Improving flow management for the control of blue-green algal blooms. Cyanobacterial (blue-green algal) blooms are a major water quality problem worldwide. They are toxic, produce odours and are estimated to cost around $200 million/year in Australia alone. Flow management is one of the most promising approaches for combating the cyanobacterial bloom problem in rivers. In this research, a new risk-based approach for quantifying the impact of flow management on cyanobacterial blooms is developed, ....Improving flow management for the control of blue-green algal blooms. Cyanobacterial (blue-green algal) blooms are a major water quality problem worldwide. They are toxic, produce odours and are estimated to cost around $200 million/year in Australia alone. Flow management is one of the most promising approaches for combating the cyanobacterial bloom problem in rivers. In this research, a new risk-based approach for quantifying the impact of flow management on cyanobacterial blooms is developed, which can be applied to rivers world wide. The utility of the approach is demonstrated for key sites in the Murray-Darling basin, providing a valuable decision support tool for river managers.Read moreRead less
Adaptive Agents Simulation of Freshwater Ecosystems: Artificial Intelligence Framework to Discover and Forecast Emergent Ecosystem Structures and Behaviours in Response to Environmental Changes. The project aims at intelligent adaptive agent models for lakes and rivers in order to improve understanding and proactive management of these highly complex ecosystems. Little is known about species succession in freshwater ecosystems in response to local and global environmental changes. Evolutionary a ....Adaptive Agents Simulation of Freshwater Ecosystems: Artificial Intelligence Framework to Discover and Forecast Emergent Ecosystem Structures and Behaviours in Response to Environmental Changes. The project aims at intelligent adaptive agent models for lakes and rivers in order to improve understanding and proactive management of these highly complex ecosystems. Little is known about species succession in freshwater ecosystems in response to local and global environmental changes. Evolutionary algorithms embodied in differential equations, neural networks and rules allow adaptive agents to simulate emergent structures and behaviours of algae and zooplankton communities interacting by competition and predation. The agents are trained and tested by ecological time-series of twelve lakes and rivers, and validated for the Mediterranean Myponga Reservoir, South Australia, and the temperate Burrinjuck Reservoir, NSW.Read moreRead less
New Techniques for Artificial Neural Network Modelling in Hydrology. In recent years, artificial neural networks (ANNs) have demonstrated the potential to provide improved predictions when compared with the more traditional hydrological modelling techniques in a number of areas. These include the prediction of rainfall, streamflow and water quality parameters. However, one of the major difficulties associated with the application of ANNs is the lack of an established methodology for their design ....New Techniques for Artificial Neural Network Modelling in Hydrology. In recent years, artificial neural networks (ANNs) have demonstrated the potential to provide improved predictions when compared with the more traditional hydrological modelling techniques in a number of areas. These include the prediction of rainfall, streamflow and water quality parameters. However, one of the major difficulties associated with the application of ANNs is the lack of an established methodology for their design and implementation. This research will develop new methods for constructing ANN models and test them on a number of case studies so that the full potential and genuine utility of ANNs for solving hydrological problems can be assessed.Read moreRead less
Designing Better Landowner Contracts to Protect Australia's Environment. There will be two main benefits from this project. First a reduction in the cost of protecting the environment and second, a greater awareness amongst regulators of the determinants of compliance costs and their variability amongst landowners. By making environmental contracts more efficient, this project will contribute towards making Australian agriculture more sustainable in terms of protecting biodiversity, conserving ....Designing Better Landowner Contracts to Protect Australia's Environment. There will be two main benefits from this project. First a reduction in the cost of protecting the environment and second, a greater awareness amongst regulators of the determinants of compliance costs and their variability amongst landowners. By making environmental contracts more efficient, this project will contribute towards making Australian agriculture more sustainable in terms of protecting biodiversity, conserving water and reducing the rate of soil loss.Read moreRead less
Multi-site generation of daily rainfall for catchment water management studies. This project aims to develop new approaches for stochastic generation of daily precipitation at multiple locations within a catchment. Traditional stochastic generators are found lacking at daily time-steps, offering a poor representation of observed distributional, seasonal and persistence characteristics. Ongoing research has resulted in approaches for generating daily rainfall at a single location that do not suff ....Multi-site generation of daily rainfall for catchment water management studies. This project aims to develop new approaches for stochastic generation of daily precipitation at multiple locations within a catchment. Traditional stochastic generators are found lacking at daily time-steps, offering a poor representation of observed distributional, seasonal and persistence characteristics. Ongoing research has resulted in approaches for generating daily rainfall at a single location that do not suffer from the above problems. This project will formulate approaches for rainfall generation at multiple locations within a catchment. The generated data will allow risk-based management and more reliable evaluation of the hydrologic, environmental and socioeconomic impacts of alternative water resource management planning scenarios.Read moreRead less
