contact your local branch.

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Australian Water Awards

AUSTRALIAN WATER AWARDS

THE AUSTRALIAN WATER AWARDS RECOGNISE AND REWARD THE OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT OF INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANISATIONS IN THE WATER SECTOR. TAKE A LOOK AT OUR 2018 WINNERS.

WATER PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR Ciara Sterling, Head of Community Inclusion Yarra Valley Water (VIC) Sterling is an industry leader in supporting customers experiencing vulnerability, hardship and family violence, and is the driving force behind Yarra Valley Water’s extremely successful WaterCare initiative. Head of the Thriving Communities Partnership, Sterling also assists the cross-sectoral collaboration of organisations tackling the root causes of hardship and inequality. Through her advocacy and passion, Sterling has been relentless in her support for vulnerable customers and exemplary in her ability to bring people together towards a common goal.

YOUNG WATER PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR Proudly sponsored by TRILITY

Katrin Doederer, Research Fellow The University of Queensland (QLD) Doederer has demonstrated all the hallmarks of a very successful and committed early-career professional; not only has she rapidly developed from a successful PhD student to a highly-regarded expert in the field of disinfection by-products in drinking water, she has also demonstrated her prowess as an effective communicator and productive project leader at the interface between research and practice.

YWP PRIZE Thanks to sponsor TRILITY, the Young Water Professional of the Year now wins an international work experience trip to China! The prize includes flights, accommodation, meal and transfer allowances, water project site tours and more!

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STUDENT WATER PRIZE

STOCKHOLM JUNIOR WATER PRIZE

Sarah Aucote, Flinders University (SA)

Minh Nga Nguyen, Sydney Girls High School (NSW)

Smart Monitoring for Microbial Risk Assessment Aucote’s Honours project investigated assays targeting mitochondrial DNA as a new and novel approach to tracking sources of faecal contamination.

The research has potential to provide a decreased cost of performing microbial risk assessments, leading to widespread improvements in monitoring and risk management.

INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT INNOVATION John Holland Group (SA) Sundrop Farms Project John Holland was the EPC contractor for the Sundrop Farms project. This involved the design and construction of 20 hectares of climate controlled green houses and a 39-Megawatt Solar Thermal Energy System. The system is used to sustainably produce 15,000 tonnes of truss tomatoes per year for markets across Australia. The Sundrop Farm project has changed the paradigm of what fully-sustainable, high-quality food production actually means – not just nationally, but globally.

Proudly sponsored by Xylem

Recycling Waste into Biochar: A Sustainable Wastewater Filter and Fertiliser for the Agricultural Industry Nguyen’s project formed a model of application in which agricultural plant wastes are recycled into a multipurpose biochar charcoal. The product can filter wastewater and fertilise plants. The research found that bamboo biochar filter packs could remove 45.6% of harmful pollutants in wastewater.

WATER INDUSTRY SAFETY EXCELLENCE

Proudly sponsored by WSAA Fremantle Commercial Diving (WA) FCD Skyhook Mark 4 Fremantle Commercial Diving, incorporating Watertight Robotics, has set new standards in safety for accessing elevated water tanks. The Skyhook Mark 4 is a unique truck mounted mobile fall arrest system, providing a rated overhead anchor point for two people.

BEST WATER E-JOURNAL PAPER Clara Laydon Understanding Naegleria Fowleri: A Different Type of Pathogen, an Increasing Climate Change Threat In this paper, Laydon puts the spotlight on the pathogen Naegleria fowleri, a warm water environmental pathogen that can cause a rare but fatal infection.

With the likelihood of increased temperatures due to climate change, it is important that we continue to use the best management approaches to continue control of this deadly pathogen to protect public health.

PROGRAM INNOVATION Power & Water Corporation (NT) Community Leak Program: Living Water Smart Living Water Smart has taken the lead in ensuring the sustainability of Darwin’s water supply through their Community Leak Program. The program, launched in January 2017, provided community-wide leak-checking services, leak awareness campaigns and a $200 Leak Find and Fix rebate to help boost sustainable water use.

RESEARCH INNOVATION AWARD Purple Phototrophic Bacteria for Resource Recovery from Wastewater The University of Queensland and CRC for Water Sensitive Cities (QLD) This project is developing a world-first technology for a next-generation resource recovery process to replace existing wastewater treatment technology in future. This technology has the potential to recover vital fertiliser compounds, bioplastics and animal feed.

Australian Water Awards Major Sponsor www.awa.asn.au

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Collaboration

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ALL TOGETHER NOW

INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION HAS OFTEN BEEN TOUTED AS THE KEY TO A RESILIENT WATER FUTURE, BUT WHAT EXACTLY DOES IT MEAN?

By David Barbeler

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hen it comes to collaboration, there are two different kinds. There’s the ‘working with someone to produce something’ definition. Then there’s the ‘traitorous cooperation with an enemy’ meaning. Suffice to say that, for the purposes of this article, we’ll be sticking to the first.

“Fundamentally, good collaboration is founded on the desire of participants to achieve a common agreed outcome,” said Professor Tony Wong, Chief Executive at the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities.

“There are multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary collaborations where the former involves well-defined inputs across multiple disciplines each contributing to certain aspects of a project, while the latter requires a higher level of cross-pollination of ideas and ‘synergistic creations’.”

AWA Chief Executive Jonathan McKeown said increased collaboration is being driven by the immediacy of the digital age due to open-access information.

“Today we enjoy much more open access to both information and connections that can be activated online 24/7. This in turn has led to much wider collaboration between industry, research institutions and the community,” he said.

WHAT COLLABORATION INVOLVES

Katie Hammer, from the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (CRCWSC), said good collaboration involves people working together to achieve innovative solutions to challenges.

“This looks like water engineers talking to urban planners, developers, landscape architects, community groups and social scientists, to generate multiple outcomes that will benefit a range of stakeholders,” said the Project Manager of IRP1 Water Sensitive City Visions and Transition Strategies.

Hammer added that it was not only important to collaborate across disciplines, but also with various stakeholders.

“For example, engaging with our communities is really important, which includes

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Collaboration

indigenous communities, and engaging with them as partners, rather than end-users or consumers,” Hammer said.

McKeown sees collaboration changing the very nature of the water sector. “The level of synergies between the sustainable management of water, waste and energy will inevitably bring these three areas closer. This will shape a more integrated sector going forward,” he said.

COLLABORATION CHALLENGES

Professor Alan Broadfoot, Executive Director of the Global Impact Cluster for Energy, Resources, Food and Water at the University of Newcastle, said one challenge when it comes to collaboration is bringing together a variety of skill sets to develop policy and drive outcomes.

“Sometimes a problem might typically be seen as requiring an engineering solution however involving a sociologist or health specialist may enhance the outcome. And that’s not a natural convergence of skill sets,” Prof Broadfoot said.

Another issue can be the sharing of funding, not to mention upfront costs and risk.

“But my argument is if you work together you can actually attract, maximise and substantially increase funding,” Prof Broadfoot said.

Added Hammer: “If people have their own individual or organisational agenda and feel that they are only responsible for delivering certain outcomes, it can make it hard to compromise.”

Hammer said the CRC research project she was involved with had interviewed over 250 industry stakeholders.

“One of the most common challenges we heard from these interviews is that it’s so hard to look outside of your formal organisational agendas, roles and responsibilities, and to break through disciplinary silos that have been so ingrained in Australia’s water industry,” Hammer said.

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As a result, she said it is often too easy for people to think ‘Oh, that’s not my problem, I’m only responsible for this’.

“We are now facing global challenges that are affecting us all.

In order to address these challenges, we need to start thinking it’s actually all of our problem. So how do we work together to solve it?” she said.

Another challenge was cost and risk, said Hammer.

“If we’re delivering multiple benefits to multiple stakeholders, who absorbs the costs and risk associated with these, and is it possible to be shared?” she said.

Moving beyond collaboration for mutual reward, McKeown said the challenge is to ensure that the right level of collaboration has taken place with customers and the community.

“It is no longer an option to collaborate. it is now a fundamental ingredient of success. Without the appropriate level of collaboration with customers or the community entities may lose their social license to operate. Social media and the power of digital platforms have irreversibly changed the landscape,” he said.

THE BENEFITS

While the challenges are real, there’s no shortage of benefits on the other side. Hammer said collaboration helped broaden horizons and introduced people to new learnings.

“Other people have a broad range of skillsets that can add value to the work that you’re doing. That wealth of knowledge is truly powerful in coming up with new ways of doing things,” she said.

Dimity Lynas, Team Leader of Water Security Planning at Seqwater, said when collaboration was done right the benefits were realised across three levels: organisational, industry and the community.

“Organisational benefits include new ideas, innovation and

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PEERING TO THE FUTURE If there’s one thing Queenslanders know how to do, it’s pull together.

Earlier this year, Seqwater partnered with Arup and other South East Queensland (SEQ) service providers to deliver a landmark future planning program for water organisations and partners.

Involving more than 50 participants from across the region’s water industry, the group gathered to uncover crucial learnings about how the industry will tackle an uncertain water future.

The scenario planning work was completed with all SEQ service providers, including Queensland Urban Utilities, Unitywater, Logan City Council, Redland City Council and City of Gold Coast.

While collaborating with so many partners may sound like it could be a bit of a nightmare, Dimity Lynas, Team Leader of Water Security Planning at Seqwater, said anything worthwhile takes effort and planning.

“The issue to be solved was what are the trends that may impact on the SEQ water industry and the supply of water to the SEQ community. And how will this impact on future planning?” Lynas explained.

Working together, the SEQ water industry developed six future possible and plausible scenarios with a 50 year horizon.

“The scenarios are available to all organisations in the SEQ water industry and they are encouraged to also use these scenarios in their long-term planning activities,” Lynas said.

The next step for the group is to create some metrics around each scenario to enable consistent modelling.

“The following step is to create a future vision for SEQ and an understanding of how the SEQ water industry will work strategically and collaboratively to achieve that vision,” Lynas said.

SOMETIMES A PROBLEM MIGHT TYPICALLY BE SEEN AS REQUIRING AN ENGINEERING SOLUTION HOWEVER INVOLVING A SOCIOLOGIST OR HEALTH SPECIALIST MAY ENHANCE THE OUTCOME. PROFESSOR ALAN BROADFOOT, UNIVERSIT Y OF NEWCASTLE

generally a reduction in costs due to sharing the workload,” she said.

From an industry perspective, Lynas added that “the more we can share, the greater the inclusion of considerations”, which often resulted in more effective outcomes.

But it’s on the community level that outcomes could be truly beneficial for society, Lynas said.

“Whether they be environmental, social or economic, decisions will have been made on a more holistic basis,” Lynas said.

NURTURING COLLABORATION FURTHER McKeown said the role of industry organisations is key to future collaboration.

“The days when industry groups were the gate keepers to industry participation or industry negotiations are gone. Industry bodies need to be open, transparent and practical platforms through which members and stakeholders collaborate for mutual benefit,” he said.

And while most people want to collaborate, Hammer said it’s just a question of how to do it operationally and on the ground “Many people think that institutional reform is the answer to achieving better collaboration. And while that may be needed in the long term, it’s not a realistic goal for the short term,” she said.

And so, Hammer said, if formal collaboration is still a while off, then the focus needs to shift towards nurturing informal mechanisms. These include networks, forums, capacity-building programs and specific projects or investment opportunities that can be used as platforms for collaboration.

“For example, one of the research projects that I work on for CRCWSC runs a series of workshops in a city and brings together a broad range of stakeholders across water, planning, and development who wouldn’t normally be in the same room,” she explained.

“And we essentially take them through a water sensitive city

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Advertorial

Queensland Urban Utilities embraces water-pipe relining

CLIENT: Queensland Urban Utilities YEAR OF CONSTRUCTION: 2018 TYPE OF CONSTRUCTION MEASURE: Rehabilitation of a DN 600 GRP water main at Redbank Plains in Ipswich, Queensland.

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• Delivery of the flexible Primus Line® system DN 500 • Delivery of 16 customised connectors DN 500, with DN 600 AS 4087 PN 16 flange at the connector’s outer sleeve and DN 500 AS 4087 PN 16 flange at the connector’s core • Queensland Urban Utilities’ in-house installation crew training and supervision of the works

Situation

Queensland Urban Utilities (QUU) is one of Australia’s largest water distributor-retailers, providing water and sewerage services to more than 1.4 million people and operating and maintaining more than 9000km of water mains.

In late 2017, QUU began investigations to rehabilitate a DN 600 GRP water pipe at Redbank Plains to supply a nearby reservoir.

They identified a 1.8km section of pipe to be renewed, which had two scour valves, two air valves and two 45-degree bends (DICL) with r = 3 x d.

As the pipe ran through a residential area and a park, QUU opted to use trenchless technology to minimise disruption to community and environment. They also recognised relining can be faster and more cost-effective than traditional open trench replacement.

Technical details

Material of host pipe: GRP Transported fluid: potable water Diameter of host pipe: DN 600 Operating pressure: 9 bar; test pressure 12 bar Primus Line system: DN 500 PN 16 Total Length: 1800m Number of sections: three Installation time: two weeks

Rehabilitation system

The Primus Line® system complies with AS/NZS 4020:2005.

It consists of a Kevlar® reinforced liner and specifically developed end fittings. The liner accommodates the operating pressure of the pipe due to the reinforcement layer and because it does not bond to the host pipe.

Due to the flexibility of the material, the liner can traverse angles of up to 45 degrees, can be installed in lengths of more than 1000m in one pull and has an installation speed of up to 600m per hour..

Project description

To minimise the construction footprint, the relining was completed in three separate installations of approximately 600m each. This also reduced the time needed to set up the transport reels and pulling winches. There was a total of eight excavation pits; two start pits (2.15m x 1.80m) where a 1.75m section was cut out of the host pipe; four intra-pits (2.90m x 1.80m) where the valves and tees were located and a 2.5m section of the host pipe was removed; and two destination pits, where the liner was pulled out at a flat exit angle of 10 degrees to minimise the pulling forces. Custom fittings were used to avoid the need for tapers, with DN 500 connectors delivered with a DN 600 flange on the outer sleeve, which was mounted to a flange coupling adaptor DN 600 at the host pipe.

After the excavation pits had been created, the host pipe was inspected with CCTV and cleaned. After re-inspection, the installation process began and the pre-folded liner was inserted using a pulling winch. Once in place, the liner was returned to its original round shape by applying 0.5 bar of compressed air. After the end connectors had been installed, the renovated section was pressure-tested with 12 bar and disinfected. The works will extend the life of the water main by at least 50 years.

Learn more about trenchless water main rehabilitation on www.primusline.com. Or contact Heiko Manzke, heiko.manzke@primusline.com

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SLUDGE SUCCESS

journey that starts by looking into the past, through to current performance, then towards the future to develop and agree on a shared water sensitive city vision and strategies and actions for achieving it.”

Hammer said in Perth, after the conclusion of one of their case studies which consisted of a group of 30 stakeholders, the group actually expressed the desire to continue meeting every two months as a Water Sensitive Transition Network.

“So they really recognised the value of having that space to catch up, let everyone know what’s going on in the water sensitive city space, and to identify specific opportunities where better collaboration can help deliver Perth’s water sensitive city vision,” Hammer said.

COLLABORATION TOOLS

That’s not to say there’s no room for a formal, governmentenabled tool to foster collaboration.

Prof Broadfoot pointed to the NSW Government’s established Knowledge Hubs in Energy and Resources, Financial Services, Creative Industries and Medical Technology.

“What those Knowledge Hubs do is facilitate a network of networks,” said Broadfoot.

“In sectors where there’s a lot of different organisations doing something to benefit, for example the region’s water industry, research and regulatory frameworks, it could benefit from a network of joint initiatives where all organisations can add value strategically.”

In the meantime, Hammer said the CRCWSC is developing a web-based transition platform for users to login and track progress towards their water sensitive city vision, supported by other CRCWSC tools and knowledge.

“It will allow them to track progress towards their vision by setting targets and monitoring impact of certain actions, and will also allow them to look to other cities and see what is being done there. We’re hoping it can enable cross city learning and collaboration.”

For years Isle Utilities fell short of taking out a prize at the annual UK Water Industry Awards.

That was until they started collaborating with 18 different organisations from across the European Union, and in turn, won the category of ‘Sludge and Resource Recovery’ in May along with project partners Aimen.

“If this were the Oscars it would probably rank alongside the Oscar for Best Lighting but I am not complaining,” Executive Chairman of Isle Group Piers Clark commented.

Despite his light-hearted jokes about the award, Clark is very proud of their entry – the INCOVER project.

INCOVER is a three-year €7.2 million (AU$11.3 million) collaborative project, funded by the European Commission, and involves testing at scale a wide range of ground breaking sustainable technologies, from hydrothermal carbonisation (to generate household fuel from sludge) to algal farms for bioplastics.

