Passive biofiltration processes for nitrogen removal from polluted waters. Traditional urban wastewater treatment is energy and resource demanding. By combining principles of Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) with advanced pollutant removal processes, we will create necessary knowledge to underpin development of novel sustainable urban water treatment systems. This project aims to understand and utilise Simultaneous Nitrification, Anammox and Denitrification (SNAD) processes within passive pla ....Passive biofiltration processes for nitrogen removal from polluted waters. Traditional urban wastewater treatment is energy and resource demanding. By combining principles of Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) with advanced pollutant removal processes, we will create necessary knowledge to underpin development of novel sustainable urban water treatment systems. This project aims to understand and utilise Simultaneous Nitrification, Anammox and Denitrification (SNAD) processes within passive plant-soil-based biofilters for cost-effective removal of nitrogen from a range of polluted urban water sources. The project will open a potential for a new technological advancements in urban water management, while simultaneously providing benefits to the environment and community through greening and waterway protection.Read moreRead less
Network Calming - Using Smart Sensors to Improve Water Asset Performance. Recent high-frequency monitoring in water distribution networks (WDNs) shows that pressure perturbations are significantly more dramatic than expected and cause pipe failures with highly disruptive consequences. This project aims to hydraulically calm WDNs to improve their performance, informed by smart sensors. The project will generate insightful knowledge of the hydraulic behaviour of real WDNs. The outcomes will be new ....Network Calming - Using Smart Sensors to Improve Water Asset Performance. Recent high-frequency monitoring in water distribution networks (WDNs) shows that pressure perturbations are significantly more dramatic than expected and cause pipe failures with highly disruptive consequences. This project aims to hydraulically calm WDNs to improve their performance, informed by smart sensors. The project will generate insightful knowledge of the hydraulic behaviour of real WDNs. The outcomes will be new strategies to identify, eliminate and suppress harmful pressure perturbations, leading to a reduced burst rate, extended asset life, improved system operation and advanced design principles. The resultant sustainable water assets provide significant economic and environmental benefits to the water industry and society.Read moreRead less
Next-generation smart water network for performance-driven asset management. This project aims to develop smart water network systems and techniques for continuous monitoring and early detection of structural failure in water distribution systems. Water assets are critical infrastructure, and they consist of a network of buried pipes that are old and deteriorating, with an annual maintenance overhead exceeding $1billion per year in Australia. This project is expected to deliver next-generation s ....Next-generation smart water network for performance-driven asset management. This project aims to develop smart water network systems and techniques for continuous monitoring and early detection of structural failure in water distribution systems. Water assets are critical infrastructure, and they consist of a network of buried pipes that are old and deteriorating, with an annual maintenance overhead exceeding $1billion per year in Australia. This project is expected to deliver next-generation smart water technology that enables continuous assessment of the actual performance of water pipe networks, guide “just in time” pipe replacement and optimise operations. This technology will assist asset managers to make informed decisions, strategically prioritise investment and extend asset life.Read moreRead less
Smart Pipe Condition Assessment in Water Distribution Systems. The project aims to develop an urgently needed smart pipe fault diagnosis, characterisation and prognosis system. Analysis techniques will be used for the detailed mapping of buried pipe condition between access points using micro-sized transient pressure waves. Water assets are critical infrastructure and they consist of a network of pipes that are often old and deteriorating. The annual maintenance cost exceeds $1b per year in Aus ....Smart Pipe Condition Assessment in Water Distribution Systems. The project aims to develop an urgently needed smart pipe fault diagnosis, characterisation and prognosis system. Analysis techniques will be used for the detailed mapping of buried pipe condition between access points using micro-sized transient pressure waves. Water assets are critical infrastructure and they consist of a network of pipes that are often old and deteriorating. The annual maintenance cost exceeds $1b per year in Australia. The outcome will be a next-generation tool that allows water utilities to move from reactive emergency repairs to proactive repair and predictive replacement. This will enable performance-driven asset management, extending asset life and replacing deteriorated high-risk pipe sections in a timely manner.Read moreRead less
Urban flood modelling at speed and scale. Frequent floods in urban areas cause damages comparable to extreme floods. This is likely to intensify with future urbanisation and climate change. Although Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) offers sustainable urban drainage solutions, there are no models that can select an optimal WSUD system to deliver on a set urban flood mitigation target. The project aims to develop a new generation of fast urban flood models and the-first-of-its-kind WSUD plannin ....Urban flood modelling at speed and scale. Frequent floods in urban areas cause damages comparable to extreme floods. This is likely to intensify with future urbanisation and climate change. Although Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) offers sustainable urban drainage solutions, there are no models that can select an optimal WSUD system to deliver on a set urban flood mitigation target. The project aims to develop a new generation of fast urban flood models and the-first-of-its-kind WSUD planning tool to support industry and governments to effectively reduce the urban flooding damages. The project outcomes are also applicable for advancing early warning systems and real-time control of floods.Read moreRead less
