Current May 2016

Current

THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE M AY 2 0 1 6

Volume 1 No 2

WASTEWATER’S

BIG IDEA THE WATER INDUSTRY IS IN THE THROES OF A GREEN ENERGY REVOLUTION. HERE’S WHAT’S DRIVING IT.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt on sustainable cities

The fight to irrigate Northern Australia

Infrastructure Australia and the water sector’s future

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Current M AY 2 0 1 6

CON T E N T S

THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE

FEATURES

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COVER STORY Interest around waste-to-energy tech has never been higher. Is wastewater poised for a green revolution?

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SUSTAINABILITY IN THE SIGHTS Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt on his policy priorities, including saving the Great Barrier Reef.

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A MENTOR’S TOUCH Mentoring isn’t all about old hands and fresh-faced youngsters, as this pairing proves.

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SURFING THE DATA WAVE Utilities are collecting more data than ever before.

Here’s how the best are putting it to work for them.

NORTHERN FRONTIERS Dreams of agricultural riches in northern Australia have been revived but formidable challenges remain.

REBUILDING AUSTRALIA Infrastructure Australia has made bold recommendations for the water sector but faces stiff obstacles.

The most spectacular of many economic failures is the Ord River Irrigation Scheme.

The Ord is home to Lake Argyle, the largest contiguous freshwater lake in Australia and holds enough water to fill Sydney harbour 20 times over.

P49 Monash University’s Michael B Ward, on attempts to irrigate northern Australia

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NEWS

TECHNICAL

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92 95 97 98 100 103 105 106 108 110 112 114 116

CEO welcome From the President’s desk Association news Sustainable Water Priorities

INDUSTRY

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22 27 32 36 38 48 50 58 66 76 82 84

Minister Greg Hunt Ambassador Hugh Borrowman Mentoring spotlight Bureau of Meteorology Irrigating the north For and against Waste-to-energy

Deep ocean outfalls Measuring discharge impacts Starting a new ERA Maintenance procedures Reducing eutrophication Direct potable reuse Wastewater resource recovery Selling ice to Eskimos NSW lessons in Colombia Extractive nutrient recovery Polar research collaborations Urban water management Microbial water quality

Resource recovery Water data analysis Stormwater harvesting National Water Account data Infrastructure planning

EVENTS 121 Ozwater‘16 124 World Water Congress 127 Vietwater delegation

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Current THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Jonathan McKeown Email: jmckeown@awa.asn.au Marketing Manager: Ashleigh James Email: ajames@awa.asn.au TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE: Frank R Bishop (Chair); Chris Davis, Australian Water Association; Dr Andrew Bath, Water Corporation; Michael Chapman, GHD; Dr Dharma Dharmabalan, TasWater; Wilf Finn, WaterNSW; Robert Ford (rtd), Central Highlands Water; Ted Gardner (rtd); Antony Gibson, IXOM; Dr David Halliwell, Deakin University; Dr Lionel Ho, AWQC, SA Water; Des Lord, University of Western Australia; Dr Robbert van Oorschot, GHD; John Poon, CH2M; David Power, BECA Consultants; Dr lan Prosser, Bureau of Meteorology; Dr Ashok Sharma, Victoria University; Diane Wiesner, Science Plus Consulting Group.

Water e-Journal Editor: Anne Lawton Email: journal@awa.asn.au

Current is the official quarterly magazine for members of the Australian Water Association.

655 Pacific Highway, St Leonards, Sydney, NSW 2065 Phone: (02) 9436 0055 Email: info@awa.asn.au

369a Darling St, Balmain, Sydney, NSW 2041 Managing Editor: James Chalmers Email: james@mahlabmedia.com.au Deputy Editor: Cecilia Harris Email: cecilia@mahlabmedia.com.au Graphic Design: Matt Caulfield, Jack Pike, Gary Humphrys Account Manager: Stuart Singleton Email: stuart@mahlabmedia.com.au Advertising Manager: Samantha Hogben Email: sam@mahlabmedia.com.au

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: New tips, submissions and press releases should be sent to cecilia@mahlabmedia.com.au COPYRIGHT: Current is subject to copyright and may not be reproduced in any format without the written permission of AWA. Email cecilia@mahlabmedia.com.au 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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From the CEO

PLANNING FOR WATER’S FUTURE INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT VITAL Welcome to Ozwater’16 edition of Current. The feedback received about our new member magazine has been very positive with comments about the improved format, wider content, and real interest in the feature articles. If there are matters you would like to see covered in the magazine, please let us know.

The theme of this year’s Ozwater is Water: for Liveable Communities and Sustainable Industries and the event offers huge opportunities for professional development and business networking. This year’s theme also triggers reflection on our responsibilities as individuals to build liveable communities and sustainable industries.

With a national election due before September, the Association has developed a set of Sustainable Water Priorities to present to the political parties for comment. The calling of an earlier double dissolution has enabled us to convert these priority areas into an advocacy campaign designed to bring together an alliance of organisations to promote the issues to a wider audience and beyond the actual election. The Water Management Law and Policy Committee has developed the priority issues and canvassed our elected structure and all committees. The Association’s Strategic Advisory Council considered the survey results in March and, with slight modifications, has endorsed five priority areas. Read more about these on page 14.

I encourage all members to engage in this process: a member survey is currently live on the website and we are working with industry experts and nominated elected representatives to shape this into a Sustainable Water Priorities document. At Ozwater’16, we will be presenting the details of the five priority areas and the Sustainability Alliance for discussion at the theatrette in the exhibition hall on Tuesday afternoon, May 10.

A shared theme is the need for investment in new and upgraded water infrastructure. This need arises from deferred expenditure decisions, growing demands that compete for supply from limited water assets and fast-expanding urban growth. In spite of this, economic regulators are increasing pressure on our utility members to reduce their capital expenditure and operational expenses. The pursuit of short-term benefits like reduced consumer water bills will come back to haunt the industry if long-term infrastructure needs are not accommodated with adequate planning and timely investment.

The water sector is central to the delivery of critical economic, social and environmental benefits. Currently, Australia invests between $3.5 billion and $4.5 billion annually in water and wastewater infrastructure, representing 8.7% of national infrastructure investment. The level of required investment across the water supply chain should not be underestimated if we are to renew ageing assets and expand networks. There are several innovative and alternative financing models emerging that will be presented at Ozwater’16 and detailed in an Association Discussion Paper next month.

As the water industry examines alternative financing models to meet our needs, we all must continue to advocate for a regulatory regime built on four essential ingredients: a clear separation of powers, consistent regulation, independent management and long-term planning and investment. To implement these changes we need to take customers and the community with us on a journey of transformation, a journey that will see Australia fully embrace sustainable water management and practices.

THE PURSUIT OF SHORT-TERM BENEFITS LIKE REDUCED WATER BILLS WILL COME BACK TO HAUNT THE INDUSTRY.

Jonathan McKeown Australian Water Association Chief Executive

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We can optimise energy consumption, increasing your plant performance

From the president’s desk

WATER: FOR LIVEABLE COMMUNITIES AND SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRIES At the recent Australian Water Association Innovation Forum, one speaker started his presentation with the comment: “You can live without power, but you can’t live without water”. While he was obviously making a point, I started reflecting on just how important water is, and how lucky and privileged we are to belong to an industry so essential.

But what does this really mean? Water is fundamental for us as humans to survive, but it is also essential to our social fabric and how we operate as a community.

There have been some very graphic examples of this here in Australia and, no doubt, in many other parts of the world. For example, the Millennium Drought affected Melbourne in both economic and social terms.

During the drought there was a total external-water ban, which included parks and playing fields.

The initial economic impact was on the horticultural industry, where costs were measured in the billions together with significant job losses. While this in itself was significant, a far greater impact was to come.

With a lack of water for playing fields, sporting events at all levels had to be cancelled. This meant that thousands of children, teenagers and adults weren’t training or playing sport. Some drifted into socially disruptive behaviour. Had the drought not broken when it did, this could have challenged law and order, and had long-term health impacts associated with obesity.

Similarly, despite Perth receiving less and less rain due to climate change, every endeavour has been made to ensure a total sprinkler ban is not required. A significant change to how the community use their water has also occurred.

While, superficially, this could be argued as simply allowing people to maintain their gardens and green space, it is far more about maintaining social structure for the community.

These examples should remain front of mind as we explore opportunities and develop longer-term planning for water’s impact on liveability.

The ongoing development of our cities is producing densification as universal strategy. Large blocks with many trees and lawns are being replaced by both smaller blocks with little or no gardens, or multistorey units. There are many benefits in this, like utilising existing infrastructure, but great care is required in planning to ensure social amenity is provided. Gardens and other green space, both for leisure pursuits and to moderate climate impacts, are esstential.

As an industry, we have the opportunity and obligation to work with and influence the effective use of water, in all its forms, ensuring our communities have the amenity they need for a sustainable future.

We simply must be part of the debate and seek to provide innovative solutions to the myriad of challenges that will be arise in our growing communities.

My challenge to us all is to work out just how this will be done.

Enjoy Ozwater’16 and the opportunities it will expose.

HAD THE DROUGHT NOT BROKEN WHEN IT DID, THIS COULD HAVE CHALLENGED LAW AND ORDER, AND HAD LONGTERM HEALTH IMPACTS ASSOCIATED WITH OBESITY.

Peter Moore Australian Water Association President

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Association news

ASSOCIATION STRENGTHENS

WATER TRAINING ARM BROADENING MEMBERS’ SKILLS A TOP PRIORITY FOR NEW ROLE

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EVERYBODY BENEFITS WHEN WATER PROFESSIONALS BROADEN THEIR SKILL SET.

ember skills and expertise are being given a renewed focus at Australian Water Association, with the recent appointment of a Professional Development and Training Manager.

Nicola Helme, previously in a marketing role with the Association, was appointed to the new role in April, as the Association moves to bolster the professional development of the water sector.

Helme said they had explored different options to make sure training programs are as relevant as possible to members.

“A lot of focus will be on online training, because, being Australia, it’s not exactly easy for everyone to pop to training,” she said. “That’s why we’ve chosen this approach, because we think it will reach the widest possible audience, and be able to support our members no matter how remote their workplaces are.

“The way members can access training will vary from one-hour webinars through to interactive virtual classroom sessions that take place over a number of weeks.”

Helme said the goal was to make all the training packages easily accessible so as to improve the skills of water professionals and further the goals of the broader sector. “Everybody benefits when water professionals have the opportunity to grow and broaden their skill set. It improves the environment and our water services; it reduces costs and increases efficiency, because it allows people to be at the cutting edge of their professions,” she said.

“We want to encourage a culture of learning, continuous development, innovation and collaboration across the water sector.”

SPOTLIGHT ON WATER’S BEST IN THE NATION The water sector’s eyes will be firmly on the main stage at the Melbourne Convention Centre this month, when the industry gathers for the Australian Water Awards.

Held in conjunction with Ozwater’16, the national awards will recognise the finest achievement in Australian water over the past 12 months in eight categories.

Innovation will be applauded in three categories – the Research Innovation Award, the Program Innovation Award and the Infrastructure Project Innovation Award. Projects that have actively improved safety and prevented injury in the sector will also be up for contention in the WSAA Water Industry Safety Excellence Award.

One of the most keenly anticipated awards is the Water Professional of the Year, honouring those who have displayed passion and commitment while

demonstrating leadership.Won in 2015 by MWH’s Peter Fagan, the finalists are Data 61’s Dr Fang Chen, Mackay Council’s David Brooker, Osmoflo’s Marc Fabig and WA’s Mike Harold.

Meanwhile, six finalists are also vying for the Young Water Professional of the Year title, aimed at identifying those with potential to play an influential role in the water industry.

ACT’s Walter Reinhardt, NSW’s Kathryn Silvester, Queensland’s Tim Wong, SA’s Michael Webber, WA’s Ben Mitchell and Tasmania’s Cameron Jessup are all in the running.

Similarly, the Undergraduate Water Prize will celebrate the best students in water studies and research, while the Xylem-sponsored Australian Stockholm Junior Water Prize will be awarded to a high-school student with a keen passion for water research. The awards, sponsored by ANZ, will be announced on Wednesday, May 11 at the Gala Dinner, sponsored by TRILITY. See our Ozwater’16 coverage on pages 121-122 for the full list of finalists.

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SUSTAINABLE WATER MANAGEMENT IS INTEGRAL TO AUSTRALIA’S ECONOMIC, ENVIRONMENTAL AND COMMUNITY PROSPERITY.

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Sustainable Water Priorities

POLL POSITION ( b

lection season is looming, which means there will soon be a fresh government in Canberra, and a new opportunity for the water sector to push for changes to better prepare the nation for any water challenges.

To that end, the Australian Water Association is calling upon its members to help set a list of the water sector’s key priorities. An initial survey of 378 elected Association representatives has identified five priority areas for a sustainable water future in Australia [see below].

The Association is also conducting a survey of all members to engage them in the discussion and provide an opportunity for their views to be heard. A panel of experts will review all input and a final document on the Sustainable Water Priorities will be released in June.

Sustainable water management is integral to Australia’s economic, environmental and community prosperity. This is even more vital in these times of climate change, where innovation and investment are urgently needed to ensure Australia’s supply.

There is no single national mechanism to manage this key resource and ensure policy settings are well targeted and delivering the desired outcomes.

To deliver a sustainable, high quality water supply for business, the environment and communities in urban, regional and rural Australia requires a renewed commitment from all levels of government to a coordinated, overarching policy framework that addresses these priorities.

WITH THE NATION TROOPING TO THE BALLOT BOX ON JULY 2, THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION IS ASSEMBLING ITS KEY PRIORITIES TO ENSURE SUSTAINABLE WATER IS HIGH ON THE NEWLY ELECTED GOVERNMENT’S AGENDA.

FIVE KEY PRIORITIES 1. Ensure water security for all Australians.

2. Increase community awareness of sustainable water management.

3. Ensure drinking (potable) water quality in regional, rural and remote areas of Australia is consistent with and meets the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.

4. Maximise Australia’s ability to lead the world in water innovation and management, in technology, engineering and management practices.

5. Ensure a whole of government coordination across water. www.awa.asn.au

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These policy priorities were discussed, slightly modified and endorsed at the Australian Water Association’s Strategic Advisory Council meeting in March. For each of these priority areas, specific goals and relevant background information is being developed and will be presented in the final public document. To keep up to date with the latest information, visit www.awa.asn.au

WATER SECURITY Association President Peter Moore said ensuring water security for all Australians was an obvious and essential priority.

“This is the broadest of all the policy goals, and we need to promote a series of initiatives to meet environmental, community and business needs now and in the future,” he said.

Moore said these include: • encouraging the development of infrastructure investment policy frameworks that encourages increased investment (from both public and private sector); and

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Sustainable Water Priorities

•

seeking a commitment to have prescriptive regulation replaced with outcomes-based regulation where appropriate, as well as a move towards cost-reflective pricing models to encourage sustainable water practices and allow appropriate returns on investment in infrastructure.

“In looking to ensure water security, all sources of water should be considered, with the adoption of a policy of ‘best fit’ to enable a portfolio of water sources in any region,” Moore said. “These could include potable (indirect and possibly in the future direct) re-use, recycled water and stormwater.

“I also believe that all steps should be taken to ensure Australia’s compliance with UN Sustainable Development Goals relating to water.

“While the challenges to meet these goals are vastly greater in other countries, Australia must lead the way and ensure it provides all of its citizens with a reliable, quality water supply.”

The Association also views rural water trading as another essential ingredient for water security.

MARKET-BASED PRICING HAS ALLOWED THE MARKET TO EFFECTIVELY REALLOCATE WATER FROM SOME USERS TO OTHERS ON A VAST SCALE. AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION’S DALE CHAPMAN

Dale Chapman, from the Association’s Water Management Law and Policy Specialist Network Committee, said there was a need to facilitate rural water trading by ensuring all jurisdictions have clear legal frameworks, based on the principles in the National Water Initiative.

“Market-based pricing in the Murray-Darling Basin, for example, has allowed the market to effectively reallocate water from some users to others on a vast scale,” he said.

“During the Millennium Drought, some irrigators decided it was more profitable not to plant their usual annual crops like rice and instead sold their water at very high prices to those who had permanent plantings and desperately needed the water and were prepared to pay.

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Sustainable Water Priorities

“The market worked very well. The value of irrigated agriculture declined only relatively slightly despite the enormous reduction in available water. But there are other jurisdictions where there is still more work to be done.”

SUSTAINABILITY AWARENESS Australian Water Association CEO Jonathan McKeown also highlighted the importance of increasing community awareness of sustainable water management.

“The Assocation needs to work with community groups to raise the profile and understanding of the challenges and opportunities Australia faces,” he said.

“Indeed, this is one reason we undertook a consumer survey last year and this year, we will expand the survey to be more community-based and ascertain views from a broad range of people about these sustainable water priorities.

“Community awareness is also about having robust and reliable water data available across Australia. It’s therefore important that the government commits to continuing to support the collation, standardisation and dissemination of key water data. This will enable water managers, communities, researchers and investors to access nationally consistent data and use this for decision making in real time at a local, regional and national level, as currently occurs in the Bureau of Meteorology’s Water Information Program.”

THE ASSOCIATION NEEDS TO WORK WITH COMMUNITY GROUPS TO RAISE UNDERSTANDING OF THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES AUSTRALIA FACES. AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION CEO JONATHAN MCKEOWN

“A move towards cost-reflective pricing would mean investment from either the public or private sector would make a lot more economic sense.”

INNOVATION NATION Stoking innovation throughout the water sector is also a vital goal.

Chapman said likely mechanisms for this include providing incentives for investment in research and development, such as tax incentives or grant programs.

“Importantly, these ought to be closely linked to industry outcomes,” he said. “This will help ensure effective use of investment and industry uptake and innovation within the shortest amount of time, and generate the greatest return from R&D funds.”

The recent and forthcoming closures of a number of research Centres of Excellence has also made it critical to ensure outcomes and intellectual property from R&D investment made over past 10 years is not lost and remains available for the long-term benefit of industry, preventing the need to reinvest in basic R&D. More broadly, the Association is also calling for a re-energising of national leadership on water issues.

“Weather patterns, rainfall and streamflows pay little heed to state boundaries, which is why effective national coordination is essential to the proper management of water,” McKeown said.

“This is why we need the National Water Initiative to be reinvigorated, and the Council of Australian Governments be given ongoing responsibility for managing, reporting on and refining this initiative to ensure Australia’s sustainable water goals are achieved.”

GATHERING STEAM

Meanwhile, the Association is also pushing for improvements to potable water quality in regional areas, along with the development of an infrastructure investment policy framework that encourages both public and private sector investment in regional areas.

Chapman said one way this could be achieved is through further moves towards cost-reflective pricing. “One thing on which all economists will agree is that if you want to create a shortage of something you just need to set the maximum price below the market price. That’s what we’ve done with some residential water supplies.

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In light of the reality that water policy affects everyone, and certainly not just those in the sector, the Association has also embarked on a strategy of enlisting relevant aligned third parties to join a Sustainable Water Alliance to help pursue these policy goals.

Such an alliance of prominent experts, companies, industry bodies, academic institutions and others will give the Association greater heft when making its case on the key issues for water in Australia.

For more information on giving input to the Association’s policy priorities, visit www.awa.asn.au

Advertising feature

INCREASING THE EFFICIENCY OF OUR WATER ASSETS

nfrastructure Australia’s Australian Infrastructure Plan was released in February.

General Manager of OperatŠns for SUEZ Mark Lautre explores the plan and its calls for greater efficiency and improvements in water utÕities across Australia.

It is clear the Australian Infrastructure Plan recognises the important role the urban water sector plays in Australia. With over $150 billion in assets, the plan is right to examine the water sector, and how it can continue to contribute to the productivity and liveability of our cities and regions.

The plan highlights the challenges of regional water utilities. In particular, it the growing cost of service delivery challenges with insufficient scale, declining asset condition and the lack of capacity to respond to emerging technologies.

The plan presents bold ideas for reform including aggregation of government-owned operations or the privatisation of water assets.

Whichever the model, it’s pleasing to see that the plan has a clear customer focus.

Ultimately, all utility owners and operators are interested in providing Australian’s with high quality water and a reliable supply at the most affordable price possible. In Australia, it’s important to acknowledge that there are already examples where the private and public sector have partnered to deliver on this customer promise.

SUEZ are involved in two operating alliances in Australia that are delivering real sustainable savings and improved customer service levels.

Working in collaboration with our partners, Water Corporation of Western Australia and Broadspectrum, the ‘Aroona Alliance’ has delivered $5.55m in sustainable operating savings through business efficiency

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improvements in 2014/15. In South Australia, SUEZ again works with Broadspectrum in a joint venture called Allwater. Both companies in an Alliance with SA Water are embracing change and finding better ways to do things to bring cost savings to the network.

The Alliance model enables SA Water to work flexibly with its partners to deliver water services to metropolitan customers. The model relies on expertise from all partners to drive improvements in operational efficiency, energy efficiency, asset management and supply chain with positive outcomes.

The results in Adelaide have been pleasing.

For example, across the six wastewater treatment plants, the team has increased energy efficiency by 5% in 2014-15, translating to a total cost avoidance of $500,000.

The Alliance is also tapping into global expertise with a range of technical support and cooperative research initiatives underway. In February 2015, the alliance began a project to develop modelling tools to quickly identify composition of algal blooms in water resources.

It is clear that water utilities across Australia are faced with ageing infrastructure and limited capital. However, there are many opportunities in the short-term to maximise the performance, decrease total cost and extend the life of our assets.

The Australian Infrastructure Plan presents ideas on how the management of data and technology can play a role in helping operators to improve network efficiency and save costs.

In the water sector, sensors are now being used to manage networks in real time allowing more efficient management of established systems and improved response to customer’s needs.

The use of data assists operational decisionmaking to reduce system leakage and allows capital expenditure to be prioritised and optimised. SUEZ has developed an innovative, real time network-monitoring tool called AquadvancedTM that is assisting our clients around the world.

Optimisation of energy usage and generation of energy to offset imported energy requirements in wastewater treatment facilities is well developed in the water industry, but even greater performance is being achieved through the deployment of emerging technologies.

In Amman in Jordan, SUEZ built, cofinanced1, and has been operating the As Samra Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) since 2008.

Through hydro energy and biogas production, the WWTP is 80% energy selfsufficient with only 20% of its needs drawn from the national grid. 230,000 kWh of energy is produced per day.

Whether it’s in Jordan or Australia, the sharing of expertise has been key. Alliance models are about providing access to and transferring know-how and expertise to local staff with a shared goal of improving operational efficiency. The model is working well in Australia and is contributing improving the performance of our water utilities.

1st. phase (2003) was financed by SUEZ and its partner Morganti, an affiliate of the Consolidated Contractors Group, USAID (United States Agency for International Development), and a pool of 10 local banks led by Arab Bank. The 2nd. Phase (2012) was co-financed by the same sponsors and MCC (Millennium Challenge Corporation); Arab Bank arranged a syndicate of nine local and international financial institutions to provide a loan.

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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ON THE HUNT FOR BETTER CITIES Environment Minister Greg Hunt on building sustainable cities, and water’s role to play.

OPENING THE FLOODGATES TO BUSINESS The Australian Ambassador to Vietnam has led the charge for Australian firms.

BEST FOOT FORWARD How mentors are helping YWPs make the most of their early opportunities.

NORTHERN FRONTIERS The Federal Government has staked much on agriculture in the north, but challenges remain.

PUBLIC BOON OR BOONDOGGLE? Figures at opposite ends of the spectrum debate the value of Northern Australia irrigation projects.

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WASTEWATER POWERS UP Energy generation by the wastewater sector is poised to boom.

MINING THE WASTEWATERS Is the water sector any closer to stopping valuable nutrients going down the drain?

LETTING THE DATA FLOW How utilities are making the most of the unprecedented levels of data available.

EYE ON THE STORM Harvesting stormwater to boost a city’s sustainability.

AUSTRALIA’S BIG PLANS What Infrastructure Australia’s 15-year plan has to say about the water industry.

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Greg Hunt

WATER IS LOOMING LARGE IN THE FOCUS OF FEDERAL ENVIRONMENT MINISTER GREG HUNT, FROM THE GREAT BARRIER REEF TO RESOURCE EXTRACTION IMPACTS.

Photography: Nikki Davis Jones/newspix

On the hunt for results AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION: The water sector notes the government’s Reef 2050 Plan has taken a holistic approach to reducing farm runoff (and river nitrification, algal growth and downstream crown-ofthorns starfish impacts). What progress has been made in this area?

Greg Hunt: We are making great progress towards achieving the ambitious targets we set for improving water quality under the Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan.

Partners from all levels of government, reef industries, natural resource management bodies, conservation groups, industry and land managers are working together to reduce nitrogen loads by up to 80% and pesticide loads by up to 50% in key catchments by 2025.

To say that it is an amazing effort by all involved is an understatement. Continuing to improve reef water quality is one of the seven themes under the Reef 2050 Plan, and it’s critical we continue the momentum to reduce catchment run-off so that we can improve the reef’s water quality, coastal habitat condition and species protection.

Australian governments have invested significantly in encouraging landholders to adopt best-management practices. The Australian Government’s Reef Program and Reef Trust complement the Queensland Government’s initiatives, including the roll out of best-management practice programs.

Our work with land managers to meet targets for reducing land-based pollution is already turning around the decline in water quality. The last Great Barrier Reef Report

Card in 2014 stated that the annual average pesticide load was down by 28%, sediment was reduced by 11%, total nitrogen load by 10% and dissolved inorganic nitrogen by 16%, compared to a 2009 baseline. Almost half of the Great Barrier Reef catchment’s grazing land is now managed using best-practice processes, as graziers address erosion from their pastures and gullies.

AWA: What are the main benefits for the reef that result from reducing runoff?

Hunt: Scientists agree that if we can reduce runoff it will make the reef much more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

For example, keeping nitrogen from the wet tropics out of catchments can help prevent

ALMOST HALF OF THE REEF CATCHMENT’S GRAZING LAND IS NOW MANAGED USING BESTPRACTICE PROCESSES. outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish, giving coral cover the chance to recover.

Crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks have been identified as one of the primary threats to coral in the Great Barrier Reef.

Since 2012, the Australian Government has delivered $17.6 million to direct crown-of-

thorns starfish management, innovative control and starfish biology research, surveillance, and industry diver training.

The scale of the current outbreak demands an integrated, holistic management approach, including long-term improvement of water quality entering the reef, building community awareness and building industry capacity to assist in reducing the number of crown-of-thorns starfish on high value tourism reefs.

AWA: How has the government ensured policy is made by taking an evidencebased approach?

Hunt: The Bioregional Assessment Program is developing 13 targeted, regional-scale assessments across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia that will help us understand the potential impacts of coal seam gas and coal mining developments on water resources and water-dependent assets, such as wetlands and groundwater bores.