The project, due to be completed in May 2019, has already demonstrated some impressive results, including a 70% nutrient recovery rate from wastewater using functionalised hybrid polymeric materials as sorbents.

“If Isle was the bride then the groom has to be our fellow European partners,” said Clark.

“There are at least 18 different organisations from across the EU involved in INCOVER, from big utilities to small tech firms, from consultancies to universities.”

Clark said INCOVER was an example of the EU working at its best.

“It is nice to remind ourselves that not everything about the EU was broken,” Clark said.

“Collaborative, smooth running partnerships do exist. Like-minded, civilised organisations from across Europe are able to work together harmoniously.

“Who would have thought?”

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Collaboration

THE NEED FOR FUTURE COLLABORATION In the future, Prof Wong said a reductionist approach to tackling problems of resource management, infrastructure investment and service delivery would need to be discarded and a more collaborative approach re-imagined.

“Co-development, co-investment and co-ownership of assets will be the norm as we strive to do more with less,” Wong said.

McKeown agrees, noting that future collaboration between water sector organisations is the best means to remove unnecessary duplication of services.

Lynas adds that if there’s one thing that’s for certain in the future, it’s that we can expect change.

“The need for collaboration is due to uncertainty of what that future change will be. The change is likely to be quick and will impact all sectors of our industry,” Lynas said.

“By working together we’ll be more likely to see possible future trends and be ready to adapt to them together. This will provide better outcomes for the community, rather than each organisation scrambling to cope individually.”

Because, “It’s the old philosophy of collaborate or die,” said Prof Broadfoot, who – just to clarify – was obviously referring to the need for innovation and not forcing the enemy to cooperate.

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CHANNELING CHANGE Wondering how your workplace can become a more collaborative environment?

The Australian Water Association’s Channeling Change program focuses on increasing diversity, inclusion and equality across the entire water sector.

The program was developed with initial support from the Australian Water Partnership and ANZ Bank, and is all about celebrating difference in everything we do and valuing the

diverse composition of our membership.

By highlighting success stories, sharing helpful resources, promoting panel parity at events, and facilitating capacity-building projects in the Asia Pacific region, we’re building a water sector recognised for its diversity, inclusion and equality.

To find out more about Channeling Change, click the Programs tab on the Australian Water Association website.

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Membership

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The collaboration toolkit THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION HAS DEVELOPED AN ARRAY OF TOOLS TO HELP WATER PROFESSIONALS COLLABORATE. HERE’S A QUICK LOOK AT HOW THE ASSOCIATION’S PLATFORMS CAN HELP YOU SUCCEED. As told to Cecilia Harris

W

e all know the water sector is hugely diverse in terms of the range of expertise and knowledge required for effective service delivery, productivity and research. But, whether you’re an operations manager, environmental scientist, executive board member or a Young Water Professional, bridging the disciplinary gap between the industry’s sub-sectors isn’t always an easy task.

Current spoke with AWA leaders to get the low-down on where to reach out to make the most of your membership.

CHANNELING CHANGE AWA CEO Jonathan McKeown The Channeling Change Program is the Association’s way of recognising that, without the input and recognition of all members of our sector and serviced communities, we will not reach the potential our industry has to offer. The Association values the diverse composition of our membership. We are practiced around respect, inclusion, and equality, which is reflected in our

celebration of difference in all that we do.

We are thrilled to offer the Channeling Change Program, which includes a range of initiatives for our members to engage with, learn from and share. The program also includes the promotion of success stories, videos capturing individual stories, workshops on engagement and promoting panel parity.

The program is for all members. We are enriched by the contributions of our diverse membership because of their differences in gender, age, cultural norms, values, beliefs, and linked expectations. Together we are building a water sector recognised for its diversity, inclusion, and equality, and this would not be possible without our membership base.

For more information, visit: bit.ly/ channeling change

SPECIALIST NETWORKS AWA National Manager Events and Marketing Kirsty Blades The Association has 14 Specialist Networks, providing a platform for members

to share knowledge and expertise linked to a particular area of water management with the wider membership base. Our networks cover the complex and often mind boggling intricacies of Australia’s water sector. The networks play an important role in delivering the Association’s three core principles: information, networking and recognition to and for members.

It’s simple: if you are an Association member, you can update your member profile to receive dedicated information about breaking news, latest research or specific industry events relevant to your specialist network. This means you’ll be kept up to date on what’s happening in the parts of the industry that are of interest to you.

Each Specialist Network has a committee who’s there to assist in the planning and delivery of fulfilling the Association’s core principals within its area of expertise.

The committees are a diverse range of professionals, often from different parts of the country; they bring a broad range of expertise to the network. The committees are keen for more two-way conversations and would like to hear from members about the challenges they face on a daily basis. They also want hear about any emerging trends so they can share these with the wider membership. To contact the committees email: networks@awa.asn.au.

You can find the details of all networks at www.awa.asn.au/specialistnetworks.

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Membership

YWP PROGRAM

AWA International Projects Officer Robbie Goedecke The Australian Water Association’s Young Water Professional (YWP) Program exists to attract, engage and empower Australia’s emerging water leaders. We do this through driving the sharing of knowledge and experience to develop emerging water leaders across Australia.

YWP events are held across each state and territory branch with the support of each branch committee to encourage YWPs to grow their professional networks across the Association.

The program coordinates and delivers activities of national significance such as the YWP National Conference and the Ozwater YWP Program. These events also enable a platform for YWPs to discuss emerging challenges.

The AWA Board has recently endorsed the development of a national Taskforce to assist the AWA to serve its YWP members. The functions of the Taskforce are to develop and monitor a National YWP Program, coordinate communications on YWP activities and provide recommendations and advice on any other activities or issues to the Association.

YWP events have a focus on exploring collaboration between industry, research and government, as well as the value of connections. Through collaborating across different events, YWPs can not only accelerate their ideas into action, but also accelerate their professional development.

YWP initiatives aim to engage all professionals across the water sector, but there’s a focus on water professionals below the age of 35 or those with less than 10 years’ experience working in the water sector. YWPs can join through attending events organised by branches including the Association’s Mentoring

Program. YWPs can keep up to date by joining the Association’s YWP Facebook and LinkedIn pages.

INDUSTRY AWARDS

AWA Senior Events Manager Katie Trevor Recognition is a key offering of the Association and the Australian Water Awards provide an important platform to promote the excellence and contribution our members make to the water sector and wider community. The awards not only seek to recognise and reward outstanding achievement of individuals and organisations in the sector, but also identify those who have displayed conspicuous service to the profession and exceptional performance in the practice of water management.

The nominations themselves showcase the extensive collaboration the industry is already committed to, with many of our corporate members submitting a joint award entry to promote a recent project they have partnered on. The strength in collaboration is evident through the success of the innovative projects and the challenges that have been overcome by working together.

By highlighting the individuals and organisations that are truly making a difference to the Australian water sector and sharing their success stories, the awards inspire the industry to learn from each other’s ideas and consider solutions they otherwise wouldn’t have.

Finally, the award winners are recognised across the country at our

YWP EVENTS FOCUS ON EXPLORING COLLABORATION BETWEEN INDUSTRY, RESEARCH AND GOVERNMENT, AS WELL AS THE VALUE OF CONNECTIONS. ROBBIE GOEDECKE, AWA PROJECTS OFFICER

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state and national Award Gala Dinners and Luncheons where the industry comes together to celebrate the recent achievements of the sector and it is at these events that our members are provided the opportunity to expand their personal and business networks and foster further collaboration.

The awards are open to individuals and organisations that have been making an outstanding impact in the water industry across innovation, research, infrastructure and the delivery of water projects.

Find out more about the submission process, award closing and announcement dates in your state or territory at www.awa.asn.au/awards

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS AWA International Manager Paul Smith The purpose of the Australian Water Association’s International Program is to ensure that the expertise and experience of our members and the wider Australian water sector are profiled and positioned to play a key role internationally.

While AWA’s focus is on the Indo Pacific region, our largest program of activities is in Vietnam where we partner with the Australian Government to support the Government of Vietnam’s national reform priorities, including improving market institutions, promoting human resources and developing infrastructure.

In the past 18 months we have been facilitating Australian drinking water technology to provide 75,000L of safe

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THE AWARDS INSPIRE THE INDUSTRY TO LEARN FROM EACH OTHER’S IDEAS AND CONSIDER SOLUTIONS THEY OTHERWISE WOULDN’T HAVE. K ATI E TR E VO R , AWA S E N I O R E V E NTS M A N AG E R

drinking water every day for 40,000 people in remote areas of Vietnam that did not otherwise have access to safe drinking water. We have also delivered the largest Australian delegations to ever visit Vietnam including 245 Australian delegates from the private sector, government, R&D and water utilities to join the Australian delegation to Vietwater’15, 16 and 17 and we’ve hosted the largest Vietnamese delegations to ever travel to Australia for Ozwater’16, 17 and 18, with a combined 193 delegates.

The Association has Memorandums of Understanding with 15 counterpart peak water associations across 11 countries.

Through these partnerships we reach out to more than 64,000 international water professionals.

These relationships facilitate networking and collaboration, information exchange and knowledge sharing, inbound and outbound study and demonstration tours, and trade and business matching.

The Association’s International Program caters for all our members. Members can get involved through having their technology demonstrated, strengthening their business opportunities and sharing their knowledge.

For further information, contact psmith@awa.asn.au.

MEMBERSHIP

AWA Membership Manager Marcel Svatos The Australian Water Association’s membership has been designed to offer value and support to all Australian water professionals, regardless of background or career level. It offers a platform for our water experts, practitioners and businesses to share information, collaborate on projects and be recognised. Being a member of Australia’s biggest water network offers you access to an incredible array of multi-disciplinary information as well. But it also offers a broad network of peers, experts and businesses too, covering the entire water cycle and associated industries, including professionals and practitioners working in utilities, science,

research and academia, energy and resources, manufacturing and agriculture.

Being a member of the AWA is really what you make of it; our staff are here to help meet your ideas and requirements with enthusiasm, all you need to do is reach out!

For more information on the different types of AWA membership available to you, as well as the benefits of being a member, download our Membership Information Pack at: bit.ly/awa_membership

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Technology

Fast

forward ADVANCEMENTS IN SENSOR TECHNOLOGY AND DATA PLATFORMS CAN UNCOVER INSIGHTS NEVER BEFORE ATTAINABLE. HERE’S HOW THE WATER INDUSTRY IS MOVING INTO THE FUTURE.

By Thea Cowie

S

mellevision, hoverboards and colonies in space – plenty of futurists’ predictions have failed to take off. But when the AWA published AI and the Water Industry a decade ago, it was right on the money.

“Imagine an operations model that gradually adapts itself to the ageing of pipes, changing weather predictions and … incidents (planned and unplanned),” wrote Peter Radcliffe, an optimisation specialist then working with world-leading AI company, Optimatics. “[Imagine] an intelligent model that can recommend when assets need to be replaced, when, where and how much water to pump, and also predict when an emergency event is likely.”

Tick, tick, tick and tick – decades worth of research are starting to pay off. In fact, CSIRO’s Data61 is currently undertaking AI and machine learning projects with more than a dozen Australian water utilities across no fewer than eight focus areas.

Research Group Leader Dr Fang Chen said Data61’s collaborations were yielding results in water quality monitoring, chemical dosing, prioritising active leakage detection areas, water demand analysis, intelligent network optimisation, and the prediction of water pipe failure,

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sewer corrosion and sewer chokes. “In these projects, the use of AI and machine learning techniques has demonstrated significant outcomes for improving productivity, efficiency, safety and customer satisfaction for the industry,” said Chen, the 2016 AWA NSW Water Professional of the Year.

LATEST FEATS

Melbourne Water’s cutting-edge software platform, based on Python, is on track to reduce treatment plant pump-station energy costs by a fifth this year. The system uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to determine the daily required flow rate and the most efficient combination of pump usage and speed settings to achieve it.

Melbourne Water Automation Delivery Service Team Leader Russell Riding said the utility is now looking to apply the technology solution to other pump stations and treatment processes across the business.

“The benefits would be a reduction in energy use, operational expenditure savings, less reliance on individuals to determine the most efficient operational regime (knowledge retention), and the

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Technology

freeing up of operational resources to optimise the system further,” he said.

At Sydney Water, the ‘Sewer Scout’ was developed to reduce risks involved in Avoid Fail Sewer traverse inspections.

It’s delivered much more – it’s now 98% accurate in locating maintenance chambers and holes, and is learning to locate and identify sewer system defects.

Sydney Water Asset Infrastructure Research Co-ordinator Dammika Vitanage said the utility had also just started operationalising Data61’s critical water main failure prediction model after six years’ development.

“Within the first 20% of the predictions we are hitting 80% of the failures,” Vitanage said.

“That has now provided quite good confidence to our operators who are planning to use it for the next condition assessment investigation.”

Meanwhile, Queensland’s Unitywater is, among other things, working with GHD to develop a wet weather overflow prediction model, said Ivan Beirne, Manager Asset Knowledge and Performance.

“This project is using weather radar images, past performance of our network in wet weather events and Google’s TensorFlow,” said Beirne.

Unitywater’s primary machine learning project is a model that predicts the likelihood of water main failure.

“We’ve developed it with Data Science consultants and Data61, and it has enabled us to predict the likelihood of failure of every water main asset in our network over the next 15 years.”

on huge AI backend processing power,” Kodagoda said.

“People are starting to believe in those technologies and use them without so much fear so that is a very good sign in influencing cultural change for our sector.”

To more proactively address the mindset issue, Chen recommended quantifying both the benefits and the risks of using cutting-edge technology, and establishing objective measures for assessing the successful adoption of AI. “Start with baby steps and progress gradually,” she added. “Don’t be afraid of failures with controlled risks, and keep learning and improving.”

DETERMINING DATA Another big challenge has been data quality and quantity.

Kodagoda noted: “Before, the availability of data was a bit sparse. Implementing machine learning and robotic devices with sparse data is not impossible, but having more relevant data is very important”.

“Now we’re in a position where we have more data – more relevant data and more informative data – so machine learning and AI can be better utilised for making decisions.”

For Unitywater, data quality and quantity presented a challenge when it was implementing its water mains failure prediction model, Beirne said.

“In the process of developing the model, we found we were unable to achieve reliable and highly granular data on individual assets. This was because the quality of the maintenance history database was unreliable and only contained four years of data,” he said.

“We used in-house skills to develop algorithms to correct these database inconsistencies based on maintenance log notes.”

Beirne encouraged more utilities to share their data and learnings, successes and setbacks.

“Sharing code would also help – it’s like sharing best practice in any industry.

If someone has already developed and implemented something, we should be

CHANGING MINDS

Despite the increasing adoption of AI and machine learning technology across the water industry, CSIRO’s Chen said: “we haven’t reached a paradigm shift as yet”.

“From a mindset perspective, there’s a strong willingness to change, however, there’s also a strong sense of fear associated with potential changes,” she said.

Associate Professor Sarath Kodagoda, from the UTS School of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, said acceptance was growing as smart technologies became more common in day-to-day life.

“We’re starting to see more driverless cars and things like Google Home coming onto the market, even Amazon is based

FROM A MINDSET PERSPECTIVE, THERE’S A STRONG WILLINGNESS TO CHANGE, HOWEVER, THERE’S ALSO A STRONG SENSE OF FEAR ASSOCIATED WITH POTENTIAL CHANGES. FANG CHEN, DATA61 CSIRO www.awa.asn.au

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Technology

open to sharing it. Machine learning models improve as the volume of good data increases, therefore if we all shared basic information about our networks, for example our asset and maintenance databases, we should be able to improve the quality of everyone’s analysis.”

Chen added that data issues could be collaboratively solved if the industry addressed siloing, both within organisations and across the industry.

She added: “facilitate data driven solutions or decision support based on a holistic view from operations for example, asset attributes, environment data, customer data, policies or regulations, payment and operations data. Evaluate the effectiveness

of the current data collection and commission new data collection with an end goal in mind.”

COLLABORATION

Water sector collaboration on next-gen technology is set to reach a new high with the recently launched Smart Linings for Pipe and Infrastructure project sponsored by the Commonwealth through the Cooperative Research Centre for Projects.

The $20 million project involves 10 Australian water utilities, three Australian universities, the Water Services Association of Australia Limited, UKWIR, and two US water research foundations.

Vitanage is the water industry lead for the three-year project, which plans to

VIRTUAL REALITY, REAL BENEFITS: MELBOURNE WATER AND DEAKIN UNIVERSITY Disney, NASA, and now Melbourne Water have all benefited from the expertise of team members behind the utility’s new virtual reality (VR) systems.

In partnership with Deakin University’s CADET Virtual Reality (VR) Lab and Associate Professor Ben Horan, Melbourne Water has developed a VR training program that allows operators to interact in the same virtual space from anywhere in the world.

