Designing the next generation of geosynthetic liner systems . The project aims to improve the effectiveness of geosynthetic liner systems to contain emerging contaminants such as per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) for better protection of Australian groundwater resources. The project expects to experimentally validate theory to improve predictive models for performance of geosynthetic liner systems. Expected outcomes include new and updated design guidelines for effective environmental ....Designing the next generation of geosynthetic liner systems . The project aims to improve the effectiveness of geosynthetic liner systems to contain emerging contaminants such as per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) for better protection of Australian groundwater resources. The project expects to experimentally validate theory to improve predictive models for performance of geosynthetic liner systems. Expected outcomes include new and updated design guidelines for effective environmental protection against PFASs and establishment of new approaches for predicting functional containment lifetimes of liner systems. These outcomes are expected to benefit the waste and remediation industries by influencing next-generation design regulations to ensure long-term environmental protection from PFAS.Read moreRead less
Estimating per capita use and release of chemicals by wastewater analysis. This project aims to systematically collect and analyse wastewater to assess human exposure to chemicals including drugs, pharmaceuticals, lifestyle chemicals and environmental pollutants. By combining temporal sampling from key sewage treatment plants with comprehensive nationwide sampling over the week of the 2016 census day, the project expects to estimate the per-capita human exposure to chemicals in the Australian po ....Estimating per capita use and release of chemicals by wastewater analysis. This project aims to systematically collect and analyse wastewater to assess human exposure to chemicals including drugs, pharmaceuticals, lifestyle chemicals and environmental pollutants. By combining temporal sampling from key sewage treatment plants with comprehensive nationwide sampling over the week of the 2016 census day, the project expects to estimate the per-capita human exposure to chemicals in the Australian population. Accurate and objective per-capita based consumption and release estimates for a wide range of chemicals is intended to provide a baseline against which to measure changes in our chemosphere.Read moreRead less
Quantifying the flux of fugitive greenhouse gasses associated with coal seam gas and calibrating it to natural baseline and anthropogenic sources. Recent studies show that fugitive methane emissions associated with coal seam gas extraction pose a source of greenhouse gasses. In addition to the possible environmental impacts of methane emissions, quantifying the magnitude of emissions has potentially significant implications for future tax liabilities that could change the economics of the unconv ....Quantifying the flux of fugitive greenhouse gasses associated with coal seam gas and calibrating it to natural baseline and anthropogenic sources. Recent studies show that fugitive methane emissions associated with coal seam gas extraction pose a source of greenhouse gasses. In addition to the possible environmental impacts of methane emissions, quantifying the magnitude of emissions has potentially significant implications for future tax liabilities that could change the economics of the unconventional energy boom in Australia. The proposed research by an interdisciplinary team representing regulators, industry, and university researchers would establish a methodology for quantifying the flux of methane from gas fields. It would establish the range of natural baselines and determine the major sources of methane emissions using newly available highly sensitive instruments.Read moreRead less
Network-wide sewer odour and corrosion management by model predictive control. Network-wide sewer odour and corrosion management by model predictive control. This project aims to develop and demonstrate, through real-life field studies, a model predictive control approach that achieves cost-effective network-wide mitigation of hydrogen sulphide. The lack of suitable methodologies to support the control designs of chemical dosing units and sewage pumping stations makes network-wide sewer corrosio ....Network-wide sewer odour and corrosion management by model predictive control. Network-wide sewer odour and corrosion management by model predictive control. This project aims to develop and demonstrate, through real-life field studies, a model predictive control approach that achieves cost-effective network-wide mitigation of hydrogen sulphide. The lack of suitable methodologies to support the control designs of chemical dosing units and sewage pumping stations makes network-wide sewer corrosion and odour management a problem. Innovative control methodology will simultaneously manipulate chemical dosing unit(s) and selected sewage pumping station(s), based on real-time prediction of sewage flows and characteristics both at sources and across the network, to ensure optimal delivery of dosed chemicals to mitigate hydrogen sulphide.Read moreRead less
Innovative approaches to managing and understanding taste and odour in drinking water systems. Taste and odour (T/O) problems resulting from Cyanobacteria can change consumers' perception of product safety, resulting in many complaints, soaring management and treatment costs, and large financial losses, yet little is known about how they arise.
This project will provide the Australian Water Industry with cost-effective, sensitive, specific, rapid and practical tools for managing and understandi ....Innovative approaches to managing and understanding taste and odour in drinking water systems. Taste and odour (T/O) problems resulting from Cyanobacteria can change consumers' perception of product safety, resulting in many complaints, soaring management and treatment costs, and large financial losses, yet little is known about how they arise.