Led by the Department of Environment, the program draws on the expertise of CSIRO, Geoscience Australia and the Bureau of Meteorology to identify areas where potential impacts are likely to occur and, just as importantly, areas where impacts are unlikely to occur.

All the bioregional assessments, as well as the models, data and methods that underpin them, will be made publicly available. By supporting transparent data systems like this we are ensuring that the evidencebased work we invest in today can inform decisions of governments, industry and the community, and guide management into

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23

the future. Evidence-based decisionmaking underpins the Government’s development and implementation of environmental programs.

For example, there is a signiďŹ cant knowledge base that the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder draws on when making decisions on environmental water. This includes input from local landholders, Aboriginal communities, state governments, natural resource management agencies, river operators and scientiďŹ c institutions, as well as drawing on information from Bureau of Meteorology’s streamow forecasts and rainfall outlook.

In addition, the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder has invested $30 million in monitoring environmental watering events, with the outcomes used to inform future water-management decisions. This is also supplemented by the Murray-Darling Basin Environmental Water Knowledge and Research project, which sees $10 million being invested in generating new knowledge to help support

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efďŹ cient and effective management of environmental water.

The Government is continuing to explore opportunities to partner with the private sector to achieve triple bottom-line outcomes. For example, the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder has recently partnered with Banrock Station Wine and Wetland Centre to support the ongoing health and rehabilitation of the local environment.

Banrock Station is owned by Accolade Wines and is a model example of successfully combining private enterprise with environmental management and wetland conservation. Located in the South Australian Riverland, Banrock Station wetland is of international importance and supports a range of threatened species. The wetland is situated within a large vineyard and is a thriving tourist destination.

The three-year partnership between the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder and Banrock Station will see

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additional environmental water provided to the site, and continued ongoing efforts to protect and restore the complex of wetlands and woodlands.

The Mulloon Instituteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Landscape Rehydration Project was recently selected by the United Nations as one of only ďŹ ve projects worldwide to advance Sustainable Development Goals. The project, based in Bungendore, takes an innovative approach to managing a local catchment to support both agriculture and environmental outcomes. The project highlights many

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Photography: Ray Strange/newspix

Greg Hunt

WE CONTINUE TO BE A WORLD LEADER IN SUSTAINABLE WATER MANAGEMENT AND HAVE INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS THAT ARE RELEVANT ACROSS THE GLOBE. of the key elements that are critical to sustainable water management, including: • taking a catchment-wide approach; • local landholders and communities having ownership of and participating in the project; • integrating land and water management • adopting rigorous and scientificallybased monitoring and evaluation; and • committing to adaptive management.

The recognition of the project by the UN demonstrates that its applicability is

not limited to an Australian context. We continue to be a world leader in sustainable water management and have innovative solutions that are relevant across the globe.

AWA: How is the environment portfolio tapping into the innovation agenda?

Hunt: The Australian Government has not only delivered on its promise to increase R&D funding through the Rural R&D for Profit Program, but has doubled this investment to $200 million with an additional $100 million under the Ag White Paper to extend the program to 2021-22.

This program is funding research and development of cutting edge technology with direct relevance to on-farm profitability and productivity. More than $26 million of grant funding has already been announced.

The funding for the Rural R&D for Profit program is on top of the Australian Government’s investment of approximately $700 million each year – including $250

million in matching funding provided to the Rural R&D corporations – in rural R&D.

AWA: What are the key challenges in water sustainability for a second term?

Hunt: Within the Murray-Darling Basin, the ongoing implementation of the Basin Plan is vital to achieving sustainable levels of water use and achieving a healthy, working river system. For this reason, the Australian Government, along with state counterparts, has an ongoing commitment to the Plan, including engaging local communities, adapting how we operate our rivers so they support all water users, and integrating environmental water with other natural resource management activities.

We also need to continue to invest in monitoring and research so that we can measure the changes that are being delivered by the Basin Plan.

This will also underpin our ability to respond to new information, including the effects of climate change.

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Ambassador Hugh Borrowman

VIETNAM’S RAPID DEVELOPMENT OFFERS ENORMOUS POTENTIAL FOR AUSTRALIA’S WATER INDUSTRY, AND AUSTRALIAN AMBASSADOR TO VIETNAM HUGH BORROWMAN HAS MADE LARGE STRIDES IN LINKING THE TWO.

opportunities AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION: Australia has been actively supporting the Vietnam water sector for many years with impressive outcomes under the National Target Program for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation.

Can you outline some of these achievements?

Ambassador: A strong and prosperous Vietnam, with a population of more than 90 million, will play an increasingly important role in the region and I consider Australia’s relationship with Vietnam to be of great importance.

The Australian Government has been a strong supporter of the Vietnam water sector over many years. Through our collaborative efforts, we have made a valuable contribution to the role water plays in Vietnam’s pursuit of economic prosperity, inclusive growth, environmental sustainability and improving the quality of life of the Vietnamese population.

The Australian Government have recently undertaken an assessment of the National Target Program for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation 2011–2015 and I am delighted with the results. Target sets for the program have been fundamentally achieved: 85% of the rural population now have access to hygienic water;

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27

Ambassador Hugh Borrowman

Hugh Borrowman at the Khoi Ky Clean Water Station, built as part of the $7 million Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Output-Based Project funded by the Australian Government.

65% of rural households now have access to hygienic latrines; 94% of pre-schools and secondary schools now have hygienic water and latrines; and, on average, about one million more rural people have access to clean water every year.

Notwithstanding these significant achievements, the level of poor people with access to hygienic water remains lower than the average level of the whole population. More needs to be done and Australia is committed to supporting the role water plays in enabling Vietnam’s economic prosperity.

As Vietnam’s economy grows, and impressive growth this is, there has been a shift in Australia’s development co-operation in Vietnam, from a relationship based on aid to one that strengthens its focus on private sector participation and collaboration between our water sectors, by helping to improve the business climate and expand the scope of opportunities for mutual benefit.

AWA: How is Australia’s water expertise viewed and what demand is there for our water expertise looking forward?

Ambassador: Australia and Vietnam share many common challenges when it comes to safe, secure, efficient and sustainable water management. Both countries are experiencing new climate extremes featuring record droughts, floods, sea level rises and salinisation of water resources.

Vietnam is at the epicentre of the global impacts from climate change and the situation is very serious.

Australia has now emerged from two decades of the most profound water reforms in Australian history – largely in response to a changing climate. Many lessons have been

28

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SERVICING THE EXPANDING POPULATION OF VIETNAM WITH SAFE AND SECURE WATER WILL REQUIRE CONTINUED MAJOR CAPITAL EXPENDITURE AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. learnt, lessons Australia can and should share with Vietnam and indeed the world.

There is much demand for, and trust in, Australian expertise and technological innovations in Vietnam. The experiences of DFAT and more recently the Australian Water Association program in Vietnam have shown this.

The Association’s survey of the demand for Australia’s water capabilities illustrate strong demand for our water expertise and technological innovations, including in climate change planning, water quality risk management, asset management, water efficiency, water recycling, water regulation (economic, health and environment), wastewater management, water law and policy, public–private partnerships (PPPs), water performance reporting, water skills development, supply-demand planning, business management and energy recovery.

Servicing the expanding population of Vietnam with safe and secure water will require continued major capital expenditure and technological innovation. Investment needs

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Ambassador Hugh Borrowman

are significant compared with the existing local revenue base and new ways to finance the Vietnam water sector are required.

The doors are opening to foreign participation across the Vietnam economy and in particular water. Decree 15 released in 2015 by the Vietnam Prime Minister on PPP is a clear example of this.

Enhanced public-private collaboration in water is an area the Australian water sector has deep experience in, and the opportunities for the Australian water sector are strong. But there are risks that must be clearly understood as Australians look to enter the Vietnam water market.

AWA: The Association has now been working with the Vietnam water sector for 18 months and just started its second project in Vietnam funded by DFAT’s Economic Diplomacy Program – what impact can this collaboration between the Australian and Vietnam water sectors have?

Ambassador: The Australian Water Association, along with their project partners in Vietnam, has commenced a series of initiatives designed to support Vietnam’s water sector and showcase the depth and breadth of Australia’s water expertise and technological innovations. This includes strengthening governance, financial and investment structures of Vietnam’s water sector, as well as private sector participation and improved service delivery and water utility capacity.

The evidence speaks for itself. In 2015, the Association facilitated Vietnam delegations to Australia, including from numerous Vietnamese Government ministries and a number of provincial governments.

I was delighted to host the AWA lead Australian delegation to Vietnam at my residence in November 2015 during the mission to Vietwater – Vietnam’s largest water conference.

The Australian delegation to Vietwater was the largest Australian water delegation to ever visit Vietnam, which

30

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included governments, R&D agencies and a range of private sector companies with 20 exhibitors and more than 60 Australian delegates.

During the mission, Australian delegates showcased their capabilities at the trade exhibition, attended workshops on PPPs, water quality and institutional reform, and enjoyed business introductions and government-to-government meetings and site tours.

The Association’s exhibition booth won the “Best and most informative booth” award during Vietwater and I understand the feedback from Australian delegates on business opportunities has been very encouraging.

In light of the outcomes from the Association’s activities during 2015, I have now approved a second phase to the Association’s efforts.

The second phase will take forward the outcomes from 2015 into a program of activities to build the platforms for greater commercial partnerships and investments between the Australian and Vietnam water sectors – specifically in the area of PPPs for water treatment and supply systems.

The proposal includes delivering a Feasibility Study on a flagship PPP site that delivers a new form of economic diplomacy, leading to commercially sustainable water projects directly linked to improved health and enterprise development in Vietnam. The project will be designed to illustrate the practical benefits from private sector participation in the improved performance of water services in Vietnam.

As I stated in the recent meeting between the Vietnam Deputy Prime Minister [Nguyen Xuan] Phuc and the Association, the Australian Government has recently committed to continue Australian development assistance to Vietnam for the next five years.

We look forward to working closely with Association and the broader Australian water sector to further build on an already strong relationship.

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Together we are on track to successfully deliver 135km of our 230km sewerage services project to 16,500 properties in 18 months. This is one of Australia’s largest projects of this type to be completed in such an accelerated timeframe.

Working with Zinfra has made delivery of this project easy. The members of the team have remained consistent for the project, making relationships effortless to manage, and they bring extensive experience with large scale, fast-moving pipeline projects to the table.”

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Mentoring

RITA ARASH MENTORING HELPS YOUNG WATER PROFESSIONALS AROUND AUSTRALIA CONNECT WITH LEADING FIGURES FOR GUIDANCE. HERE, CURRENT SPEAKS TO TWO RESEARCHERS ABOUT WHY MENTORING IS CRITICAL TO ACHIEVING SUCCESS WITHIN ACADEMIA. 32

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D

r Arash Zimyadi was set on pursuing industry-applied research in Australia, but found himself in need of a little focus. Enter Dr Rita Henderson, who, although Arash’s research contemporary, had the experience needed to guide Arash in achieving industry connections and research independence.

Mentor DR RITA HENDERSON UNSW I already had a working relationship with Arash. I got to know him after he approached me when I was organising the Australian Water Association Young Water Professional Conference that was held at UNSW in 2010.

During that time, I was receiving excellent mentorship from my supervisor.

0 JV\SK ZLL ]LY` JSLHYS` [OH[ 0 ^HZ ILULÄ[PUN NYLH[S` MYVT OV^ T` MVYTHS SPUL manager was treating me.

When Arash arrived, he already had his PhD. I supervise a lot of PhD students, but there’s a difference with mentoring because you certainly aren’t a line manager.

Mentorship is really about saying, “Okay, you have a real opportunity to build your career here.”

Arash and I set up progress meetings, which we have about our actual project, but we also have regular catch-up meetings where we discuss career issues ZWLJPÄJHSS` +\YPUN [OLZL TLL[PUNZ ^L [HSR HIV\[ ^OH[ OL»Z [OPURPUN PU [LYTZ VM OPZ M\[\YL Ä]L VY `LHYZ V\[ HUK ^OH[ ^L ULLK [V KV [V MHJPSP[H[L [OH[ 0 [Y` [V [HRL H Z[LW IHJR MYVT T` VMÄJPHS WVZP[PVU HUK HZZPZ[ OPT PU MVJ\ZPUN VU his goals. We also talk about industry and have very considered conversations about what he needs from an academic perspective.

Arash is very keen for what he does to be relevant to industry. He’s also an

Mentor

Mentee

Rita

Arash

UNSW Senior Lecturer

UNSW Senior

Henderson

Zamyadi

Research Associate Age:

Age:

36

35

Time in industry

Time in industry

14 years

10 years

Industry experience gap

Four years

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33

Mentoring

international researcher, and we talk very carefully about how we can establish links and lead in his area internationally.

It’s important to think strategically about what work you take on and how you prioritise it, because that is going to dictate how your career pans out. You can very quickly ÄUK `V\YZLSM KVPUN [OPUNZ [OH[ HYLU»[ NVPUN [V OLSW `V\ career-wise.

I’ve learnt not to expect that people are going to have the same ambition that you have. There is an assumption made that all people doing a PhD are aiming to become an academic, but I know a lot of people who have used their PhD very successfully in the industrial workplace.

Arash is incredibly motivated and enthusiastic.

He seems to have unlimited energy for things. Beyond that, he’s got a very, very good understanding of what is needed to complete a task to a high standard. The work that we do is directly related to industry, it’s very applied research and he is fantastic in bringing the team together, making sure everyone’s kept involved, listening to feedback and making sure it gets implemented. I think that’s a great skill of his. You need a lot of energy to be able to do that.

He is also very good at seeing the research need. I think he gains motivation from that. He sees the bigger picture.

Mentoring is incredibly worthwhile. I think I’m only where I am today due to good mentorship.

0 JHU ZLL [OL ILULÄ[ [OH[ P[ NP]LZ [V others too. I also feel like it’s just very much entwined with what I KV 0 ÄUK T`ZLSM TLU[VYPUN SV[Z VM students too. They come through not sure of what to do, and I end up discussing what my path was with them. I don’t think I’d be doing T` QVI WYVWLYS` PM 0 ^LYLU»[ M\SÄSSPUN that role.

Once we started working together on a project at UNSW, we organised regular two-hour meetings. I was surprised how much time she dedicated to speaking with me. I would bring to the table what I had been doing and what I wanted to be doing. We talked about what I was getting right and what I could improve.

I would take notes and then go home and think about them. I’d then come back to her with questions, and we would talk about the things I didn’t know how to approach.

For example, I wanted to boost my publications record. We had a chat about it and she helped me set goals for myself. ;OL ÄYZ[ `LHY 0 ^HZ OLYL 0 OHK ZP_ WHWLYZ W\ISPZOLK ^OPJO was mainly due to her support.

I also realised I needed to develop my own independence as a researcher. I spoke to her about how I could do that. We decided that I could start by supervising small honours projects, and then move forward from that.

Rita put me in contact with industry partners. I received a lot of international support from her too – she helped me to enhance my professional connections outside of Australia, which I wasn’t expecting.

That was a really pleasant surprise.

That is one thing that I really like about Rita; she has very good relationships with our industry partners. I am trying to learn more from her about networking.

Rita is a very good academic; she sees the value in innovative research, but also applied research. I really believe in that, particularly in water. The research we do has to be applicable.

I think mentoring is the most essential thing. I have to say that within academia, some supervisors are just supervisors. They just tell the students what they have to do and then help them do it, while a mentor is more than just supervising.

Having a mentor is very important. Research can be really hard; there are so many things that we don’t know. It can IL YLHSS` KPMÄJ\S[ HJOPL]PUN NVHSZ HUK [OL ZVS\[PVU PZ UV[ Q\Z[ to give instruction. The hardest thing about professional research is trial and error, and having someone to talk with about that, and to help you see your strengths and your shortcomings. It’s essential. Everyone needs a mentor. My experience has been fantastic.

RITA PUT ME IN CONTACT WITH INDUSTRY PARTNERS. I RECEIVED A LOT OF INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT FROM HER TOO – SHE HELPED ME TO ENHANCE MY PROFESSIONAL CONNECTIONS OUTSIDE OF AUSTRALIA, WHICH I WASN’T EXPECTING.

Mentee DR ARASH ZAMYADI UNSW In 2010, the Young Water Professional Conference was held at UNSW. Rita was the Chair and I was encouraged to attend.

I was told that Rita was a good researcher. At the time, I was towards the end of my PhD and I thought that good things might come from working with her.

Rita spent half a day showing me around the laboratories, the university, and we talked about potential projects. I had a good feeling about receiving support from her, as she found the time to show me around and talk to me about work, even though she was very busy.

34

www.awa.asn.au

To get involved in the Australian Water Association’s mentoring program, as either a mentor or a mentee, contact your state branch.

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EYES IN THE SKY

THE BUREAU OF METEOROLOGY EMPLOYS A TREMENDOUS ARRAY OF SENSORS – ACROSS LAND, SEA, SKY AND SPACE – TO GATHER ITS WEATHER, CLIMATE AND WATER DATA.

20 5300 6844 11 1 drifting buoys

hydrological monitoring stations

rain gauges

wind profilers with two more being built this year, in Longreach and Mackay

baseline air pollution station in Cape Grim, Tasmania

36

www.awa.asn.au

6 685 15,700 55 satellite ground stations including two in the Antarctic

automatic weather stations

radiosondes released in an average year

voluntary observing bs g ships currently providing data

Bureau of Meteorology

92,637 17,779 19 7 domestic flights and

international flights provided Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay information informa

polar-orbiting satellites

geostationary satellites

TURNING DATA INTO INTELLIGENCE The Bureau of Meteorology’s monitoring capabilities means it faces enormous inflows of data, and relies upon highperformance computing help make sense of it. The current system is capable of performing 104 trillion floating point operations per second. But that is about be eclipsed.

Since October, the Bureau has been building a new supercomputer, a Cray XC40. When it comes online in the middle of the year, it is expected to offer more than 16 times the raw computing power.

Bureau Deputy Director (Environment and Research) Graham Hawke said: “It will mean the Bureau can issue forecasts and warnings more often and with greater certainty and precision than ever before, giving the community and emergency services unprecedented information, particularly prior to and during severe and extreme weather.

“With more frequent and precise rainfall forecasts, water forecasts that use these as an input will also benefit.”

“For example, seasonal outlooks will be based on 60km grids (currently 250km), increasing the number of grids across the country to 2000 from 120. This means regional rainfall influences like the Great Dividing Range will be better represented in models and forecasts.”

Advances won’t stop there either, with a planned upgrade by the end of 2018 to further boost performance another three or four times.

www.awa.asn.au

37

Irrigating Northern Australia

Kakadu National Park, Nourlangie Rock, Northern Territory, Kakadu

38

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GREAT NORTHERN NORTHERN AUSTRALIA HAS SOIL, SUN AND NO SHORTAGE OF RAIN. IT ALSO HAS THE FIRM FOCUS OF A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT KEEN TO TURN IT INTO A FOOD BOWL. SO WHAT’S DRIVING THESE RENEWED EFFORTS?

LAND

David Barbeler

N

orthern Australia makes up 40% of the nation’s landmass, much of which is extremely remote terrain. This supports almost half of the nation’s beef herd – around 12.5 million head of cattle. If northern Australia were a country, it would be the world’s fifth-largest beef exporter. So by any reasonable measure, it’s already a food bowl of sorts.

But that’s not to say there aren’t additional pockets ripe for the picking.

“Northern Australia is already the full mixed grill, and there’s renewed opportunity for substantial additional courses, capable of feeding an extra 7.5 million people,” said Dr Peter Stone, CSIRO’s lead researcher into the development of northern Australia.

The CSIRO has estimated more than 16 million hectares of soil across northern Australia that could be used for irrigated agriculture, which is 8% of the total area.

But the most limiting factor is water.

On average, about two million gigalitres fall across northern Australia each year.

That’s enough to fill a bucket the width of the MCG more than 20% of the way to the moon.

But catching, storing and using that water is easier said than done. More than 80% of that water evaporates, less than 10% actually enters streams where it can be captured, and only 2% finds its way into groundwater. Then there’s the variability – both in space and time.

Annual average rainfall varies from less than 200mm in the riverless region of Western Australia, to more than 4000mm in the wet tropics in Queensland’s east.

“Opportunities in the north can’t rely on a one-size-fits-all approach,” Stone said. Some years have extremely wet seasons, and others not so much, which result in misleading average rainfall figures. “Failure to understand the high variability of rainfall can get you into real trouble in the north,” he said.

Currently, only 150,000ha of irrigated agriculture exists across the north. But the CSIRO believes there’s a maximum potential for 10 times that – 0.5% of the total landscape.

LESSONS LEARNED? There have been at least nine attempts at major irrigation schemes in northern Australia since 1948. “Three of those met the aspirations of their makers and really persisted,” Stone said. They include Queensland’s Burdekin River (1987)

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Irrigating Northern Australia

NINE EARLY NORTHERN AUSTRALIA IRRIGATION PROJECTS

1.

QUEENSLAND-BRITISH FOOD CORPORATION, CENTRAL QUEENSLAND, 1948 – FAILED. Established on natural grasslands 250km west of Rockhampton, an optimistic post-war mindset and rapid development gave way to unwise management decisions after heavy rain. The project was sold in 1956; however, mixed grazing-cropping enterprises exist today.

2.

TERRITORY RICE LIMITED, ADELAIDE RIVER, NT, 1955 – FAILED. The joint Australia-US company received 303,000ha of land on the sub-coastal plain for a commercial rice crop. Saline soil, weak management and wildlife problems resulted in the land being returned to the government by 1962.

3.

MAREEBA-DIMBULAH IRRIGATION AREA, ATHERTON TABLELANDS, QLD, 1958 – SUCCESS. Principal water storage is located at Tinaroo Falls Dam, owned by SunWater, on the Barron River.

Tobacco was once the major crop, but that has given way to sugar cane.

Mangoes, bananas, pawpaws, avocados, lychees and nuts are also now grown.

Primary source: CSIRO historical analysis by Andrew Ash.

40

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4.

ORD RIVER IRRIGATION AREA, EAST KIMBERLEY, WA, 1963 – SUCCESS. Stage one of the project provided for the development of 14,000ha of agricultural land, resulting in the town of Kununurra. Cotton farming was the scheme’s backbone until the 1970s, when pests, low crop yields and a drop in prices created problems. New crops and the creation of Lake Argyle in 1971 breathed new life into the area.

The NT Government wants to expand the scheme north-east.

5.

TIPPERARY LAND CORPORATION, DALY RIVER, NT, 1967 – FAILED. The Texan-company cleared large tracts of land to cultivate 400,000ha for sorghum and cattle. Boasting American ‘know-how’ and $20 million to invest, it would have been the biggest agricultural project in Australia.

Operations failed, closing down in 1973. “Confidence is no substitute for knowledge and experience,” commented expert W.S Mollah in a 1980 analysis.

6.

LAKELAND DOWNS, CAPE YORK, QLD, 1968 – FAILED. Two dams constructed to provide irrigation for dry-season cropping.

However, the Laura River dam was destroyed in the 1970-71 wet season before use. Considerable capital investment went into infrastructure, but only 500ha was used for irrigation.

The company was liquidated in 1974.

Cropping in the area continues today.

7.

CAMBALLIN IRRIGATION AREA, WEST KIMBERLEY, WA, 1969 – FAILED. The Australian Land and Cattle Company had plans for considerable expansion, including a 17km levee bank to prevent flooding of the expanded cropping area. The company went into receivership in 1982 and then the levee bank failed in 1983, ending operations.

8.

NORTHERN AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, VICTORIA RIVER DOWNS, NT, 1970 – FAILED. The scheme aimed to develop Willeroo Station into a high productivity crop and cattle fattening operation. Close to 50,000ha was quickly cleared; however, arable soils were left uncleared in favour of less suitable soils. Little was invested in infrastructure and grain storage occurred in the open. The scheme went into receivership in 1974.

9.

BURDEKIN RIVER IRRIGATION AREA, NORTH AND FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND, 1987 – SUCCESS. The Burdekin Falls Dam was filled to capacity one year after completion, providing water to upstream alluvial floodplains. Unlike other new cropping schemes, there was already an established industry in the area.

These days the scheme is the largest agricultural development in northern Australia.

and the Mareeba-Dimbulah (1958), and the Ord River Irrigation Area scheme (1963) in WA. And while for every success there have been two failures, it wasn’t for the reasons one might suspect.

“People usually say it was the natural environment. Our analysis doesn’t actually support that,” Stone said. “Management planning and especially finances were the most important factor describing a lack of success, particularly the problem of over-capitalising early.”

TropWATER’s Dr Damien Burrows said many of the early developments failed because people were over-confident about their potential. “They rushed in too quick and too soon, before they really understood the nature of the environment,” he said.

These lessons, combined with a boom in science and technology, provide us with a better chance than ever in the north.

Take smartphones, for example.

“We’ve got a generation of farmers who are happy to use smartphones and there’s a lot of things that can be done on your

smartphone, including semi-automated systems,” Irrigation Australia consultant Patrick Daley said.

TropWATER’s Burrows adds that globalisation isn’t hurting either.

“Nowadays there’s much better road conditions, better flight connections.

Then there’s the internet and telephones.

People can get advice and expertise more easily.”

The CSIRO is also using satellite technology to scan the countryside for arable soil and potential dam locations.

They recently screened more than one

billion potential dam sites across northern Australia, and in the process pinpointed 90 possible locations for large in-stream dams.

HIGH PRESSURE There’s no shortage of high-level politicians pushing for development.

It’s one of the main focuses for Josh Frydenberg – Australia’s first Minister for Northern Australia – who in January wrote that the “potential to further irrigate the north with new water infrastructure is enormous”.

WE’VE GOT A GENERATION OF FARMERS WHO ARE HAPPY TO USE SMARTPHONES AND THERE’S A LOT OF THINGS THAT CAN BE DONE ON YOUR SMARTPHONE, INCLUDING SEMI-AUTOMATED SYSTEMS. IRRIGATION AUSTRALIA CONSULTANT PATRICK DALEY

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Irrigating Northern Australia

PUSHING THE AGRICULTURAL FRONTIERS Western Australia, the country’s largest state, accounts for just 2.5% of the nation’s two million hectares of irrigated land. Currently, the state irrigates less than 50,000 hectares for agriculture, which includes 25,000 hectares in the Ord. But with the mining boom on the decline, the State Government is looking for other ways to extract value from its ample lands.

In 2008, Western Australian 008, tthe e Weste ust a a Water Strategy identified 10 million hectares of potentially irrigable land across the state, with half in the West Kimberley. In 2014, WA launched Water for Food – a four-year, $40 million, state-wide program that forms part of the $300 million Seizing the Opportunity Agriculture initiative.

The primary objective is to identify water and land resources, as well as irrigation technologies, that can enable WA’s fresh food and animal protein production to increase its contribution to regional economies by at least 50% by 2025.