“The platform allows staff to learn critical skills without being exposed to risks,” said Melbourne Water Safety Manager for Technology and Innovation, Scott McMillan.

It’s being used to enhance identification of design defects and safety risks during planning phases of capital projects, and for staff training on how to treat a snake bite and how to manage dangerous chemicals.

“Ozone is a toxic gas, so we recreated the ozone generator building identically in a virtual world so that trainee operators could go through the isolation process as many times as needed before they did the real thing,” McMillan said.

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Through the ongoing collaboration with Deakin University, Melbourne Water gained access to an impressive range of skills.

“They’ve got an odd mix of backgrounds who work perfectly together – the director’s background is in mechatronics and he’s worked with a leading NASA engineer that was in charge of the Mars Rover automation functionality,” he said. “There’s a team member who used to work for Disney doing modelling, and a former Telstra technician who’s done his PhD in programming.”

For utilities looking to partner on VR or other next-gen technology, McMillan suggested: “crawl before you walk”.

“We wanted to start small and see how we could work with a university as a commercial partner.

And they probably wanted to see if we were flexible enough to try something different,” he said.

As for what the Melbourne Water and the CADET VR Lab team is working on now, well, the projects are cloaked in secrecy. But McMillan hinted they were “going to have huge industry impact, and not just for the water sector.”

use robots, smart linings and innovative materials to extend the lifespan of ageing pipes. Vitanage said the project had started with three manufacturers and applicators onboard and many more were inquiring.

“We are driving innovation in the private sector through this project – they’re saying ‘we are happy to reformulate our linings to ensure that we have a better product than before’,” he said.

“UTS is also conducting a feasibility study to see if we can mix some sensors into the lining products.”

Vitanage stressed this kind of private sector engagement was essential for the water industry to achieve maximum benefits from AI and machine learning technologies.

CSIRO’s Chen added that collaboration across industries would also be important.

“The transport industry, energy and a lot of other industries are using smart sensing faster and more real-time than water utilities,” she said.

“We can build a business case through those learnings.”

TECH AND OUR FUTURE Talk of smart linings, robots, sensors and zettabytes of data doesn’t sound very customer-centric, but that’s exactly what we should be achieving through the application of AI and machine learning, Chen reminded us.

“With an open mind, together with strategic and collaborative effort from the industry, the water industry will look very different,” she said.

“Efficiencies in operations will strengthen the resilience of infrastructure and fundamentally move the focus to more customer-centric services providing a healthier, more liveable society.”

Human judgement will also remain vital to operations, Vitanage said.

“The vision that we have is talking pipes.

If pipes can talk – as well as the infrastructure associated with the pipes and even the treatment plants – then we will be really intelligent going into the future,” he said.

“But we shouldn’t take all the interpretation away from people who are trained in the system and experienced in the system – there are some judgements you have to make.”

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Water Security

BACK TO COUNTRY: BUILDING RESILIENCE IN OUR REGIONS MANY OF THE NATION’S REGIONAL COUNCILS FACE SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES WITHOUT THE LUXURY OF LARGE BUDGETS. HOW CAN WE ENSURE WATER SECURITY IN OUR REGIONS?

By Elle Harding

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Lake Wendouree in Ballarat Victoria all dried out

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Water security

THE DESIGN OF OUR GOVERNMENTS AND INSTITUTIONS MIGHT NEED TO SHIFT. WE LIKE TO COMPARTMENTALISE, BUT WE NEED TO THINK ABOUT THE DIFFERENT ROLES INVOLVED IN PLANNING. FIONA CHANDLER, ALLUVIUM CONSULTING

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t a time of increased climate variability, and as the current drought wreaks havoc across parts of the country, managing the health, livability, and sustainable growth of our regional centres is critical to Australia’s immediate future.

According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, this autumn has been the fourth-warmest on record in Australia with below average rainfall across most of the country.

Fiona Chandler, Townsville Regional Manager for Alluvium Consulting, believes that the challenge of building water resilience in these circumstances is felt more acutely in regional areas.

“The smaller the community, the more potentially vulnerable they are to multiple stresses. Really big concerns tend to be cumulative; the water issue alone potentially might not have been as big if the city was feeling more socially and economically resilient,” she said.

“There will often be criticism, particularly around infrastructure decisions that involve large sums of money. In south-east Queensland, there was some backlash after building for desalination plants only to be hit by a flood.”

“The design of our governments and institutions might need to shift,” she added. “We like to compartmentalise, but we need to think about the different roles involved in planning.”

Chandler said there is value in promoting infrastructure as part of the broader narrative of quality of life, and helping communities understand that the consequences of inaction can be as critical as cost-versus-benefit.

“There has a been huge improvement in community engagement and integrated decision making, but the question is now what we are engaging about, and are we asking the right questions of the community?”

RISK AND REWARD

Community engagement and confidence in water security are closely linked, said Emma Berry, Hunter Water Corporation’s Program Director of Water Resilience.

In a region encompassing Greater Newcastle, as well as the coastal Hunter, there are competing demands for water, including mines, agriculture, power stations, and urban users—on top of a projected population increase of 25% over the next 20 years. For Berry, water resilience means adaptive capacity combined with robustness, and the risk of failing to address it has broad implications.

“Businesses want confidence in long-term regional planning, including water security, before they invest,” she

said. “Drought has significant impacts on water-dependant industries, and even small businesses like landscaping and car washing.”

The social impact of drought cannot be overlooked, either. “We’ve learnt through the Millennium Drought that water restrictions have broad impacts across our communities: dry playing fields increase sporting injuries like broken arms, and there can be a general decrease in people’s wellbeing as a result of less access to green space,” she said.

Berry said the water crisis in Cape Town, South Africa, points to just how high the stakes are in terms of water management for urban centres.

“It has provided context for us—50 litres per person per day is not very much,” she said.

Comparatively, Australians use as little as 100 litres per person in some coastal areas, to more than 800 litres per person in the dry inland areas.

JOINING THE DOTS

Thankfully, Australia is not facing a Cape Town-style crisis—but we can never be complacent, particularly when it comes to the connection between regional drought and urban water security planning.

“The water pipeline connection between the Central Coast and Lower Hunter region is a good example,” says Berry. “This physical connection enables

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Water security

INSTITUTIONAL SETUP IS VERY IMPORTANT. AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL, WE NEED TO HAVE THE PROPER INSTITUTIONS WELL CONNECTED WITH COMMUNITIES. DR SHAHBAZ KHAN, UNESCO REGIONAL SCIENCE BUREAU

AUSTRALIA’S DROUGHT HISTORY 1895-1903: The Federation drought was felt nationwide, most persistently the coast of Queensland and central Australia. The Darling River in Bourke, NSW, was dry for over one year.

1911-1920: Two droughts affected every state and territory, with the wheat crop failing in 1914.

1939-1945: Another drought that affected all parts of the country.

1958-1968: Rivalling the Federation drought in severity, what began in Central Australia spread across the north, moving south in latter years.

1982-1983: Affecting all of eastern Australia, this was especially severe in the southeast.

2001-2009: The Millennium drought saw some of the highest and driest years in recorded history, particularly in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Source: Bureau of Meterology 2018

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Hume Dam, Albury Wodonga

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us to direct water where it is most needed during dry periods, as well as provide operational flexibility when needed, such as maintaining continuity of supply during breaks or outages.”

Celeste Morgan, project leader at CRC for Water Sensitive Cities, said that there are opportunities to connect between rural and urban water needs through integrated water management.

“Urban areas, including regional cities and towns, are actually generators of water,” she said. “They have ‘excess’ water in the form of treated wastewater and urban stormwater which can be harnessed to supply both urban and rural water needs. This is more than just a water supply driver—it’s one which is essential to the environment.”

“There is a wealth of knowledge on how both pollutants and flow patterns from urban stormwater and treated wastewater inflows are detrimentally impacting waterways downstream of urban areas,” Morgan added.

“By harnessing urban water as a resource, we can create a sustainable urban water cycle with multiple benefits. An added bonus in regional cities is that urban water can be harnessed to support peri-urban agricultural areas, supporting local economies by providing a fit-forpurpose irrigation source.”

A prime example of this is Ballarat’s Lake Wendouree, which in 2009 was completely dry and even caught fire, causing a range of social and economic impacts on the town, devastating tourism, recreation and mental health.

“Central Highlands Water and Council worked together to harness urban water sources—both recycled water and treated urban stormwater— to create a non-potable water network throughout the city that delivered water to the lake as well as key open spaces in the city,” Morgan said, a project that won a number of awards for excellence.

EXAMINING STRENGTHS Dr Shahbaz Khan, Director and Representative of UNESCO’s Regional Science Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, has recently been in Australia looking at what projects such as Lake Wendouree mean for water security in urban centres.

“Institutional setup is very important,” he said. “At the highest level, we need to have the proper institutions well connected with communities. The Murray Darling Basin Authority is the standard for other countries,” Khan said.

In this vein, Australians are best served by thinking big. “Australia is a planet in itself, from the tropics to extremely dry areas like the Murray Darling—and still, there is so much we can learn from each other,” he said.

Khan believes that many of the building blocks are in place to play to our strengths, but action is required.

“Australia is good at bringing experts in water and environment together, in making sure the big problems such as salinity don’t come back, and understanding the role of the local regional communities in surviving Australia,” he said.

“What Australia is missing is the level of people in cities who can link the science, local government relationships and water consumers— and how we can support these actions by providing better science.”

“We need to have a network of scientists and community leaders working together across regions. In my view, Australia is now lagging behind in this area compared to countries like Malaysia and Indonesia, where we have a lot of backing from the government for the universities, who are pushing them to do this work.”

Dr Khan believes that Australia must continue to focus on leadership and evidence-based decision making.

STRONGER TOGETHER Experts agree that councils working on projects together, outside of arbitrary regional boundaries, is critical to water security. Also critical is joining with researchers to share knowledge.

“We need to be on the same page, presenting a united front avoids duplication and finds a common voice,” said Emma Berry. “Above all, we must collaborate to have one message understood by everyone in Australia, said Dr Khan.

“Water resilience cannot be realised until we start thinking about droughts, floods, and extreme events management as part of our normal living conditions,” he said.

RICES PROJECT

While regional water security is developing, many remote Indigenous communities are struggling to obtain first-world utility standards, such as 24/7 access to safe drinking water.

One project aims to change all of that. The Remote and Isolated Community Essential Services (RICES) project, led by Griffith University’s Dr Cara Beal, set out to understand the unsustainably high levels of water use in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities.

“The only way to improve resilience and sustainability of water and water-related energy supplies is to understand what is being used, why it’s being used, and the cultural and social drivers behind that use,” said Dr Beal.

“We found five key drivers of high water use: health-related, for things like dust suppression, as an amenity for gardens, cooling and heat relief, washing and cleaning, particularly boats and seafood, as well as social gatherings and sorry business.”

Key challenges included finding data to be able to dig into how water is being used in such extraordinary amounts, and managing the installation of smart energy and water metres, with signal and technical issues stemming from working over long distances. In order to manage these obstacles, collaboration was the foundation stone.

“We wanted the project to be community directed as much possible, and the only way to do this was to engage comprehensively with local groups, government departments, and energy suppliers,” Beal said.

The project was awarded Best Paper/Presentation at the recent AWA NQ Conference—and Dr Beal says their research can be applied to other remote communities.

“As an applied researcher I want my research to have traction on the ground,” she said. “It’s always horses for courses, especially when it comes to Indigenous communities, but ideas central to the project around lack of education and awareness, both in communities and local councils, are highly transferable.”

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Productivity Commission

Australia’s

water reform journey Dampier Creek, Western Australia.

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LAST NOVEMBER, CURRENT FOCUSED ON THE PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION’S INQUIRY INTO NATIONAL WATER REFORM IN THE CONTEXT OF MURRAYDARLING WATER THEFT ALLEGATIONS AND CONCERNS ABOUT DROUGHT PREPAREDNESS. BUT WITH THE FINAL PRODUCTIVITY REPORT ON NATIONAL WATER NOW OUT, EVERYONE IS LOOKING TO THE FUTURE.

By Brent Balinski

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L

ast year, the MDBA was in the headlines, due to a Royal Commission into serious water theft allegations, and the eastern drought had reached new severity, making international news; the majority of New South Wales was declared in drought and, despite floods in Western Australia, the nation had its driest July since 2002.

The final Productivity Commission report praises the 2004 National Water Initiative, which all states and territories are now signed to, but also reminds us that more needs to be done.

The report says the NWI has been generally implemented well, but there is unfinished business, especially in light of population growth and climate change. Water reform is a journey and not a destination.

Asked about the progress of reform since the National Water Commission was disbanded in 2014, former Chair Karlene Maywald said there have been ebbs and flows, but progress is currently at an ebb.

“The pace of water reform has slowed in recent times with most of the national focus being on implementation of the Basin Plan,” Maywald said.

Of the Commission’s report, she said: “while great progress has been achieved under the National Water Initiative (NWI), there is still unfinished business and new emergent issues that need to be addressed.

“It is time that the NWI was revisited with a focus on the unfinished business and inclusion of new emergent issues including urban water, environmental water management and around cultural water.”

According to the Australian Water Association’s submission, disbanding of the commission has had a negative impact, a loss

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE WATER SECTOR The report lists three priority areas where further reform is needed and where water managers will face challenges, in light of the issues of population growth and climate change.

Urban water providers need to affordably serve the needs of growing, ever-more-strained cities: 80% of the country’s GDP is created in cities, and 80% of population growth to 2050 is modelled to come from the capitals.

Improved planning is advised to ensure no repeat of expensive, Millenium Drought-era projects to shore up supply. Decisions should be transparent, not rushed, and consider all options, including “emerging decentralised options”.

Rural and regional water infrastructure should be supported by a “robust selection process” to avoid high legacy cost issues “for taxpayers, industry, communities and the environment” .

Governments should aim to extract maximum benefit from environmental water projects, as well as ensure their sustainability.

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of long-term strategic thinking and has left a leadership vacuum.

The loss of the NWC’s oversight and of a coordinated national focus from COAG has increased the risk of backsliding and retreating from public accountability.

The Water Services Association of Australia is also critical of the organisation’s disbanding.

WSAA CEO Adam Lovell agrees with the report’s message that while progress has been made, more needs to be done.

“Population growth, infrastructure delivery, climate change impacts, drought in some parts of Australia that have never been seen before,” he said. “And we don’t really have a national plan.”

Others have adopted a slightly glossier take on the situation.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said there are challenges ahead, but the result was an A+ for water management and the NWI was internationally regarded.

“This report shows all levels of government are important in getting water management right,” he said.

“This is reflected in one of the key recommendations of the report which calls for COAG to renew the NWI by 2020.”

The report and the responses to it highlight that leadership and strategic thinking are vital. While the heartbreaking eastern drought has the front pages today, droughts pass, times and governments change, and it can be easy to lose focus. “Water planning issues have a long timeframe,” reminds the AWA. The PC report urges a re-commitment to the NWI and meeting challenges, including urbanisation, a swelling population and climate change, as essential. “[T]hese challenges mean that water managers will have to manage a potentially reducing water resource in key parts of Australia to meet the demands of a rapidly increasing population

80%

of the country’s GDP is created in cities

80%

of predicted population growth to come from capital cities

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Productivity Commission

[WE’VE] GOT TO MAKE THE CASE ABOUT WHY THE ROLE OF URBAN WATER IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS TRANSPORT AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND ENERGY, AND ULTIMATELY IT COMES DOWN TO THE LIVEABILITY OF OUR CITIES. ADAM LOVELL, WSA A

for a wider range of water services,” it states. “It is critical that governments act now given the urgency of these challenges and the opportunities for increased productivity and efficiency.”

SWELLING CITIES

The issue of urban water, and having it operate with maximum productivity and efficiency is a matter of national competitiveness, according to WSAA, which intends to request a new NWI. WSAA also points out that urban water is a core economic infrastructure critical to the productivity of cities and should therefore be the responsibility of the Commonwealth infrastructure minister. The message is that we need to think about urban water very differently than we do today.

Lovell said that while the 2004 NWI was praiseworthy as one of few such national-level agreements in the world, in its bipartisan nature and in its foresight, it’s been largely untouched in 14 years. WSAA believes the NWI’s impact on urban water r eform has also been overstated.

And issues such as population growth, climate change and infrastructure servicing?

“The National Water Initiative just doesn’t cover off on that,” Lovell said.

According to ABS projections from 2013, Australia’s population will reach 30.5 million in 2031, with 18.6 million of living in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane. When it comes to planning, Lovell said urban water can’t get its feet at the table, despite its impact. “If we’re not doing our best to manage it efficiently, maximising the resources we have available through diverse sources – and also just to make sure that our vulnerable customers have got ways to always have more services available

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS The PC report is largely positive about both the 2004 National Water Initiative and the progress made through reforms based on this blueprint.