Multi-site probabilistic streamflow forecasting for water management applications. This project will develop methodologies for probabilistic forecasting of streamflow at multiple locations in a catchment. These probabilistic forecasts will be used to develop alternate reservoir operating policies that allow operators to use current climate information to maximise water supply at controlled levels of risk. The probabilistic forecasts will be formulated using data representing the regional and glo ....Multi-site probabilistic streamflow forecasting for water management applications. This project will develop methodologies for probabilistic forecasting of streamflow at multiple locations in a catchment. These probabilistic forecasts will be used to develop alternate reservoir operating policies that allow operators to use current climate information to maximise water supply at controlled levels of risk. The probabilistic forecasts will be formulated using data representing the regional and global climate, and validated retrospectively over time. Once completed, this research will provide a means for risk-based management and hence a more reliable evaluation of the hydrologic, environmental and socioeconomic impacts of alternative water resource management planning scenarios.Read moreRead less
Generation of Digital Elevation Models by Fusion of Image and Terrain Laser Scan Data. There are currently two separate approaches to obtaining digital elevation models of the terrain surface by remote sensing, image based methods using aerial or satellite images and scanner techniques by terrain laser scanners. Each method provides elevations with high accuracy, but both require significant input from an operator during processing. It is proposed to take advantage of the synegies of these two ....Generation of Digital Elevation Models by Fusion of Image and Terrain Laser Scan Data. There are currently two separate approaches to obtaining digital elevation models of the terrain surface by remote sensing, image based methods using aerial or satellite images and scanner techniques by terrain laser scanners. Each method provides elevations with high accuracy, but both require significant input from an operator during processing. It is proposed to take advantage of the synegies of these two forms of data by combining the processing into a single solution for elevation determination by data fusion. This approach will improve the quality and efficiency of elevation determination.Read moreRead less
Algorithms for change detection based on finite sample system identification theory. Detection of abrupt changes has many important applications. One particular application that will be investigated is leak detection in irrigation channels. As agriculture accounts for about 80% of Australia's water usage, the timely detection of leaks means that corrective actions can be taken early which will lead to large water savings and significant environmental benefits. The developed methods can be design ....Algorithms for change detection based on finite sample system identification theory. Detection of abrupt changes has many important applications. One particular application that will be investigated is leak detection in irrigation channels. As agriculture accounts for about 80% of Australia's water usage, the timely detection of leaks means that corrective actions can be taken early which will lead to large water savings and significant environmental benefits. The developed methods can be designed with any false alarm rate. This is important since frequent false alarms lead to wasted resources and operators will stop using the system. The technology once developed can be transferred to many other application areas such as urban water supplies, pipelines for oil and gas, and the process and manufacturing industries.Read moreRead less
Are nutrients the key driver in stimulating toxic algae in subtropical water reservoirs? This project aims to determine the key factors causing blooms of the toxic algae, Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii, which dominates many freshwater reservoirs throughout Queensland. Little is known of why blooms of this species occur. Without the development of this understanding and research capacity to tackle this issue in Queensland, the severity of the problem is likely to increase, putting ever-greater ....Are nutrients the key driver in stimulating toxic algae in subtropical water reservoirs? This project aims to determine the key factors causing blooms of the toxic algae, Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii, which dominates many freshwater reservoirs throughout Queensland. Little is known of why blooms of this species occur. Without the development of this understanding and research capacity to tackle this issue in Queensland, the severity of the problem is likely to increase, putting ever-greater pressure on drinking water supplies. The outcomes from this project would therefore be an increased capacity to predict blooms, and identification of management options for reducing the occurrence of blooms to ensure a cost-effective and safe water supply.Read moreRead less
Determination of factors effecting pathogen removal in lagoons treating and storing effluent for reuse. Waste stabilisation ponds are a preferred treatment option for wastewater in many rural and remote communities within Australia and overseas because of their low-tech, robust structure. Reducing numbers of pathogens in the final treated effluent of these systems so that it can be reused, will minimise risks to the public and the environment and improve management of this sustainable water reso ....Determination of factors effecting pathogen removal in lagoons treating and storing effluent for reuse. Waste stabilisation ponds are a preferred treatment option for wastewater in many rural and remote communities within Australia and overseas because of their low-tech, robust structure. Reducing numbers of pathogens in the final treated effluent of these systems so that it can be reused, will minimise risks to the public and the environment and improve management of this sustainable water resource throughout the region. This research also provides an opportunity for Australia to export knowledge on the efficient use of these systems to 2.4 billion people worldwide currently without access to affordable sanitation.Read moreRead less