The initiative involves 11 projects across Western Australia, including the Pilbara region, Kimberley, Gascoyne and Midlands West.

Water Minister Mia Davies said the program, funded entirely by the State’s Royalties for Regions program, is increasing opportunities to lift productivity in existing and new irrigation precincts.

“Water for Food is directing state investment into crucial areas of agriculture, including market development, science and maximising our water for productive use,” she said. “Diversification of the agricultural economy is critical.”

The State Government is investing almost $24 million in Water for Food projects in the Kimberley region alone. The projects include the Mowanjum Irrigation Trial, Fitzroy Valley Water Investigation, Knowsley Groundwater Project, Bonaparte Plains, La Grange Groundwater Project and Land Tenure Options Plan.

The Pilbara region, Western Australia

Federal Agriculture and Water Minister, and now Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce has also spent years lobbying for the establishment of more dams and irrigation schemes across the north. As such, last June the Federal Government released its White Paper on Developing Northern Australia, which focuses on building priority roads, developing water resources, removing red tape and building a sustainable workforce.

In March, the Federal Government stopped accepting feasibility applications for its $500 million National Water Infrastructure Development Fund announced in the White Paper. Funding of $450 million will be made available to construct water infrastructure from 2017, including $170 million reserved for northern Australia.

The Federal Government has also funded the CSIRO for 10 interrelated research projects over the past seven years. As well as informing road transport investment, these have resulted in significant increases in water allocation for irrigators. But industry insiders say actual development must begin before farmers become disillusioned.

“Things have been done, but the [local famers] don’t see it up there.

Some of them are fairly down-to-earth people and unless they see machinery moving, they don’t think anything is

happening,” Irrigation Australia’s Daley said.

OTHER OPTIONS Some commentators, meanwhile, are calling the focus on dam construction a missed opportunity, with groundwater storage through managed aquifer recharge likely to be a more efficient and effective option in some regions.

National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training Director Craig Simmons said annual evaporation rates can easily exceed annual rainfall. “In the north of Australia, evaporation from dams will lose metres of water per year into the sky. These losses will increase as the climate warms,” he said.

“Building an expensive piece of infrastructure that loses both water and money is not a sensible investment.

The use of surface dams only is a 19th century solution for a 21st century problem. Groundwater storage options will also need to be considered.”

Regardless of the methods used, there are also hopes that developing the north will result in policy initiatives that provide more opportunities for Indigenous Australians. Ninti One is a national not-for-profit that builds opportunities for people in remote Australia through on-ground research, innovation and community development.

www.awa.asn.au

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Irrigating Northern Australia

IN WHAT WOULD BE AUSTRALIA’S LARGEST IRRIGATED AGRICULTURE PROJECT, IFED HAS PROPOSED A $2 BILLION VERTICALLY-INTEGRATED FARM OVER 65,000 HECTARES OF IRRIGATED CROPPING IN QUEENSLAND’S GILBERT RIVER SYSTEM.

In a submission to the Federal Government’s Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia, the organisation said plans to develop the north must take into account the perspectives of Indigenous Australians. “The success of northern Australia development will ultimately depend on increased Aboriginal participation in the economy,” Managing Director Jan Ferguson co-wrote.

SCALE ECONOMIES Integrated Food and Energy Development (IFED) chairman Keith De Lacy believes large-scale projects, not humble family farms, hold the key to unlocking the north’s potential.

In what would be Australia’s largest irrigated agriculture project, IFED has proposed a $2 billion verticallyintegrated farm over 65,000 hectares of irrigated cropping in Queensland’s Gilbert river system. “My very strong view now is that we’ve got to make another step if we’re going to develop agriculture in isolated regions,” De Lacy said. “The old model won’t work – which

is the government coming in, building a dam and asking who wants to use it.”

It’s an opinion that not everyone shares. National Irrigators Council CEO Tom Chesson points out that some of the south’s most successful irrigated farms are run by families, and there’s no reason that can’t be the case up north.

What irrigators need is government assistance in reining in electricity prices, Chesson said, because sites as far south as soil-rich Bundaberg, let alone up north, are struggling from prices that have doubled in recent years. “That’s the big issue for us,” he said.

IFED is well aware of the difficulties rising power costs can create, which is why its cogeneration plant will aim to produce enough biomass to run its processing. It will then aim to recoup costs by feeding surplus to the grid.

“It will effectively be free for us. So that

underwrites the economies of all our processing,” De Lacy said.

Yet IFED isn’t the only company eyeing off a slice of the north. Further west on the Gulf of Carpentaria, one of Australia’s largest beef companies Stanbroke is pushing for a largescale project on the Flinders River.

In WA, Chinese company Kimberley Agricultural Investment’s 13,400ha Ord Stage 2 irrigation expansion project is underway on the Goomig and Knox plains, representing one of the biggest agricultural developments in Australia’s north in over 40 years.

Queensland Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries Leanne Donaldson said the state is seeing expansion in areas like Lakeland on the Cape, as banana growers take risk mitigation measures in response to severe Tropical Cyclones Larry and Yasi. Donaldson also listed “traditional strongholds” Bowen, Gumlu, Mackay, Burdekin and the Atherton Tablelands as the north’s most promising areas for irrigation projects.

In WA, the Federal Government’s White Paper highlights the Fitzroy catchment and the expansion of the

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Irrigating Northern Australia

THE ROAD TO THE NORTH There’s been a few hiccups, but Integrated Food and Energy Developments (IFED) chairman Keith De Lacy is confident the company’s $2 billion far north Queensland project won’t face any further significant roadblocks.

IFED’s Etheridge Integrated Agriculture Project in the Gilbert River catchment near Georgetown faced an uncertain future last year when the Queensland Government changed hands.

The company has since entered into a memorandum of understanding with the new Labor Government, ensuring the project will go through a rigorous environmental assessment process in order to receive its desired water allocation.

“We had a bit of a hiccup. But we’re 100 miles an hour again,” De Lacy said.

IFED are proposing to capture 555,000ML from the Gilbert River system for 65,000ha of irrigated cropping land. That would see about 10% of the catchment’s annual flows go into off-river storage, as opposed to in-river dams, under a system called partial flow diversion.

“This means we only harvest water from major flood flows, and there is no impediment to in-river aquatic movements – a highly-sustainable system,” he said.

Last year, the Wilderness Society blasted the Palaszczuk Government for what it perceived as a back down of a pre-election promise to scrap the previous LNP Government’s deal with IFED. The society argued that taking 555,000ML of water per year from the Gilbert River system would drain tributaries and starve ecological flows downstream.

However, De Lacy is confident the project will meet all environmental and sustainability issues.

De Lacy says onsite infrastructure will produce, as well as sell, all its electricity needs through biomass, not to mention ethanol for liquid fuel. “That underwrites the economies of all our processing,” he said.

The big challenge ahead for IFED, according to De Lacy, is raising $15 million in pre-construction funding, to which he says they are getting close. After raising the pre-construction funding, the company will spend 18 months gaining regulatory approval, followed by a three-year construction phase.

It will then seek investors to fund the $2 billion project, some of which will likely come from offshore.

The traditional owners of the site, the Ewamian people, told the ABC that while many people were optimistic about the proposal, they were concerned not enough was being done to identify and protect significant sites. “I realise it is going to come further on in the process, but Ewamian people passionately feel that the cultural heritage has to be addressed,” Ewamian Aboriginal Corporation coordinator Sharon Prior said.

IFED has committed 200 full-time jobs to Indigenous employment as part of the proposal.

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THERE’S STILL A LOT OF MONEY OUT THERE THAT NEEDS TO FIND A HOME. WE NEED TO MATCH THAT CAPITAL UP AND THEN WE SHOULD SEE SOME DECENT ACTION UP THERE. NATIONAL IRRIGATORS COUNCIL CEO TOM CHESSON

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Opinion

FOR & AGAINST DEBATING THE BIG ISSUES IN THE WATER INDUSTRY.

Q

IS IRRIGATING NORTHERN AUSTRALIA GOOD BUSINESS OR A POOR INVESTMENT?

FOR KEITH DE LACY CHAIRMAN OF INTEGRATED FOOD AND ENERGY DEVELOPMENTS AND A FORMER QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT TREASURER.

A vital source of prosperity and food security The challenge for the world is to feed a population estimated to grow from around seven billion today to nine billion by 2050, using substantially less land and water because of urban intrusion. Efficiency, technology and plant breeding can largely rise to the challenge, but we need to utilise resources where they are available. The last thing we need is vast forays into the Amazon rainforests, for instance.

Northern Australia is one of the last largely untapped agriculture regions in the world. And make no mistake, the north has the resources – water, land, sunshine and markets.

Water: the total fresh water outflow into the Gulf of Carpentaria is 90 million ML a year, three times the Murray-Darling. And unlike the largely over-allocated Murray-Darling, the Gulf’s river systems are barely used for economic purposes.

Land: a 2014 Flinders and Gilbert Agriculture Resources Assessment by CSIRO found “that a very large area of the Gilbert River catchment (1 to 2 million hectares) are moderately suitable (class three) for a whole range of crops and irrigation methods.”

The Gilbert River catchment represents only a minuscule portion of arable land in the Gulf catchment area. This land, despite some misguided commentary to the contrary, is hardly pristine. It is lightly timbered savannah country, has had cattle grazing it for more than one hundred years, and is widely infested with feral plant and animal species.

Solar radiation: there are few places on the globe that have such abundant sunshine, the essence of plant growth.

Markets: more than of the half of the world’s population (China, India, south-east Asia) live directly to the north, a market representing 70% of the projected growth in global food consumption over the next 40 years.

Of course ecological sustainability is fundamental. But there is a rule of thumb in Australia that one third of a river flow can be harvested if two thirds are returned to the environment.

One of the other great benefits of tropical agriculture is the enormous amount of biomass that can be produced, such that we can generate renewable electricity from the dry matter waste (effectively stored solar energy). Further, we can produce ethanol for liquid fuel. It’s the epitome of carbon sustainability.

It is also worth considering the economic impetus it will generate for isolated and disadvantaged shires in Australia, including Indigenous employment.

Should we strategically develop irrigation opportunities in the north? Doing so will bring government policy to life, feed a hungry world, generate jobs and wealth in a struggling region, offer economically and environmentally sustainable production, create indigenous jobs and business opportunities, generate tax revenue and improve the current account.

NORTHERN AUSTRALIA IS ONE OF THE LAST LARGELY UNTAPPED AGRICULTURE RESOURCE REGIONS IN THE WORLD.

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AGAINST MICHAEL B WARD PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS IN THE MONASH BUSINESS SCHOOL AT MONASH UNIVERSITY.

No value for money in farming the north During the 2013 Federal election campaign, both major political parties announced plans to develop northern Australia.

The Coalition in particular pledged to turn the north into a food bowl. And they have pursued this goal in government with some vigour, releasing in 2015 a policy paper on developing northern Australia and announcing a $500 million National Water Infrastructure Development Fund as part of its Agricultural White Paper.

Harsh environmental conditions in northern Australia – shallow, infertile and erosion-prone soils and an extreme climate that’s hot and dry, or intensely wet – mean without massive taxpayer subsidies for irrigation infrastructure, private production is uneconomic. But history warns us that irrigation schemes in northern Australia are not a sound economic solution either.

The most spectacular of many economic failures is the Ord River Irrigation Scheme in WA. The Ord is home to Lake Argyle, the largest contiguous freshwater lake in Australia, holding enough water to fill Sydney harbour 20 times over. Despite this immense water resource, as well as generous price supports, direct subsidies, and massive public infrastructure spending that in current dollar terms totals well over $1 billion, the Ord Scheme has consistently failed to sustain profitable agriculture since opening in 1963.

Given this history of failure, the Federal Government should be upfront about the inevitable net costs to the taxpayer if they pursue further spending on irrigation in northern Australia.

We crunched the numbers* and our calculations confirm irrigation in the north is an economic bust. Using public information about the cost of irrigation infrastructure and an extensive database of farm values we find that in the most optimistic circumstances, for every $1 of economic benefit, at least $1.10 would need to be spent constructing irrigation infrastructure.

These estimates are conservative. Factoring in the costs of new roads, damage to the ecosystem from damming rivers, risks to downstream industries such as fisheries or tourism, or subsidies to agricultural production, makes the case for the taxpayer even worse.

The average Australian would receive no economic benefit from the construction of major new water storages in northern Australia; rather the construction of dams and distribution systems will represent a significant transfer of wealth from taxpayers to private irrigators, with the Ord River Irrigation Scheme a clear case in point. Will such schemes nonetheless build the wealth of the country as a whole? Our benefit-cost analysis says no.

Given the competing demands on the public purse, there are surely more worthy uses of scarce taxpayers money than irrigation pipe dreams in the north Australian outback. The fact no rigorous and transparent economic benefit-cost analysis has been put forward by advocates says it all.

THERE ARE MORE WORTHY USES OF SCARCE TAXPAYERS MONEY THAN IRRIGATION PIPE DREAMS.

*Food Bowl or Folly? The economics of irrigating Northern Australia by Jared Dent and Michael B Ward

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Waste-to-energy

THE ECONOMIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL CASE FOR ENERGY RECOVERY FROM WASTEWATER HAS NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD. SO WHAT STRIDES IN BIOGAS POWER GENERATION CAN THE INDUSTRY EXPECT? Thea Cowie

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ustralia is “pouring profits down the drain” by not harnessing the energy in its wastewater, says CST Wastewater Solutions Managing Director Michael Bambridge, who speaks from almost three decades’ worth of experience in wastewater and green energy projects.

The majority of wastewater treatment plants are already producing biogas; modifying and enhancing those operations to achieve energy neutrality stands to save the average plant up to 40% of their operating costs, according to UNESCO data. And if they look over the fence, there are steady streams of organic waste that can be added to the mix and converted to revenue, not to mention a sustainable future.

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation tips bioenergy generation, of which biogas is 25%, could increase sixfold by 2020, to 2413GWh. By 2050, that figure could reach 55,815GWh, or 40 times 2008 levels.

Globally, the biogas market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.5% (volume) from 2015 to 2023, according to Transparency Market Research analysis. “This incredible growth can be attributed to the increasing greenhouse gas emissions and their hazardous impact,” the 2015 report stated. “[Governments and environmentalists] are encouraging the usage of biogas, as it is a cleaner fuel than petroleum fuels. The only factor restraining the growth of the global biogas market is the huge installation costs involved.”

But CST’s Bambridge said rising electricity and waste disposal costs are slowly but surely improving the business case for biogas projects in Australia. CST recently interviewed more than 60 senior executives in production, engineering and sustainability industries and found over 90% disagreed with the statement that sustainability is “never likely to be profitable”.

“Most groups we spoke with agreed the time is right for wastewater-to-energy projects, with the technology well developed in other countries,” Bambridge said. “There is now growing enthusiasm that waste-to-energy projects could be developed with financial realism, rather than purely CST WASTEWATER SOLUTIONS MANAGING DIRECTOR MICHAEL BAMBRIDGE government handouts.”

A

THERE IS NOW GROWING ENTHUSIASM THAT WASTETO-ENERGY PROJECTS COULD BE DEVELOPED WITH FINANCIAL REALISM, RATHER THAN PURELY GOVERNMENT HANDOUTS.

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Waste-to-energy

OPENING THE TAP Though financial drivers are only now emerging, there’s nothing new about biogas itself. It occurs naturally in swamps and compost heaps when bacteria break down organic matter in an oxygen-free (anaerobic) environment.

This anaerobic digestion (AD) process lets off a methane-rich gas – biogas – that can be collected and combusted to generate heat or energy.

Historians say the Assyrians used biogas to heat their bathwater, Marco Polo observed the Chinese extracting biogas from covered sewage pots, and gas from sewage treatment powered streetlights in 1890s England.

It wasn’t until the energy crisis of the 1970s, however, that serious funding was put into developing biogas as an alternate power source, with Germany now considered the world leader.

Latest data shows 4.9% of Germany’s power comes from more than 10,000 biogas plants, followed by the United Kingdom with 634 plants. But across the OECD, bioenergy accounts for 2.4% of power generation (CEFC).

In Australia, the situation is even less advanced, with bioenergy making up just 0.9% of all electricity generation; biogas accounts for just a quarter of that figure – 0.2%.

There are an estimated 155 anaerobic digestion facilities, including landfill, now generating biogas across the country. They’re fed predominantly by sewage sludge and landfill, followed by industrial waste and agricultural waste, according to an online survey by University of Southern Queensland for IEA Bioenergy.

More than half of all Australian WWTPs doing anaerobic digestion are capturing biogas and generating bioenergy. They’re using tecÚology ranging from covered anaerobic lagoons to temperature-controlled high performance co-digesters utilising the latest international tecÚology. About a third of biogas is used for electricity, another third for heat, 24% for combined heat and power, and 13.5% disposed of as flare.

Melbourne Water is one of the nation’s wastewater-to-energy pioneers, opening its first biogas power station at the Eastern Treatment Plant in 1975, followed by one at the Western Treatment Plant (Werribee) in 1998.

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Western Treatment Plant’s Energy Futures Principal Ken Baxter said biogas from covered anaerobic lagoons at both sites now provides “multi-million dollar annual savings to Melbourne Water”.

“Following construction of the next expansion of the power station at the Western Treatment Plant, the site will be more than self-sufficient for electricity and will be a net exporter of power,” he said. “The Eastern Treatment Plant is a more mechanically and electrically intensive site and, as such, is expected to achieve about 25 to 30% self-sufficiency.”

Sydney Water, meanwhile, supplies 16% of its total on-site electricity via renewables, including eight co-generation plants.

COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITIES Industrial waste fuels at least 33 biogas plants across the country, including 17 piggeries. More than half the biogas is burnt off as flare, while 27% is used for heat generation and 20% for electricity.

Teys Australia first implemented biogas generation at its Tamworth abattoir in 2012 and has since expanded to three more sites. The company’s Environment, Health and Safety Manager Charles Hollingworth said biogas produced in covered anaerobic lagoons has reduced carbon equivalent emissions by 113,000 tonnes a year. “There are also benefits around having a higher quality of wastewater being produced and additional numbers of reuse applications for that water, so we can reduce potable water use,” he said.

Many large manufacturers are choosing to harness the biogas, including the Carlton United Brewery, Golden Circle and Visy Paper, and are opting for complete mix anaerobic digesters with a small footprint.

Water utilities, meanwhile, are starting to process industrial waste alongside sewage sludge in a bid to boost biogas generation rates and revenue. Co-digestion – the process of adding energy-rich organic waste such as fats, oil or grease – to anaerobic digesters has been shown to double biogas production overseas.

International research is focused on increasing the amount of biogas that wastewater treatment plants can

KEY TERMS BIOGAS Biogas is released when organic matter breaks down in an oxygen-free environment.

The methane content of biogas, typically between 50-80%, is what makes it valuable for heat and electricity generation.

Biogas can be used for on-site electricity and heat generation after er a small amount of conditioning to reduce pressure, condensation and d hydrogen sulphide.

BIOMETHANE Biomethane is biogas that has gone e through a purification or upgrade process to reach a methane concentration of 95% or more.

The four main upgrading methods ds are pressure selexol adsorption, amine gas treating, swing adsorption on and water washing.

The latter is most common, but all ll processes remove water, highly-corrosive hydrogen sulphide de and increase methane concentration. on.

Biomethane can be fed into the electricity grid and is interchangeable able with conventional natural gas, making ing it suitable as vehicle fuel.

A 2015 ARENA report found no known biomethane plants in the Australian water sector. In comparison, ison, Europe has 17,240 biogas plants and nd 367 biomethane plants.

DIGESTATE Digestate is the organic material left ft over after biogas is captured from an anaerobic digester.

The liquid or solid matter typically lly contains nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, carbon, magnesium and sulphur, which can be used to generate additional revenue.

Digestate can be sold as an organic nic fertiliser, for use in irrigation or building materials. Alternatively, it can be refined to separate out the nutrients for individual sale.

The level of treatment required depends on the downstream use and nd the jurisdiction. In Victoria, for example, digestate is classified as industry waste until proven otherwise, ise, while in Queensland and New South h Wales digestate is considered under er compost guidelines.

CASE STUDY: TRASH TO TREASURE This year, Yarra Valley Water (YVW) will notch up an Australian first, as the Victorian utility flicks the switch on a new plant generating biogas using 100% food waste.

“Others in the industry have been doing [co-digestion], but we’re going further into organic waste than anyone has before,” Commercial Services Manager Andrew Edney said.

The $27 million plant was designed to slash the utility’s rising power bills and increase revenue, which is why sewage feedstock will not be used beyond the 2016 commissioning phase.

“If we put sewage in [the anaerobic digester], the business case is a little more problematic,” Major Projects Engineer Ian Donald said.

Local food and beverage companies will pay YVW to take their waste, which will be converted into enough energy to power the equivalent of utility’s four largest treatment plants.

“The Aurora Sewage Treatment Plant next door will use about 30% of the electricity produced and the rest

will then be sent out into the electricity grid,” Donald said.

Technology provider AquatecMaxcon will operate the 1MW capacity plant for the first two years.

Solid organic waste will be placed in two solids hopper feeders, shredded and chopped up and mixed with liquid organic waste, before being pumped either direct to the digesters, or into short-term storage to be fed to the digesters automatically outside of business hours.

The system is designed to pump 100 tonnes of organic waste into two stainless-steel mesophilic singlestage digesters each day. The biogas from the digesters is collected in the domed roofs of the digesters and sent via a carbon-scrubbing unit to two Combined Heat and Power (CHP) 500kW engines.

The planning and approvals process for the ambitious facility was extensive, with the board, waste industry groups and regulators engaged as early as 2011.

“Liaising with the Environmental Protection Agency, getting them on-board early and getting all the

rough edges out meant when we got to the design and construction phase, we didn’t have any barriers,” Edney said.

“One of the key messages is the opportunity for the waste and water industries to work more collaboratively together; leveraging the water industry’s land buffer zones and ability with technical solutions.”

Donald said the project required a challenging shift in mindset: from service provider to business.

“We had to ring-fence the project so that if it wasn’t making money, we weren’t going to cannibalise people’s water bills to pay for it,” he said.

MARCO POLO OBSERVED THE CHINESE EXTRACTING BIOGAS FROM COVERED SEWAGE POTS, AND IN 1890S ENGLAND GAS FROM SEWAGE TREATMENT POWERED STREETLIGHTS. extract, while still removing pollutants. Advancements are not only being made in co-digestion, but also algal biomass and upfront carbon extraction.

One way to increase energy production from wastewater is to encourage algal growth. Flinders University’s Howard Fallowfield is at the forefront of Australian research in this area and said trials at Melbourne Water’s Werribee site show that by making wastewater lagoons shallower (30–50cm rather 1.2–1.4m) and incorporating mixing, you can produce 70 tonnes of dry matter per hectare annually.

“The algae are two to three times more productive than a sugar cane crop would be per hectare,” Fallowfield said.

“We’re looking at between 40 and 160 megawatt hours per hectare (of algae), variable with season.” The algae could be used to generate biogas or biodiesel and may be particularly appropriate for wastewater treatment plants in rural communities.

Another idea being explored internationally is boosting biogas yields by extracting organic carbon directly from wastewater, rather than sewage treatment sludge. The problem with this concept has been that removing carbon first left none for essential de-nitrification purposes.

However, University of Queensland Advance Water Management Centre Director Professor Zhiguo Yuan said his team has come up with a way to remove the nitrogen with little-to-no carbon. They do this using a biocidal compound UQ discovered five years ago called free nitrous acid, which can be produced from a waste stream in a sewage treatment plant.

Pilot studies are still needed, but Yuan anticipates the breakthrough could help existing wastewater treatment plants triple biogas production with only minor retrofitting.

“All we need to do is incorporate a new, very simple tank to be operated at normal temperature and normal atmospheric

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pressure,” Yuan said. Incorporating the tecÚology into next generation wastewater treatment plants could boost bioenergy production by a factor of four, he said.

FLICK THE SWITCH A recent Australian Academy of TecÚological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) report found biogas generation and electricity co-generation from sewage and waste becomes financially viable once a treatment plant reaches typical mid-range size (50ML/d).

The report, Wastewater – An Untapped Resource?, includes financial modelling that shows a narrow margin between a favourable and an adverse business case finding. Calculations are highly sensitive to assumed electricity costs, toll charges for input organic waste and waste discharge costs, all of which are site specific and uncertain in the future.

But the analysis suggests the business case will improve as next generation wastewater treatment plants incorporate new tecÚology over the next 15 years.

Gas production and environmental protection regulations differ between Australian jurisdictions and are often cited as a barrier to biogas projects. Teys Australia found this when expanding its biogas operations interstate. “In a number of aspects we had to effectively start from scratch with each regulator,” Hollingworth said.

In Europe, biogas generators benefit from bans and tariffs placed on organic waste sent to landfill, according to international tecÚology provider SUEZ. “This provides utilities access to third-party substrates for co-digestion and the ability to charge gate fees for disposal,” said Stuart Gowans, General Manager of Business Development for SUEZ Water and Treatment Solutions Australia. “This revenue stream, together with the resultant value of the additional biogas produced, is what makes co-digestion so attractive.”

The Australian Government offers financial incentives in the form of large-scale generation certificates and carbon credits. There is also loan and financing support available through the CEFC, grants from ARENA and state-based research and development schemes.

However, biogas production beyond on-site needs remains unattractive, said Michael Bambridge from CST Wastewater Solutions. “Access to the grid can be bureaucratic and costly, as well as time-consuming,” he said. “It makes more sense to use the biogas for your own benefit than try and put it into the grid where you are getting a poor return.” Feed-in tariffs are typically poor at around four to eight cents a kWh.

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Waste-to-energy

How it works

PRE-TREATMENT Feedstock is received and screened for inappropriate matter.

Pre-treatment in the mixing pit can involve organic matter being chopped, macerated, thickened or pasteurised.

DIGESTION Feedstock is sent to the oxygen-free containment vessel of choice.