It commits to meeting changing community and sustainable water management needs through a renewed NWI for 2020. However, it is a case of “unfinished business”, and some jurisdictions “have become complacent” over time. Among recommendations, governments must work towards fully implementing entitlement and planning reform, remaining barriers to water trading need to be removed, and Indigenous cultural objectives must be considered by State and Territory Governments. A reform priority is to treat extractive industries (for example the proposed Carmichael mine in central Queensland) the same as other consumptive users for water entitlement and planning. Other priorities include not losing hard-won reforms through backsliding, and enhancing policy settings in urban water management, environmental water management, and new infrastructure.

to them, that they’re not blocked out because of affordability concerns – then we haven’t done our job,” Lovell said.

“I think that’s one of the challenges that we have as a nation. I think also, really importantly, our cities are the engine room of Australia’s GDP. What we’re seeing, in a sense, even above the NWI, is infrastructure services across transport, telecommunications, energy and water are still needing a major uptick in the way they are coordinated. And we’re not seeing that [met] at the moment.”

Lovell said there is a need to elevate city water services to the Commonwealth level.

“As a sector, we’ve got to make the case about why the role of urban water is just as important as transport and telecommunications and energy, and ultimately comes to the liveability of our cities,” he adds.

“And again, the liveability of our cities comes down to Australia’s competitiveness because we’re a knowledge economy. We want the best and the brightest from around the world to want to come and live here.”

LONG-TERM THINKING NEEDED

AWA Chief Executive Jonathan McKeown points out the need to continue the reform journey, highlighting the need to build on the successes it ushered in.

“There’s no doubt that Australia’s experience in legislative reform is world leading,” McKeown said, however, there’s much more to be done in water reform.

Aside from stress added from reform, the climatic cycles of Australia don’t fit with its political cycles of three or four years.

“To provide Australia with water security requires long-term

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TO GIVE US WATER SECURITY REQUIRES LONG-TERM PLANNING TO ENSURE THAT INVESTMENT NEEDS ARE IDENTIFIED, [AND] SUITABLE CAPITAL IS ALLOCATED. JONATHAN MCKEOWN, AWA

planning to quantify and balance future competing water demands, identify investment needs and implement infrastructure and technology improvements,” McKeown said.

“But in terms of water reform, planning needs to be built around what we’ve advocated for, for a truly national water plan that brings all the relevant arms of government – both state and federal – together to create a water security plan for the country going forward.

“That’s a 20- to 40-year water plan to provide a balanced allocation of water for economic, social, and environmental reasons. Such a national water plan needs to include the needs of our agricultural, resource mining, industrial, and urban development.”

Balancing the competing needs will require careful planning, he adds, and needs to incorporate all sources of water – recycling, groundwater, surface water and desalination – needs consideration. Surface water has dominated the national debate around water allocation and management mostly at the expense of other sources of water.

McKeown said Australia should aspire to deliver a consistent quality of drinking water to all, regardless of where the user lives.

He makes the comparison to our telecommunications policy, though this journey hasn’t been completed, which recognises the long-term goal of providing the same quality of service irrespective of location.

To address the need for improved national coordination, McKeown reiterated the AWA’s call to create a National Water Authority, which would be responsible for regulating national frameworks for water trading, water resource planning and urban water supply.

The Authority would need to be independent of government and answer to Parliament, rather than a minister. It would follow the lead of the 1994 National Competition Policy and offer incentives to governments, upon meeting certain milestones, to undertake further water reform.

“Such an approach would encourage State Governments to participate in a nationally coordinated strategy to develop and implement frameworks for water trading, water resources planning, and urban water supply under an independent national water authority,” McKeown said.

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Water Security

DROUGHT DOWN UNDER

CURRENT LINES UP SOME OF THE REGIONS IMPACTED BY DROUGHT IN THE PAST CENTURY.

1900

1901

THE FEDERATION DROUGHT

1895-1903

1911

1912

More than 50% of the continent reached severe drought, with Queensland hit the hardest.

1913

1941

1940-1945 68

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1914

1915

THE WWI DROUGHT

1911-1915

1940

1902

Starting in Western Australia, and moving down through South Australia before reaching a second climax on the east coast, drought affected every corner of the continent during the years of the first World War.

1942

1943

1944

THE WWII DROUGHT

While some of the 1930s saw problematic rainfall shortages, Australia experienced phenomenal drought from east to west during the peak of the second World War.

Sources: ABC, The Conversation, Bureau of Meteorology.

*Reproduction only: maps not to scale.

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1965

1966

THE 1960S DROUGHT

1965-1968

Similarly to the 1930s, the 1960s was littered with nationwide droughts. However, the year of 1967 can be noted for significant lack of rainfall for South Australia and Victoria.

1982

1983

THE 1980S DROUGHT

1983 1982-1983

2002 RAINFALL DECILE RANGES Highest

1967

Australia’s most densly populated cities and regions hit short-lived but severe drought and carries on with storages from previous high-rainfall years.

2006

2009

THE MILLENNIUM DROUGHT

2001-2009

Australia is gripped with the longest and driest drought in recorded history, spurring on a string of nationwide efforts to reform water security policy, the effects of which are felt today.

Very much above average Above average Average Below average Very much below average Lowest

2014

2014-2018

2015

2017

THE LATEST DROUGHT

While the full impact of the current drought is yet to be measured, NSW and much of Queensland and Victoria are experiencing some of the driest seasons yet. www.awa.asn.au

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Customers

Community

MINDED

THE DIGITAL AGE HAS USHERED IN A NEW ERA OF CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT, LEADING NOT ONLY TO GREATER BUSINESS VISIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY, BUT ALSO CREATING A RAFT OF OPPORTUNITIES TO GAIN MORE NUANCED INSIGHTS INTO CUSTOMER MINDSET.

By Martin Kovacs

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any water utilities are now harnessing customer insights to inform decision-making and, at a broader level, are prioritising customer-centricity in business models.

Along with promoting enhanced customer satisfaction and trust, targeted collaboration can play a pivotal role in helping to shape a utility’s strategic framework and planning priorities, with utilities linking customer-derived insights to asset management and investment decisions.

However, in order to realise the full benefits of embracing enterprise customer-centricity, utilities need to ensure that coordinated, end-to-end systems are in place, underpinned by a supportive organisational culture, and typically complemented by the integration of new technologies.

TRANSFORMING CULTURE

SA Water has committed to customer-centricity across its operations in the past five years, with General Manager Customer Delivery Kerry Rowlands pointing to a uniform sense of purpose as having been pivotal in the utility’s adoption of the model.

“We have gone from very limited customer engagement through to not making decisions about our future, or even about a new technology we’re deploying, without having customer involvement,” she said.

“It’s been quite a surprising experience because, while we’re knowledgeable in the industry, what our customers want when we talk to them can be quite different. We now have absolute confidence in implementing new initiatives, knowing it’s what our customers want us to do.”

Rowlands said leadership and internal feedback have played an important role in SA Water’s adoption of customer-centricity, with “strong direction required for cultural shift within an organisation”.

“The challenge is ensuring that you have the right culture in your organisation – and with a large organisation like ours, it’s ensuring your policies and procedures and measures of success drive behaviour,” she said.

“You’ve got to have all of those things aligned to customer outcomes, and that’s when you really start seeing the difference.”

Sydney Water Customer Hub Manager Darren Cash also pointed to cultural change as being an important issue for utilities seeking to adopt a more customer-focused approach.

The launch of Sydney Water’s Customer Hub last year marked a significant shift in the utility’s operations, and Cash singled out customer feedback as “one of the key ways to overcome the cultural change challenge”.

“It takes time to get everyone involved with that end-to-end customer process and understanding of what this means to them and how they’d do things differently,” he said.

“One of the key tools that we used for this is real-time customer feedback.

“Whenever we complete a piece of work for a customer, they have the opportunity to provide us with feedback, good or bad, and that feedback is conveyed back to the people actually involved in that task.”

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Customers

PART OF THIS PROCESS IS FRAMING THINGS FOR CUSTOMERS SO THEY UNDERSTAND US AND WE UNDERSTAND THEM – FINDING THE RIGHT METRICS AND MEASURING THINGS IN A WAY THAT ADDRESSES THE CUSTOMER’S PERSPECTIVE AND IMPACT. DAVINA MCCORMICK, ICON WATER

UTILITY ENGAGEMENT

Utilities are engaging with customers in a variety of ways, from community education programs to online surveys, and it is important to establish a robust framework within which to guide this engagement.

Davina McCormick, General Manager Customer Engagement at ACT utility Icon Water, observed that “a range of tools are required to unpack what customers really want or think”.

“Part of this process is framing things for customers so they understand us and we understand them – finding the right metrics and measuring things in a way that addresses the customer’s perspective and impact,” she stated.

“By the same token, we must be careful not to ask simplistic questions on complicated issues. It’s about engaging and educating in a meaningful way that builds customers’ knowledge and capacity to contribute to the decision-making process.”

TasWater Program Manager Price and Service Plan Eamon Sullivan advised that TasWater relied largely upon traditional engagement methods in developing its Long Term Strategic Plan (LTSP), including focus groups and telephone surveys.

The utility’s strategic framework was revised to be

Credit: Goulburn Valley Water

COMMUNITY FOCUS Goulburn Valley Water (GVW) places a strong emphasis on community engagement, with the Victorian utility having established its community education program 25 years ago, including the Waterwatch community water quality monitoring program.

Communications and Education Coordinator Jacinta Burke

customer-focused, which Sullivan described as “critically important” in engaging with customers and prioritising feedback: “We used the outcomes and associated measures of success to have conversations with our customers about what mattered most to them, encompassing trade-offs between outcomes, given we can’t afford to do everything we want to do at once,” he said.

“We then aligned our activities and investment in the LTSP to the outcomes our customers said were most important.”

BALANCING PRIORITIES

Utilities need to weigh up customer outcomes and other priorities, including technical and regulatory requirements, in making operational decisions and determining long-term planning objectives.

As part of its 2018-23 regulatory planning, Icon Water set about establishing the service levels it would target, expenditure required and impact on customer bills over time, with market research having identified reliability and price as two main customer priorities.

Katherine Larkings, Icon Water Asset Strategy and Investment Team Leader, explained that the utility carried out targeted

explained that Waterwatch had originally served “as a useful way to develop partnerships with other natural resource management organisations”.

“We are always looking for new ideas and reimagining programs,” Burke said.

“Waterwatch continues to be part of the school and community education program, however the community education program has expanded over the years to incorporate water and wastewater programs, including facility tours.”

The utility is involved in a range of initiatives, including Be Smart Choose Tap, Water Only, Don’t Flush It! and National Water Week, along with Sustainability Victoria’s ResourceSmart Schools program.

Burke stated that, while “covering

such a large area with many schools and limited resources” has presented its challenges, participant numbers have continued to grow, with 2017/18 seeing over 5200 students from 93 schools participating in the education program and 6100 in National Water Week activities.

She pointed to partnerships formed with catchment natural resource management organisations as a strong benefit delivered by Waterwatch, with water quality data having been utilised by GVW and the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority.

“It has promoted brand awareness, a positive presence in the community and educated people about integrated water management,” Burke said.

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CUSTOMER HUB

FEEDING CUSTOMER IMPACT INTO THE RENEWALS THINKING IS A REAL CHANGE FROM BEING ASSET-CENTRIC TO BEING MORE CUSTOMERCENTRIC. KERRY ROWLANDS, SA WATER

research to strike a balance between these priorities, and then engaged the Centre for International Economics to conduct a benefit-cost analysis from a whole-of-community standpoint of a range of network expenditure options.

The analysis found that on average customers did not want an increase in spending to reduce risks of water supply interruptions and sewage overflows, preferring less spending on water mains renewal, leading to reduced bills and a marginal increase in supply interruptions over time.

“The survey work and technical work needs to be rigorous, and care needs to be taken that an individual impact to a customer is considered, along with impacts to the broader customer base,” Larkings said.

“We know through research that people tend to undervalue essential services until they are no longer provided, so requesting preference information from customers who have never had an interruption is fraught.”

Sullivan said TasWater engaged consultancy Jacobs to develop a capital prioritisation model to inform its LTSP, employing “linear optimisation to achieve the best set of outcomes for customers within a price constraint”.

He advised that under the model relative weightings were assigned to each customer outcome, and projects that had a higher outcome for a lower cost were prioritised.

“Each of our capital projects has an associated cost and a benefit, such as how much it contributes to achieving one or more customer outcomes, as defined by the associated measure

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Sydney Water launched its pilot Customer Hub in September last year, initially covering one million customers in western Sydney, and a full rollout is planned by the end of this year. The hub brings together its previously separate customer service, response and advocate teams, with its Spatial Hub geospatial situational awareness tool delivering an overview of customer experience.

“It’s a tool that gives us access to all of our internal data streams, plus some external sources of data as well – so, we can use that as part of the decision-making for assessing the customer impact,” he said.

Cash advised that since launch Sydney Water has been able to avoid affecting 47,000 properties that would have otherwise been impacted by interruptions.

“Our mantra with the hub is really to be two things – proactive in our communications with customers and predictive in the way we manage our assets,” he said.

of success,” Sullivan explained.

“The model then calculated an optimal set of outcomes for customers within the price constraint, such as achieving the greatest outcomes based on what customers are willing to pay.”

TANGIBLE RESULTS

A priority for Sydney Water is to minimise potential customer impact on a daily basis, and the utility’s Customer Hub allows it to actively monitor the configuration of its network.

“Often we’ll pick up areas where we can change the design of the network to improve resilience, and therefore reduce the number of people that we affect, but also feeding into renewal strategies for a particular pipe,” he said.

“Feeding that customer impact into the renewals thinking is a real change from being asset-centric to being more customer-centric.”

Rowlands also pointed to an increasing capability to actively pursue customer outcomes, with SA Water making “decisions across the organisation with the customer outcome in mind”.

“I think that probably what we need to do as utilities is challenge ourselves around who is the customer,” she said.

“Previously we’ve viewed the customer as the person paying the bill, but they’re so much more than that, they are all consumers of our products and services, through to commuters potentially being impacted by our infrastructures works.

“We need to make it as easy as possible for them.”

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Every year during Stantec in the Community Week, we come together across Australia to give back to the communities we call home.

5 offices 78 staff

Planting, weeding, garden care, litter collection and harvesting fresh produce.

Stantec.com/Australia

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International

O G R U H

SEAS

H A A E D WITH THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ALREADY CAUSING HAVOC IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC, CURRENT EXPLORES EFFORTS TO MITIGATE THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND POTENTIAL PATHWAYS FOR FUTURE COLLABORATION IN THE REGION.

By Thea Cowie

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King Tides flooding on the island of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean.

C

limate refugees, disappearing islands and plans to relocate entire nations – these are some of the more headline-grabbing impacts of climate change in the South Pacific.

What we don’t always hear about is the chronic symptoms already being felt in the region.

But Managing Director of Samoa Water Authority (SWA), Seugamaalii Jammie Saena, can share a long list.

“Sea level rise, saltwater intrusion, increasing evaporation rates and changing rainfall patterns have affected the water cycle and, potentially, the availability of water for human use,” she said.

“For the South Pacific, where a majority of the population resides on vulnerable, low-lying islands with flood-prone catchments and drought-prone atolls, climate change has undoubtedly become a household name in the most recent years.”

WATER AND SANITATION IN THE REGION Water, sanitation and climate change are inextricably linked, Saena stressed.

“Increased extreme flooding can result in

loss of water sources – the same from reduced rainfall and over-abstraction,” she said.

“Slow on-set rise of sea level in the future could easily affect the supply and quality of ground borehole water when faced with over-abstraction.”

And without clean water, Saena warned that diseases such as diarrhoeal disease placed small and vulnerable island populations at high risk.

“Declining water availability and increased flooding will pose major threats to sewerage and septic systems heavily reliant on water,” she said.

MEDIATING THE EFFECTS Many Pacific Island countries have set up dedicated government bodies to guide climate change adaptation, said Dr Jeremy Kohlitz, senior research consultant with the University of Technology Sydney’s Institute for Sustainable Futures.

“A lot are focused on the disaster aspects of climate change – early monitoring systems to alert people when a cyclone is coming and strategies to expedite recovery,” he said.

“In rural communities there’s a lot of

focus on connecting good communication with disaster response authorities and a strong focus on technological solutions to make water and sanitation more robust.”

Saena added that other major efforts included plant restoration in water catchment areas, increased surveillance of water quality and supply during extreme weather events, sustainable development initiatives using renewable energy, and greenhouse gas reduction mechanisms.

WORKING TOGETHER Acknowledging that climate change is indeed a shared problem, many international partners have stepped in to help.

As Griffith University senior lecturer in Environmental Health, Dr Cara Beal, said: “The good news is that there is some great collaborative, applied research being done”.