This project will provide the Australian Water Industry with cost-effective, sensitive, specific, rapid and practical tools for managing and understanding T/O episodes, and will also benefit the aquaculture and food sectors, and the research community. An improved ability to manage geosmin in drinking water, will also have positive repercussions on the Australian environment, by eliminating the need to use environmentally controversial control methods such as copper sulphate dosing.
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Integrated, interactive and systematic Marine Protected Area design for sustainability of South Australian marine environments: A GIS-based, spatial optimisation approach. This project aims to enhance MPA design in SA by integrating systematic conservation plannning (SCP), spatial optimisation and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). New, integrated Integer Programming (IP) models will be built based on established SCP principles and nationally agreed marine conservation criteria. The IP models ....Integrated, interactive and systematic Marine Protected Area design for sustainability of South Australian marine environments: A GIS-based, spatial optimisation approach. This project aims to enhance MPA design in SA by integrating systematic conservation plannning (SCP), spatial optimisation and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). New, integrated Integer Programming (IP) models will be built based on established SCP principles and nationally agreed marine conservation criteria. The IP models will be tightly coupled with the GIS to create an interactive Spatial Decision Support Tool (SDSS) for systematic MPA design - the first of its kind. The SDSS will enable real-time, systematic MPA design and will provide flexible design options for a comprehensive, adequate, representative and efficient MPA system for SA.Read moreRead less
Heavy metal phytotoxicity in long-term contaminated soils: Implications for the development of Australian regulatory guidelines and realistic environmental risk assessment. Heavy metal contamination is a serious global environmental problem. There are >80,000 potentially contaminated sites in Australia alone with many of these sites in the urban environment and former mining areas. The current guidelines for phytotoxicity testing (National Environmental Protection Measure 1999) are based on tota ....Heavy metal phytotoxicity in long-term contaminated soils: Implications for the development of Australian regulatory guidelines and realistic environmental risk assessment. Heavy metal contamination is a serious global environmental problem. There are >80,000 potentially contaminated sites in Australia alone with many of these sites in the urban environment and former mining areas. The current guidelines for phytotoxicity testing (National Environmental Protection Measure 1999) are based on total metal concentrations that do not take into consideration of bioavailability and wide ranging Australian soil types. Serious concerns have been raised on the applicability of these guidelines and their protective limits in ecological risk assessment. This project aims at developing phytotoxicity guidelines applicable to a wide range of soil types common to Australia.Read moreRead less
Innovative Approach to the Optimal Management of Water Resources and Application to the Upper South East Region of South Australia. This project will increase Australia's capacity to manage water resources in an integrated and sustainable manner. The outcomes of this project will also provide significant economic, social and environmental benefits to the Upper South East region of South Australia, as well as the broader Australian community. The project is expected to result in a significant red ....Innovative Approach to the Optimal Management of Water Resources and Application to the Upper South East Region of South Australia. This project will increase Australia's capacity to manage water resources in an integrated and sustainable manner. The outcomes of this project will also provide significant economic, social and environmental benefits to the Upper South East region of South Australia, as well as the broader Australian community. The project is expected to result in a significant reduction in the economic and social costs associated with dryland salinity and flooding whilst simultaneously increasing the environmental benefits associated with the maintenance and rehabilitation of the ecological value of the some of the region's approximately 200 wetlands.Read moreRead less
Data-driven water quality treatment management decision support system. Data-driven water quality treatment management decision support system. This project aims to develop a robust decision support system to predict manganese and the character and concentration of dissolved organic matter in drinking water reservoirs, using intelligent algorithms and data collected through remote autonomous instrumentation. These predicted water quality parameters could be used as model input variables to provi ....Data-driven water quality treatment management decision support system. Data-driven water quality treatment management decision support system. This project aims to develop a robust decision support system to predict manganese and the character and concentration of dissolved organic matter in drinking water reservoirs, using intelligent algorithms and data collected through remote autonomous instrumentation. These predicted water quality parameters could be used as model input variables to provide real-time decisions for plant operators on the required treatment regime for incoming raw water, and advise them on the optimal reservoir offtake depth. This will potentially minimise treatment costs and health risks for consumers. The ultimate goal is to significantly enhance current water supply management practices.Read moreRead less
Water, carbon, and economics: resolving complex linkages for river health. By linking landscapes into our emerging low-carbon economy, this project will investigate how land management practices can be improved through payments for ecosystem services. With a focus on water and carbon, the main goal is to develop mechanisms to support integrated land and water management at the catchment scale.