Common digester types COMPLETE-MIX DIGESTER enclosed tank uses mechanical, An ne nclose nc ed ta ank u s s a me se mech chan anical, hydraulic, orr ga gas system h yd drra rauli ulliic, c, o as sy syst stem em tto o continuously orr in waste co ont ntin inuoussly l o iintermittently nte term mit itte t ntlyy mix w aste as te prevent Often type off to op reve re v ntt sseparation. ep par arat atio ion. n. O ften ft e tthis en hiis ty typ pe o pe digester above ground, heated and dig di gestter er iis s ab bo ovve g round nd, he nd heat ated at ed a nd d insulated. wide range insu in ula late ed. IItt ca can n ta take ke a w ide ran id ra ange nge of materials and levels off vviscosity, has mate ma te eri rial alls an als a nd le leve vels o isscosity, h a a as sshorter shor sh horte orrte er ttreatment reatm men ent ti ttime me and takes up me less than other digesters. le ess sspace pace tha han n ot o the er di d gesters. It’s also more expensive build a als lsso om ore ex expe pens n ive to b ns u ld and run. ui COVERED ANAEROBIC LAGOON An A ne earthen arthen pon pond ond d wi w with th h a ssoft o t co of cove cover, verr, tthis hiis type off digest digester operates ambient type ty p o sterr ope era rate tess at amb mbie mb ient en temperature and not tte emperattur ure e an nd does es n ot rrequire eq quire re mixing. suitable wastes miix m xiing n . It is suit itable ble ffor o w or asttess wi as with th h less solids and relatively lle ess s tthan ha h an 2% solid ds an nd is rel elat ativ ivvelyy cheap build maintain. requires ch chea hea eap to to b uiild and m u aint ntai ain. ai n. IItt re requ quir ires es a lo warm climates. llot ot off sspace p ce pa e and dw a m cl ar clim mat ates es..

CAPTURE AND CLEAN-UP Biogas is trapped.

Contaminants including hydrogen sulphide, water and siloxane are removed or diluted depending on intended use of biogas.

CONVERSION Biogas is used to fire a boiler or stationary engine.

Digester configuration BATCH OR CONTINUOUS In a batch system, the digester is filled with biomass, inoculated with material that has already been processed, and left until the anaerobic digestion process is complete. In a continuous system, biomass is continuously fed to the digester and digestate is continuously removed.

TEMPERATURE Bacteria needed for anaerobic digestion operate at different temperatures.

Mesophilic bacteria operate at temperatures between 20 and 40°C. Thermophilic bacteria can generate biogas faster, but digesters need to be heated to 50-60°C, unless source water is already that temperature.

SINGLE OR TWO-STAGE REACTORS

PLUG FLOW These Thes Th ese e long, lo on ng g, narrow, n rrow, covered na and insulated an a nd iin nsu sula late ted d tanks are made off conc concrete mad ma de eo co on nc cre r te or steel.

They handle the thickest Th hey e h and an dlle tth he thicke est waste (greater wa was ast ste (g (gre reat re a er than 10% solids) and 10 1 0% so olliids ds)) an a d ar are e therefore commonly th he erref e or ore e co c ommo mm monly only used digest ussed tto u o di d ge g es est livestock waste. liive est stoc o k wa wast ast se e..

There are four phases of anaerobic digestion: hydrolysis, fermentation, acetogenesis and methanogenesis.

In single-stage processes, all stages occur in the one reactor. Two-stage digestion systems offer greater control over the methanogenesis phase. These systems are most typical for high-rate anaerobic systems degrading mostly soluble organics.

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55

Waste-to-energy

CASE STUDY: AFTER-MARKET TUNING SA Water’s Glenelg biogas plant has boosted production by 50% after retrofitting its existing power plant with a fully-automated co-digestion system.

“Before the co-digestion plant was built, the sludge created through the process was producing enough biogas to provide approximately 55% of the power used onsite,” SA Water Energy Strategy and Water Trading Manager Andrew Jackson said.

“Since the addition of high-strength organic materials in July 2013, the biogas produced generates, on average, 73% of the on-site use, with some months peaking at 84%.” The co-generation plant is the result of four years’ study into the optimum feedstock composition, substrate volume, digester temperature, sludge thickness and recirculation levels. The $1 million project was delivered in partnership with SUEZ. The design involves thickening waste-activated sludge through dissolved air flotation and feeding the substance directly to the digesters. Trade waste is trickle-fed into the thickened sludge prior to

being added to the digesters, which run at an average temperature of 35°C and have a retention time of around 18 days.

The upgrade made use of the existing transfer pump, pipework and tanks. Jackson said for other WWTPs looking to retrofit a co-digester there are a number of minimum requirements: “Substrate pre-screening to remove solids; a macerator for chopping solids to prevent blockages; storage tanks with capacity to hold peak deliveries of waste; tanks with heat tracer elements may be required to liquefy fats, oil and “Since the addition of grease, which have significantly higher high-strength organic biogas generation potential.” materials in July 2013, Building on its success at Glenelg, SA the biogas produced Water is in the concept design phase of co-digestion infrastructure at the generates, on average, Bolivar WWTP. Preliminary results of the on site indicate that to reach daily self-sufficiency across the two sites, use, with some months engine optimisation and additional peaking at .” substrate will be required.

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84%

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ALL TOGETHER NOW One way to ensure biogas project viability could be to adopt the Asian model of community digesters, said Bambridge, who works on such projects in the region.

“Digesters shared by a number of industries may need to be adopted, particularly in high value food regions,” he said. “With the multiple and consistent wastewater streams from these food regions, local community digesters would allow Australia to start to achieve its wastewater-to-energy potential.”

A hybrid renewable energy strategy could also help wastewater treatment plants achieve a sustainable power supply, as Melbourne Water has suggested.

“Ultimately, it is likely that alternative energy sources, such as solar, will reduce sufficiently in cost to be viable and will augment on-site generation from biogas,” Ken Baxter said.

Storage is another promising option put forward by Beca Consultants in an ARENAcommissioned report. “Biogas storage [may] allow flexibility to offset higher peak electricity tariffs … [and] improve the viability of small-scale biogas facilities,” the 2015 report stated.

In Australia, excess biogas is predominantly flared, the report stated, but elsewhere there’s widespread use of a range of storage tecÚologies.

Another finding of the ATSE report was that investment and management structures external to state-owned water corporations are a feature of successful resource recovery businesses.

“Alternative infrastructure investment models such as ‘ring-fenced’ PPPs or private ‘build, own and operate’ strategies may enable further resource recovery,” the report stated.

Melbourne Water’s Werribee Power Station has taken a variation on this approach – it was sold to AGL in the late 1990s with an electricity off-take agreement included in the contract.

Baxter has this advice: “Work with industry, but ensure they have ‘skin in the game’. They then have self-interest driving them to make the outcome a success.

“Remember your business partners and service providers must make a fair profit.”

There should be plenty to go around. The CEFC has identified up to $5 billion in waste energy and bioenergy investment opportunities to 2020.

THE

MINING WATERS WASTEWATER IS INCREASINGLY BEING THOUGHT OF AS AN ASSET, THANKS TO ENERGY GENERATION PROJECTS. BUT WHAT OF EFFORTS TO MONETISE THE RECOVERY OF MINERAL RESOURCES? Thea Cowie

58

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Resource recovery

E

ach day, Australians send many billions of litres of wastewater into the sewers. There’s much more than water in that wastewater, of course, including minerals such as phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium.

The fact excess levels of these cause downstream problems, such as eutrophication, means wastewater treatment plants expend many resources reducing concentrations. At the same time, farmers are spending billions of dollars each year on fertilisers to boost soil nutrient levels, consuming an estimated 450,000 tonnes of phosphorus alone.

Not surprisingly, finding some way to profitably tap into resources washed down the sewer has been high on the water industry’s wish list for years. So where does the science stand?

TECHNICAL HURDLES Recovering all the resources in wastewater could deliver a $5 billion annual windfall to Australia, according to a recent Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) report, Wastewater – an untapped resource?

Lead Author Professor John Burgess said the potential value going unexploited brought to mind sunshine. “There’s plenty of solar energy there, if only we could work out a way to get it really cheaply,” he said.

Phosphorus has been the focus of the most research, which has begun to bear feasible fruit in recent years. Overseas, phosphorus is being extracted as struvite, a magnesium ammonium phosphate slow-release fertiliser.

The poster child for global struvite recovery is Vancouver-based Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies, which partners with wastewater treatment plants across north America and Europe. The struvite production process involves placing the liquid extract from sludge into a fluidised bed ‘Pearl’ reactor and using chemical precipitation to form crystalline pellets of struvite. Ostara dries, packages, and markets the struvite as a commercial fertiliser.

University of Technology Sydney Institute of Sustainable Futures Deputy Director Professor Cynthia Mitchell said Ostara’s approach had been particularly clever. “They set up the inner workings of their business model so that utilities benefit from doing the right thing – from giving them a better feed stream – and [Ostara] take all of the product management work away from utilities.”

Struvite recovery has been considered in Australia, where naturally phosphorus-poor soils and the agricultural sector make Australia the world’s fifth-largest consumer of phosphate fertilisers. However, Melbourne Water Senior Project Scientist Kelly Brooks said uptake is slow on home soil.

“We did a couple of feasibility studies on phosphorus recovery through struvite production several years ago now, but financial analysis showed it wasn’t viable for at least 10 years,” she said.

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59

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Resource recovery

“Prices for phosphorus were not attractive; chemical inputs are expensive and even if they came at zero cost, we would barely break even with very low certainty for a sales market.”

Queensland Urban Utilities made a brief foray into the sector when it installed a struvite recovery plant at Oxley Creek. But the plan to sell struvite-based fertiliser to local markets has been abandoned, for now.

“Manufacturing struvite for retail sale is not a viable business venture at this time due to the current low market price of phosphorus-based fertilisers,” the utility’s 2014/15 annual report stated. “The business case recommended that we investigate the feasibility of ‘value-added’ struvite fertiliser manufacturing when we begin removing struvite as a core sewage treatment process at the Oxley Creek Sewage Treatment Plant in 2019/20.”

Work is needed to prove the value of recovered resources, said Dr Tim Muster from CSIRO Land and Water. “You could argue the value of struvite, in terms of nutrient content, may be $500 or even $1000 a tonne,” Muster said. “But the present market value of struvite in Australia is below $100 a tonne because it’s not demonstrated to have a productivity dividend.”

The current figures for nitrogen recovery are even more intimidating. Nitrogen is initially present in most wastewater streams in the form of ammonia, which can be recovered through liquid-gas stripping, adsorption, gas permeable membrane, electrodialysis and struvite precipitation.

There are examples of extracting ammonia from municipal sewage in Norway and one US company has been extracting ammonia from agricultural waste, but broader uptake has not occurred.

“The [nitrogen] production cost is some 10 times higher than the underlying commodity price,” the ATSE report said.

“Production of nitrogen products from wastewater therefore requires a breakthrough in low-cost technology to be economically viable.”

To make matters more challenging, in the short term, experts tip a 9% global oversupply of nitrogen, by 2018. Similarly, potassium can be concentrated in liquid in a similar way to ammonia, using dialysis approaches. Research has shown that potassium can also be extracted as a form of struvite, but dedicated potassium recovery models are limited.

Progress is being made in Australia, however, with GHD recently pairing with Phoenix Water to commercialise a new wastewater treatment technology, which can be used to recover potassium, lithium, magnesium and potassium.

By far the most widespread form of resource extraction is via biosolids, the carbon-rich material from processed sludge after wastewater treatment.

YOU COULD ARGUE THE VALUE OF STRUVITE, IN TERMS OF NUTRIENT CONTENT, MAY BE $500 OR EVEN $1000 A TONNE. CSIRO LAND AND WATER’S DR TIM MUSTER

IF A WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY HAS TO REMOVE PHOSPHORUS THEY CAN DO IT THE EXPENSIVE WAY – BY ADDING CHEMICALS WITH ATTENDANT SLUDGE DISPOSAL COSTS – OR THEY CAN DO IT BY MAKING [SALEABLE] STRUVITE. ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING’S JOHN BURGESS

With around 8% nitrogen and 3% phosphorus, biosolids are commonly processed and stabilised before being sold as soil ameliorant or low-cost building material.

Biosolids do have nutrient value, but significantly lower than commercial fertilisers. They provide advantages for impoverished soils, such as addition of organic material, and improving water retention.

In 2013, Victoria’s Barwon Water successfully partnered with Plenary Group to build an onsite thermal drying plant to produce a dried and granulated biosolid fertiliser product.

Capable of handling 60,000 tonnes of biosolids annually, the plant provides a nutrient boost for more than 30 farms in the region.

TALL TASK GHD Water Global Market Leader Chris Hertle said the economics of resource recovery remained the tallest obstacle.

“Unfortunately, the quantities recoverable are small and it is difficult to get these materials into the worldwide fertiliser market,” he said. “When you’ve got a commodity market which is very mature and big and you’re just trying to put a very small amount of something onto that market, you’ve really got to have a unique selling point.”

This is why overseas efforts to increase resource recovery are increasingly focused on environmental benefits and avoided costs. Stringent environmental regulations are driving Europe and North America’s small but growing resource recovery industry.

With so many large cities on sensitive inland waterways, WWTPs face strict caps on effluent contaminant levels (particularly phosphorus) and waste-to-landfill that don’t exist in Australia.

Costs associated with meeting these restrictions are seen as the main driver for resource recovery. “Phosphorus recovery doesn’t sit in the money-making side of the equation, it’s about reducing costs,” ATSE’s John Burgess said.

“If a wastewater treatment facility has to remove phosphorus they can do it the expensive way – by adding chemicals with attendant sludge disposal costs – or they can do it by making [saleable] struvite.”

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61

Resource recovery

Yarra Valley Water Research and Innovation Manager Francis Pamminger led a feasibility study into struvite production, which found it was unviable.

“People are still looking at [phosphate recovery in Australia] and if we were to have a large city on an inland waterway in pristine condition, yes it could work,” he said.

On the coast, where ammonia in effluent can threaten marine biology, Muster said “there is the slight possibility that removal of struvite be targeted to lower the ammonia levels, so that could, in a different way, drive investment in struvite manufacture on the basis of nitrogen removal rather than phosphorus.”

Institute of Sustainable Futures’ Cynthia Mitchell said utilities would have to look at the big picture for resource recovery to make sense. “Resource recovery schemes are not significant on a five-year timeframe,” she said. “They’re significant on a timeframe of asset life which ought to be how utilities plan.

“That’s hard for utilities because they operate within a very strict framework. But the opportunity for utilities is to convince their regulators that the public actually wants this – that it’s not gold plating.”

Diminishing resources will arguably make resource recovery more important over time. “Already there are big global issues there just from a supply chain and ethical perspective,” Mitchell said.

For example, the world’s phosphorus supply is on shaky ground, with most of it coming out of Morocco’s disputed Western Sahara and China, and concerns that peak phosphorus is approaching. Although estimated to be decades to centuries away, its effects could be catastrophic.

One day, water may not be the most valuable element in the chain, Mitchell said. “We didn’t think we had to worry about water efficiency until there wasn’t much water around,” she said, adding that the ultimate solution might be to return to the source.

“The fundamental way to recover resources is actually to not add them into the wastewater in the first place,” she said.

“Urine-diverting toilets are one way.”

“The metaphor that I use is that if you were going to make cheese and what you wanted was the cream out of the milk to make the cheese, would you add the milk to your cheese and then try and extract the cream out of it?”

CASE STUDY: LAKE OF GOLD Mount Morgan was once literally a goldmine. After mining ceased, however, the Queensland site became a significant drain on the public purse. But that is changing.

The legacy of more than 100 years’ mining is 40 million tonnes of tailings and an open pit containing 12,000ML of pH2.5 water, which intermittently overflows into local waterways. Cleaning up the mess had been tipped to cost the government half a billion dollars and for 25 years no resource companies would touch the site, Carbine Resources Executive Director Patrick Walta said.

“The perceived problem with reprocessing the tailings on site as a mechanism for remediation is the presence of significant quantities of soluble copper, so from a technical point of view, when undertaking conventional carbon-in-leach processing you will leach gold, but any copper that’s in there will also leach,” he said. “You’re not recovering copper as a valuable by-product, so your unit costs of cyanide go up.”

But as a group of metallurgists approaching the problem from

62

www.awa.asn.au

Large evaporators work to reduce the amount of water in the open cut pit at Mt Morgan.

what they called an ‘economic rehabilitation’ perspective, Carbine Resources developed a simple solution they hope will bring the site back to life.

“We will selectively extract the copper out up-front and remove it from the tailings,” Walta said. “That allows us to then extract the gold through conventional carbon-in-leach processing.”

The approach would take gold recovery from 50% historically, to 76%, a pre-feasibility study found.

“When you look at it from an overall cost per ounce of gold produced,

we’re a very, very low cost operation,” Walta said. “Our cost of producing gold is $234 an ounce, compared to a gold price at the moment of about $1200 an ounce.”

If the plan passes the definitive feasibility study and the estimated $63 million capital is raised, the company will offset its gold production costs by extracting and selling copper and high-grade pyrite.

“Pyrite is the main source of environmental degradation for the site ... so again taking a problem and turning it into a solution,” Walta said.

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Data Acquisition & Communication We design and manufacture a market-leading range of proven Remote Telemetry Units (RTUs) and loggers that allow customers to collect and communicate data in a reliable and secure manner, even in the most remote locations and harshest environments. Servelec RTUs range from modular high performance, through standalone versatile feature-rich to low power/battery operated remote logger units.

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RTU products at the designed to be at forefront for Water Industry customers.

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Data Acquisition & Communication RTU Products

SCADA data is an essential source of information for your business.

Our solutions collect and add value to asset performance.

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Data Management Telemetry

Developer of: FlowSure Leak Dectection Software MISER Decision Support Software Tools Pioneer Asset Management Software

Data Harvesting & Analytics to Enterprise SCADA

& Presentation

Data works hardest and reduces costs when it is analysed and used to inform business decisions in real-time. At Servelec Technologies we have a range of products and consultancy services speciďŹ cally designed to enable customers to make best use of their business operational data to not only inform site-speciďŹ c choices but also enterprise-wide decisions.

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Collect, t, consolida consolidate and exploit data Reduce duce energy nergy con consumption Decrease ecrease labour bour co costs Optimise mise business siness p performance Ensure ure regulatory re atory co compliance mpliance

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& Presentation / SCADA

Data Harvesting & Analytics Business Optimisation

technical features xxxxxxxxxxxxx

LETTING THE

DATA FLOW

THE VOLUME OF DATA THAT UTILITIES CAN COLLECT FROM THEIR USERS AND ASSETS IS GROWING AT AN INCREDIBLE RATE. BUT GLEANING VALUABLE INSIGHTS FROM THIS FLOOD OF DATA IS NOT ALWAYS SIMPLE. Cecilia Harris

nowledge is power, and with water shortages expected to grow exponentially within the next few decades, the driest inhabited continent on earth is going to need all the power it can get.

Australia’s jagged weather patterns put a hefty price tag on the reliability of water services, which means utility costs have the potential to skyrocket with the changing climate. The era of taking clean, abundant water for granted is coming to a quick end.

But there is one thing utilities have been doing for the past 20-odd years that’s taken a turn for the future: the collection of water data. Capturing information about water quality, levels and inflows through remote monitoring tecÚology is no new feat. Data from pumping stations, wastewater plants and reservoirs has been feeding central control systems for decades.

While the ability to capture more information is speeding up with continued tecÚological advancement, water experts are turning their attention to analysis.

Collecting data is only one part of a much larger puzzle.

When it comes to the current state of water monitoring tecÚology, there are two factions to consider: monitoring applied to utility operations, including performance of infrastructure and mechanical systems, and consumption.

Utilities employ supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems as general practice, collecting

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THE TECHNOLOGY THAT COLLECTS THE DATA, IT’S ADVANCING ALL THE TIME. SENSORS CAN NOW DO ALL KINDS OF THINGS. IBM Smarter Water subject matter expert Carey Hidaka

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ver-present and largely invisible, microorganisms are a nuisance in water. According to estimates, the number of bacteria on earth is 1030, just 5% of which we have identified by species. They can cause illness, plug filters and even eat metal. In general, these problems are not caused by any one microorganism, but by a community. By the time their effects are known, the problem is typically difficult to isolate and expensive to solve.

Once microorganisms establish their community, they will continue to grow.

The cheapest way to address microorganism damage is to mitigate the problem before it gets out of hand. However, traditional microbiology is a slow and complicated process, requiring trained professionals in a laboratory.

Culture tests, the industry standard, have been in use since the 1850s, requiring at least one day to provide results, and detect 1% of the organisms present, at best.

A more effective way of process control and monitoring has emerged via ‘2nd Generation’ Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) monitoring from LuminUltra. While the measurement of ATP is a fast, effective, and user-friendly way to assess surface cleanliness in food processing and medical hygiene applications, 2nd Generation ATP technology

provides new industries such as drinking water, wastewater, industrial manufacturing, and oil and gas with newfound capabilities for rapid microbial analyses.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS? 2nd Generation ATP measurement represents a major upgrade over other microbiological tools through three primary benefits: 1. Fast – providing results within minutes of sampling.

2. Accurate – all living microorganisms contain ATP, so no threat goes undetected.

3. Portable – tests can be done in a laboratory or in the field.

Being in control of microorganisms starts with controlling the total population through the use of treatment mechanisms, like filtration or disinfection, both of which are broad-spectrum treatments. As such, 2nd Generation ATP serves as an excellent guidance tool for overall control in these situations.

This solution involves three main components: 1. Test kit – samples from different industries have unique challenges

associated with them, so LuminUltra has developed a series of kits with robust chemistries and optimised protocols to overcome them.

2. Luminometer – ATP tests are conducted using a sensitive lightmeasurement device such as PhotonMasterTM from LuminUltra.

3. Software – LuminUltra Cloud (coming mid-2016) provides a revolutionary mobile-based information management and decision support platform to easily incorporate all of your data – past and present – into your analysis.

Microbiology can be complicated and expensive, but a simple, effective and low-cost solution is available through 2nd Generation ATP monitoring. This technology can serve as a valuable addition to your water quality toolbox to provide accurate information when it matters, in order to put your mind at ease and save money.

For more information, contact Royce Water Technologies (www.roycewater. com.au), LuminUltra’s official distribution partner for Australia.

Visit Royce’s stand at Ozwater’16 in Melbourne (#G21) to meet LuminUltra President & CEO Pat Whalen to discuss any specific applications or queries.

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Water data

data about water pressure, levels, inflows and quality via sensors. Reported data informs operators about what is happening throughout their systems. SCADA and sensorbased monitoring systems have evolved and collecting near real-time data is now possible. Information can now be captured quickly, and there’s a lot more of it.

IBM Smarter Water subject matter expert Carey Hidaka says that the advances in sensor and information tecÚology are allowing utilities to hone in on different operational problems and anomalies in a much more sophisticated way.

“The tecÚology that collects and makes use of the data is advancing all the time,” Hidaka says. “Sensors that collect the data and the systems that analyse the data can now do some pretty remarkable things, like help predict what may happen to your collection system when the weather changes or what equipment may fail, before it actually happens.”

And the more intricate the operations data is, the more accurate analysis has the potential to be. Utilities have begun to employ analytics-based software to determine potential issues with infrastructure.

“We use the software program TaKaDu,” Yarra Valley Water Infrastructure Services General Manager Glenn Wilson said. “We send TaKaDu our raw asset performance data every couple of hours, which is run through their statistical algorithms to tell us if there are any changes in zone behaviour.”

Analysis software has the ability to predict potential issues, like main bursts and supply demands, which help utilities become more proactive.

CLOSE TO HOME In the world of consumer data, the developments in technology have not yet been unanimously applied. Water meters are still mostly analogue, but trials into smart metering

WE CAN TELL A LOT FROM WATER USAGE. BUT IT THEN BECOMES A VIOLATION OF TRUST, SO WE’RE PARTICULARLY CAREFUL THAT WE DON’T GO BEYOND THAT ACCEPTABLE LIMIT. Queensland Urban Utilities Servicing Strategy Manager Abel Immaraj

are thoroughly underway. Smart meters have the ability to capture complex data patterns, providing detailed information regarding the amount of water used in shower, garden, washing machine or toilet, and don’t require a manual reading.

Queensland Urban Utilities has started trials into smart meters, and Servicing Strategy Manager Abel Immaraj said the information available through this tecÚology is creating opportunities for an overhaul in how water is supplied.

“Like every other utility, we’ve trialled smart meters and we’re beginning to put together intelligent water networks,” Immaraj said. “But we need to understand why we’re collecting this data and what sort of decisions we’ll make and how will that impact eventually on our society.”

And this is the ultimate catch. There is now so much data available for collection that utilities are taking their time at the drawing board to answer some game-changing questions.

How will the data be analysed and to what end?

INFORMATION IN ABUNDANCE The Bureau of Meteorology aggregates and analyses an array of water datasets, building on the data collected by water utilities and other water managers to provide standardised national information.

This ranges from monitoring data for groundwater and surface water resources, to forecast data, water-use data and geospatial data to help model catchments and rivers.

The Bureau also offers utilities information regarding design rainfall estimates, climate averages, and capacity and production data for desalination and recycled water plants.

This information is used in a variety of ways, and often supplements utilities’ data to achieve more tangible results. For example, design rainfall estimates are used when developing infrastructure, while forecast data helps

utilities estimate the amount of water expected to flow into storage facilities. When a utility knows how much water it’s dealing with, it has a better chance of making effective decisions.

The Bureau’s datasets are accessed by utilities via a bulk download or through many of the online water information websites, but particular information can also be requested.

Data is also summarised annually in reports like Water in Australia and the National Performance Report for Urban Water Utilities. A survey conducted in December 2015 of 530 stakeholders, showed 73% use the Bureau’s water data products for monitoring and planning. On average, 58% of users said these products were having a strong impact on their work.

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Water data

HAVING DIGITAL-METER DATA ALLOWS YOU TO TAKE MORE RISKS. YOU COULD MAKE A PIPE SMALLER THAN YOU ORDINARILY WOULD BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT’S ACTUALLY HAPPENING. Yarra Valley Water Infrastructure Services General Manager Glenn Wilson

One of the leading concerns regarding data use is effective and efficient analysis. Griffith University School of Engineering Professor Rodney Stewart said the first issue is knowing when to stop. “There is an issue with the reasonable point of data collection that will make the business case worthwhile,” Stewart said. “Collecting data every hour could maybe change to every 15 minutes. But that level is probably as far as utilities want to go.”

HEAD ABOVE WATER Vitally, the analytic tools used to interpret data need to be worth the expenditure. AECOM Associate Director Craig Roberts said the sheer volume of information available threatens to muddy the analytic direction that companies take.

“There are all sorts of additional data elements that clients are struggling to comprehend as to the extent of the information that they need,” Roberts said.

“The question is, how do we manage that data?

Which bits of data are more important than others? It costs money, like everything else, to capture that data and maintain it.”

Servicing Strategy Manager Abel Immaraj said dodgy data is also a problem that needs to be addressed before companies rely on analysis for decision-making.

“The challenges we see with such huge amounts of data is ‘garbage in-garbage out’,” Immaraj said. “We need to have the best possible data that we can collect. But it also needs to be commensurate with what we’ll use it for.”

Immaraj said it is no use going to the effort of collecting pristine data if it ends up on the boardroom floor. “Let’s not just collect the most accurate data possible then not do anything with it. It needs to go towards the decisionmaking process.”

IBM Smarter Water’s Carey Hidaka said data management is also a consideration that must be kept front of mind. “It’s called ‘one version of the truth’ with regards to data. Multiple versions of the same information may be used simultaneously, by different people,” Hidaka said.