“Using local knowledge and building up local skills and capacity can strengthen the resilience of rural villages to disruptions to water and sanitation systems,” said Beal, a senior research fellow at Griffith’s Cities Research Institute.

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International

In Samoa, Young Water Professional (YWP) Christina Mualia is involved in local projects as part of the 28-nation, $1.2 billion Climate Investment Funds Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR).

“Projects include extending the coverage of SWA’s network to include communities in further away areas and enhance their resilience,” said Mualia, a Technician Officer with the Wastewater Division of SWA. “[Projects also include] ensuring access to consistent treated water supply, and relocating pipelines inland to provide for populations that have relocated away from vulnerable coastal areas to escape sea level rise, storm surges and flooding.”

Meanwhile, for engineering and management consultancy Beca, the focus has been on not only helping to design water and wastewater solutions, but also strategic planning.

“We’re doing a lot of port, wharf and coastal protection work in the Solomon Islands, Cook Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji,” said Kristina Hermens, Beca Business Director – Three Waters.

“In the Marshall Islands we’ve recently completed a 20-year strategic and development plan for the capital, Majuro.”

MORE WORK NEEDED While there are countless examples of work underway, plenty more could be done.

Saena’s wish list included improved infrastructures and building standards for water supplies, flood proof bridges and river walls, current barriers and early warning systems coverage.

From a research perspective, Beal suggested further work was needed, “especially in monitoring and evaluating

research outcomes and existing water and sanitation management frameworks.”

“A better understanding of local cultural, social and governance mechanisms that drive communitybased management of water and sanitation systems will help to identify barriers to future-proofing safe, accessible and acceptable water, and sanitation for both rural and urban populations.”

And this is perhaps the crux of the issue – ensuring that climate change adaptation efforts are both appropriate and sustainable within their unique setting.

As ISF’s Kohlitz stressed: “It’s not just a matter of Australian organisations going out and saying ‘do it this way, do it that way’. It’s about working with the communities to co-produce solutions”.

SUSTAINABLE ACTION For Kohlitz, appropriate and sustainable collaboration means merging top-down and bottom-up approaches.

“So taking the scientific knowledge that water organisations in Australia have and then communicating that at a community level where people might not have a strong understanding of what climate change is,” he said.

“The bottom-up approach is where communities are able to communicate their own contextual, local or traditional knowledge to water organisations so that we can come up with solutions that are both scientifically sound, but also appropriate for these local areas.”

Beal was keen to make the distinction that collaboration did not mean consultation.

“Collaboration takes longer and is more frustrating and complex than consultation,” she said.

DECLINING WATER AVAILABILITY AND INCREASED FLOODING WILL POSE MAJOR THREATS TO SEWERAGE AND SEPTIC SYSTEMS HEAVILY RELIANT ON WATER.

ADAPTWATER Rather than waiting until water is lapping at the doors – work out which doors it’s going to lap at and make sure that doesn’t happen.

That’s essentially what Samoa, Fiji and Papua New Guinea water utilities have been doing using AdaptWater – an online risk and cost-benefit analysis tool.

“All the evidence is that every dollar spent in preparedness is worth between $20 and $100 in avoided damage,” said Director of Science and Systems at Climate Risk, Karl Mallon.

Climate Risk was involved in the original development of AdaptWater in collaboration with Sydney Water and the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA).

In 2017, AdaptWater was used to complete initial vulnerability assessments of utility assets in the Pacific.

“We identified some which were at significant risk today because of pumps, where sea levels are, and the risk of inundation,” explained Mallon.

“We looked at another tranche where the risks will become unacceptable over the current asset life, and others where there won’t be an issue until later this century.”

The tool was applied in the Pacific through a collaboration between Climate Risk, Sydney Water, and Philippines NGO, Waterlinks.

Additional qualitative and quantitative assessments have now been completed in Fiji and Samoa.

“The next frontier is to engage with the utilities to see whether it will be funding-grade analysis,” said Mallon.

“Because one of the strong messages from the international infrastructure funding community is they would like to invest in climate adaptation in the Pacific, but the business cases are insufficiently robust to pass financing hurdles.”

SEUGAMA ALII JAMMIE SAENA, SAMOA WATER AUTHORIT Y

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International

COLLABORATION TAKES LONGER AND IS MORE FRUSTRATING AND COMPLEX THAN CONSULTATION, BUT IT IS MUCH MORE LIKELY TO RESULT IN POSITIVE AND PRACTICAL OUTCOMES AND BENEFITS FOR COMMUNITY. DR CARA BEAL, GRIFFITH UNIVERSIT Y

“But it is much more likely to result in positive and practical outcomes and benefits for community.”

Samoan YWP Mualia also pointed out that those wishing to engage needed to respect local professionals.

“While developing countries like those in the Pacific remain grateful to donor countries ... there are gaps that need to be addressed,” she said.

“Donors are asked to tailor their assistance to align with a working environment that differs from their own both in terms of resources and processes.”

Director of Science and Systems at Climate Risk Karl Mallon has been exploring adaptive asset management in the region and said that collaborative efforts could make a real difference.

“In some ways it’s easier to get things done in these countries because access to decision makers and political leaders is easier,” he said.

“And because their assets have been built much more recently, things like their GIS systems are not just good, they’re also relatively complete.”

WHAT LIES AHEAD

While the headlines might tell a story of disappearing islands, climate refugees and entire countries relocating, that’s not necessarily the way of the future, said ISF’s Kohlitz.

“There is significant uncertainty associated with the geomorphology of the islands – they may just change shape or even grow because of how ocean currents change and sediments are deposited,” he said.

“It’s worth mentioning because a lot of people say ‘well why put money into Kiribati or other low-lying atolls if they’re just going to be gone in a few decades?”

And if we’re not prepared to help climate change adaptation efforts in the South Pacific, then what does the future hold for us?

“This issue impacts everyone,” reminded Saena.

“The future should look like everyone is aware of the seriousness and enormity of the challenges we face – they should work and live as if the last drop of water is the next one they drink.”

COLLABORATING IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC: FIVE LESSONS Engineering and management consultancy Beca has been collaborating on projects in the South Pacific for more than 40 years.

Here are five key lessons learned over that time, as outlined by Kristina Hermens, Business Director – Three Waters, Beca.

Engage early with a wide selection of stakeholders.

Understand the perspective of decision makers, including board members and politicians, business organisations and the general community.

Adapt consultation techniques to the community. For example, communication should be conducted in the most common language, and meetings should be scheduled at times and locations that suit the community.

Understand key influences within a society, including decision makers and the land ownership structure.

For example, in the Marshall Islands, land is privately owned with a matrilineal three-tier ownership system.

Each tier has a role in how land is used and should be consulted when planning infrastructure.

Tailor solutions to incorporate cultural beliefs and practices.

For example, elevated composting outhouse toilets may not be appropriate in Pacific communities where it is a cultural taboo to raise your head higher than a person of superior status.

River flooding a road at Nausori Highland, Navala, Viti Levu, Fiji

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Understand funding agency drivers and requirements.

If you know who the likely funding agencies are, tailor your work to meet their requirements for reports and assessments.

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Liquid Labs

SPLITTING

WATER

BUILDING A HYDROGEN EXPORT MARKET FROM THE GROUND UP IS NO EASY FEAT, BUT TWO RESEARCHERS FROM QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (QUT) IN BRISBANE HAVE SET OUT TO DO JUST THAT.

By Cecilia Harris

W

ith the world’s appetite for renewable energy increasing rapidly, hydrogen offers an excellent alternative to oil-based fuel sources. However, producing hydrogen sustainably and cost effectively requires an array of expertise and insight. With trading heavyweight Japan seeking to increase hydrogen import, QUT researchers Professors Graeme Millar and Anthony O’Mullane have stepped up to the challenge.

“Hydrogen production has been very topical before and it’s become very topical again, because of drivers like Japan. While a lot of Japanese companies are focused on the idea, they see Australia as an ideal business partner because we have a lot of sun and a lot of coastline,” Millar said.

“Australia may not be the main users of hydrogen, but we may certainly be the main exporters, because we have almost unlimited power from the sun and water from the sea. The great thing is Japan has put a cost on hydrogen, which means we have a bottom line to work with.”

Although Australia offers an ideal location for hydrogen generation, there’s still groundwork involved in establishing cost-efficient processes to

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meet the required demand.

Professor O’Mullane says electrochemically the science is there, it’s now about improving the process to increase efficiency and durability.

“Once you have purified water, you add what we call an electrolyte, which makes the water conductive.

Typically we use an alkaline solution, potassium hydroxide. Then, we can use electrochemistry to split it into hydrogen and oxygen,” O’Mullane said.

“One of the issues we have with water splitting is the need to develop durable electrodes that are also active enough to drive the reaction efficiently.

You need excellent catalysts for not only generating hydrogen, but also oxygen. If one electrode does not work as well as the other, your overall process is compromised. At QUT, we

are working on developing both sides so that we have electrodes that can do this as efficiently as possible, so we can produce as much hydrogen as possible, while also lowering the amount of energy needed to facilitate the process by using renewable energy sources like wind and solar.”

BUILDING THE RIGHT PROCESSES And while O’Mullane is busy splitting water, Millar is charged with the task of scaling up the operation, including ensuring water sources are purified and delivered as sustainably as possible.

“The issue, research wise, is how to make hydrogen renewable. We can’t use freshwater because we don’t have enough of it. The first thing we needed is

INTEGRATING DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGIES AT SCALE IS NOT AS STRAIGHTFORWARD AS IT SOUNDS. IT’S NOT A QUESTION OF STICKING TECHNOLOGY TOGETHER AND HAVING IT JUST WORK. PROFESSOR ANTHONY O’MULLANE, QUT

www.awa.asn.au

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purified water. The most obvious and abundant source is seawater,” Millar said.

“My work is to purify and desalinate that water as cheaply as we can and using renewable energy. From the water treatment side, it’s not only about meeting the market by scaling up but also working with the best processes.”

But it’s not only water treatment that needs attention. Professor Millar said the operation has personnel working on an array of different aspects to ensure the outcome is successful and cost-effective.

“We have a big group of people doing the business side of things, as well as the engineering and hydrogen transport side. It’s a very big challenge to try to produce hydrogen at this scale,” Millar said.

“In terms of the financials, we have a

client that expects to have a product delivered at a certain cost. It’s a very commercial transaction but we also want to do the best by the environment.

To make it a viable and alternative fuel source, or at least a bigger part of an integrated mix, it really is about making economic sense.”

work. A lot of research goes into how to invest, the optimum use of materials and making sure all the different requirements are on the same page technologically,” O’Mullane said.

“The project wouldn’t have gotten off the ground if it wasn’t for collaboration.

There are chemists, engineers, physicists, planners and business experts all working together.”

Millar said diversifying the expertise involved in the operation was imperative to tackling the challenge offered up by a gap in the international market.

“Industry know what they need better than we do, we are guided by them,” he said.

“We had to diversify. We knew we weren’t going to achieve our goals if we continued with the same way of doing things and that takes collaboration.”

COLLABORATION IS KEY So far, so good, but O’Mullane says working together with an interdisciplinary attitude to make the export dream a reality has been the most crucial element of the project.

“Integrating different technologies at scale is not as straightforward as it sounds. It’s not a question of sticking technology together and having it just

H2

HOW IT WORKS

O2

Commercial electrolyser will consist of many anode and cathode combinations connected together to maximise hydrogen production Cell operates under flowing conditions using a continuous supply of clean water with KOH added Hydrogen is evolved at the cathode and captured for later use and the oxygen evolved at the anode can be captured or vented to atmosphere

cathode

Voltage is applied between the anode and cathode

anode

1 2 3 4

separator

Alkaline water electrolysis

H2(g)+2OH-(aq)

2H2O(1)+2e-

Professor Anthony O’Mullane works in the Science and Engineering Faculty at QUT.

O2(g)+2H2O(1)+4e-

4OH-(aq)

Professor Graeme Millar works in the Science and Engineering Faculty at QUT.

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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

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.

86 89 90 92 93

BEST WATER E-JOURNAL PAPER A different type of pathogen, an increasing climate change threat.

OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY Take a look at Sydney Water’s waste-to-energy program.

WATER SUPPLY A study into the probability of occurence of water supply demand peaking factors.

WATER SUPPLY AND RISK ASSESSMENT A method for sizing back-up provisions to match probable water supply failures.

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ASSET MANAGEMENT Implimenting research into the management of critical water mains.

HEALTH-BASED TARGETS A new approach to assessing water quality risk.

BIOSOLIDS Recommended PFOS and PFOA levels in biosolids for land application.

CAPITAL AND INVESTMENT Development of an investment optimisation and prioritisation model.

URBAN WATER PLANNING Using creative processes, appreciative inquiry and art to bring communities’ views to life.

To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal www.awa.asn.au

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executive summary climate change BEST WATER E-JOURNAL PAPER 2017

In honour of Guy Parker The Australian Water Awards recognises outstanding journal content taken from the Associations Water e-Journal.

The award patron, Guy Parker, was part of the Association’s founding four and started the Association’s Journal, which has evolved over time into the Water e-Journal. The best Water e-Journal Paper is judged by the Water e-Journal editorial committee and this was the 2017 winner, announced at the Ozwater'18 gala dinner.

Understanding Naegleria fowleri A DIFFERENT TYPE OF PATHOGEN, AN INCREASING CLIMATE CHANGE THREAT C Laydon

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Although trophozoites are killed rapidly by refrigeration, cysts can survive for weeks to months at cold temperatures above freezing, although they appear to be sensitive to freezing

122°F - 149°F (50°C - 46°C)

115°F (46°C)

Naegleria fowleri grows best at higher temperatures up to 115°F (46°C)

Although the amebae may not be able to grow well, Naegleria fowleri can still survive at higher temperatures for short perios of time. The trophozoites and cysts can survive from minutes to hours at 122-149°F (50-65°C) with the cysts being more resistant at these temperatures.

Summary of geographic and secular distribution of Australian PAM cases, 1955-1981 3

2

PA

MM

ME

KA

PP PA

ME RC

PA

PA PA

KA PA PP PA

BE WY

CASE

A

s Australians, we are used to dealing with warmer climatic conditions, and over the past six months we have seen a number of climate records being broken.

With our changing climate, these extremes are likely to become more common and more records are likely to be broken.

Climate change is also bringing a number of challenges to the water industry, and one of those is an increasing water temperature profile and the risk of a unique and dangerous pathogen: Naegleria fowleri.

So what is Naegleria fowleri? Why does it require more attention from our industry, and why will climate change increase the risk associated with this pathogen?

Naegleria is a natural environmental organism (a free-moving amoeba) that lives in fresh, warm-water conditions, with an optimal growth temperature at around 45°C. Unlike most of the waterborne pathogens of concern, it is not related to faecal contamination. If the surrounding environmental conditions support the amoeba, it can be carried by dust, soil or minor infiltration and could contaminate susceptible potable water supplies.

Naegleria fowleri has a unique behavioural trait, which is that when exposed to the human nasal track it will move up the olfactory nerve, through the cribriform plate and then into the brain.

Due to our warm body temperatures and organic material availability, the organism starts to feed on the brain tissue. This infection causes brain swelling and tissue deterioration and is called Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM).

32°F (0°C)

1

PP

PA

55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81

YEAR OF OCCURENCE

Key to Place Abbreviations ( ) = No. of Cases

1965 First published account of PAM

(Fowler & Carter)

KA = PP = PA = WY =

1972

Kadina, S.A Pt. Piriie, S.A Pt. Augusta, S.A Whyalla, S.A

BE = Beverley, W.A ME = Merredin, W.A

(2) (3) (8) (1) (1) (2)

RC = Richmond, NSW (1) MM = Mt. Morgan, QLD (1)

Anderson & Jamieson isolated N. fowleri from domestic supply on Morgan-Whyalla pipeline in February E&WS amoeba control and monitoring programme commenced November.

1981 First case of PAM in S.A. for 9 years

& Whyalla’s first case ever.

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If the surrounding environmental conditions support the amoeba, Naegleria fowleri can be carried by dust, soil, minor infiltration, and could contaminate susceptible potable water supplies.

In the great majority of cases (more than 97%) death occurs within one to two weeks of infection. However, the occurrence of the disease is currently considered rare. Within the United States there have been 138 cases of PAM between 1962 and 2015, with zero to eight infections per year.

DOMESTIC RISK

The majority of PAM cases worldwide occur due to exposure to contaminated recreational water. However, in Australia we also have conditions that can warm water potable supplies. Potable water, which is continually above 25oC or seasonally above 30oC, is considered at risk. These types of warm water conditions are not limited to northern or inland regions of Australia, but to any region or location with warm water conditions such as deep geothermic bores, external reservoirs and long exposed pipelines.

An in-depth Australian study was undertaken by M.Dorsch in 1982 on PAM in potable water supplies. During her research Dorsch identified 19 fatal Australian PAM cases from 1955 to 1981, and she looked at a number of different water schemes and disinfection controls.