Assessing Water Supply Security in a Nonstationary Environment. About 25% of the global population currently has inadequate access to safe and secure water. This number is expected to rise to 50% by 2050 due to increased populations and reduced river flows. While a visible water crisis (such as the one in Cape Town in 2018) can culminate in the funding of new water supply infrastructure, a planned push for infrastructure augmentation often stalls due to contradictory projections of how much wate ....Assessing Water Supply Security in a Nonstationary Environment. About 25% of the global population currently has inadequate access to safe and secure water. This number is expected to rise to 50% by 2050 due to increased populations and reduced river flows. While a visible water crisis (such as the one in Cape Town in 2018) can culminate in the funding of new water supply infrastructure, a planned push for infrastructure augmentation often stalls due to contradictory projections of how much water will be available in the future. To address this, a novel alternative for assessing water security is proposed. Our approach assesses change using historical information on river flow and water demand, adapting these to form projections that exhibit greater reliability than currently existing alternatives.Read moreRead less
Optimal trade-offs for managing environmental water in inland wetlands. This project aims to optimise long-term water trade-offs in inland wetlands on managed catchments, without compromising their environmental value. These managed wetlands compete for water allocations with irrigation and other uses. Realistic predictions of wetland status will be achieved through the development and integration of an ecohydrological model and a water management decisions model. Application of the tools will i ....Optimal trade-offs for managing environmental water in inland wetlands. This project aims to optimise long-term water trade-offs in inland wetlands on managed catchments, without compromising their environmental value. These managed wetlands compete for water allocations with irrigation and other uses. Realistic predictions of wetland status will be achieved through the development and integration of an ecohydrological model and a water management decisions model. Application of the tools will improve existing decision support models to help analyse the effects of individual local management decisions on the long-term evolution of the system and the effects of changes in operation policies and climate over the long term. The project will provide critical new information for the improved prediction of wetlands evolution and as a consequence better management.Read moreRead less
Beyond Darcy’s Law: Influence of wettability on multiphase flow in rocks. The project aims to provide new insights into the ways that Australia’s abundant energy resources can be utilized for energy security and environmental stewardship. The simulation workflows and fundamental insights on wettability and porous media flows investigated are intended to provide significant outcomes toward the national priorities. These developments are paramount for various subsurface applications, such as geolo ....Beyond Darcy’s Law: Influence of wettability on multiphase flow in rocks. The project aims to provide new insights into the ways that Australia’s abundant energy resources can be utilized for energy security and environmental stewardship. The simulation workflows and fundamental insights on wettability and porous media flows investigated are intended to provide significant outcomes toward the national priorities. These developments are paramount for various subsurface applications, such as geological storage of CO2, oil/gas recovery, groundwater remediation and energy storage. The oil/gas industry spend hundreds of millions of dollars on core analysis for the determination of rock properties; the proposed research aims to provide the fundamental insights necessary to advance the utility of these measurement. Read moreRead less
Intelligent pattern recognition of water end uses enabling recommendations. This project aims to develop a hybrid machine learning method for autonomously disaggregating high- and low-resolution water flow data received from smart meters into discrete end-use events, and a customised recommender system for efficient resource demand management. Project novelty and significance relates to this coupling and autonomous disaggregation of datasets from advanced sensors, enabling more efficient utility ....Intelligent pattern recognition of water end uses enabling recommendations. This project aims to develop a hybrid machine learning method for autonomously disaggregating high- and low-resolution water flow data received from smart meters into discrete end-use events, and a customised recommender system for efficient resource demand management. Project novelty and significance relates to this coupling and autonomous disaggregation of datasets from advanced sensors, enabling more efficient utility services delivery and lower customer utility bills. Project benefits include enabling utilities to better manage and plan resources in the information age, while empowering customers with real-time water end-use data and behaviour changing consumption recommendations.Read moreRead less
Delivering robust hydrological predictions for Australia’s water challenges. This project aims to build a virtual hydrological laboratory to identify the best hydrological models that maximise predictive performance in a range of catchments, accounting for their dominant hydrological processes and data availability. New process-informed hydrological model structures will be developed using this virtual laboratory to embody our best understanding of hydrological processes and data from real catch ....Delivering robust hydrological predictions for Australia’s water challenges. This project aims to build a virtual hydrological laboratory to identify the best hydrological models that maximise predictive performance in a range of catchments, accounting for their dominant hydrological processes and data availability. New process-informed hydrological model structures will be developed using this virtual laboratory to embody our best understanding of hydrological processes and data from real catchments. The expected outcomes include major improvements in hydrological predictions for Australian catchments. This project will provide major benefits to irrigators, water authorities and engineers, who rely on hydrological predictions for sustainable water management in the highly-variable, semi-arid Australian climate.Read moreRead less