“Very quickly it becomes an issue of which version of the source data is the right version. Data management is critical and should not be ignored.

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Water data

“Utilities are also conscious of maintaining a decent level of customer privacy. Collecting information about how consumers use water may become a more contested issue as technology develops.

“We can tell a lot from water usage. But it then becomes a violation of trust, so we’re particularly careful that we don’t go beyond that acceptable limit,” Immaraj said.

PUTTING IT TO USE There is still a lot to do before data use reaches its full potential within the water sector, but there are plenty of innovative applications happening now.

Analytics-based software, such as TaKaDu and IBM’s Intelligent Operations Centre, is currently being used to help operations. As data becomes available, it can be analysed quickly to support decisions regarding systems maintenance and energy optimisation.

Immaraj said it’s still necessary to approach analytic software with caution, as following blindly can lead to over-expenditure. “[TaKaDu] predicts where the potential pipe bursts and will be, and where leaks are, and we can then carry out the repairs before the actual failure,” Immaraj said.

“In a way, approaches like this will help prevent, but we also need to analyse whether the 10 repairs should have actually been a pipe replacement. We’re always conscious

of the bigger picture.” Water data has also proved exceptionally useful in infrastructure design and planning.

Utilities are able to modify their asset preparation with more subjectivity and accuracy than ever before. “At the moment, we’re using customer water use data to fine tune the design assumptions for sizing new assets,” Yarra Valley Water’s Glenn Wilson.

“Having this type of data allows you to do things that would previously have been considered too risky. For example, you can make a pipe smaller than you ordinarily would because you have visibility of what is actually happening in the field.

“The customer is at the centre of everything we do, and we need to be careful that the information we provide them with is aligned with their needs. The process of turning data into knowledge is key.”

Although data has changed customer service in recent years – some utilities now offer usage information with quarterly water bills – without smart meters installed at every property, the potential to transform the retail provision is held at bay.

“We have about 500,000 customer meters, but only a small fraction of that is what we would consider digital smart meters,” Immaraj said.

“We’re going through a process of developing a business case, which is strengthened when you look

WIDE BAY WATER SMART METERING PROJECT In 2006, Wide Bay Water Corporation was the first utility to install residential automatic water meters (AMR), or smart meters, on a city-wide scale.

The project involved the installation of over 20,000 AMR water meters in Hervey Bay, Queensland.

Wide Bay Water Operations Manager Denis Heron said that the most substantial benefit to customers has been in notification of damage and water loss before it becomes a major problem.

“The customer service has been the biggest thing. We’ve had the ability to notify customers of internal leaks. It’s been fantastic and we’re always getting compliments,” Heron said.

“The data has also been used by our modelling and bioengineering department. We’ve also been able to do bottom-up water balances to

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identify network losses.” However, just like most new technology, the smart meters have a use-by date.

“The one drawback is that the technology that we had installed in 2006 is outdated now. We’ve just gone through a process of trying to getting board approval to replace them all, but it’s fairly hard to quantify,” Heron said.

“I guess the tangible benefits don’t stack up in monetary terms just yet. It’s been a difficult case to try and get approval to replace them all.”

And there’s been an unexpected sting from the customer side of things, too. It’s become expected that the top-level of service

provided will continue without fail. “The customers become accustomed to getting the notifications of internal leaks.

It almost becomes a liability, even though we’re not required to have smart meters and it’s a value-add for the customer,” Heron said.

“Though an internal leak is the customer’s problem, they expect that you should be telling them because they know that we’ve got smart meters.”

Water data

at your assets and ask, ‘What would smart meters on our own assets tell us?’ We’ve begun to see the benefits. We need to extend that model beyond our assets to societal benefits.”

THE TECHNOLOGY IS THERE, BUT THE INDUSTRY HAS BEEN SLOW TO CREATE WHAT THEY CALL INTELLIGENT WATER NETWORKS. Griffith University Professor Rodney Stewart

NEXT STEPS With the amount of data available today, the opportunities available for future development appear limitless. With tecÚology developing at a startling rate, it seems clear that collaboration will help alleviate knowledge gaps.

“There’s definitely massive opportunity to share more, to make our data available to others and see what they can do with it,” Wilson said.

More utilities are partnering up with universities to undergo research programs relating to how water data should be analysed to produce the best results.

Griffith University’s Professor Rodney Stewart said the right application of sensor tecÚology, which is already in full swing, will be key to developing the ‘intelligent networks’ that smart metering has been promising. Intelligent networks have the potential to revolutionise customer services and demand management, with savings to water use and cost.

“Sensors are the key. What we have now is relatively affordable,” Stewart said. “The tecÚology is there, but the industry has been slow to create what they call intelligent water networks.

“If the utility sector doesn’t take the lead, then a company like Google will. The utilities could become really good retailers and offer great customer satisfaction. But if they stay slow and conservative, they could fall behind.”

Despite all of the opportunities, utilities are proceeding with caution. Implementing new analytic systems and digital tecÚologies have the potential to change the value of services in ways not yet entirely imaginable.

“In the future, we’ll definitely see data becoming the currency for the digital economy and the digital system itself becoming the asset. While the pipes and pumps are important, the digital systems that run those pipes and pumps become the real strength, because everything’s now needing to be so much smarter,” Immaraj said.

“Data gives us so many more options to do good things, but we need to understand how it will all work within our society.”

PLUGGING THE

DRAIN

OURS IS THE LAND OF DROUGHT AND DELUGE. YET WITH SO MANY WATER-CHALLENGED REGIONS FREQUENTLY WATCHING MUCH-NEEDED RAINFALL FLOW DOWN THE DRAIN, WHY HASNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T MORE EFFORT BEEN PUT INTO STORMWATER HARVESTING? David Barbeler

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Stormwater harvesting

I

t’s easy to get caught up in the details sometimes. But after reading 60-odd submissions to the Senate Inquiry into Stormwater late last year, one jumped off the page at Stormwater Australia National President Andrew Allan.

“The best one was actually from the NSW Surfriders Association,” he said. “The surfers basically said this is important because as cities have built up without the run-off being managed properly, stormwater is stuffing up their breaks and they can’t go surfing. That was an absolute gem because it shows this issue is not just about people in the know. We’re doing this for people actually impacted.”

While the Surfriders’ submission illustrates key liveability and environmental benefits that can be delivered to the nation by harvesting more stormwater, there is no shortage of economic and water-security drivers either.

In Australia, approximately 63% of the population now lives in large cities and towns. That figure is expected to increase to 80% by mid-century, placing further strain on the already stretched capacity of dams and desalination plants in times of drought.

And while the nation’s stormwater volumes are hard to measure, one estimate put to last year’s Senate committee is that Australia’s urban areas produce around 3000GL of average annual runoff – almost double the 1872GL required by the nation’s households each year (ABS stats, November 2015).

Unlike rainfall that seeps into the outback’s parched earth, stormwater isn’t soaked up by the roofs, bitumen and drains networked within an urban setting. It simply flows downhill.

“Victoria’s household needs could be met with the amount of water that goes into Port Phillip,” said David Kirby, AWA Victoria President and BMT WBM Manager of Water and Environment in Victoria. “This is pretty much the same for all the capital cities. If we could harvest it, we could use it.”

VICTORIA’S HOUSEHOLD NEEDS COULD BE MET WITH THE AMOUNT OF WATER THAT GOES INTO PORT PHILLIP. IF WE COULD HARVEST IT, WE COULD USE IT. David Kirby, AWA Victoria President

SHARING THE LOAD While capturing all of that runoff is nigh on impossible, aiming to capture just 10% to 20% would lift a huge burden from the nation’s potable water reservoirs.

But currently, with the exception of Perth and its shallow aquifers, it is estimated that less than 3% of the total rainwater and stormwater is actually captured and used across the nation, according to Stormwater Australia.

“We’re not advocating that stormwater actually be used for drinking water,” said Richard McManus, Co-President of Stormwater NSW and Alluvium Regional Manager. “But it would replace potable water for purposes such as toilet flushing, laundry and irrigation.”

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Stormwater harvesting

Thousands of gigalitres of Z[VYT^H[LY HYL Å\ZOLK [OYV\NO urban channels each year.

NOW WE ARE LEFT WITH COMPLEX, LARGESCALE PROJECTS WHICH ARE LESS COST-EFFECTIVE AND THEREFORE HARDER TO FUND. Richard McManus, Stormwater NSW Co-President

It was this severe underutilisation of stormwater that caught the attention of South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon, who led the charge for a Senate inquiry into the matter late last year.

The Senate committee has since recommended developing a National Stormwater Initiative to help “provide a mandatory national agenda for stormwater management”, and it seems doors in the halls of Parliament House are finally beginning to open to the industry.

“It’s probably the first time somebody from Stormwater Australia has actually been sitting in the Prime Minister’s office,” Allan said of his week visiting Parliament House in March. “It really sets up a strong narrative that stormwater should be a strong player going forward and gives the association some great credibility.” Fragmentation and a lack direction are the biggest challenges facing the industry, and the primary driver for a National Stormwater Initiative.

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“At the moment there are a lot of fingers in the pie, but no one really has any ownership, or is co-ordinating a response, and it can take years for projects to be implemented,” Kirby said. “It’s pretty much the same in all the states – they all have arrangements but it’s very fragmented. There’s no clear lead agency organising what to do.”

Whether that lead agency is based at a state or federal level is still up for debate. Stormwater management is currently the responsibility of state and local governments. Yet previous federal governments have been involved in stormwater issues.

“Submitters identified various ways in which the Australian Government can encourage better outcomes,” the Senate Inquiry’s report states. “These included a leadership role, the provision of funding directly or ability to provide incentives for others to offer funding, and the Australian Government’s ability to encourage innovation.”

“An overarching authority, state or federal, would lend direction to a process that can get caught up in the red tape of cross-jurisdictional local government bureaucracy,” Stormwater NSW President Richard McManus said. “For example, there are 40-odd councils in Sydney and large catchments have multiple councils within them.”

CHANGING PRIORITIES Another big problem is that government funding for the sector has dried up since the panic of the Millenium Drought washed over.

McManus said during that time most of the low-hanging fruit

Stormwater harvesting

KEEPING THE GARDENS GREEN Fitzroy Gardens is known for being “uniquely Melbourne”.

There was just one problem back in 2008: Melbourne was increasingly priding itself on sustainability measures, and keeping the thirsty gardens green was proving unsustainable.

Soaking up an estimated 117 million litres of prime drinking water each year, it became apparent that the 26-hectare heritagelisted site needed to tap into water from an alternative source.

Enter the Fitzroy Gardens stormwater harvesting system, which since 2013 has been capturing, treating and storing enough stormwater to replace 59% of the drinking water – or 70 million litres – previously used for irrigation.

The system was funded as part of the Eastern Melbourne Parks and Gardens Stormwater Harvesting Scheme, which received a total of $4.8 million from the Australian Government’s Water for the Future initiative in 2011.

The cost of water over the lifespan of the system will be $2.49 per kilolitre, with ongoing maintenance expected to cost around $28,000 per year.

The treatment process begins with a gross pollutant trap that removes large pollutants, such as litter and leaves.

Water then flows to a sedimentation chamber, where suspended particles of pollution such as fine sands and oils are removed.

Next to the chamber is the primary storage tank, which stores up to four million litres of partially treated water.

From here, water is pumped to the surface where a biofiltration bed naturally removes invisible pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorus – which once would have spilled into the Yarra River and Port Phillip Bay. One million litres of treated stormwater then sits in a secondary tank, which passes UV light tubes to kill any remaining bacteria before being pumped into the irrigation network.

was plucked, leaving only the more expensive and complicated projects left to pursue – exacerbating the aforementioned crossjurisdictional problem.

“Projects were previously funded by grants or councils as they were the easier ones to do with good payback periods,” he said. “Now we are left with complex, large-scale projects which are less cost-effective and therefore harder to fund.”

That said, there are still a myriad of smaller scale stormwater projects being undertaken across the nation.

The Green Square water-harvesting project in Sydney is a Courtney Henderson, AECOM Principal prime example. Run in conjunction with the City of Sydney, Environmental Scientist it will be Australia’s biggest residential stormwater harvesting scheme. Green Square is one of the fastest growing in Sydney, and botanical gardens provide for an urban society shouldn’t be with nearly 10,000 new apartments due for completion over the underestimated. “When you’ve got an abundance of water, you next four years. can have high-value public urban spaces,” he said. “So people feel comfortable in their cities, they enjoy being there, and that Enough water to fill three Olympic-sized swimming pools will be pumped out of the Green Square stormwater drainage stimulates economic development. It also makes the cities cooler, which means people aren’t heat-stressed.” system each week, purified in a recycling plant and then BMT WBM’s David Kirby agrees. “If you have aesthetically stored in tanks before being distributed to buildings for use pleasing waterways, and parks and ovals it provides people in bathrooms, laundries and gardens. with a place to exercise, which reduces obesity issues.”

There are also a number of successful projects in Melbourne “Stormwater treatment can remove a lot of pollutants that [see box above], while newly re-elected Brisbane Lord Mayor would otherwise end up in receiving water courses, which is Graham Quirk pledged $10 million during his campaign to not only an environmental issue, but also a social issue if the irrigate city sports fields with stormwater harvested from waterway quality is so bad that you can’t swim in it and don’t nearby creeks. want to walk along the side of it.”

AECOM Principal Environmental Scientist Courtney Or, surf at the entrance of it.

Henderson said the value that lush sports fields, public parks

WHEN YOU’VE GOT AN ABUNDANCE OF WATER, YOU CAN HAVE HIGH-VALUE PUBLIC URBAN SPACES …

AND THAT STIMULATES ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.

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ADVERTORIAL

AN AUSTRALIAN FIRST

Relining of a DN 225 PVC water main with Primus Line ®

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W

ith the increasing deterioration of water mains throughout the world, traditional open trench replacement can be a time consuming and costly process, especially with difficult-to-access pipes. Innovative solutions are emerging to provide quick and cost-effective alternatives. Although the Primus Line® system has been used in Europe for 15 years, the first installation in Australia was conducted in March 2016 for the Lismore City Council, in the companies approach to roll out the product globally.

Primus Line® is a flexible, slip lining solution for the trenchless rehabilitation of pressure pipes and has been certified by the Australian Water Quality Centre according to AS/ NZS 4020:2005. The system consists of a flexible Kevlar® reinforced liner and specifically developed end fittings. Due to the product’s flexibility, long insertion lengths of more than 1,000m are feasible in one single step, and multiple bends of up to 45 degree can be traversed. Since the product is installed lose-fit into the host pipe, the installation process can be performed with up to 400m/h. Due to a low wall thickness of only 6mm for PN 16, the hydraulic capacity is reduced only minimally compared to slip lining with HDPE-100 SDR 11.

First project in NSW The Lismore City Council was confronted with the rehabilitation of a leaking DN 225 uPVC Class 9 water main located at Elizabeth Street. The first section of the pipe runs downhill into a gully, with a length of 170m and a height difference of approximately 35m where a scour valve is located. The second section runs from the scour valve uphill with a total length of 290m and a height difference of almost 50m.

The pipe coverage was up to 3.8m and power supply lines were in proximity to the construction site. Therefore, the Lismore City Council was looking for a trenchless solution that could repair the leaking pipe, increase the pressure rating to 16 bar and maintain as much of the hydraulic capacity as possible.

Orion Group (now part of Mainmark Civil & Mining Services) was the successful bidder for this project proposing the Primus Line® system.

The alternatively proposed slip lining with HDPE would have reduced the diameter to 147.2mm. The installation was to be performed in two sections with 170m and 290m. In a first step, the pipe was secluded from the network, three excavation pits were erected, and the scour valve at the bottom was removed. A pipe cut out of 2m was created to get access to the host pipe. Subsequently, a CCTV inspection was performed to assess the condition of the

host pipe, but also produce the rope connection between the start pits and the destination pit. The condition assessment revealed two damaged sections of the uPVC host pipe that were repaired with patch liners.

Furthermore, the inspection revealed multiple 15 degree bends in the route of the pipeline that were not accounted for in the as-built drawings. Due to the liner’s flexibility, the installation could commence without any variation.

The liner with an OD = 203mm, a corresponding ID = 191mm and a nominal pressure rating of 3 bar, was manufactured in Germany and coiled pre-folded onto two timber transport reels. The installation was realised with approximately 4m/min. After the liner was tension-free, compressed oil-free air of 0.5 bar was applied to turn the liner into a round shape.

The four end fittings equipped with flanges AS 4087 PN 16 were installed under the supervision of a Primus Line technician and mounted to a flangecoupling adaptor at the PVC host pipe. Finally, the line was disinfected, pressure tested and reintegrated into the water main network. The service life of this water main was extended by at least 50 years.

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Increase of hydraulic capacity by 68% with Primus Line DN 203 PN 35 compared to sliplining with DN 180 HDPE PN 16

Sliplining of a DN 225 uPVC Class 9 with DN 180 HDPE PN 16

Sliplining versus relining with Primus Line

Relining of a DN 225 uPVC Class 9 with Primus Line DN 203 PN 35

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WHERE THE WATER G ES A SNAPSHOT OF THE AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS NATIONAL WATER ACCOUNT DATA. TOTAL WATER USE Each year, Australia consumes almost 800,000 litres of water per person. And each year, the Bureau of Statistics offers insight into the trends behind that water use, from water sources to end purpose.

THE AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD PAYS

$3.08 PER KILOLITRE

18,644GL AGRICULTURAL WATER USE

11,588GL (62%)

But prices between states vary by almost 100%.

AVERAGE PER KILOLITRE PRICES PAID BY HOUSEHOLDS NSW

$2.88

SA

$4.29

ACT

$3.00

WA

$2.24

Victoria

$3.39

Tasmania

$3.52

NT

$2.19

Queensland $3.26

HOUSEHOLDS

1872GL (10%)

MINING

652GL (3%)

%

12

Increase in annual household expenditure on water, despite use decreasing slightly.

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MANUFACTURING

581GL (3%)

BIGGEST AGRICULTURAL WATER USERS COTTON GROWING

DAIRY FARMING

RICE FARMING

3099GL

1520GL

1082GL

25%

12%

9%

WATER SUPPLIED BY DESALINATION

2012–2013

2013–2014

135GL

178GL

S O U R C E S O F D I S T R I B U T E D W AT E R Surface water

12,425GL

Groundwater

Reuse

Desalination

376GL

280GL

178GL

Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics Water Account, 2013–2014 a.asn.au www.awa.asn.au

8 83

Infrastructure planning

BIG

INFRASTRUCTURE AUSTRALIA HAS UNVEILED GRAND PROPOSALS FOR THE FUTURE OF THE WATER SECTOR AS PART OF ITS 15-YEAR REPORT. BUT BRINGING THEM TO REALITY WILL REQUIRE MUCH BUY-IN FROM THE STATE GOVERNMENTS, BUT THEY HAVE NOT WELCOMED ALL OF THE PROPOSALS. James Chalmers

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PLANS T

here are few water managers in the country who would not welcome new infrastructure funding to help meet some of the challenges they face. That is why many in the industry were keenly awaiting Infrastructure Australia’s first 15-year plan.

However, anyone hoping it would open the floodgates of funding for a new burst of water infrastructure projects would have been disappointed. Of the 93 priority projects listed, just six related to water supply or flood management [see page 87]. Instead, the plan focuses overwhelmingly on transport infrastructure, with urban congestion and national connectivity most firmly in the spotlight.

Specific projects aside though, Infrastructure Australia had plenty to say about the state of water in Australia, proffering a number of substantial recommendations, some of which have far-reaching potential.

BACK AT THE TABLE Perhaps the most welcome recommendation is for the Federal Government to work with state and territory governments to establish an independent national body to deliver a national water reform plan.

“This is particularly important given the projected rapid growth in Australia’s population over the coming decades will increase demand for water, sewerage and drainage infrastructure,” the report states. “Increasing climate volatility is likely to exacerbate water shortages over coming decades, especially in the south-eastern regions.

“The abolition of the National Water Commission means that there is no independent umpire to assess reform implementation and to drive further reform in the water sector. The costs of not pursuing further reforms are high and national leadership is required.”

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Infrastructure planning

PRIVATISATION DOESN’T NECESSARILY LEAD TO MORE INNOVATION. NSW DPI WATER DEPUT Y DIRECTOR GENER AL GAVIN HANLON

Australian Water Association CEO Jonathan McKeown [see column on page 89] said the National Water Initiative had already delivered vital reform to the Australian water sector but much more remained to be done.

“The level of engagement of the state governments on national water planning has fallen substantially since the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) first drove the National Water Initiative,” he said.

SELLING OUT More controversially, however, Infrastructure Australia has also called for an end to public ownership of metropolitan water utilities, ideally within the next five years.

“It is undesirable for large quantities of public capital to be tied up in commercially-viable metropolitan water utilities, where the capital could be released and invested elsewhere,” it stated.

“Replacing public sector financing with private investment will promote innovation, boost productivity and result in a more customer-focused service.”

However, no state government has water privatisation on the table.SA Water Minister Ian Hunter said it was his government’s policy to keep SA Water publicly owned as a way of ensuring a service as essential as water remained available at a reasonable cost.

“The privatisation of the electricity sector in South Australia has arguably led to the state having the highest

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INFRASTRUCTURE AUSTRALIA’S PRIORITY PROJECTS IN WATER Lower Fitzroy River IA A pre r dic dicts di cts in ndu dust s riial and urban grrow wth h aro roun oun nd Gl Gladstone e in Cent Ce ntra nt ra al Q Qu uee e ns nsla land nd wil illl le l ad to an annu an nu ual sho h rttfall fa all ll of 41 41,0 ,0 0 00 0ML M by 20 020 20, pr prom o pt om p in ing a ca call ll to ra ais ise e th the e E en Ban Ed ann We ann Weir irr and d con onst s ru st ruct ct a new ne w weir we eir at Ro Rook okwo ok wo ood d.

D in Do ng so cou uld l mak a e 76 6,000 ,0 0 00 00ML ML L of wa wate ate er av avai avai aila labl la lab ble each ble ch yea ear, alllowing ll industrial and urban n gro owt wth, h whi h le e also al so encou oura ragi ging ng fur urth ther agricultural development.

Northern Adelaide Plains

energy prices in Australia,” he said.

“By contrast, when compared with its interstate peers, SA Water’s prices for water are in the mid-range and are second lowest for sewerage services.”

Hunter said there was good reason that most water utilities globally were publicly owned.

“The notable exception is in England and Wales where privatisation occurred in the 1990s. It is also notable that prices charged by Scottish Water in 2014-15, a public water body servicing 2.4 million customers in Scotland, were second lowest when compared with the ten private water suppliers in the UK.” However, many state governments are open to increasing the involvement of the private sector in their water supply and sewerage systems.

Western Australia Water Minister Mia Davies said while it was not considering privatising Water Corporation, it supported working with the private sector to utilise their expertise and innovation in certain fields.

“Water Corporation currently works in partnership with the private sector in their Alliances (Perth Region Alliance, Aroona) and also on construction projects like the Groundwater

The South Australian Government hopes to kill two birds with one stone by y expanding p g its supply pp y of recycled water from the Bolivar Wastewater Treatment Plant for use in agriculture.

Tightening environmental standards mean the plant must eventually reduce its marine nitrogen discharge, while the nearby agricultural plains are facing production limits because of over-allocated groundwater.

The proposed initiative would expand the Bolivar plant to allow it to produce an additional 20GL of recycled water a year, which is predicted to increase the value of agricultural production by at least $115 million per annum, and create in the order of 450 new jobs.

Tasmanian irrigation In 2011–2012, Tasmanian agriculture brought in $1.17 billion, but research has suggested additional irrigation water could generate another $5 billion a year.

In 2014, the Tasmanian Government allocated $30 million to develop new irrigation schemes, followed by the Federal Government kicking in another $60 million for five new schemes.

Currently under development in Circular Head, North Esk, Scottsdale, Southern Highlands and

Swan Valley, y, th he ese sch chem em mes e are e predicted d to o del eliv eliv iver er 40, er 0 000M 00 0 0M M L of of addi ad diti tion onal all irr rrig igat atio io on wa w ter te er entitlements tss.

Darwin region water supply In n the h med ediu iu ium um te t rm r , Da arwin rw win in’s ’ss wat ater ater e supp su p ly y is ex expe p ct pe cted ed to la ed ag be behi ehi hind nd d its ts popu p latiion pu n and eco c no n miic g grrow rowth th un nle ess an ad ddiiti t on nal wat ater er sourc rce is crea cr eate ted. d.

The Northern Terriito tory ry Government is cont ntin inui uing ng to investigate options fo forr ex expa pand ndin ing g supp ply, with surrfa face e wat ater er sto tora r gess near or on the Adelaide Riverr th the e most likely options. Reg egar ardlles esss of the location n, it is ho hope ped d to hav ave e th the e storage g project p j online e by 20 2025 25.

Tasmanian sewerage With a recent audit finding many of the wastewater treatment plants servicing Hobart, Launceston and Devonport performing poorly, the Tasmanian Government has proposed closing some of the plants and upgrading the remainder.

As well as ensuring the plants meet public health and environmental standards, the upgrades should also ensure adequate treatment capacity for future growth.

Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley flood management Increasingly flood risk in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley represents a long-term infrastructure resilience challenge.

The NSW Government is developing a business case for a strategy that would include building flood mitigation infrastructure (including raising Warragamba Dam), upgrading roads to improve flood evacuation capacity and better land-use planning.

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Infrastructure planning

THE ABOLITION OF THE NATIONAL WATER COMMISSION MEANS THAT THERE IS NO INDEPENDENT UMPIRE TO DRIVE FURTHER REFORM IN THE WATER SECTOR. INFR ASTRUCTURE AUSTR ALIA REPORT

Replenishment Scheme,” she said.

“In the future, Water Corporation has flagged working with the private sector to deliver new source options.”

Davies also pointed to the Mundaring Water Treatment Plant. Completed in March 2014, the 165ML/day plant was WA’s first project to be funded, designed and built through a publicprivate partnership.

NSW DPI Water Deputy Director General Gavin Hanlon said utilities did not have to be privatised to reap the benefits of market efficiencies.

“Most water utilities – the large ones and even the local water utilities – in some way or another usually use the marketplace for services, whether that be operating water treatment plants or in some cases even contracting out their operations,” he said. “You can get the benefits of private sector involvement without privatising.”

“You can see plenty of examples in NSW of local water utilities that are incredibly customer-focused. In a couple of cases, I would say they are arguably as innovative as any private utility in the world.”

Hanlon said during his stint as Managing Director of GoulbournMurray Water, the model the utility ran on was almost completely outsourced.

“Even though we weren’t privatised,

88

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we used market instruments to ensure that we were as efficient, as cheap and innovative as we possibly could be. So privatisation itself doesn’t necessarily lead to more innovation.”