The key finding from Dorsch was that

by maintaining a free chlorine residual of 0.5mg/L throughout the entire reticulation system, the pathogen could be effectively managed. This key finding has provided the basis for the recommendations within the current ADWGs, which includes a dedicated factsheet on the pathogen.

The US has also recently experienced potable water related PAM infections for the first time in many years. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also deems this an increasing pathogenic risk with increasing climate temperatures. Current recommendations from the CDC reect the original Australian recommendations of increased chlorine residuals. However, new research is being undertaken in the US to provide chlorine contact time (Ct) and UV dose levels for inactivation.

Within our industry there are a number of water authorities that are monitoring and actively managing the risk of Naegleria fowleri. The general approach taken in managing this pathogen, as per the ADWG, is to initially understand the water system temperature profiles to determine if it is an at-risk supply, following which, a study or more routine testing is recommended.

Mitigating potential risks are generally based on maintaining clean pipelines

and reservoirs, reducing sludge and biofilm layers which can create ideal environments for the amoeba to shelter and colonise, as well as maintaining a free chlorine residual of above 0.5mg/L throughout the entire reticulation system.

As we head into a future of increased and extreme temperature events, this pathogen is likely to spread throughout our already-warm continent. Within the industry, we currently have the tests, tools and systems to manage this pathogen. However, increasing the awareness and understanding of this deadly amoeba is important to ensure that the risks are understood and mitigated appropriately.

Clara Laydon is a senior process engineer at Hunter H2O.

To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal

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Welcome to our new members NEW CORPORATE MEMBERS

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executive summary operational efficiency

Energising Sydney through co-digestion food waste SYDNEY WATER’S WASTE-TO-ENERGY PROGRAM B Galway, P Denyer, M Kelly, P Woods, H Bustamante

S

ydney Water’s Food Waste to Energy 2020 Plan established the vision that by 2020 Sydney Water will provide a sustainable food-organics disposal service to its business customers. To achieve this vision, the plan outlined a series of research and pilot programs to be established from 2015.

The aim of the co-digestion pilots has been to prove that co-digesting trucked, high-strength organic waste at a WWTP increases biogas production and helps us gain a better understanding on how to receive trucked organic waste.

The pilot success is measured against two objectives.

This paper highlights the steps that Sydney Water has followed in developing the program to this point. It will also

indicated impressive biogas production.

The first pilot plant constructed was at Bondi Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP).

As the program evolved, a second pilot plant was designed and constructed to receive fruit and vegetable waste at the Cronulla WWTP, this plant became operational in late 2016 and is currently within the commissioning phase.

The results from our pilots identified the complexity of identifying positive and negative impacts in operational treatment plants.

The Bondi pilot identified that lab and bench scale digesters provided good data on expected gas and energy outputs.

They could not reproduce the limitations of using the material in a functioning treatment plant because we were unable to dose to the same level. As Sydney Water moves through available products from basic glycerol and sugary water such as soft drinks to more complex food wastes such as commercial kitchen and grease trap waste, a better understanding of impact on digester operation and digestion outputs is required.

Limitations in lab scale research and natural variability of gas production within operating WWTPs has highlighted the need for a middle ground, a large-scale research digester.

Through the support of the Australian Research Council, the University of Wollongong, University of NSW, DC Water

The aim of the codigestion pilots has been to prove that co-digesting trucked, high-strength organic waste at a WWTP increases biogas production. detail how the process has altered as we continue to accumulate learnings in this new area. The program has evolved from ad-hoc, lab-scale research, to a pilot; now it is a more defined research and development (R&D), pilot and implement life cycle.

The initial research used glycerol, a by-product from the manufacture of biodiesel. This product looked very promising and the lab scale research

and Sydney Water, a three-year research program was designed, which included the construction of two 1KL anaerobic digesters at our Shellharbour WWTP. This program will provide more accurate outcomes and outputs from more complex co-digestate products for future pilot plants.

Brendan Galway is a Service Planning Analyst at Sydney Water.

Phil Woods is a Service Planning Lead at Sydney Water.

Dr Heriberto Bustamante is Principal Research Scientist at Sydney Water.

To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal

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executive summary water supply

Water supply peaking factor stochastics A STUDY INTO THE PROBABILITY OF OCCURRENCE OF WATER SUPPLY DEMAND PEAKING FACTORS L Donaldson

Tinaroo Falls Dam, Atherton Tablelands, Far North Queensland, Australia

W

ater supply codes generally do not recognise the stochastic nature of water supply demands and there is little published information about the exceedance probabilities, or return intervals of peaking factors. This is a limitation to water supply practitioners who generally can only use single-value water supply peaking factors. The availability of stochastic-based peaking factors would allow water supply infrastructure to be sized to match their levels of importance and quantitative risk assessments to be undertaken.

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 Designers involved in drainage infrastructure can choose between a one, five or 10 year, or some other return interval flood event, depending on its importance. Shouldn’t that same flexibility also be available for practitioners working with water supply infrastructure?

Many Australian water authorities now hold large demand databases in the form of flow meter records kept for billing purposes and data loggers associated with the operation of demand management areas. This paper outlines the methodology adopted for the

stochastic analysis of 685 12-month sets of daily flow meter data collected from five south-east Queensland water supply authorities. That number of accepted data sets was reduced to 369 after the original data sets had been reviewed for completeness and uniformity. The data sets were also adjusted for in-catchment storage mitigation impacts.

Stochastic peaking factors suitable for the investigation and design of water supply distribution infrastructure were prepared by arbitrarily separating the 12-month sets of daily flow meter records into 13 average day

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demand bins ranging from 0-0.2 ML/d to 400-800 ML/d, undertaking exceedance probability analyses of the members of each bin. The representative probability lines from each bin were combined using the 95% and 5% confidence limits as a guide to produce a series of smooth-shaped curves showing the 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1-year recurrence interval Maximum Day, 7-Day and 30-Day peaking factors for supply areas with average day demands between 0.1 and 600 ML/d. The location of storages within the data supply areas was found to have only a minor impact on the resultant peaking factors.

As part of the data investigations, it was found that the Maximum Day, 7-Day and 30-Day peaking factors could be linked using a variation of the Goodrich Formula persistence curve, which closely matched the raw data.

Those persistence curves allowed the outcomes from the stochastic analyses

Shouldn’t that same flexibility also be available for practitioners working with water supply infrastructure?

to be confirmed by back-calculating the Maximum Day peaking factors using independently prepared 7-Day and 30-Day peaking factors.

The prepared stochastic peaking factors were for the south-east Queensland supply, which services a population of over three million people and extends over a distance of nearly 200 km. Testing found that those peaking factors also met acceptable confidence limits for individual supply areas within the overall supply area. The prepared stochastic peaking factors for the SEQ supply area therefore need only be defined by their AD demand and recurrence interval.

Lee Donaldson is an independent consultant. This is paper one of a series on this topic prepared by Lee. To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal

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executive summary water supply and risk assessment

Water supply risk assessments using stochastic peaking factors A METHOD FOR SIZING BACK-UP PROVISIONS TO MATCH PROBABLE WATER SUPPLY FAILURES L Donaldson

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Maximum Day Peaking Factor Exceedance Probability Profiles 18.0 100%

16.0

50%

14.0

Peaking factor

n Australia the national water supply design guidelines, Water Supply Code of Australia, recommend that risk assessments are undertaken as part of the process of sizing reservoirs and pump stations, and the determination of system configurations. The guidelines refer to AS/NZS ISO 31000:2009 Risk Management – Principles and Guidelines, which outlines a risk/ consequence matrix approach for determining risks, and the most appropriate risk mitigation actions.

Such matrices can identify the relative need for back-up provisions to cope with identified failure events. Unfortunately, while water supply failure risks can be well assessed, the consequences are much more difficult to evaluate. This is primarily because it is usually not possible to know whether the failure event would be most likely to occur during a minimum day, maximum day or some other value demand event. The size of the back-up provisions therefore cannot be determined with any certainty and it is usual for water supply practitioners to have to make an educated guess about the required provisions.

The companion paper, Water Supply Peaking Factor Stochastics, discusses the determination of stochastic based peaking factors from annual daily water supply records. The availability of stochastic water supply peaking factors

20%

12.0

10%

10.0

5% 2%

6.0

1%

16.0 4.0 2.0 0.0 0.1

1

100

Supply area average day demand (ML/d)

allows the sizing of a water supply system to match the demand for an adopted frequency of occurrence, i.e. level of service, in much the same way that a storm water drainage designer might size a drain to match the frequency of a storm event.

A methodology has been prepared for undertaking risk assessments using the conventional binomial probability approach in conjunction with those

Unfortunately, while water supply failure risks can be well assessed using risk/consequence matrices, the consequences are difficult to evaluate.

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stochastic based peaking factors. Risk assessments can be undertaken using that methodology to quantify the back-up provision needed for a probable failure event, while retaining the same level of service adopted for the supply system for normal operational conditions.

Lee Donaldson has been engaged by several south-east Queensland water supply authorities to assess failure risks.

This is paper two of a series on this topic prepared by Lee.

To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal

www.awa.asn.au

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executive summary urban water planning

Community engagement on water futures USING CREATIVE PROCESSES, APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY AND ART TO BRING COMMUNITIES’ VIEWS TO LIFE J Chong, K Winterford, A Lederwasch

• Capturing participants’ feedback on processes through video interviews.

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ew approaches to engaging the community are needed to navigate the increasing complexity of planning urban water systems in the face of uncertain climatic, social, economic and political futures.

This paper shares an innovative approach developed by the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney in collaboration with the NSW Government’s Metropolitan Water Directorate. The community engagement process described in this paper was conducted for the greater Sydney region, whose population is expected to reach nearly 6 million by 2036 (NSW Office of Water 2010).

Our approach integrated futures visioning, Appreciative Inquiry and creative processes to engage the community on their vision for the future. Futures methods are built on a fundamental principle that our ‘image of the future’ – combining foresights as well as aspirations – is core to anticipating, driving and deciding how to achieve change (Voros 2001).

Appreciative Inquiry is a form of inquiry which focuses on discovering the positive within any social situation as a way to create change. Appreciative Inquiry

approaches recognise that the meaning and knowledge created depends on the language used.

This innovative process produced three scenarios that took the form of artistic visualisations with accompanying narratives. The scenarios were: 1. Healthy, green, balanced; 2. Innovation, technology, data; and 3. Educated, informed, aware. Combined outcomes of community and stakeholder workshops, and the individual future scenarios have been key inputs in the review of the NSW Government’s Metropolitan Water Plan.

This project demonstrated the value of using creative processes (futures and art) and Appreciative Inquiry in Our workshop activities included: community engagment processes. The • Paired-interviews, whereby partcipants creative processes used were effective used Appreciative Inquiry-framed in inspiring new world views and opened questions, to explore the highlights of water use and management in the recent up possibilities for sharing technical water system information with the community past and to share preferred visions of water use and management in the future. in a way that informs and builds on community visions through art. This • A futures triangle exercise, which innovative, effective and tested process encouraged participants to recognise has potential for use in other water that multiple alternative futures are community engagement processes. possible, from the current situation and system.

• Small groupwork, which utilised a range Joanne Chong is Associate Professor at of creative visioning tools to develop the Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS. detailed scenarios and narratives of preferred water use and management.

Dr Keren Winterford is a recent • Creation of artworks to illustrate the PhD graduate. preferred scenarios – artist Aleta Lederwasch sketched alongside the Aleta Lederwasch is an artist and a participants, and during the work of sustainability research consultant and has small groups, to capture the elements been working with ISF since 2010. of the preferred scenarios. Participants provided feedback on concept sketches and Aleta then developed final artworks post-workshop that incorporated To read the full article, visit the Water this feedback. e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal

www.awa.asn.au

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executive summary asset management

Implementing research into the management of critical water mains RENEWAL OF LARGE DIAMETER WATER PIPES BASED ON FAILURE PREDICTION D Vitanage, C Crawley, D Zhang, J Rajalingam, S Rathnayaka, J Kodikara

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any major urban water utilities in Australia have significant numbers of cast iron critical water mains (CWM) that have been installed a long time ago and are in a state of reaching the end of their designed service life. The pipes have been subjected to gradual but continuous deterioration. Rapid urbanisation adds demanding operating conditions on critical water mains, causing high stresses. These factors lead pipes to fail. When they do they often cause significant impacts in terms of maintaining service levels to customers, loss of fire fighting supply, safety issues, transport disruption and other social costs, as well as significant financial and reputational implications.

This has been a serious challenge to water utilities, mainly due to the limited resources available to renew or replace these pipelines.

To overcome these challenges, a consortium of local and international water industry organisations led by Sydney Water undertook a five-year (2011-2016)

collaborative research project titled Advanced Condition Assessment and Pipe Failure Prediction (ACAPFP). The project was funded in cash ($5.9 million) and in-kind funding of $16.5 million. The research partners of the project were Monash University (lead), University of Technology Sydney and University of Newcastle. The overall goal of the project was to make definite advancement in critical pipe condition assessment and failure prediction. The project has advanced the fundamental engineering science in pipeline failure definition and corrosion development, and also innovated several tools to predict critical water pipe failure.

Throughout this project, a number of aspects related to the performance of large-diameter cast iron pipes have been investigated, including relevant pipe failure mechanisms, existing failure prediction models, loading on pipes (both internal and external), new and existing pipe condition assessment techniques and pipe corrosion prediction models.

The overall goal of the project was to make definite advancement in critical pipe condition assessment and failure prediction.

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New tools have been developed to predict pipe stress (taking into account more reliable loading, pipe properties, pipe condition, corrosion rates and associated uncertainties), to estimate the rate of pipe corrosion in respect to the pipes’ buried environment and new methods to improve the interpretation of the results of some commonly used pipe condition assessment technology.

The significant outcomes from this research project need to be integrated into water utilities’ business practices, with validation across a larger cohort of pipes to benefit customers and shareholders.

Sydney Water funded the operationalise phase of the ACAPFP project in 2017 to integrate research findings into the Sydney Water pipe network. The operationalise phase will cost up to $4 million (including 200k for independent project management) over the next three years.

To achieve a return on this investment, the water main renewal program needs to achieve at least 4% efficiency in cost through operationalising the learnings from the ACAPFP project by the end of the 2016-20 price period.

This paper presents the key findings of the ACAPFP project, its early benefits, the reasoning to initiate the operationalise phase of the ACAPFP project and detailed information about the operationalise phase and the expected research outcomes.

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Dammika Vitanage is the Asset Infrastructure Research Coordinator for Sydney Water.

Craig Crawley is the Service Planning Manager in Sydney Water.

David Zhang is the Service Planning Lead in Service Planning & Asset Strategy, Sydney Water.

Jeya Rajalingam is a Senior Engineer in Sydney Water responsible for condition assessment of critical water mains.

The pipes have been subjected to gradual but continuous deterioration.

Rapid urbanisation adds demanding operating conditions on critical water mains, causing high stresses.

Suranji Rathnayaka is a Research Fellow at Monash University.

Jayantha Kodikara is a Professor in Civil Engineering at Monash University.

To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal

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executive summary health-based targets

A new approach to assessing water quality risk A VISUAL TOOL COMBINING BEST-PRACTICE OPERATIONS AND HEALTH-BASED TARGETS S Westgate, M Robertson

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ater quality risk management has historically been based on a retrospective review of sampling results. Simply monitoring E.coli in the distribution network cannot prevent a water quality event from occurring, and only allows a water utility to respond reactively to events that have already occurred. This paper outlines the

development and implementation of a novel visual approach to assess water quality risk in drinking water systems.

As a legacy of operating as 29 councils and three water utilities, TasWater (Tasmania’s sole water and sewage utility) has an inconsistent application of operational and managerial practices, and targets across the utilities 51 potable systems. Consequently, the risks to

customers were not well understood and the potential for water quality breaches was high. Furthermore, with a revenue base of approximately 200,000 connections, TasWater faces unique budgetary and cultural challenges compared to its interstate peers. Therefore the business required a robust model to prioritise and focus water quality improvement projects.

An assessment was developed and implemented by TasWater in an effort to proactively identify water quality risks to prioritise and focus water quality improvement projects. Two Australian, industry recognised methodologies were utilised; the Manual for the Application of

The GPG assessment was chosen for the study as it represented an accepted benchmark for management and operational industry best practices.

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Heath-Based Treatment Targets (WSAA) (HBT); and the Good Practice Guide to the Operation of Drinking Water Supply Systems for the Management of Microbial Risk (WRA) (GPG).

These methodologies were then adapted into an assessment matrix comparing operation practices and health-based targets. This combination provided a robust defendable model, capable of assessing risk both theoretically and practically, irrespective of catchment risk profile, treatment type or complexity.

The HBT manual was adopted as a method to assess the performance, effectiveness and suitability of a water treatment processes against the catchment water quality objectives. The GPG assessment was chosen for the study as it represented an accepted benchmark for management and operational industry best practices.

Assessments took a weighted score from a pass/fail questionnaire

developed from the GPG to provide a per cent compliance with industry standard operational practices. This was then compared against the treatment adequacy of each treatment barrier against catchment LRV requirements of the HBT. The results of these assessments were plotted onto a single chart which allowed for a utility-wide visualisation of water quality risk. This then facilitated the development of operational improvements and capital upgrades to reduce risk to consumers. In particular, the results have been able to demonstrate return on investment for various project options, by allowing a direct CAPEX vs OPEX comparison.

On a system-by-system basis, work plans and improvement projects specific to each system were developed to increase GPG scores and improve HBT compliance. Likewise, themes and trends across multiple systems were observed and large, utility-wide programs have

been rolled out such as UV disinfections systems and CCP implementation. In summary, the visualisation of risk has proven to be a powerful tool in TasWater and has illustrated the business’s risk in regard to water quality. To address this, the same system has been used to visualise and justify return on investments for future projects to safeguard our customers, leading to a more proactive approach to water quality security.

Stephen Westgate is a Senior Water Quality Ccientist at TasWater.

Matthew Robertson is a Process Engineer at TasWater.

To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal

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executive summary biosolids

Assessment of emergent contaminants in biosolids RECOMMENDED PFOS AND PFOA LEVELS IN BIOSOLIDS FOR LAND APPLICATION P Darvodelsky, K Hopewell

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he water industry monitors potential risks from new compounds to ensure biosolids can be used sustainably. PFOS and PFOA (perfluorooctane sulphonate and perfluorooctanoic acid) have known or suspected health effects and have been detected at levels of concern in a number of communities around Australia. These compounds are two of the most well-known of the group known as per-and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS).

The Australian and New Zealand Biosolids Partnership (ANZBP) conducted a national survey of available data on the presence of PFAS in biosolids in which major utilities shared their data from over 100 samples from 13 different sewage treatment plants around Australia.

In Australia, the National Environment Protection (Assessment of Contaminated Sites) Measure (NEPC, 1999), or NEPM sets out a clear method for assessing emerging contaminants. This method is used as the basis for determining ‘safe’ levels of PFOS and PFOA in biosolids.

This review examines two key exposure pathways: • Direct ingestion of biosolids; and • Direct ingestion of soil in which biosolids have been incorporated.

It is considered in the context of Australian biosolids guidelines and use that these two exposure pathways are likely the highest risk pathways, however, it should be noted that insufficient information on factors such as crop and animal uptake rates currently exist to accurately assess other exposure pathways. These pathways are important and should also be reviewed as data

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executive summary biosolids

becomes available.

The key steps to determine safe limits in biosolids are to: 1. Use the tolerable daily intake levels of PFOS and PFOA set by the Australian Department of Health; 2. Use the NEPM method to calculate the health investigation level (HIL) for PFOS/PFOA (direct ingestion); 3. Assume typical biosolids application rate, repeat application frequency and incorporation depth for biosolids applied to land; 4. Calculate allowable safe levels of PFOS/PFOA in biosolids applied to agricultural land.

Results from the survey are summarised in Table 1 below.

PFOS and PFOA have known or suspected health effects and have been detected at levels of concern in a number of communities around Australia.

Table 1 - Recommended Values for PFOS and PFOA in biosolids for use on agricultural land

RECOMMENDATIONS

It is recommended that limits for PFOS in biosolids be adopted as set out in the table below and reviewed regularly on the basis of further data on the levels of PFOS in biosolids.

Table 2 - Recommended PFOS limits in biosolids Allowable use

Grading PFOS limit terminology (mg/kg)1

Unrestricted A2, C13 use

0.3

Agriculture

4.2

C2, C23, B4

Table notes: 1. mg per kg of dry weight of biosolids

Parameter

Units

PFOS

PFOA

2. NSW, QLD, ACT, SA guideline terminology

Health Investigation Level

mg/kg

0.3

2.4

3. National, VIC, WA guideline terminology

Biosolids limit (agricultural application)

mg/kg

4.2

33.6

Mean value measured in biosolids

mg/kg

0.021

0.003

Maximum value measured in biosolids

mg/kg

0.386

0.05

(also TAS for Grade A) 4. TAS guideline terminology

The conclusions of this review and analysis are: 1. PFOS and PFOA occur in biosolids at detectable levels. PFOS and PFOA were detected in 92 out of 109 samples from 13 different Australian sewage treatment plants; 1.PFOS was detected above the NEPM HIL at two sites (three out of 109 samples) with known PFOS contamination issues.

Average values of PFOS measured in Australian biosolids were around 7% of the calculated Health Investigation Level; 2. The data shows that PFOS can occur at sites with contamination issues and this highlights the need for further investigation and monitoring of PFOS in Australian biosolids; 3. The levels of PFOA detected in this review are significantly lower than HILs calculated. This data suggests that there is little need to monitor PFOA in biosolids with the maximum recorded value of PFOA being around 2% of calculated HIL;

It is recommended that PFOS is routinely measured in biosolids.

It is recommended that PFOA is not routinely measured in biosolids.

It is recommended that other exposure pathways for PFOS, PFOA and other PFAS be investigated as and when the necessary information becomes available.

It is recommended that sites with a known history of PFOS and/or PFOA contamination should monitor these compounds on a case by case basis.

Paul Darvodelsky was an inaugural member and Chair of the Australian and New Zealand Biosolids Partnership (ANZBP) for many years. Under his chairmanship the ANZBP has raised the profile of the industry and provided a platform for knowledge exchange. Paul passed away in June but his passion for biosolids is well known across the sector.

Kelly Hopewell is a Process Engineer at the City of Gold Coast.

To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal

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executive summary capital and investment planning

Development of an investment optimisation and prioritisation model

initiatives, dam safety, STP effluent quality and asset renewals.

The model allows explicit trade-off testing of the merits of proposed projects and programs of works based on their targeted quantitative benefits and investment. Most importantly, this model also takes into account customer, technical regulators and economic regulator preferences to maximise benefits delivered for a specified annual capital investment.

The development of the optimisation model (and the LTSP) involved several tasks, including: Development of an Enhanced Planning Framework – which was developed to support the business’s overarching strategic framework. This involved specifying tactical and operational objectives and supporting measures of success (or KPIs), which are explicit, quantitative and readily measureable.

S Hyland, T Kaur, E Sullivan, D Lynch, B Morris Data and information collection and review – a wide range of TasWater documentation was provided and TasWater to deliver projects and programs assessed, including a range of corporate asWater was formed from three predecessor water businesses in over the next 20 years, in order to achieve documents, asset class and activity performance and service objectives within stream management plans, various 2013 to deliver substantial iterations of a 20-year capital plan, improvement in customer service the business’s constraints. business cases and supporting technical To facilitate this, an investment and regulatory performance across all its documentation and other relevant optimisation and prioritisation model was activity streams, both infrastructure and project and program information. The in order to inform the development of non-infrastructure related. This requires key information provided was TasWater’s TasWater’s LTSP. The model has allowed significant capital investment but within TasWater to prepare a 20-year capital plan preliminary capital plan. challenging annual pricing, capital budget Building the optimisation and which maximises benefits derived from and time constraints. prioritisation model – a spreadsheet infrastructure investment (capex/NPV/ An integrated Jacobs and TasWater TOTEX) within challenging pricing, budget model was developed which formulates team worked collaboratively to develop a the problem of which projects to commit and time constraints across all business 20-year Long Term Strategic Plan (LTSP), capital to – and when – as a linear areas – water quality, health-based that established the optimal pathway for

INCORPORATING CUSTOMER, REGULATOR AND BUSINESS PREFERENCES

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The model allows explicit trade-off testing of the merits of proposed projects and programs of works based on their targeted quantitative benefits and investment.

Sensitivity testing: this was undertaken on the optimisation model, through extensive testing of a wide range of input parameters, including benefit weightings, capital expenditure limits, project commitment threshold, and many other parameters.

Stakeholder engagement: was undertaken to inform the scenarios to be tested by the optimisation and prioritisation model, and the preferences for outcomes to be achieved by the LTSP. The totality of this work formed the basis of TasWater’s 20 year LTSP. The

program, then uses a free and open source Excel add-in called OpenSolver to solve the optimisation problem and generate an optimised capital plan. The model does this by considering the temporal capital cost profile of every project as well as benefits the project will bring. Each benefit is defined as one of series of modelled benefit categories.

Trade-offs testing: the optimisation and prioritisation model, once developed, was used for extensive trade-offs testing.

It was used to investigate various capital expenditure and benefit priority scenarios.

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David Lynch has more than 35 years’ experience in the water industry.

Tanu Kaur is a Civil Engineer who has experience across multiple aspects of the Water and Wastewater industry.

To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal

ent

y an securit 4, ng and worthy water ply y 201 planni issues ncy, in ma ation. eful sup 2015, ta efficie water e key rted s car ee lement hre d. d sta ember ol da rt. thr ing imp reased costly require epttem avoide contr ti tree ben rted in sep of inc roach e and effo ed dur t its ilable while ayed or the app result shared ter s ava ating sta ned. s at withou ter s for ically of tim encoun as a of the be del Valid ring of h 2 al dosing s data wa missio is not that wa s are orithm a are typ ment re may com ncy ntrol mic n we ing benefit ntations ate alg se dat invest ble h 2 was monito ed che efficie ry co tion ory ial and ex for hese cussio to cre a. the iso Well sidera r rvis system pac erv cative augme 13) cau take soc of dis Wet need an ind the use ation , con upe values dat ing allo s, s sup a , flow ole (20 as se al ent ore is des ger of ede not wh h as al dos lem ing ime Kiem st this ds of him ration as the role the to act theref : there them. may ur log rch to the s suc arc h imp 2 ppm with and ed dur the nee also ent chemic again ed” ount cted first, of ope system vIew hts the , includingto ed the of ± utility for thods h s odo ntifi ), wit the tors, stru a), ent d. h h-valu s into acc to repres nal costs pared, o analys from one e re highlig use s con rneys ide satisfying create d Me 50 ppm 2 accuracy tP in the oug ed detrac to “hig before com (scaD g from treatm table data ors als ctio n e e wa ’ g ible ter was jou en two ed thr aspect or act h 2s 0– and Atur estigated nt water transferr ials an ly sui pag sition pag were WW was s the transa user .

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Submit your technical paper for the Water e-Journal, the Association’s online repository of water-related papers.

To read the full article, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/water_ejournal

Visit the Association’s website and look under the Publications tab or email journal@awa.asn.au for more information.

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Aussie water innovation increasing access to safe drinking water in Vietnam Vietnam has emerged as one of the most economically ambitious South East Asian countries, having opened its doors to foreign participation and trade. With this has come a thirst for Australian water capabilities.

The role of the Australian Water Association is to position and profile its members’ technological innovations and expertise whilst advancing the water objectives of the Vietnamese and Australian Governments.

The Akvotek and HydroScience Partnership: An example of Aussie-Vietnamese innovation and know-how working together The Australian Water Association, with support from the Australian Government, has facilitated its latest project to increase access to safe drinking water in rural areas through the adoption of Australian innovation and expertise.

This activity involved the installation of advanced, lowcost water treatment technology provided by Akvotek and HydroScience Asia. The technology applied uses membranes, activated carbon and chlorination, and will provide up to 10,000 litres of clean tap water to teachers and school children at My Hoa 1 Primary School and nearby community members in Thap Muoi District, Dong Thap Province.

Mark Forbes of Akvotek providing operator training

“The Australian Government is proud to support the installation and handover of a water kiosk that will provide clean drinking water from tap to teachers and school children,” Acting Counsellor DFAT, Robin Bednall said.

Both Mark Forbes, CEO of Akvotek and Ken Huynh, Managing Director of HydroScience have agreed that by working together, they are able to tailor the technology to meet the specific needs of the Vietnamese market, employ and train numerous Vietnamese water professionals in advanced technology, and be competitive in the Vietnamese water market.

Akvotek and HydroScience have formed a partnership to take on the water and wastewater market in South East Asia, with a primary focus on Vietnam.

Akvotek, a membrane, technology and process supplier and HydroScience, an experienced system integrator and contractor with local fabrication in Vietnam, complement each other’s skills to be able to offer complete turn-key solutions to the market in Vietnam.

“The opportunity to demonstrate our technology, given to us by the support of the Australian Water Association and DFAT cannot be underestimated. It has provided us with market access, profile and credibility to take our products forward in the Vietnamese market,” Mark Forbes said.

The Akvotek and Hydrocience partnership is now delivering a range of projects in Vietnam including resorts, rural communes and industrial factories with the most recent initiative providing up to 10ML/day of drinking water in a rural area of Ben Tre Province in partnership with a Vietnamese private sector water supply company.

Launch of the Dong Thap treatment system From left to right: Nguyen Van Hanh Phuong – Control Engineer, Nguyen Thanh Khoa – Mechanical Technician, Nguyen Hoang Son – Mechanical Technician, Nguyen Thanh Chau – Mechanical Technician, George Harris – MD HydroScience Asia, Murray Winstanley – Chairman Akvotek, Mark Forbes – CEO Akvotek, Paul Smith – International Manager Australian Water Association, Pham Van Chuan – Project Manager, Ken Huynh – MD HydroScience Australia, Ho Xuan Loi – Environmental Engineer

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Supported by

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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

A S S O C I AT I O N E V E N T S SHARING EXPERTISE ACROSS THE WATER INDUSTRY

Dr Adriana Marais presenting at Ozwater’18.

106 108 110

EVENTS CALENDAR Plan your continuous learning with the latest listing of the Association’s events calendar.

OZWATER’18 Take a look at some of the highlights of this year’s AWA Ozwater’18 Conference and Exhibition.

ACT WATER LEADERS DINNER The nation’s capital has a bright water sector. Take a look at who’s involved.

112 115 116

NQ CONFERENCE The annual AWA NQ Conference lived up to its reputation for being a fun and lively networking event.

TAS WHERE THE WATERS MEET Take a look at all the action from this year’s annual water conference in Tasmania.

NSW MINISTER’S BREAKFAST Attendees enjoyed talks from the Hon Don Harwin and Deputy Chief Commissioner Geoff Roberts.

www.awa.asn.au 105

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Association Events

EVENT CALENDAR 15 23 26

OCTO B ER

11 18-19 21-27 25 26

VIC: WATER AWARD NOMINATIONS CLOSE NT: WATER IN THE BUSH CONFERENCE & NETWORKING EVENING

SA: GALA DINNER & WATER AWARDS WA: 2018 WATER AWARDS SHOWCASE QLD: WOMEN OF WATER NETWORKING EVENT

VIC: FUTURAMA TECH EVENT WA: WATER AWARDS DINNER

NT 18-19 October Water in the Bush Conference & Awards Night

Water in the Bush brings together water professionals, the community and industry from across northern Australia.

1-2 November QWater Conference

This year’s program showcases a range of presentations focused on sharing issues that are likely to influence the future management of water. Attendance from all disciplines within the water industry is encouraged.

INT 5-9 November Vietwater’18

NAT October 21-27 National Water Week

National Water Week’s theme, ‘Water for me, Water for all’, encourages the wider community to think about water use.

N OV EM B ER

1 1-2 5-9

30

NAT: NATIONAL WATER WEEK

TAS: GALAH DINNER

NSW: LEGENDS OF WATER DINNER QLD: QWATER CONFERENCE INT: VIETWATER’18

15

VIC: YWP TECHNICAL EVENT: Integrated Water Management

15

NSW: NSW WATER AWARD NOMINATIONS CLOSE

The AWA is coordinating the 4th Australian delegation to Vietwater’18 in Ho Chi Minh City. The AWA program at Vietwater includes a series of workshops, business meetings, a site tour and networking events.

SA 23 November Gala Dinner & Water Awards

The SA Water Awards acknowledge the state’s best of the best, shining a spotlight on exceptional achievements across the sector in a range of categories.

TAS 15 November Galah Dinner

Tasmania’s finest will flock together in celebration of another year well done and the announcement of Tasmania’s Young Water Professional of the Year.

FOR MORE DETAILS AND TO REGISTER, VISIT BIT.LY/AWAEVENTS 106 www.awa.asn.au

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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.

DECEM B ER

5 6 14

QLD: TECHNICAL MEETING VIC: WATER AWARDS LUNCHEON NAT: AUSTRALIAN STOCKHOLM JUNIOR WATER PRIZE NOMINATIONS CLOSE

VIC 6 December Water Awards Luncheon

The Victorian water sector is set to celebrate another round of excellent water professionals, with attendees traeated to networking and a fancy lunch.