QUALITY CONTROL Infrastructure Australia also cast its sights outside the cities, taking a closer look at the state of water supply to regional, rural and remote communities.

The practice of local councils in some states being responsible for water came in for particular criticism.

The number and small size of water providers in these states created unnecessary obstacles to efficient water services, the report stated, compromising the quality and reliability of supply.

“Challenges associated with a lack of scale at the local water provider level are mostly prevalent in regional areas of Queensland and NSW,” Infrastructure Australia stated. “The regional customer base is smaller, limiting providers’ ability to deliver services at scale. For example, in NSW, around 45 local councils provide water to fewer than 3000 people and in Queensland, around 34 local councils provide water to fewer than 1000 people.” NSW and Queensland together have 187 regional

water providers, while the rest of the country features a combined total of just 20.

To increase regional water quality in NSW and Queensland, the 15-year plan recommends facilitating greater scale among regional water providers, by considering shared services, council amalgamations or transferring water operations to regional water corporations or the private sector.

The NSW State Government, through DPI Water and Water NSW, is understood to be reviewing the supply of water across the state, with a stated goal of improving customer service, efficiency and water management outcomes, and will provide recommendations soon.

More broadly, a recommendation to make the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines mandatory across the country has received a luke-warm response from state governments.

DPI Water’s Gavin Hanlon said across Australia the guidelines were already treated as mandatory minimum standards. “Making them enforceable could become a bit silly; the affected communities are so remote and so small that the government would simply end up providing assistance to those communities, which is what we’re already doing.”

NATIONAL EFFORTS ON WATER REFORM VITAL JONATHAN MCKEOWN AUSTR ALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION CEO

Infrastructure Australia’s efforts to revive water planning on a national scale are to be applauded by the water industry, which has been lobbying for greater coordination for more than five years.

The real economic value of water needs to be recognised, value that is demonstrated through population growth and redistribution, and increased productivity on water demand.

We are in need of new mechanisms to bring life back into the National Water Initiative. The level of state government engagement on national water planning has fallen substantially since the

Council of Australian Governments (COAG) first drove the National Water Initiative. But in recent years we have seen various states grappling with fresh challenges, as climate change, population growth and deferred investment puts assets in stronger need of replacement or augmentation.

The National Water Initiative was an excellent start to reshaping the Australian water sector to ensure it can meet the twin challenges of climate change and population growth but its work remains unfinished.

To achieve a nationally coordinated approach to water planning linked to water as an

economic enabler, two things are needed: a mechanism and an incentive.

COAG is perfectly capable of being that mechanism. When the National Water Initiative was established, it was the financial support of the Federal Government that incentivised states to coordinate their efforts.

For Australia to get back there, a new incentive is needed, and we welcome Infrastructure Australia’s call for a national water reform plan.

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Current THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE

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.

92 95 97 98 100 103 105

DEEP OCEAN OUTFALLS Sydney Water’s approach to disposal of wastewater.

MEASURING DISCHARGE IMPACTS Assessing wastewater disposal effects across a catchment.

STARTING A NEW ‘ERA’ Ecological risk assessment of wastewater discharges.

IMPROVING PROCEDURES Maintenance of onsite wastewater treatment systems.

REDUCING EUTROPHICATION Evaluating the effectiveness of four sewage treatment plant upgrades.

DIRECT POTABLE REUSE Critiquing the recent report from the WateReuse Research Foundation.

RESOURCE RECOVERY Energy and nutrient recovery at a Dutch wastewater treatment plant.

106 108 110 112 114 116

SELLING ICE TO ESKIMOS Rethinking demand management when not in drought.

NSW LESSONS IN COLOMBIA Comparing two water management regimes to better share insights.

EXTRACTIVE NUTRIENT RECOVERY Findings of the recent Water Environment Research Foundation study.

POLAR REGIONS SCIENCE Implications for municipal and environmental water treatment.

IUWM: LESSONS LEARNED Investigating industry perceptions of IUWM implementation in Melbourne.

MICROBIAL WATER QUALITY Bacteria community composition and elevated nutrients in estuaries.

For extended papers on the latest research in the Australian water sector, visit the Water e-Journal at bit.ly/e-Journal www.awa.asn.au

91

executive summary wastewater disposal

Deep ocean outfalls – a sustainable option for Sydney Water WHY DEEPWATER OCEAN OUTFALLS ARE A VIABLE SOLUTION FOR ONGOING DISPOSAL OF WASTEWATER IN SYDNEY. P Tate, C Marvell

S

ydney Water’s three deep ocean outfalls (servicing the wastewater treatment plants at North Head, Bondi and Malabar) were commissioned in the early 1990s and turn 25 years of age in 2015/16.

Combined, the outfalls service the wastewater disposal needs of about 80% of Sydney’s population.

This paper focuses on the process leading to the decision to build the deep ocean outfalls, an overview of how the outfalls work and the environmental performance based on data collected and analysed over the past 25 years.

The paper concludes by assessing whether the continued operation of the deep ocean outfalls can be maintained without causing detrimental effects to the marine environment and without compromising public health.

An increasing population, greater beach use and a better environmental awareness all contributed to an understanding that the cliff face outfalls would not be part of a long-term solution for Sydney’s wastewater disposal.

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The deep ocean outfalls were built in response to this growing population and the need to dispose of wastewater “safely, efficiently and economically… without detriment to the environment”. Adoption of the deep ocean outfalls option had three main objectives: (1) to make the beaches suitable and safe for swimming; (2) to ensure fish and shellfish were safe to eat; and (3) to protect the marine environment.

They were massive engineering feats, a world first, that continue to operate as designed.

WORLD LEADERS A number of problems had been encountered with overseas outfalls.

Some of these problems are discussed in this paper and it is shown how these problems were resolved via the unique design of the Sydney deep ocean outfalls. An assessment is made comparing the original design criteria with modelled performance over the past decade. Results show that the design

Plumes from the Malabar old cliff-face outfall were previously highly visible.

criteria have been met each year since commissioning, and that the outfalls continue to operate as designed.

An Environmental Monitoring Program (EMP) was undertaken to assess whether changes to the marine environment resulted from the operation of the deep ocean outfalls. This was a comprehensive five-year monitoring program managed by the NSW Government’s Environmental Protection Authority.

Results from their monitoring program concluded that there was “… little detrimental environmental effect of the new mode of sewage

[The deep ocean outfalls] were massive engineering feats, a world first, that continue to operate as designed. sediment characteristics and microbial indicators on the beaches.

This integrated ‘weight of evidence’ approach to assessment is used to demonstrate the sustainability and success of these outfalls. Results from this monitoring indicate that no statistically significant impacts have been detected. disposal”. They further noted that previously degraded areas of the inshore waters recovered after the cessation of the shoreline discharges.

However, the EPA did recognise that the duration of the EMP was short term compared with the anticipated life of the outfalls. This led

to the implementation of an ongoing monitoring program to determine whether long-term impacts associated with the discharges are likely to occur. The long-term monitoring program integrates outfall hydraulics, wastewater toxicity and quality, oceanography and numerical modelling, marine benthic ecology,

Peter Tate is an Analytics Strategist and Cheryl Marvell is the Treatment Manager North at Sydney Water.

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

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executive summary wastewater disposal

Wastewater discharge impacts in a whole-catchment context A STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF DISCHARGES FROM GISBORNE RWP IN VICTORIA ON THE HEALTH OF JACKSONS CREEK. K Hassell, C Kellar, K Townsend, M Arora, K Berg, A May, V Pettigrove

C

urrent treated wastewater discharge licenses are quite prescriptive and focus on compliance of trigger values for certain water quality parameters, for example, nutrients and suspended solids, in the receiving waterway to ensure the beneficial uses of the stream are protected. However, the impact of these discharges varies between streams depending on their condition and other factors, including pollutants and physical condition. Better outcomes could be achieved if the impact of licensed discharges and their regulation are considered in an integrated catchment management framework.

This study was funded by Smartwater, Western Water and The University of Melbourne through the Carlton Connect Initiative, to assess the impact of discharges from the Gisborne Recycled Water Plant (RWP) in Victoria on aquatic ecosystems in Jacksons Creek, from the top of the catchment in Bullengarook to upstream of the Sunbury township.

THE APPROACH An integrated catchment approach, incorporating an extensive literature review of the catchment, as well as multiple laboratory and field tests, were used to identify areas within the Upper Jacksons Creek Catchment that were polluted, and the likely causes of biotic stress in the species tested.

A weight-of-evidence approach was used to identify the main stressors and their sources within the catchment, and impacts on stream values.

There was then an exploration into what specific impact discharges from the RWP were having on the health of Jacksons Creek. Considerable urban

growth is projected for the catchment and, therefore, a hydrological model was developed to help test future scenarios for the catchment and the RWP.

TELLING RESULTS Nutrients were high throughout the entire catchment and regularly exceeded ANZECC trigger values, both upstream and downstream of the RWP. Hydrological modelling indicated that total nutrient loads are likely to decrease in Jacksons Creek with future urbanisation, as a result of changing land use. Several heavy metals, pesticides and petroleum hydrocarbons were detected in sediments or water collected from different sites within the Jacksons Creek catchment, with the highest levels detected at Gisborne township.

Toxicity and biological impairment were observed in taxa collected from, or exposed to, sediments and water from several sites throughout the catchment, including Gisborne township, below the RWP and below the confluence of Riddells Creek. In contrast to nutrient loads, future urbanisation is expected to increase metal and pesticide pollution and, associated with that, toxicity and biological impairment are also likely to increase in Jacksons Creek downstream of the urban growth areas in Gisborne and Riddells Creek townships. While several pollutants were detected in the RWP discharge and some toxicity and biological impairment was observed, the RWP discharge also provided beneficial flow to Jacksons Creek.

CREEK HEALTH This study has provided a catchment context of how the RWP impacts Jacksons Creek. While the RWP

discharges contribute nutrients and other pollutants to the waterway, the key issues impacting Jacksons Creek are the lack of environmental flows during droughts, heavy metal and pesticide pollution from Gisborne and Riddells Creek townships, and the degraded riparian habitats along most reaches.

Nutrients were elevated throughout the catchment and reducing nutrient concentrations from the RWP would have no substantial benefit to downstream aquatic ecosystems.

Maintaining flows, addressing urban pollution and improving riparian habitat will improve the ecological health of Jacksons Creek.

Kathryn Hassell and Claudette Kellar are Post-Doctoral Research Fellows at the University of Melbourne, where Kallie Townsend is a Post-Doctorate Researcher and Meenakshi Arora is an Environmental Engineering Lecturer in the Department of Infrastructure Engineering. Kate Berg is a Water Plan Project Management Officer at the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning. Anna May is the Renewable Resources Manager at Western Regional Water Corporation.

Vincent Pettigrove is the CEO of CAPIM and a Principal Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne.

This paper is being presented at Ozwater’16 in Melbourne, May 10-12.

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

www.awa.asn.au

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executive summary wastewater disposal

Ecological risk assessment of wastewater discharges INFORMING SENSIBLE OUTCOMES. A Laidlaw, J Day, J Mullins

N

orth East Water implemented an ecological risk assessment (ERA) program for wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) discharges in 2008.

The aim of an ERA is to use science to determine the level of risk that a wastewater discharge may pose to a receiving waterway. This evidence is then used to inform management decisions, such as treatment upgrades or amendments to discharge licences.

An ERA was conducted for North East Water’s Beechworth WWTP and is provided here as a case study of a successful ERA.

FRAMEWORKS The Beechworth WWTP discharges treated wastewater to a nearby waterway and has historically breached the discharge licence limits set by Victorian environmental regulator, the Environment Protection Authority (EPA). The discharge licence for Beechworth WWTP was issued by the EPA in 1975 to the then Beechworth Sewer Authority. The licence limits were arbitrary, unchanged since 1975 and had never matched the actual performance of the WWTP. In 1997, the licence was transferred to the newly-formed North East Water.

The Beechworth WWTP is located in a sub-alpine area with cold, wet winters and hot, dry summers. Discharge typically occurs during the cooler months of the year when nitrification in the lagoons is limited. No ammonianitrogen is removed when the lagoons reach a temperature of 15°C or less.

North East Water had been in discussions with the EPA for almost a decade to resolve discharge non-compliance at the Beechworth WWTP. These conversations were

steering towards an expensive mechanical plant solution, of around $6 million. A major infrastructure upgrade was planned to meet discharge compliance when the regulator invited North East Water to participate in a pilot ERA in 2008 under EPA’s Draft Guidelines for Risk Assessment of Wastewater Discharges to Waterways.

The EPA’s risk assessment framework consists of four key stages and catchment stakeholders were included at each part of the process.

Beneficial uses and values were initially identified, which were aspects of the water environment that the community wanted to protect, including ecological values, and social, health, cultural and economic values. Stressors contained in the discharge and their interactions with these values were also identified.

Data was collected over a number of years to investigate the value-stressor relationships. This included water quality monitoring, biological assessment and algae monitoring.

COMMON GROUND The eventual findings of the ERA indicated that the discharge had minimal impact on the values of the receiving waterways. North East Water worked closely with the regulator to utilise the outcomes of the ERA, amending the discharge licence and commiting to continual environmental improvement. The outcome has resulted in the WWTP meeting discharge compliance for the first time in 40 years. The ERA process was unprecedented and at times challenging, but demonstrated that an evidence-based approach can achieve an outcome that is agreeable to all parties, including the environment and North East Water’s customers. The

Problem Formulation

Risk Analysis

Risk Characterisation

Decision Making and Risk Management utility has since completed ERAs for seven other WWTPs that discharge to waterways. Outcomes from these include licence amendments and planned capital upgrades. Additionally, ERAs have also commenced for WWTPs that may discharge during periods of wet weather. The outcomes of these will assist to inform arrangements for emergency discharges or application for discharge licences.

At North East Water, Alister Laidlaw is a Water Systems Coordinator, John Day the Operations Executive Manager and Jason Mullins the Systems Optimisation Manager.

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

www.awa.asn.au

97

executive summary wastewater treatment

Maintenance for WA aerobic and greywater treatment systems A REVIEW OF AREAS THAT COULD BE IMPROVED AND SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS OFFERED. T McGrath, N Shishkina, R Theobald, C Rodrigues

A

erobic Treatment Units (ATU) and Greywater Treatment Systems (GTS) are electrically driven onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS) designed to treat wastewater to secondary effluent quality standards.

ATU are designed to treat wastewater – both blackwater and greywater – either wholly or partially, from all areas of the house by aerobic means. All ATU incorporate the following processes: primary sedimentation, biological treatment, secondary sedimentation, and, usually, disinfection.

GTS are designed to treat greywater only and typically consist of the following treatment processes: filtration or screening, biological treatment and disinfection.

Despite the usefulness of OWTS, they can present a risk to human health and the environment when they fail or are used inappropriately.

This is due to the contaminants that

are present and the nature of the wastewater they treat. Therefore, maintenance of the electrical, mechanical and chemical components of these OWTS is important for ensuring their consistent and reliable operation to the required standards.

ON THE GROUND In Western Australia, the Department of Health Western Australia (DOHWA) approves each system design prior to system sale and installation, and sets out the regulatory requirements for the maintenance of OWTS as well as when and how maintenance is to occur.

All service personnel must be accredited by either the DOHWA or the system manufacturer; once accredited, they must also abide by the DOHWA-issued Conditions of Approval. Once the basic product approvals from the DOHWA are in place, the management of individual domestic systems is controlled by local government Environmental

Health Officers (EHO). The guidelines and regulations provide a framework that assists EHO in overseeing the management of domestic systems.

Management includes approving the installation of systems, issuing permits to use systems and enforcing the maintenance requirements. This paper reviews the maintenance requirements for ATU and GTS in WA and provides recommendations for the proposed changes in guidelines and regulations.

DELVING INTO THE DATA State and national guidelines were reviewed and information from industry and regulators was obtained through surveys. Surveys were sent to those most heavily involved in the domestic wastewater treatment systems industry to give the opportunity to express any dissatisfaction, opinions and recommendations and to allow

PATHOGENIC ORGANISMS

98

Bacteria

Parasites

Domestic wastewater contains a wide variety and concentration of pathogenic bacteria.

Infectious doses of diseasecausing bacteria in wastewater can lead to illness.

Domestic wastewater has the potential to contain a range of parasites. Of greatest concern are protozoan parasites, Cryptosporidium and Giardia, and helminths or intestinal worms.

Protozoan parasites are often resistant to standard disinfection methods, while helminths release millions of environmentally resilient eggs throughout their lifespan.

www.awa.asn.au

Viruses Domestic wastewater has the potential to contain viruses.

Viruses are more common and diverse than bacteria and can cause widespread illness.

Parasites such as helminths are a chief challenge for onsite wastewater treatment systems.

practical information to be gathered.

Two computer-based surveys were developed, one aimed at local government EHO, and another aimed at manufacturers and service personnel. A total of 40 responses to the surveys were received. Of these, 24 came from EHO and 16 from manufacturers and service personnel.

The survey responses suggested that industry personnel were, generally, content with the current maintenance arrangements, however they also allowed several problem areas to be identiďŹ ed.

This paper identiďŹ es and discusses areas of the guidelines requiring improvements, based primarily on concerns raised by those working in the industry. The implementation of the recommendations provided could

address industry concerns, ensure the delivery of efďŹ&#x201A;uent water quality standards in a reliable manner during the life of the systems, encourage more innovative system design and assist development of the Code of Practice for Onsite Sewage Management, which is currently in the draft stage.

Tessa McGrath is a Project Engineer at DM Civil. At the Western Australia Department of Health, Natalia Shishkina is a ScientiďŹ c OfďŹ cer, Richard Theobald is the Water Unit Manager and Clemencia Rodriguez a Special Project OfďŹ cer.

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

Despite the usefulness of OWTS, they can present a risk to human health and the environment when they fail or are used inappropriately, due to the contaminants that are present and the nature of the wastewater they treat.

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executive summary wastewater treatment

Evaluation of the upgrade effects in four sewage treatment plants in NSW ANALYSING THE CONSEQUENCES OF QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE UPGRADES IN SEWAGE TREATMENT. M Lequerica, R McInnes

B

that interfere with water for fisheries, recreation, industry, agriculture and drinking, oxygen shortages caused by senescence and decomposition of the algae, and biodiversity loss.

Nitrogen and phosphorus can be removed from wastewater by means of chemical, physical or biological treatments, but treatment plants with modern nutrient removal technologies are expensive. Several studies in the past have analysed the effects of sewage treatment plants’ (STPs) technology upgrades and their efficiency in removing nutrients that cause eutrophication, finding significant economic benefits from reducing eutrophication. These findings are

acterial contamination, dissolved oxygen depletion and eutrophication are the most common negative environmental impacts of untreated sewage discharges on rivers and freshwater streams.

The intensification of animal and crop production systems in the past 50 years has increased the amount of phosphorus and nitrogen run-off into freshwater systems, augmenting these environmental impacts. Eutrophication is a particularly difficult problem to manage because of its multiple consequences. Some of the most commonly reported concerns are: growth of algae and aquatic weeds

Phosphorus

relevant not only for researchers, but also for environmental authorities, economic policy-makers and governments worldwide. It is important, then, to find the optimum point where cost efficiency meets with efficient nutrient removal.

Significant investment has been made in upgrading municipal STPs in NSW. The aims of this study are to evaluate if: a) STP upgrades have significant effects on nutrient concentrations in effluent; b) a relationship between the size of the STP and the cost of pollutant abatement exists; and c) the upgrades made have significant effects over operations, management and

Nitrogen

Phosphorus abatement cost before and after STPs upgrade

Nitrogen abatement cost before and after STPs upgrade

6

6

STPs

In abatement cost ($/kg)

4

3

2

1

0

5

In abatement cost ($/kg)

Q Braidwood Q Bundanoon Q Lithgow Q Wallerawang

5

4

3

2

STPs

1

Q Braidwood Q Bundanoon Q Lithgow Q Wallerawang

0 No

Yes

No

Yes

No

Upgrade

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Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

Upgrade

Yes

No

Yes

Nitrogen and phosphorus can be removed from wastewater by means of chemical, physical or biological treatments, but treatment plants with modern nutrient removal technologies are expensive. administrative (OMA) costs in the different STPs. Out of 10 water quality monitoring of local councils’ STPs datasets, submitted by the participating municipal councils, four constituting a representative sample of these STPs were analysed, comparing nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations before and after. The upgrades had no significant effect on nitrogen concentration.

Phosphorus concentration was significantly reduced in three of the four plants after the upgrade. A cost curve was constructed comparing OMA costs with plant capacity equivalent population (EP). Scale economy was found, as OMA cost tends to reduce for every additional unit of plant capacity.

Submitted datasets were found to be incomplete in most cases. Even though a successful monitoring program depends on good quality datasets, these were of poor quality, with no consistency in monitoring time periodicity, lack of monitoring sites’ spatial descriptions, and no weather variability annotations.

These problems may account for much of the variation seen in the statistical analysis performed in this study, suggesting that although some changes might be achieved with the implementation of new technology, they may be hidden behind a layer of ‘noise’, and so remain unseen.

A standardised monitoring methodology would guarantee that all STPs follow the same quality guidelines, provide researchers with standardised data to perform studies and accurately cross sectional issues.

Manuel Lequerica is an MSc Candidate at University of Sydney Integrative Ecology Lab. Rod McInnes is an Economics Consultant with WaterNSW.

This paper is being presented at Ozwater’16 in Melbourne, May 10–12.

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

www.awa.asn.au 101

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executive summary water reuse

Examining the Framework for Direct Potable Reuse report A CRITIQUE ON THE CHAPTERS ON SOURCE CONTROL AND WASTEWATER TREATMENT. I Law

T

he report Framework for Direct Potable Reuse, released in mid-2015 by the WateReuse Research Foundation in conjunction with the American Water Works Association, the Water Environment Federation and the National Water Research Institute in the US, will be of great interest to those planning for, or considering, direct potable reuse in the future.

However, there are aspects of this report that should be viewed with caution, in particular recommendations made in chapters five and six that cover source (or trade waste) control and wastewater treatment respectively.

The wording used in these chapters intimates that direct potable reuse (DPR) drives the necessity for more rigorous source control programs (SCPs) and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) design – over and above those required for all high-end reuse applications such as indirect potable reuse (IPR), domestic non-potable reuse and, indeed, discharges to sensitive environmental locations.

It is contended that a rigorous SCP and well-designed (and operated) WWTP should be a pre-requisite for any high-end reuse application; the

SCP to protect both the collection system and the performance of the WWTP, and the WWTP to produce an effluent of a quality that is beneficial to the operation and performance of downstream process units, no matter what the end use of the reclaimed water is.

AUSTRALIAN PERSPECTIVE The critique notes that there is good experience in Australia with the development of SCPs, with the Water Services Association of Australia’s (WSAA’s) June 2012 document, Australian Sewage Quality Management Guidelines, being a good example of work in this area.

This document guides member utilities through a 12-element risk framework to ensure the protection of collection system assets and all treatment processes, ensure compliance with environmental legislation and reduce hazards and odours for workers and the community, while also supporting utilities to better control recycled water and biosolids quality. Adoption of the 12-element risk framework for source control aligns these guidelines with both the

The critique concludes by noting that a rigorous and functional SCP, together with an appropriately designed WWTP, are crucial elements in any highend reuse scheme – not just for DPR applications.

Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG, 2011) and the Australian Guidelines for Water Recycling (AGWR, 2008).

WWTPs in Australia are generally designed and operated to achieve nitrogen removal, no matter whether the effluent produced is further treated for a reuse application or is discharged to the environment – a situation obviously not prevalent in the US and yet one that the Framework Report states as being a requirement for any DPR scheme.

The critique concludes by noting that a rigorous and functional SCP, together with an appropriately designed WWTP, are crucial elements in any high-end reuse scheme – not just for DPR applications. There is an opportunity to clarify the source control discussion in a current WateReuse Research Foundation project (WRRF-13-12).

The usefulness of the Framework for Direct Potable Reuse report would be enhanced considerably – both within and out of the US – by internationalising it and presenting a comparison of SCPs applied at reuse facilities around the world (DPR, IPR and other forms), including the principles involved and the legislation that covered their development.

Ian Law is the Principal at IBL Solutions.

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

www.awa.asn.au 103

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executive summary water and energy

Energy and nutrient factory at Netherlands’ Amersfoort WWTP RECOVERY OF ENERGY AND NUTRIENTS FROM WASTE-ACTIVATED SLUDGE AND WASTEWATER. L Kox, B Geraats The Amersfoort WWTP is leading the way in resource recovery.

A

mersfoort wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in the Netherlands is owned and operated by Dutch water board Vallei & Veluwe. In 2013, Eliquo Water & Energy was awarded the project to upgrade the existing wastewater and sludge processing facilities and transform them into a regional sludge processing hub that acts as an ‘energy and nutrient factory’, using innovative technologies to recover energy and nutrients.

TECH INNOVATION Energy recovery was enhanced by the application of Lysotherm thermal pressure hydrolysis technology to the anaerobic digestion process.

The application of Lysotherm thermal pressure hydrolysis brought the following advantages: Q Increased capacity of existing digester volume; Q Increased gas production; Q Reduced production of biosolids; Q Increased sludge dewatering capability; and Q Reduced chemical consumption for sludge dewatering.

In contrast to traditional systems, Lysotherm does not require steam as a driver. Instead, existing waste heat of the exhaust from the Combined Heat and Power units is used as an energy source. Avoiding the need for steam generation has a positive impact on

economic viability, safety requirements, plant availability and operability. It also improves energy efficiency, as no gas is required to boil water, leaving more for the generation of electricity.

Other advantages are the modular and off-site construction, continuous process operation with very limited maintenance requirements, and no additional odour emissions. The combination of this technology with the processing of import sludge resulted in the WWTP becoming energy-positive.

P RECOVERY Uncontrolled formation and deposition of struvite causes significant ongoing maintenance costs at existing WWTPs. With the upgrade, phosphorus is recovered by means of Pearl technology, which creates a valuable fertiliser called Crystal Green. It will generate non-regulated revenue, combined with a guaranteed long-term off-take agreement through which the product marketing and distribution risks are transferred to the technology provider. It also prevents uncontrolled deposition of struvite occurring, resulting in significant savings in avoided maintenance costs.

In addition, it reduces the amount of chemical sludge that is formed when phosphorus is removed from wastewater by chemical dosing via conventional removal methods and

improves dewaterability of the digested sludge.

SUSTAINABILITY PAYS A combination of both technical and commercial innovations allowed all of the water board’s project objectives to be met. These were: 1 A regional sludge processing hub is created while re-using the existing assets (digesters); 2 To become energy-positive, by applying Lysotherm technology; 3 To recover phosphorus in a commercially viable way by creating a fertiliser product that is sold via a novel commercial arrangement; 4 To reduce overall sludge processing costs by producing less sludge, enhancing the performance of the existing digesters; and 5 To pay back capital investment in less than seven years.