FEB R UA RY

15-16 20 21-22

VIC: YOUNG WATER PROFESSIONALS REGIONAL CONFERENCE QLD: TECHNICAL MEETING

MARCH

1

NAT: WATER INDUSTRY SAFETY EXCELLENCE AWARD NOMINATIONS CLOSE

8

NSW: HEADS OF WATER GALA DINNER & AWARDS

20 21

QLD: TECHNICAL MEETING, WA: SUNDOWNER

31

NAT: OZWATER’19 EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION CLOSES

NSW 8 March Heads of Water Gala Dinner & Awards

The Australian Water Association NSW Branch Awards promote the outstanding work by individuals and organisations in the water industry and recognise innovation and excellence in the technology, business and delivery of water projects.

NAT: 2019 NATIONAL BIOSOLIDS CONFERENCE, BRISBANE

VIC 15-16 February AWA VIC YWP Regional Conference (Bendigo/Echuca)

A PR I L

17

Focuses on challenges facing the water sector, specifically in regional Victoria.

QLD: TECHNICAL MEETING WA: SUNDOWNER

M AY

7-9

NAT

VIC: LAUNCH OF MENTOR PROGRAM 2019

NAT: OZWATER’19, MELBOURNE

21-22 February National Biosolids Conference, Brisbane

The Biosolids National Conference returns to Brisbane to consider Biosolids in the Circular Economy and examine key developments of the water industry.

FOR MORE DETAILS AND TO REGISTER, VISIT BIT.LY/AWAEVENTS www.awa.asn.au 107

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Out and about OZWATER’18 | NAT

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eturning to Brisbane in 2018 to a world-class event and conference venue in the unique South Bank riverside precinct, thousands of water professionals from across Australia and internationally united to share ideas on the future of water in Australia.

Building on the success of 2017, Ozwater’18 utilised enhanced technological insights to drive the program, with streamlined processes across all components of the conference, and enhanced exhibitor interactions. The event attracted a dynamic and diverse audience, from professionals working across industries relating to water, decision and policy makers through to students, scientists and researchers.

Sally Prosser interviews Ciara Sterling, winner of the National Water Professional of the Year Award.

Ozwater’18 Award Winners (L-R): Jim Livas (John Holland), Struan Collins (John Holland), Jethro Laidlaw (Power and Water Corporation), Minh Nga Nguyen, Tim Huelsen (The University of Queensland), Damien Batstone (The University of Queensland), Jeremy Mathews (Fremantle Commercial Diving), Antony Old (Fremantle Commercial Diving), Ciara Sterling (Yarra Valley Water), Barry Steed (Fremantle Commercial Diving), Sarah Aucote (Flinders University) and Clara Laydon (Hunter H2O) with Francois Gouws (National President) and Jaqueline Ryan (ANZ)

Dr Adriana Marais gives her keynote address on day one.

Guest speaker at the Water Leaders Forum, Jennifer Scott, Former General Manager, Digital Transformation and Performance at ANZ.

Andrew Lawson (ANZ) enjoying the Gala Dinner.

“Water - The Greatest Show” entertainment at the Gala Dinner.

108 www.awa.asn.au

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OZWATER'18 PRINCIPAL SPONSOR

Elsie Mann (Stantec), Lindsey Brown (Foundry), Matilda Bowra (Foundry) and Carolyn Jackson (Westwick-Farrow Media) at Happy Hour.

Louise Dudley as the Ozwater Program Committee Chair, presents Andrew Rozycki with the Michael Flynn Award for best paper.

Winner of the Program Innovation Award - Power and Water Corporation’s Jethro Laidlaw, Jacqui O’Neill, Joel Spry,and Trevor Durling.

Sally Darke (TasWater), Brad Rea (Water Utilities Australia) and Niki Robinson (GHD) at the Welcome Networking Evening

Sandra Hall (The University of Queensland), Jeff Ballard (Northern Water Management), Kevin Young (Sydney Water), Adam Lovell (WSAA), Erin Cini (IPART), Louise Dudley (Queensland Urban Utilities), Daniel Lambert (Arup), Jeremy Lucas (SA Water), Garth Walter (Programmed) and Dr Adriana Marais.

Visitors at the Trade Exhibition.

Chris Wellard (SWAN Analytical) and Adam Simpson (Evoqua Water Technologies) at the Welcome Networking Evening.

Queensland Urban Utilities’ poo-powered car on display in the Exhibition Hall.

www.awa.asn.au 109

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Out and about BORROLOOLA WTP SITE TOUR | NT

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ttendees enjoyed an informative tour of the new Borroloola Water Treatment Plant, which is delivered through a unique containerised solution. The upgrade project’s sustainable water treatment processes will deliver improved public health for one of Australia’s most remote communities.

Attendees were treated to an in-depth presentation about how the ‘plug and produce’ system was managed entirely through 3D modelling representation.

Attendees from AWA, AIPM and PWC

Borroloola Water Treatment Plant’s containerised solution

Attendees inspecting the site

WATER LEADERS DINNER | ACT

O

AWA ACT President Dan Spackman

ACT Networking

AWA Chief Executive Jonathan McKeown and Tom White from Interflow, winner of the 2018 ACT Infrastructure Project Innovation Award

Icon Water Managing Director John Knox

ur capital’s finest water professionals gathered to celebrate excellence in their sector, with the winners of the ACT Water Awards announced at the ACT Water Leaders Dinner in Canberra.

The winners of this year’s ACT Water Awards will automatically be entered into the equivalent National Australian Water Awards category, which will be presented at Ozwater’19 in Melbourne.

Icon Water’s Greg Wood and Alice Liao, winner of the 2018 ACT Young Water Professional of the Year award (sponsored by TRILITY)

110 www.awa.asn.au

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EWB-C

how can you help address the global sanitation crisis?

Engineers Without Borders Australia develops innovative technologies & practices that can transform access to water & sanitation for millions living in remote and challenging environments.

Partner with us and join the leading edge of humanitarian engineering.

To discuss partnership opportunities contact:

Heidi Michael, EWB International Programs: h.michael@ewb.org.au Jacqui Bell, EWB Australia Programs: j.bell@ewb.org.au

www.ewb.org.au EWB-CurrentMag_Ad_Oct17.indd 1 AWA11_108-122_Social_LastDrop_V12.indd 111

25/10/2017 5:14:22 PM 3/10/18 5:24 pm

Out and about NQ CONFERENCE | QLD

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he NQ Conference’s theme, “A Region of Extremes – Resilience and Innovation in the Face of Change”, showcased a broad range of presentations relating to the unique environment of the region including but not exclusively the reef.

Joy Morgan (ALS) and Ashley Terechovs (Shoalhaven City Council)

Michael Lawrence and Sean Hinton of Bligh Tanner presenting on day one

Matt Watkins (UGL), Matt Dawson (TRILITY) and David Taylor (SMEC)

GALA DINNER | QLD

Q

ueensland’s water professionals took the evening off to celebrate their achievements and enjoy catching up with peers. Two new award categories saw the recognition of two extra organisations take home awards for their innovative projects and programs.

(L-R): Brandon Miller (Wiley & Co), Andy Grodynski (Seqwater), Ade Ariantka (Wiley & Co), Rene Du Buisson (WSP), Josh Christie (Wiley & Co), Jiun-I Chai (WSP), Rob Barron (Wiley & Co), Bart Vervetjes (Qconsult), Lauren Elliss (Wiley & Co) and Shaun Guyatt (SunWater).

Justin Simonis (QLD Branch President) and 2018 QLD Regional Service Winner Rob Fearon (qldwater).

2018 QLD Water Award Winners: Richard Savage (GHD), David Wiskar (Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy), Lindsay Stafford (AECOM), Tenaya James (Whitsunday Regional Council), Linda Roberts (Mackay Regional Council), Stefano Freguia (The University of Queensland), Chris Pipe-Martin (Logan City Council), Jenny Danslow (Advisian) and William Speirs (Unitywater)

L – R: Charlene Wong (Engeny Water Management), Katrin Doederer (The University of Queensland), Thakshila Balasuriya (City of Gold Coast) and Jake Robson (WSP)

112 www.awa.asn.au

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ANNUAL DINNER | VIC

I L-R: Mike Muntisov, Helen Vaughan (DELWP), Ciara Sterling (Yarra Valley Water), Philip Everist (Zinfra), Pat McCafferty (Yarra Valley Water), Jonathan McKeown (Australian Water Association), Joe Sofra (Zinfra), Lindsey Brown (Foundry Associates), Carmel Krogh (Shoalhaven Water) and Francois Gouws (TRILITY)

Fulton Hogan’s David Howard and AWA President Francois Gouws

Guests mingle over pre-dinner drinks

n its 56hth year of celebrating our innovative and wonderful industry, the Annual Dinner of the Victorian Branch of the AWA put on a show for Victoria’s water professionals.

Peers took the night to catch up with friends and colleagues over dinner, and heard from our Victorian President.

Guests were also treated to a special Q&A session with winner of the national Water Professional of the Year, Ciara Sterling from Yarra Valley Water.

Darryl Day (ICE WaRM) and John Thwaites (Melbourne Water) networking during dinner

YWP BALL AND ANNUAL DINNER | VIC

V

ictorian YWPs enjoyed pre-dinner drinks, an incredible three-course meal, a wild dance floor and the opportunity to take snaps with a professional photographer at the annual YWP Ball and Dinner. It was a great opportunity for our YWPs to connect and make new friends.

YWP Ball attendees

YWP Ball

Steelmains’ Joe Elzein

www.awa.asn.au

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Out and about WHERE THE WATERS MEET | TAS

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asmania’s water sector banded together at this year’s Where the Waters Meet Conference, with water professionals in attendance from across Tasmania. We also welcomed presenters and delegates from across the country.

Delegates were treated to a choice of two informative streams: Technology and Stakeholder Engagement.

Both streams featured presentations from leading researchers and experts in their fields. Keynote speakers, Campbell Newman and Ciara Sterling also shared their insights with attendees.

TAS Where the Waters Meet Conference 2018

Wayne Nolan (KBR) gives the sponsor address at the members breakfast

Delegates and exhibitors at the Trade Exhibition

KBR table at the members breakfast

Martin Gotthard and Mel O’Keefe

Dean Romari, Camille O’Meara and Brad Johnston

Matilda Bowra and Donna Brown

Francois Gouws, Ciara Sterling and Tim Gardner

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Out and about MINISTERS BREAKFAST | NSW

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The Hon Don Harwin

ttendees to this year’s NSW Minister’s Breakfast enjoyed presentations from the Hon Don Harwin, as well as Deputy Chief Commissioner Geoff Roberts. Presentations covered topics like infrastructure strategy, Sydney’s three CBDs and the role of blue-green infrastructure.

Full house at the Industry Breakfast

Deputy Chief Commissioner Geoff Roberts presenting on “our green and blue metropolis”

L – R: Amanda Jones (Infrastructure NSW), Clarissa Phillips (Department of Industry – Water), Dr Nanda Altavilla (Department of Planning), Emma Pryor (Sydney Water), Scott Mortimer (Cardno) and Sarah Hesse (Cardno)

STATE CONFERENCE | NSW

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he NSW State Conference was a great success this year, attracting professionals from the rural and urban water sectors to the vibrant city of Newcastle.

The focal point of the conference was ‘Risk, Resilience and Research’ and touched on relevant issues affecting the water industry at present, including the drought, MDBA plan, water quality management and commercialisation of emerging technology.

CEO Hunter Water Jim Bentley

Second Poster Award Winner Abraham Gibson

Murray Darling Basin Authority’s Andrew Reynolds

Antony Cameron, Poster Award Winner

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Out and about WATER POLICY FORUM | SA Hunter H2O CEO Peter Dennis.

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ith presentations from senior representatives from industry, academia and government, as well as workshops, the AWA SA Water Policy Forum delivered the chance for SA water professionals to get hands-on with the critical issues and opportunities facing the state.

Hon David Speirs, Minister for Environment and Water

Delegates in discussion

AWA President Francois Gouws

WATER INDUSTRY BREAKFAST | WA

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he 2018 WA annual breakfast - Transitioning to a Water Smart City and Community - was held on 19 June at the Pan Pacific, Perth. Keynote speaker the Hon Dave Kelly MLA offered an overview of the labour government’s initiatives, including METRONET and how it will make our city more enjoyable by improving connectivity between suburbs.

Rachel Evans (Emerge Associates), Peter McCafferty (ChemCentre) with the Don Montgomery Award, and Deanne McDonald (Water Corporation) Hon Dave Kelly BA MLA, Minister for Water; Fisheries, Forestry; Innovation and ICT; Science

Melanie Cave, Herbert Smith Freehills (Program Partner for the event)

Panel Members: Allison Hailes, UDIA WA & CRC WSC; Rhonda Hardy, City of Kalamunda

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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

Current

THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE May 2018

Reach industry decision makers using the Australian

Volume 2 No 2

Urban

Water Association member

HOW GREEN-BLUE INFRASTRUCTURE CAN MITIGATE A CHANGING CLIMATE

communication platforms

The Australian Water Association provides members with a range of resources, tools and information to assist them in their day-to-day roles and long-term professional development.

Advertisers can use the bi-annual print magazine, weekly enewsletter, website and soon the information hub, to reach a highly relevant, engaged and targeted audience.

A booming blockchain movement in the water industry

The role of water for an emerging Space Agency

The deal with digitally connected water meters

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Print magazine

Enewsletter

Source Distribution: 12,000 37% open rate

Current circulation 3,895

Website

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The Last Drop

SUE MURPHY

AFTER 10 YEARS AT THE TOP, WATER CORPORATION CEO SUE MURPHY IS PASSING THE BATON AT THE CLOSE OF 2018. HERE, MURPHY REFLECTS ON HER TIME IN THE WATER SECTOR AND THE MAGNITUDE OF CHANGE THAT UTILITIES ARE CAPABLE OF.

JIM GILL, WHO WAS THE CEO of the Water Corporation at the time, approached me in 2004 when the utility was about to start serious work on its first big desalination plant. The climate in Western Australia had changed dramatically. We were getting a fraction of the run-off into our dams we used to get, and the Water Corporation was looking at major capital upgrades to deal with climate change. I’m an engineer and had spent the first 25 years of my career in construction, doing marine, oil, gas, minerals and infrastructure projects. I joined the Water Corporation in 2004 to run the Capital Program, and was appointed CEO a few years later when Jim Gill retired.

TOP JOB

Working for Water Corporation in this capacity has been amazing. The water industry is the ultimate enabler. I don’t think there’s a single person in Western Australia who isn’t influenced by what we do. It really is an all-pervasive business.

The joy is that we cover nearly all customers in the whole state for water, wastewater and drainage. We have the capacity to do really detailed planning and the high-level strategy needed to keep the state operating, which is an absolute luxury. The challenge for us in south-west Western Australia is climate.

The changes to our climate are just phenomenal. We used to receive about 350 billion litres of run-off into our dams, we now get about 30 billion litres of run-off most years. We’ve rebuilt the entire south-west water supply as a result of this change. We now have two big desalination plants providing half of Perth’s water, and we’re recycling

wastewater and recharging it into aquifers. Our customers use about a third of the water that they used before 2001, so we’ve changed everyone’s behaviour too; we’ve changed the value set, we’ve changed where the water comes from, we’ve introduced groundwater replenishment. It’s been 10 fabulous years of change. And overlaid with that, Western Australia’s had the biggest construction boom in its history. The mining boom in the north-west was absolutely massive.

While the south-west has climate issues, the north west saw phenomenal growth with towns and mining camps springing up in areas with virtually no water supply.

It’s been an amazing ride to service all of this change.

The water industry is the ultimate enabler. I don’t think there’s a single person in Western Australia who isn’t influenced by what we do.

LESSONS LEARNED

There are a couple of things I’ve learnt during my time as CEO at Water Corporation. The first is we’ve got to keep close to our customers. Our customers are much smarter than we give them credit for, they know what they

want and we need to listen to them and work really closely with them to deliver the right sort of solutions for their life.

Secondly, safety has probably been one of the biggest drivers of my time. It’s an appalling thought that anyone would return from work as fit and healthy as when they went to work. Hurting our employees is unacceptable, but hurting the community is unacceptable too. My obsession with safety translates into making sure that the water we supply is always safe, making sure that our assets are always safe. If we do both of these things, we’re going to be cost-effective and we’re probably going to be doing things that are appreciated and wanted, which means that the value we offer is recognised.

WHAT’S NEXT

There’s tonnes of things I am excited about seeing continue after my retirement.

As a water industry and a water utility, we’ve optimised our networks, reduced leakage, worked with our customers, built new sources; we’ve done all those things.

The next change is how we can work with the city planners to develop the way the city evolves. It’s not just about building infrastructure; it’s about building our cities so that we can use the natural urban form. We’re starting to think about how we can develop our urban form to use the water we have to create more appropriate public spaces and more liveable cities.

Sue Murphy has served Western Australia as the CEO of Water Corporation since 2008.

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