Luc Kox is an Engineer and Bert Geraats is the Technology Manager at Eliquo Water & Energy BV.

This paper is being presented at Ozwater’16 in Melbourne, May 10–12.

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

www.awa.asn.au 105

executive summary demand management

Selling ice to eskimos RETHINKING DEMAND MANAGEMENT WHEN YOU ARE NOT IN DROUGHT. C Agnew, P Mulley, N Quinn, N Thatcher, D Lambert

S

ydney Water has a rich history in demand management. Water efficiency began in 1999 with Waterfix, the first program, and largest in terms of customer participation. In 2007, water scarcity was the most important customer sentiment issue above cost of living, housing, transport, education and health.

HISTORY OF DEMAND During the Millennium Drought, the focus on water efficiency from government, community and water utilities in NSW was unprecedented. As the crisis abated, however, the concern and effort in water conservation tapered to focus on other asset management priorities that had been temporarily put on hold. By 2011, much of the low-hanging fruit in demand management had been exploited, the drought had come and gone, and investment was reduced.

Customers now use 25% less water than they did before the Millennium Drought and have maintained water-efficient behaviour despite the lifting of restrictions. This lack of demand ‘bounce back’ is thought to be related to the length and severity of water restrictions, as well as greater regulation.

the Millennium Drought, cheap and easy savings were no longer available. Large amounts of spare capacity in water and wastewater systems was an unintended benefit from the big reductions in demand during the drought. The approach of the future will proactively target parts of Sydney Water’s network that are capacity constrained or difficult and expensive to service.

Like many similar organisations, Sydney Water is rich in data but can be information poor. It was decided that a robust decision framework, in line with current asset management practices, would be the best way to justify investment.

To put this together, existing spatial, cost, energy and demand data was collated. A major innovation was to map publicly available census information to Sydney Water’s water and wastewater networks.

By correlating demographic data with demand management information, it is possible to find some of the underlying trends influencing customer participation. For example, low-income areas are less likely to participate in demand management.

The three-step process of opportunity identification, program investigation and prioritisation allows Sydney Water to exploit cost-effective programs at a range of scales, from the entire area of operations to specific parts of the network.

PRACTICAL TESTING This new approach will be tested through application and will inform a number of asset strategies.

Exploring all viable options to meet customer expectations is good due diligence on the part of utilities.

Opportunity Identification Where could water savings be achieved?

Program Investigations What is the most appropriate program to achieve water savings?

JUSTIFYING FURTHER INVESTMENT Sydney Water has become a victim of its own success. How do we justify ongoing investment in demand management? After the success of the water savings programs during

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Prioritisation Process Which are the most effective opportunities? What do we do now vs during drought?

In 2007, water scarcity was the most important customer sentiment issue above cost of living, housing, transport, education and health.

By investigating demand-side, non-asset solutions it is possible to overcome a widely acknowledged ‘capital bias’ of regulated utilities.

Embedding this approach into long-standing and functional asset management processes will take time and a cultural shift in organisations with a traditional engineering focus.

The robust assessment of costs and benefits provides an evidence base to justify investment and construct an effective portfolio of water savings to meet future challenges, such as drought and population growth.

Charles Agnew is the Water Resources Program Lead at Sydney Water, where Paul Mulley is the People and Places Manager at Sydney Water and Natalie Quinn is a Project Manager.

Nicholas Thatcher is Arup’s Transport and Resources GIS Leader, while Daniel Lambert is the Water and Urban Renewal Business Leader for Arup Australasia.

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

1800 800 878 | caps.com.au

executive summary water management

NSW and Colombia: a water management comparison RESULTS OF AN ANALYSIS CONDUCTED OF BOTH NSW AND COLOMBIAN FRAMEWORKS. J Canon ATTRIBUTE

D

ue to its interstate water-sharing requirements, social, economic and environmental pressures, and dry and highly-variable climatic conditions compared to international standards, New South Wales has faced challenging water management issues for over a century. As a response, the state has developed policies, regulatory frameworks and mechanisms to move towards a resilient approach to these challenges.

Other regions in the world that traditionally have had abundant water resources are starting to face similar water management challenges due to factors such as population growth and climate variability. The threats and consequences of dry weather conditions, accentuated by extreme El Niño events in Colombia, and the reactive approach adopted to mitigate those consequences indicate that water management can be improved considerably in Colombia.

In order to determine potential elements to improve the regulatory framework and water management in Colombia, an analysis of both NSW and Colombian frameworks was conducted.

The table on the right outlines the similarities and key differences between their water regulatory frameworks and water management.

The fundamental reasons for the differences are mainly related to historical water resources availability and variability, drivers for the evolution of legislative frameworks and different socioeconomic conditions. Potential opportunities for improvement to delineate and implement more efficient, effective and resilient water management in Colombia were identified, considering the local context. The lessons learned in NSW could be extrapolated and potentially increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the development of water regulatory policies in Colombia.

Javier Canon is an Analyst at IPART NSW.

Water sharing arrangements enshrined in legislation Long-term water supply/demand planning in cities Water monopolies regulated Water rights separate from land Licensed consumptive water rights for individuals Tradeable water licences and allocations Flexibility depending on market conditions Different categories of water licences with different levels of water security Allowable water extractions vary yearly based on climatic circumstances Water ordering system for consumptive users Limits on annual extraction of water for consumptive use Incentives for innovation, diversification and efficiency in the urban and rural water industries Encompasses private works as irrigation districts, private water trusts Has developed schemes to deliver substantial water savings for the environment Considers a fit for purpose approach for water quality Streamlined with public health regulation Environmental water entitlements Indigenous water rights Monitor and evaluate effectiveness of water management Includes robust compliance and enforcement mechanisms Cost recovery for regulatory frameworks

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

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Separation of regulators and operators

NSW

COLUMBIA

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executive summary resource recovery

Accelerating implementation of extractive nutrient recovery for sustainable management FINDINGS OF THE WATER ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH FOUNDATION STUDY ON EXTRACTIVE NUTRIENT RECOVERY. S Jeyanayagam, W Khunjar, A Pramanik, C Mehta

N

itrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are life-essential macronutrients.

Production of synthetic fertilisers containing N and P is an energy-intensive process that uses non-renewable resources.

Experts believe that economically extractable phosphorus reserves are being consumed faster than the geologic cycle can replenish them. In order to minimise the impact of nutrients on the environment, the current approach is to remove N and

P prior to discharge to a water body.

In this linear scenario, energy and resources are expended for fertiliser production as well as to remove N and P from wastewater. Achieving a circular economy demands a paradigm shift in managing nutrients and capturing other resources and energy from wastewater.

This paper presents findings of the recently completed Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) study on extractive nutrient recovery titled Towards a Renewable Future: Assessing Resource Recovery as a Viable Treatment Alternative.

Experts believe that economically extractable phosphorus reserves are being consumed faster than the geologic cycle can replenish them.

Accumulation Q Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) Q Algae Q Purple non-sulfur bacteria Q Membrane filtration Q Absorption/lon exchange Q Solvent extraction

Release Q Anaerobic digestion Q Thermolysis Q WAS release Q Sonication Q Microwave Q Chemical extraction

OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES Extractive nutrient recovery entails harvesting N and P as a relatively clean nutrient product. Despite the obvious benefits of nutrient harvesting (recycle load management, chemical savings, reduced solids production, minimised struvite scaling, etc.) there remain technical, social and economic challenges in a wider adoption of nutrient recovery.

Efficient extractive nutrient recovery involves a three-step framework comprising accumulation, release and extraction. Accumulation and release technologies are already commonplace at many nutrient removal facilities that utilise enhanced biological phosphorus removal and anaerobic sludge digestion.

Achieving nutrient recovery at these plants involves adding the last extraction step.

Extraction Q Chemical precipitation Q Electrodialysis Q Gas permeable membrane adsorption Q Gas stripping Q Solvent extraction

Components and candidate technologies for extractive nutrient recovery.

110 www.awa.asn.au

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There remain technical, social and economic challenges in a wider adoption of nutrient recovery.

The various technologies available to accomplish nutrient recovery may be characterised as embryonic, innovative or established.

Currently six mature technologies are commercially available for fullscale implementation. These include Ostara, Multiform Harvest, NuReSys, Phospaq, Crystalactor and AirPrex.

A survey of 20 wastewater treatment plants provided the following: drivers for and barriers to the adoption of nutrient recovery, strategies for overcoming key barriers, lessons learnt designing and operating nutrient removal systems, and construction and operating costs.

MAKING THE CASE As part of the WERF study, an Excelbased user-friendly tool called the Tool for Evaluating Resource Recovery (TERRY) was developed. TERRY allows users to perform high-level business case evaluation and examine payback scenarios by considering 13 factors. Fact sheets describing an array of struvite harvesting technologies are also available within the tool so that users can compare and contrast competing options.

During anaerobic digestion, the nutrients that are released tend to form insoluble inorganic compounds and are unavailable for subsequent recovery.

University of Queensland, a project partner, conducted experimental evaluation of emerging concepts to maximise the availability of the released P and enhance the extraction efficiency through crystallisation.

The study investigated the two approaches to capture the released P: depressed pH during anaerobic digestion; and the use of chelating agents and ion exchange resins.

Results confirmed that P solubility under acidic conditions (pH < 5.7) was higher than under neutral conditions, but methane production suffered. A shift in the microbial diversity was also observed.

With respect to the use of additives, chelating agents were more effective than ion exchange resins. Another benefit of adding a chelating agent is the potential improvement of dewaterability and polymer cost savings.

Samuel Jeyanayagam is Vice President and Senior Principal Technologist at CH2M Hill. Wendell Khunjar is Senior Principal Engineer and Director of Applied Wastewater Research, Hazen and Sawyer. Chirag Mehta is Research Fellow at the University of Queensland Advanced Water Management Centre.

Amit Pramanik is Director of Research at the Water Environment Research Foundation.

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

executive summary remote water treatment

Research and industry partnerships in polar regions science

Research at Casey Station in Antarctica is offering insights into BAC filtration in municipal water treatment.

IMPLICATIONS FOR MUNICIPAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL WATER TREATMENT. K Northcott, B Freidman, G Stevens, I Snape, K Mumford

I

ndustry participation in water and waste management projects in polar areas presents opportunities for improvement of treatment technologies in the broader global context.

For this reason, it is useful for the water industry to build strong partnerships with organisations involved in polar research.

Veolia is working with the University of Melbourne under a fiveyear Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on research into better water and waste treatment technologies. The first major project is currently focused on sites at Australia’s Casey Station, operated by the

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Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), in East Antarctica. This project aims to utilise low-energy biological processes, such as biofiltration, to remediate summer melt water contaminated with diesel-based hydrocarbons.

The collaboration between Veolia and the University of Melbourne leverages 15 years of Antarctic permeable reactive barrier (PRB) research into ion exchange/adsorption of inorganics and organics, as well as characterisation of biofilms on activated carbon.

This has enabled the team to develop advanced analytical techniques for Antarctic research, and apply them to more conventional

water treatment. Knowledge gained from analysis of carbon samples from Antarctic PRBs has been used to better understand the performance of large-scale biological activated carbon (BAC) filtration processes used in municipal water treatment.

Key research questions that the project partners are interested in include: O What are the key bacterial species present on BAC that are associated with removal of natural organic matter (NOM), nuisance and toxic organic species in water?

O What is the fate and accumulation on activated carbon of inorganic constituents in water?

O What are the limiting factors for growth of certain bacterial species on BAC?

The answers to these questions have significant impact on the management and optimisation of biofiltration processes, both in polar and temperate regions.

The research is yielding results that indicate direct comparisons between the behaviour of activated carbon and other reactive media in PRBs in Antarctica, and those of municipal BAC filtration plants in Australia.

There are similar bacterial communities present, particularly with those bacteria capable of oxidising dissolved iron and/or manganese. In spite of differing feedwater composition, and resulting mineral composition, these bacterial communities produce impressive biologically derived mineral structures (biogenic materials) with strikingly similar morphologies. These biogenic processes were evident in all samples collected. This reinforces the relevance of remote region PRB research to inform the operation of municipal water treatment plants that employ biofiltration technologies.

Utilising the techniques developed for Antarctic PRBs, we have been able to better understand the structure and

ecology of biofilms that establish in municipal BAC filters. The retention and accumulation of inorganics through biogenic mineral formation in BAC filters, and their abundance across varying feedwater conditions and media types, suggest that these minerals may: O Offer the potential for removal of a wide range of aqueous pollutants, including heavy metals and toxic organics; and O Extend the performance of activated carbon beyond what would be considered its typical adsorptive capacity.

Kathy Northcott is the Research and Technical Manager at Veolia Australia-New Zealand. At the University of Melbourne Department of Chemical Biomolecular Engineering, Benjamin Freidman is a PhD Researcher, Geoff Stevens a Laureate Professor and Kathryn Mumford a Senior Lecturer.

Ian Snape is a Principal Research Scientist at the Australian Antarctic Division.

The research is yielding results that indicate direct comparisons between the behaviour of activated carbon and other reactive media in PRBs in Antarctica, and those of municipal BAC filtration plants in Australia.

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

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executive summary Integrated urban water management

Understanding IUWM as an ideology, method and objective INDUSTRY PERCEPTIONS OF IUWM AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN MELBOURNE. C Furlong, S De Silva, L Guthrie

O

ver the past three years the authors have investigated the international evolution of Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) and its implementation within Melbourne.

Research findings have shown that there may be a practical disconnect between the objectives of IUWM, and its associated methods.

The authors decided to investigate this finding in more detail by further exploring what the most commonly associated methods and objectives of IUWM are.

In order to assess this, a survey was conducted that received responses from 34 industry experts. The survey asked four questions:

O What

does IUWM mean? specific steps/methods/ actions does IUWM involve?

O What are its objectives?

O How relevant is IUWM as an ideology now, and in the future?

O What

Survey responses showed a wide variety of industry perspectives on IUWM, ranging from specific processes such as “option identification” and “risk assessment” methods, to broad all-encompassing and vague descriptions such as “using a systems approach”, “managing water holistically”, and “big picture thinking”.

According to the results, the specific methods most commonly

Survey results for the relevance of IUWM to the water sector now and in the future

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associated with IUWM are: stakeholder engagement; coordinated planning of different water services at various scales; holistic option assessment (such as non-market cost benefit analysis); and integrated modelling.

The objectives most commonly associated with IUWM are: diversification of water sources; environmental improvements; reduced cost; and improved liveability outcomes.

WRAPPING IT UP The survey results, and the industry consultation that the authors have conducted over the past three years, have made it clear that IUWM means

When asked about the relevance of IUWM to the water sector, 59% of experts said it was very or extremely relevant at present, while 82% said it will be very or extremely relevant in the future. different things to different people. For some, integrated water management means getting everyone in the room and making people talk and communicate better. To other people, integrated water management is a large-scale, top-down scientific planning process, where you look at all the options and value them all in dollar terms. Then you pick the best option, and attempt to implement it.

When asked about the relevance of IUWM to the water sector, 59% of experts said it was very or extremely relevant at present, while 82% said it will be very or extremely relevant in the future. Considering that IUWM is

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perceived in this way, it is important to critically assess the success of its implementation thus far, because without this scrutiny IUWM remains an ideology, or belief system.

The authors then conducted preliminary examination of the current state of these methods and objectives in Melbourne, which has shown that, so far, not all of the methods are resulting in achievement of the IUWM objectives.

For example, non-market cost benefit analysis, coordinated planning of water services at a large scale, and integrated modelling, have not achieved a lot of success in Melbourne. The value

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of IUWM appears to be in promoting communication between organisations and well-structured stakeholder engagement, rather than large scale and highly detailed “integrated” plans, or complex option assessment methods.

We propose that the water sector re-evaluate its perception of IUWM, mentally separating its meaning into a variety of methods and objectives that can then be independently scrutinised.

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

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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

Current

THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE M AY 2 0 1 6

Reach industry decision makers using the Australian

Volume 1 No 2

Water Association member magazine Current.

WASTEWATER’S

BIG IDEA THE WATER INDUSTRY IS IN THE THROES OF A GREEN ENERGY REVOLUTION. HERE’S WHAT’S DRIVING IT.

The quarterly publication is a premium product that aims to inform, educate and entertain readers. Engaging and relevant content is presented in a crafted mix of long and short reads, Q&As and infographics.

L AT E S T ISSUE M AY 2016

The next issue of Current will launch in August and will focus on technology and innovation.

Booking Deadline: June 27 Material Deadline: July 5

Print magazine

Environment Minister Greg Hunt on sustainable cities

The fight to irrigate Northern Australia

Infrastructure Australia and the water sector’s future

Circulation:

Readership:

3895

15,000

If you would like to book into the next edition, please call Sam on (02) 9556 9136 or email sam@mahlabmedia.com.au

executive summary water quality

Broadening the targets for microbial water quality EXAMINING THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN BACTERIA COMMUNITY COMPOSITION AND ELEVATED NUTRIENTS IN ESTUARIES. K Gibb, M Kaestli, J Smith, K McGuinness

D

NA technologies afford an unprecedented opportunity to broaden microbial water quality targets for routine monitoring. It is now well understood that conventional indicators Escherichia coli and enterococci can survive and be detected in a range of non-faecal sources, making it difficult to monitor human faecal pollution in receiving environments.

The call for broadening targets for water quality assessment has also been driven by applying next-generation sequencing (NGS) to environmental samples, allowing significant advances in our understanding of bacterial community dynamics. NGS has created an unprecedented inventory of microbial communities associated with faecal sources, allowing re-examination of which taxonomic groups are best suited as indicators.

While these approaches have opened the door to ecological-scale microbial assessment, we still have much to learn about how microbial communities respond to disturbance. If their response to nutrient gradients, for example, is highly variable both temporally and spatially, then their value as a source of new indicators might be questionable. There are also many regions and ecosystems for which we have no community-level microbial data.

Darwin Harbour is one such region, so our aim was to compare the bacterial community composition in sewage/effluentimpacted and control creeks with no sewage effluents. From this, we aimed to increase our understanding of what makes the bacterial communities different, and possible implications for monitoring.

We found that the microbial community was more diverse at the site with the highest level of nutrients and diversity decreased with decreasing levels. Taxa

such as Aeromonas, Azomonas (see figure) and cyanobacteria have potential as water quality indicators. The Enterobacteriales were interesting: this family contains taxa used in conventional water quality assessment. However, some members also include environmental bacteria and, indeed, our study detected two Enterobacteriales sequences at all sites. Our approach has provided more baseline microbial information for Darwin Harbour, and identified targets for broader public health and ecosystem health monitoring.

Professor Karen Gibb is an Associate Professor and Dr Keith McGuinness a Marine Biologist at Charles Darwin University, Dr Mirjam Kaestli is Research Fellow at the Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods and Dr Jodie Smith is a Marine Geoscientist at Geoscience Australia.

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

Bacteria that distinguish sewage-impact (orange boxes) from non-sewage impact sites The top 25 bacteria (sequences) that contributed most to the differences between bacterial communities from effluent-impacted sites (BC, MC and EP) and control sites (HC and WA) were visualised using Cytoscape. The line thickness is proportional to abundance of these taxa.

BC had bacteria sequences that were unique or occurred at low levels at the other sites, including those belonging to the Enterobacteriales, Alcaligenaceae, Chlorobiales, Hylemonella and Enteric Bacteria. There were some bacteria common to MC and BC only: a Cyanobium, a Spartobacteria and a cyanobacteria. EP was dominated by an ammoniautilising Azomonas and the potential human pathogen Aeromonas.

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Current THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE

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

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DEEP WATER Ozwater’16 is here, so find out which speakers have some of the industry’s leaders the most excited.

WIDE WORLD OF WATER More than 5000 global water professionals will descend on Brisbane for the World Water Congress.

OPPORTUNITY’S EDGE Vietnam is rapidly developing its water sector and Australia is there to help.

EVENT PLANNER Plan your professional development with the Association’s event calendar.

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BEST ON SHOW See how NSW celebrated its finest at the Heads of Water Gala Dinner and Awards Night.

CAREERS IN WASTEWATER Boliver Wastewater Treatment Plant hosted a career-focused site tour.

UP-AND-COMERS SHARE TIPS The YWP Conference brought peers together from across the country.

BRIGHT SPARKS Bold new thinking took centre stage at the Innovation Forum and Expo.

PENINSULA PROFESSIONALS See the action from the Victorian YWP Regional Conference.

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Ozwater’16 hits Melbourne AS THE AUSTRALIAN WATER EVENT OF THE YEAR DRAWS CLOSER, THE PROGRAM DRAWS INSPIRATION FROM ITS HOST CITY.

W

ith Ozwater’16 just around the corner, delegates are turning their minds to Melbourne. But Victoria’s capital is a lot more than just a city worth visiting, especially if you’re a water professional.

Melbourne has been hailed the world’s most liveable city, and with the key theme of Ozwater’16 being Liveable and Sustainable Cities of the Future, it certainly seems fitting that delegates should find themselves pondering water’s prospects on the banks of the Yarra River.

To celebrate all that Melbourne’s reputation represents, Ozwater’16 is delighted to offer attendees a session dedicated to the Melbourne Experience. The session will be presented by Professor Tony Wong and South East Water’s Andrew Chapman, and will explore the water journey Melbourne has taken in the past seven years, since Ozwater was last hosted in the city.

This year’s program has been designed to tackle the breadth of the water sector, while offering depth in industry expertise and thought leadership. Delegates will be treated to presentations under eight different streams, covering: Sustainable Cities, Water for Rural, Remote and Regional Communities, Governance, Regulation and Structure, Customers and Community, Contemporary Management, and Sustainable Industries.

There will be a number of keynote speakers addressing leading issues relating to water’s future.

ClimateWorks and Melbourne Water Chair Professor John Thwaites will be covering water’s contribution to delivering global sustainable development goals. Indian Institute for Human Settlements Director Aromar Revi will be presenting on the challenges and opportunities relating to global urbanisation, and author Kerry Bodine will be discussing the power of putting customers at the centre of business. Emergent CEO Holly Ransom will be presenting on the millennial generation and what it means for business.

Ozwater’16 is supported by principal sponsors Melbourne Water and SUEZ. Learn more about the Ozwater’16 keynote speakers here: bit.ly/Ozwaterkeynote

OZWATER’16 WHEN: May 10–12 WHERE: Melbourne Convention Centre and Exhibition Centre HOW: Visit bit.ly/ Ozwater16 THE OZWATER’16 COMMITTEE’S TOP PICKS Francis Pamminger Yarra Valley Water Research & Innovation Manager I am looking forward to the upcoming Ozwater’16 program to listen, reflect, and synthesise what we as an industry are doing to contribute to improving the OLYHDELOLW\ RI RXU FLWLHV b, DP LQWHUHVWHG LQ KHDULQJ WKH keynote speakers, Professor John Thwaites and Aromar Revi, talk about sustainability and urbanisation.

Felicity Roddick RMIT Professor of Environmental Technology I am particularly interested to hear Kerry Bodine on customer-centric approaches and how they might be implemented in the water industry. I am also pleased with the new program format, including short oral presentations for selected posters, which will give delegates a greater opportunity to engage with the presenters.

Sarah Hesse Cardno Business Unit Manager There aren’t many opportunities to have access to so many specialists in one place. While Australia is known globally for its best practice water management, I think it is our duty to always be looking for ways to raise the bar. This year’s Liveable and Sustainable Cities of the Future and Contemporary Management streams will give us the ideas to help us do this.

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2016

AUSTRALIAN WATER AWARDS FINALISTS

CONNECTING WITH PEERS Ozwater is renowned for its bustling social calendar, providing excellent opportunities to engage with fellow delegates.

The Ozwaterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;16 Welcome Networking Evening, proudly supported by Comdain, allows delegates a chance to catch up with colleagues and meet peers before the program begins.

WHEN: 6pm, Monday, May 9 WHERE: Aerial, 17 Dukes Walk, South Wharf DRESS: Smart casual Happy Hour at the Gentrack Club House will be held in the Ozwater Trade Exhibition, inviting delegates to unwind after the ďŹ rst day of sessions.

WHEN: 5.30pm, Tuesday, May 10 WHERE: Gentrack Club House, Ozwaterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;16 Exhibition DRESS: Business attire One of the most anticipated events on the water sectorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social calendar, the Gala Dinner, proudly sponsored by TRILITY, and Australian Water Awards, proudly sponsored by ANZ, brings together water professionals from across the industry to join in celebrating the top achievers for 2016.

WHEN: 6.30pm, Wednesday, May 11 WHERE: Melbourne Room, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre

GET CONNECTED TECH BOOST: Digital technology will make it easier than ever for delegates to make the most of the industry insights on offer at this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s conference.

Each delegateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nametag will be equipped with NFC (near ďŹ eld communication) technology, allowing them to take part in live polling and Q&A sessions in the main plenary hall.

The nametags will also allow delegates to have the papers from any session delivered to them with a simple tap, as well as allowing instant access to each of the 40-plus poster papers.

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The Australian Water Awards celebrates achievements across the water sector with the support of major sponsor ANZ. Finalists are drawn from state and territory category champions, with Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ nest vying for the national accolade.

WATER PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR Finalists: Dr Fang Chen, Data61 (NSW), David Brooker, Mackay Regional Council (QLD), Marc Fabig, Osmoflo (SA), and Mike Harold (WA).

YOUNGÂ WATER PROFESSIONAL OF THE YEAR )LQDOLVWV :DOWHU 5HLQKDUGW $UXS b$QD 5HPHGLRV GHD (ACT), Kathryn Silvester, Sydney Water (NSW), Tim Wong, SMEC Australia (QLD), Michael Webber, SA Water (SA), Ben Mitchell, Jacobs (WA), and Cameron Jessup, TasWater (TAS).

RESEARCH INNOVATION AWARD Finalists: Sydney Water (NSW), The University of Queensland & CRC for Water Sensitive Cities (QLD), SA Water (SA), National Centre of Excellence in Desalination Australia (WA), and Aither (VIC).

PROGRAM INNOVATION AWARD Finalists: Lake Macquarie City Council (NSW), Queensland Urban Utilities (QLD), City of Melbourne 6WDWH *RYHUQPHQW RI 9LFWRULD 9,& $OOZDWHUb 6$

and Department of Water (WA).

UNDERGRADUATE WATER PRIZE Finalists: Scott Roy (QLD), Andrew De Silva, Joshua Rock & Anil Thayalan (VIC), Cameron McPhail, Sean Vial, Rebecca van der Pennen and Bonnie +HLGULFKb 6$ DQG /XNH 0XUSK\ :$

INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT INNOVATIONÂ AWARD Finalists: BioGill Operations & Ferrero Australia (NSW), Unitywater (QLD), Lower Murray Water (VIC), Tonkin Consulting, Leed Engineering & Construction (SA), and Water Corporation & Downer (WA).

WSAA WATER INDUSTRY SAFETY EXCELLENCE AWARD Finalists: Unitywater (QLD), Western Water (VIC), and TasWater (TAS).

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World Water Congress

The wide world of water THE IWA WORLD WATER CONGRESS & EXHIBITION WILL BE HELD IN BRISBANE THIS OCTOBER, WITH INPUT FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE GEARED TO RAISE THE BENCHMARK FOR WATER.

T

he leading global water event is back, and this time it will unfold in Brisbane, offering Australian water professionals a chance to engage with the latest the international water sector has to offer.

The International Water Association (IWA) World Water Congress & Exhibition will bring together more than 5500 water professionals from at least 100 countries, showcasing the best in water, environment and technology thought-leadership.

Shaping Our Water Future, the overall theme for the Congress, focuses on innovation, leading practice and solutions to industry-wide challenges.

The Congress covers the full water cycle, from urban development, through to resource management and wastewater treatment. Other major Congress themes include: Cities, Utilities & Industries Leading Change Water security is crucial for a sustainable water future.

The urban water cycle relies on the efforts of cities, utilities and industries initiating change.

Re-Charting The Course Of Water Resources Water resources enable social development.

Alternative water schemes must be encouraged if water stress and environmental exploitation are to be overcome.

Enabling Progress With Good Governance, Sustainable Finance & ICT Governance structures, finance and decision making shape waster sector processes. Ensuring good governance is essential to reducing inefficiency.

Water Quality, Safety & Human Health Access to clean water is a fundamental element of liveability and development. The sector must ensure that water monitoring continues to adapt in context.

Water & Wastewater Processes And Treatments Safe and sustainable management of wastewater and derived bio-solids is a global concern that has many local nuances.

124 www.awa.asn.au

INSIDER GUIDE TO WWC IWA Executive Director Ger Bergkamp said the Congress has been designed to get to the bottom of what needs to change and why, in order to pave the way for effective action and collaboration.

“The worldwide attention on the global water crisis presents us with a once-in-a-generation opportunity, to drive sustainable development at an unprecedented scale by creating a water-wise world.

There needs to be much more forward thinking, almost beyond the curve, to understand how technology needs to change, how investment needs to change, and management, in general, needs to change,” Bergkamp said.

“We tend, in the water sector, to look back and use the approaches from the past. We water professionals need to look forward and take the shaping of the water sector into our own hands.”

And with the recent setting of the Sustainable Development Goals in New York last year, Bergkamp said the international context is more pertinent for the water sector than ever before.

“In the international water sector, we have the knowledge, expertise and experience to shape water management and we now have the strategic framework of the Sustainable Development Goals, which are becoming the guiding principles for the water agenda all over the world,” he said.

“This is really where we see this years’ Congress as coming at the right time. There is a lot of discussion at an international level on this, but it hasn’t yet trickled down to professionals within countries. How do you then bring it to the ground? Whether it’s practice or whether it’s the research agenda, or the technological innovation agenda.”

One of the driving aims of this years’ World Water Congress is to provide a platform for new partnerships and collaborations at an international level. Bergkamp said while the Congress has always

IWA WORLD WATER CONGRESS ACROSS THE GLOBE LISBON, PORTUGAL

2014 BUSAN, KOREA

2012 MONTREAL, CANADA

2010 VIENNA, AUSTRIA

2008 BEIJING, CHINA

2006 MARRAKECH, MOROCCO

2004

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

2002

IWA WORLD WATER CONGRESS WHEN: 9–14 October 2016 WHERE: Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre Registrations are now open.

Visit bit.ly/IWAWorldCongress

been international, the Sustainable Development Goals have highlighted a need to refocus on international cooperation and support.

“The SDGs set us a clear challenge, we need to dramatically reduce the number of people without safe access to water and sanitation. We need to re-use water that has served its economic purpose and recycle it together with the materials and energy within it. We need to replenish rivers, lakes and groundwater reserves to create the resilience needed to absorb the shocks from floods and droughts,” Bergkamp said.

“What are the new partnerships that we need to have to realise the Sustainable Development Goals? How do you shape and form them? How do we create the critical collaborations from across sectors needed to deliver a sustainable water future?”

But Bergkamp also reiterated the strong need for the Congress to inspire very practical action, ensuring that utilities and other service providers can walk away with a clear idea of where they stand in managing water for their communities.

“Utilities are central to sustainable water management. The Congress will be a fantastic opportunity to get insights into the latest and best science, and what it means for operating utilities around the world,” Bergkamp said.

The Congress will also include affiliated events such as the Water Scarcity and Drought Summit, and a series of Leadership Forums, including a Water Regulators Forum.

“The Water Regulators’ Forum will bring together water service regulators and environmental regulators from around the world together,” Bergkamp said.

“Countries around the world are struggling with how to develop regulations that support innovation, engage citizens, and deliver better health outcomes and environmental protections.

“Through the IWA’s Lisbon Charter, which defines how to develop regulation, we now have a tool to help regulators. For the Water Scarcity and Drought Summit, we have worked very

closely with the Australian Water Partnership and some of the federal agencies.”

Bergkamp said that he is looking forward to seeing the Congress return to Australia, as the Australian water experience has a lot to offer in an international context.

“The Australian water experience is world famous. A lot of people are really excited by having the opportunity to connect to that – to connect to the people that are working at the forefront of water in Australia,” Bergkamp said.

“But also to take the opportunity to visit some of the famous, emblematic places that have dealt with so many of the big issues facing countries world-wide.”

GER BERGKAMP’S TOP PICKS PROFESSOR JOHN THWAITES Professor John Thwaites will be elaborating on the Sustainable Development Goals as a keynote.

John doesn’t need an introduction; he is a very well known commentator on leading issues facing Australia.

JON ROSE, WAVES FOR WATER We will also be hosting Jon Rose who will be giving a keynote address around emerging water contaminants.

This presentation will connect some of the leading science with the leading practice.

BARBARA FROST, WATERAID Barbara Frost from WaterAid will be another of the keynotes speaking to the Sustainable Development Goals. Barbara will be able to discuss this from the context of Water Aid, as an NGO working in urban areas.

www.awa.asn.au 125

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Brisbane Perth

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Ϯϯ Θ Ϯϰ :ƵŶĞ ϮϬϭϲ 27 & 28 June 2016 ϯϬ :ƵŶĞ Θ ϭ :ƵůLJ ϮϬϭϲ

^ĞǁĂŐĞ WƵŵƉ ^ƚĂƟŽŶ Θ ZŝƐŝŶŐ DĂŝŶ ĞƐŝŐŶ Brisbane Melbourne Adelaide Perth

18 & 19 July 2016 21 & 22 July 2016 25 & 26 July 2016 28 & 29 July 2016

New Course for 2016

&Žƌ ŵŽƌĞ ŝŶĨŽƌŵĂƟŽŶ ;ŝŶĐůƵĚŝŶŐ ĨƵůů ƐĞŵŝŶĂƌ ĚĞƚĂŝůƐͿ ĂŶĚ ƚŽ ŽďƚĂŝŶ ƌĞŐŝƐƚƌĂƟŽŶ ĨŽƌŵƐ͕ ĐĂůů < ^ ZĞĚďĞƌŐ ŽŶ ;ϬϮͿ ϵϵϰϵ ϵϳϵϱ Žƌ ĞŵĂŝů ŝŶĨŽΛŬĂƐĂ͘ĐŽŵ͘ĂƵ Žƌ ǀŝƐŝƚ ǁǁǁ͘ŬĂƐĂ͘ĐŽŵ͘ĂƵ͘ ŝƐĐŽƵŶƚƐ ĂƉƉůLJ ĨŽƌ ĞĂƌůLJ ƌĞŐŝƐƚƌĂƟŽŶƐ͕ ĚƵĂů ƐĞŵŝŶĂƌ ŬŝŶŐƐ ĂŶĚ ŵƵůƟƉůĞ ƌĞŐŝƐƚƌĂƟŽŶƐ ĨƌŽŵ ƚŚĞ ŽŶĞ ŽƌŐĂŶŝƐĂƟŽŶ͘ tĞ ĐĂŶ ĂůƐŽ ƌƵŶ ƚŚĞƐĞ ƐĞŵŝŶĂƌƐ Ăƚ LJŽƵƌ ŽǁŶ ǁŽƌŬƉůĂĐĞ Žƌ ĐƵƐƚŽŵŝƐĞ ƚŚĞŵ ƚŽ ƐƵŝƚ LJŽƵƌ ŶĞĞĚƐ͘

ĞͲ> ZE/E' KhZ^ ^ /Ŷ ĂĚĚŝƟŽŶ ƚŽ ŽƵƌ ƐƚĂŶĚĂƌĚ ƉƵďůŝĐ ƐĞŵŝŶĂƌ ƌĂŶŐĞ ĂŶĚ ĐƵƐƚŽŵŝƐĞĚ͕ ĨĂĐĞͲƚŽͲĨĂĐĞ ƐĞŵŝŶĂƌƐ͕ ǁĞ ŚĂǀĞ ĂůƐŽ ƐƚĂƌƚĞĚ ƚŽ ďƵŝůĚ Ă ƌĂŶŐĞ ŽĨ ĞͲůĞĂƌŶŝŶŐ ĐŽƵƌƐĞƐ͘ dŚĞƐĞ ĐŽƵƌƐĞƐ ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞ ĂĐĐŽŵƉĂŶLJŝŶŐ ƚƌĂŝŶŝŶŐ ŵĂƚĞƌŝĂůƐ ĂƌĞ ĂĐĐĞƐƐĞĚ ƚŚƌŽƵŐŚ ƚŚĞ < ^ ZĞĚďĞƌŐ ůĞĂƌŶŝŶŐ ŵĂŶĂŐĞŵĞŶƚ ƐLJƐƚĞŵ͘ >ŽŐŝŶ ĚĞƚĂŝůƐ ĂƌĞ ƉƌŽǀŝĚĞĚ ƚŽ ƌĞŐŝƐƚƌĂŶƚƐ ǀŝĂ ĞŵĂŝů ĂŌĞƌ ƚŚĞŝƌ ŽŶůŝŶĞ ƉĂLJŵĞŶƚ ;ŝ͘Ğ͘ ĐƌĞĚŝƚ ĐĂƌĚ Žƌ WĂLJWĂůͿ ŚĂƐ ďĞĞŶ ƉƌŽĐĞƐƐĞĚ͘ dŚĞ ƉƌŽĐĞƐƐ ŽĨ ƌĞŐŝƐƚƌĂƟŽŶ͕ ƉĂLJŵĞŶƚ ĂŶĚ ƌĞĐĞŝƉƚ ŽĨ ůŽŐŝŶ ĚĞƚĂŝůƐ ŝƐ ĂƵƚŽŵĂƚĞĚ ĂŶĚ ŽŶůLJ ƚĂŬĞƐ Ă ĨĞǁ ŵŝŶƵƚĞƐ͘

^ĂĨĞƚLJͲŝŶͲ ĞƐŝŐŶ &ƵŶĚĂŵĞŶƚĂůƐ &Žƌ ƵƐƚƌĂůŝĂŶ ĞƐŝŐŶĞƌƐ KƵƌ ĮƌƐƚ ŽŶůŝŶĞ ;ĞͲůĞĂƌŶŝŶŐͿ ĐŽƵƌƐĞ ŚĂƐ ďĞĞŶ ƵƉͲĂŶĚͲƌƵŶŶŝŶŐ ƐŝŶĐĞ DĂƌĐŚ ϮϬϭϰ͘ dŚĞ ƉƵƌƉŽƐĞ ŽĨ ƚŚŝƐ ƚŚƌĞĞ ŚŽƵƌ ĐŽƵƌƐĞ ŝƐ ƚŽ ƉƌŽǀŝĚĞ ďĂƐŝĐ ŝŶƐƚƌƵĐƟŽŶ ĂŶĚ ŐƵŝĚĂŶĐĞ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ t,^ ŽďůŝŐĂƟŽŶƐ ŽĨ ĚĞƐŝŐŶĞƌƐ ŝŶ ƵƐƚƌĂůŝĂ ĂƐ ǁĞůů ĂƐ ƉƌŽǀŝĚĞ ƌĞĐŽŵͲ ŵĞŶĚĂƟŽŶƐ ŽŶ ŚŽǁ ďĞƐƚ ƚŽ ĨƵůĮů ƚŚĞƐĞ ŽďůŝŐĂƟŽŶƐ ƚŚĞƌĞďLJ ƉƌŽǀŝĚŝŶŐ ƐĂĨĞƌ ĚĞƐŝŐŶƐ͘

tŝŶĚ >ŽĂĚŝŶŐ ƚŽ ^ͬE ^ ϭϭϳϬ͘Ϯ Ͳ &ƵŶĚĂŵĞŶƚĂůƐ &Žƌ ĞƐŝŐŶĞƌƐ dŚŝƐ ĐŽƵƌƐĞ ŝƐ ĂŝŵĞĚ Ăƚ ƚŚŽƐĞ ǁŚŽ ŚĂǀĞ njĞƌŽ Žƌ Ă ďĂƐŝĐ ŬŶŽǁůĞĚŐĞ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ĞīĞĐƚƐ ŽĨ ǁŝŶĚ ĂĐƟŽŶƐ ŽŶ ďƵŝůĚŝŶŐƐ ĂŶĚ ƐƚƌƵĐͲ ƚƵƌĞƐ͘ dŚĞ ĐŽƵƌƐĞ ƵƐĞƐ Ă ŵŝdžƚƵƌĞ ŽĨ ŶĂƌƌĂƚĞĚ ƐůŝĚĞƐ͕ ǀŝĚĞŽ ƚƵƚŽƌŝĂůƐ ĂŶĚ ĞdžĂŵƉůĞ ƉƌŽďůĞŵƐ ƚŽ ĞdžƉůĂŝŶ ƚŚĞ ŬĞLJ ĐŽŶĐĞƉƚƐ ĨŽƵŶĚ ŝŶ ^ͬE ^ ϭϭϳϬ͘Ϯ ĂƐ ǁĞůů ĂƐ ĞdžƉůĂŝŶ ǁŝŶĚ ůŽĂĚŝŶŐ ƚŚĞŽƌLJ͘ :ƵŶŝŽƌ ĚĞƐŝŐŶ ĞŶŐŝŶĞĞƌƐ Žƌ ƚŚŽƐĞ ǁŚŽ ĂƌĞ ŶĞǁ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ ĚĞƐŝŐŶ ŽĨ ďƵŝůĚŝŶŐƐ ĂŶĚ ƐƚƌƵĐƚƵƌĞƐ ƐƵďũĞĐƚĞĚ ƚŽ ǁŝŶĚ ůŽĂĚƐ ǁŝůů ďĞŶĞĮƚ ĨƌŽŵ ƚŚŝƐ ĐŽƵƌƐĞ͘

www.kasa.com.au

Vietwater 2016

An Australian Australian Water Association delegation meets Prime Minister Designate Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

THERE WILL BE A WHOLE PROGRAM WRAPPED AROUND THE VIETWATER TRADE EXHIBITION, WHICH IS REALLY DESIGNED TO CONNECT THE AUSTRALIAN DELEGATES WITH THE DEMAND FOR AUSTRALIAN CAPABILITIES IN VIETNAM.

Strengthening international ties

V

ietnam is changing profoundly.

Its economy is growing at a rapid rate and its government is moving towards a more market-based economy, including opening opportunities for private sector participation. The water sector in Vietnam is a key focus in this transition and an area that DFAT has enlisted the Australian Water Association’s help on.

The main platform of the Association’s efforts in connecting the Australian and Vietnam water sectors was Vietwater in November 2015. With more than 60 Australian delegates in attendance, including Association CEO Jonathan McKeown and International Manager Paul Smith, the event was a platform for collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Smith said the Vietnamese Government is gearing up to encourage international collaboration and private sector participation – this is an area that Australia has rich experiences in and an area the Vietnam water sector wishes to learn from Australia.

“Vietnam is at a very precarious phase in their urban and rural development. In decades gone by, their water sector of Vietnam has been heavily subsidised by donors and central government funding.

This is changing and the water sector is now looking to stand on its own two feet financially. As the Vietnam water sector transitions towards a market-based water

sector there are many changes to the institutional and regulatory frameworks governing water management in Vietnam,” Smith said.

Australia’s experience in delivering water reforms under the National Competition Policy (1994) and more recently the National Water Initiative (2004) are much sought after in Vietnam. Central to these experiences is enabling the transition towards a more market-based system of water governance.

“Vietnam is looking to implement the reforms Australia has delivered in a much shorter time frame, and they are looking to Australia’s experience in how we did it, to learn from and transfer those skills.”

The Association is now planning an Australian delegation to November’s Vietwater.

“It will involve business meetings, site tours out to projects that are earmarked for development, out to private sector companies that are looking to buy innovative Australian water technology. We will be arranging workshops on publicprivate partnerships, transfer of technology from Australia to Vietnam,” Smith said.

“There will be a whole program wrapped around the Vietwater trade exhibition, which is really designed to connect the Australian delegates with the demand for Australian capabilities in Vietnam.”

The Association has been working with the Government of Vietnam, including a recent visit from both McKeown and Smith

to meet with Vietnam Prime Minister Designate, to ensure that Australian expertise can be effectively utilised to support the objectives for water of the Vietnam Government.

“We are also facilitating relationships between the Australian water sector and the Vietnam water sector. We form alliances with our counterparts in Vietnam and all over the world, and through those networks we can create a platform and connect individuals, businesses, academic institutions, government agencies and utilities.

With a group of 31 Vietnamese delegates visiting in May for Ozwater’16, there is plenty of opportunity to forge relationships with Vietnam’s water sector counterparts to explore prospects. Smith encourages Australian water professionals to register their interest in outbound delegation for the upcoming Vietwater. “It’s an exciting time to do business,” he said.

VIETWATER 2016 WHEN: 9-11 November WHERE: Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam HOW: For more information, please contact Paul Smith at psmith@awa.asn.au

www.awa.asn.au 127

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Association events

Event calendar

FROM NETWORKING TO PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, THE AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION’S CALENDAR IS OVERFLOWING WITH EVENTS FOR EVERY TYPE OF WATER PROFESSIONAL.

MAY

JULY

10-12

07 13

NATIONAL: Ozwater’16, Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre

SA: YWP Technical Seminar

QLD: Technical Meeting

26 25

QLD: YWP Mentoring Event, Brisbane

AUGUST

03 04

WA: Best of OzWater’16, Experience 1 keynote, 3 technical presentations and networking

NSW: Breakfast Briefing, Sydney

27

VIC: YWP Annual Dinner, Tuxedoed gents and elegant femme fatales will take over St Kilda’s Ormond Hall for the ever-popular night, which this year features a James Bond theme.

JUNE

01 02 07

NSW: Technical Seminar, Potable Water Reuse SA: YWP Event

VIC: Technical Seminar, Biosolids/Wastewater/Energy Efficiency

08

QLD: Technical Meeting, Modelling used in the development of Seqwater’s Water Security Plan WA: Annual Water Industry Breakfast

10

NATIONAL: Water Retail Forum, How the Digital World is Transforming Customers and Water Utilities, South East Water, Victoria

16

VIC: YWP Workshop, Resilience in Leadership SA: Technical Event, Barossa Industry, Irrigation and Treatment

VIC: 54th Annual Dinner, Following a long tradition, the Annual Dinner is the highlight of the Victorian calendar

11 12 18

ACT: Technical Seminar

SA: State Conference

TAS: Where the Waters Meet Conference

17 22

WA: YWP Conference

ACT: Water Matters Conference, planning for Canberra region’s 2050 water demands and desires

23

NATIONAL: Sustainable Water Priorities Launch, Canberra

If you are interested in exhibiting or sponsoring any of our national or state events, please contact your relevant State Manager or events@awa.asn.au For more details and to register, visit bit.ly/ AWAevents

www.awa.asn.au 129

IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition 2016

Shaping our Water Future 09-14 OCTOBER 2016, BRISBANE, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA

Registration now open Book your stand space now www.worldwatercongress.org

al es International D

in at ion Association®

Out and About

NSW HEADS OF WATER GALA DINNER AND AWARDS NIGHT

NSW TOASTS ITS HIGH ACHIEVERS Australian Water Association NSW Branch President Graham Attenborough.

NSW Young Water Professional of the Year Kathryn Silvester and Cheryl Marvell.

ROYAL RANDWICK RACECOURSE

W

ater professionals from across the state gathered to celebrate individual achievements and project triumphs, with attendees treated to an evening in the Grand Ballroom at the Royal Randwick Racecourse.

Awards were handed out across a range of categories, with winners now vying for national titles.

Australian Water Association President Peter Moore and Paul Lambie.

NSW Water Professional of the Year Dr Fang Chen and Damnika Vitanage.

www.awa.asn.au 131

WaterAid / Tom Greenwood

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Out and About

SITE TOUR

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CAREERS IN WASTEWATER TREATMENT

The Department of Water team.

A

group of water professionals from Adelaide assembled for the Boliver Wastewater Treatment Plant site tour on 22 March, taking a tour of the facility and learning about the site’s capability.

The tour was inspired by the 2016 World Water Day theme – ‘Water and Jobs’ – and focused on the career options available in wastewater treatment.

BOLIVER WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT

www.awa.asn.au 133

YWP CONFERENCE | UNSW

YOUNG PROFESSIONALS SHARE KNOWLEDGE

T

he future of the water industry took over UNSW in February to share their research, network with peers and think about the future of water at the IWA/AWA Young Water Professionals Conference. Monash University PhD candidate Paul Satur’s paper was named the Conference’s best, while the best poster prize went to Sydney Water’s Elline Camilet.

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WATER INNOVATION FORUM & EXPO | ROYAL RANDWICK RACECOURSE

IDEAS BOOM FOR WATER INDUSTRY

I

nnovators and thought leaders from across Australia gathered at the Water Innovation Forum and Expo to share their ideas for the future of the water industry.

Businesses were invited to pitch their solutions to water industry challenges, while speakers presented on everything from resource protection, customer experience and design thinking in problem solving, right through to water management and treatment breakthroughs.

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Coming soon: SAC 254 & iron.

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• The user interface allows user-friendly operation of the device and can also display additional sensors outside of the housing. (Up to 30 sensors)

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YWP REGIONAL CONFERENCE

YOUNG PROFESSIONALS TAKE TO THE PENINSULA

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136 www.awa.asn.au

V

ictoria’s Mornington Peninsula played host to a group of enthusiastic young water professionals in late-February, with delegates offered a range of networking opportunities and technical instruction.

Topics included wastewater treatment, stormwater management, natural resources management and effective industry partnerships. The conference also included an exclusive tour of South East Water’s new offices.

Look out for the

Australian Water Community Survey 2016!

From 2016, the State of the Water Sector Survey (SWSS) and the Consumer Survey (CS) will be combined into one survey called Australian Water Community Survey allowing for better comparison of industry and community attitudes to major water issues. Combining the surveys is possible given the significant duplication of questions in the SWSS and CS and the final report will segregate water industry responses so that industry specific results are tracked and able to be compared with previous SWSS results and also with general community attitudes.

Survey opens: 23 June 2016 Survey closes: 29 July 2016 Report launched: At the IWA World Water Congress on 9-13 October 2016.

The survey link will be emailed to all members on 23 June, and also available on the Australian Water Association website.

Thank you to our survey partners

Water ways

DR MELITA STEVENS HAS HELPED LEAD THE WAY IN CREATING GLOBAL BENCHMARKS FOR RISK MANAGEMENT IN WATER, AND CELEBRATES THE INDUSTRY’S COLLABORATIVE APPROACH. As told to Cecilia Harris

MELITA STEVENS

I STARTED OUT WITH A PHD IN SOIL microbiology from Sydney University.

I worked at the University of Melbourne for a short time, while I was finishing my PhD, then started in consulting, working in microbial risk assessment. At that time, I didn’t really know very much about the water industry. I worked in consulting up until 1999, then started with Melbourne Water. I’ve been there ever since – now 17 years.

At Melbourne Water, I’ve worked in a variety of roles. I worked with the public health team in the Water Group for a while, then moved into R&D, eventually managing that team. I am currently the Principal Scientist, working on long-term strategic issues such as drinking water and recycled water guidelines.

One of the biggest turning points in the industry that I’ve been part of is the journey towards better risk management systems, particularly the implementation of HACCP, the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point framework. It was originally a safety management system used for food and it was developed in the 1960s in the US by Pillsbury to stop astronauts getting gastro in space.

GUIDING CHANGE I had been working in risk management with Peter Nadebaum and we had been trying to find a framework for managing risk for drinking water systems, so treatment was commensurate with risk.

Some time later, Dan Deere, Annette Davison and I pulled together the concept that Australia could use HACCP for drinking water. It was fairly contentious at the time, because it wasn’t for food and there was a feeling that it could not be translated to water. But there had been rumours that water was going to become

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We have seen in Australia that there is an ability to be innovative and think outside of the box, to embrace new ways of thinking. a food under the Food Act and we figured it was time to apply the same safety standards to water and food. The National Health and Medical Research Council then started to look at HACCP for the Austalian Drinking Water Guidelines.

The exciting thing from this process was that the World Health Organization (WHO) invited Dan, Annette, and I, along with others, to help guide them for their drinking water guidelines. We assisted over a number of years for the fourth edition of the WHO guidelines for drinking water quality and we authored a manual for WHO called Water Safety Plans.

We travelled the world with WHO selling these concepts, convincing the rest of the world that this was the right approach.

A WORLD LEADER All water suppliers in Australia are supposed to have a risk management system based on HACCP. This is how Australia is different from most of the world. We have seen in Australia that there is an ability to be innovative and think outside of the box, to embrace new ways of thinking. As the Australian water industry got on board, it was an amazing piece of work that we could all do together. It generated huge amounts of discussion

within the industry. It showed Australia finding its own way and taking the lead.

Australian utilities were the first to adopt HACCP for drinking water and to write it into regulations. We have become the example around the world of the right ways to do risk management. Other countries were considering it as well, but Australia really got on board very early.

I think across water utilities, there is now a much higher awareness of risk and risk management, and the reasons why you do it. There is definitely a more informed approach than there had been previously.

All of our water supply operators do HACCP and risk management training, which still does not happen in a lot of places around the world. The approach has now been extended to wastewater treatment and recycled water schemes.

It allows us to use science and evidence to make rational decisions within that framework, knowing that we have the right basis for managing risk.

I think that water is a sector that engages enormously around the country.

We acknowledge that we are a small industry, and that we cannot do everything by ourselves. I think that we are a very collegiate and collaborative industry.

Across Australia, the water sector has a culture of collaboration, of being involved nationally and also within our own organisations. I love going to work.

I have always wanted to do the work that I do.

Dr Melita Stevens is Principal Scientist at Melbourne Water, a Non-Executive Director at WaterRA, an Adjunct Professor at RMIT and an Honorary Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne.

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