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
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100042
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$360,000.00
Summary
Virtual reality for planning of green urban water infrastructure. This project aims to research the planning-technical-social dynamics of Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) infrastructure. WSUD management has become financially and logistically unsustainable due to major urban growth and a rapid uptake in WSUD assets. Solving this problem is, however, complex, as stakeholders have conflicting needs and tacit knowledge that is difficult to quantify. Using emerging virtual reality technology, par ....Virtual reality for planning of green urban water infrastructure. This project aims to research the planning-technical-social dynamics of Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) infrastructure. WSUD management has become financially and logistically unsustainable due to major urban growth and a rapid uptake in WSUD assets. Solving this problem is, however, complex, as stakeholders have conflicting needs and tacit knowledge that is difficult to quantify. Using emerging virtual reality technology, participatory planning and operational models, this project intends to improve WSUD modelling science through integrated modelling. The anticipated outcome is more holistic and economically efficient planning of WSUD layouts in future cities. This is expected to address growing concerns about adequately managing these systems and ensure that they deliver intended environmental protection, liveability and public health benefits.Read moreRead less
Optimising permeable pavements with underlying reservoirs to enhance urban tree performance. This project will determine the optimal configuration of permeable pavements with underlying storage reservoirs and water delivery system to resolve the water security challenges that trees face in urban environments. This project will promote the healthy growth of urban trees and will lead to more liveable and healthier cities.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101155
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$425,952.00
Summary
From stormwater to potable water via Water Sensitive Urban Design? The project aims to develop a framework that contains viable procedures to quantify, control and monitor the health risks associated with stormwater harvesting using Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) systems (i.e., natural-based solutions). It expects to address the concerns about the safety of stormwater harvesting via WSUD for all end-uses. It will generate new knowledge regarding the real time control and monitoring of WSUD, ....From stormwater to potable water via Water Sensitive Urban Design? The project aims to develop a framework that contains viable procedures to quantify, control and monitor the health risks associated with stormwater harvesting using Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) systems (i.e., natural-based solutions). It expects to address the concerns about the safety of stormwater harvesting via WSUD for all end-uses. It will generate new knowledge regarding the real time control and monitoring of WSUD, thus truly advancing the WUSD technology as emerging urban green infrastructure for reliable stormwater harvesting. Expected outcomes include next generation of WSUDs implemented with real time control techniques, as well as a suite of easy-to-measure surrogate parameters for real time water quality monitoring.Read moreRead less
Optimal scheduling of urban bulk water systems under uncertainty. This project will develop a new optimisation framework for planning and operation of urban bulk water systems that incorporates flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances. Population growth in major Australian cities, coupled with a potentially drying climate, is putting pressure on existing water supply. To avoid the risk of overinvesting and losing future flexibility, water utilities have to develop plans for the future, a t ....Optimal scheduling of urban bulk water systems under uncertainty. This project will develop a new optimisation framework for planning and operation of urban bulk water systems that incorporates flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances. Population growth in major Australian cities, coupled with a potentially drying climate, is putting pressure on existing water supply. To avoid the risk of overinvesting and losing future flexibility, water utilities have to develop plans for the future, a task made difficult by uncertainty about future climate and demand. The framework is intended to explicitly deal with uncertainty about future demand and climate change, to ensure that solutions can cope with plausible but unexpected futures. The project will apply this framework to the bulk water supply for Sydney.Read moreRead less
Activating lazy stormwater wetlands through real time monitoring & control. Constructed stormwater wetlands are the last line of defence preventing pollution of urban waterways, but wetlands often fail, with their passive operation unable to adapt to the highly variable climate and hydrology they experience. This project aims to use advances in real-time control technology to turn these lazy wetlands into active wetland systems, optimising their performance. It aims to deliver new-generation tec ....Activating lazy stormwater wetlands through real time monitoring & control. Constructed stormwater wetlands are the last line of defence preventing pollution of urban waterways, but wetlands often fail, with their passive operation unable to adapt to the highly variable climate and hydrology they experience. This project aims to use advances in real-time control technology to turn these lazy wetlands into active wetland systems, optimising their performance. It aims to deliver new-generation technologies to enhance water quality treatment, enhance urban water security and guarantee environmental flows to maintain healthy waterways. Working in partnership with waterway managers and water retailers, this project strives to deliver a nationally and globally relevant technology to change how we manage water in cities.Read moreRead less
Improved rainfall measurement using mobile phone tower link attenuation. The project aims to use the microwave link data between mobile phone towers to complement the sparse rain gauge network in urban areas, to allow more accurate near-real-time monitoring of rainfall. Accurate near-real-time precipitation data at high resolution are critical to flash flood forecasting in and around Australia's capital cities. Current estimates suffer from the limited availability of rain gauge data in urban ar ....Improved rainfall measurement using mobile phone tower link attenuation. The project aims to use the microwave link data between mobile phone towers to complement the sparse rain gauge network in urban areas, to allow more accurate near-real-time monitoring of rainfall. Accurate near-real-time precipitation data at high resolution are critical to flash flood forecasting in and around Australia's capital cities. Current estimates suffer from the limited availability of rain gauge data in urban areas. However, mobile phone towers abound and the microwave links between them can provide information on rainfall intensity, meaning that these data could be used to supplement the rain gauge data. This project plans to develop the technology to generate precipitation maps using mobile phone network link, rain gauge and weather radar data.Read moreRead less
Preserving vegetation health and biodiversity of natural, urban reserves. The aim of this project is to quantify the links between water resources, vegetation health and biodiversity in small native and remnant vegetation reserves embedded in urban environments. The project will examine four reserves within Greater Melbourne hosting native tree species (river red gum), identified as vulnerable or endangered, and experiencing different rainfall regimes as well as water management practices. The s ....Preserving vegetation health and biodiversity of natural, urban reserves. The aim of this project is to quantify the links between water resources, vegetation health and biodiversity in small native and remnant vegetation reserves embedded in urban environments. The project will examine four reserves within Greater Melbourne hosting native tree species (river red gum), identified as vulnerable or endangered, and experiencing different rainfall regimes as well as water management practices. The specific objectives are to quantify water requirements and carbon balances, and to test a set of measurement methods (in situ and remote sensing) to relate water use with tree growth and biodiversity in urban reserves. Based on these studies, the project aims to develop a model for water balance and vegetation growth to assist in the management of urban reserves and parks.Read moreRead less
Smart metering founding a holistic evidence-based performance evaluation framework and demand forecasting model for diversified water supply schemes. The Australian water industry faces the challenge of catering for the potable water demand of a rapidly expanding population with reduced reliability on supply imposed by an increasingly variable climate. Diversified water supply schemes (DWSS) incorporating decentralised systems or reuse sources are touted as a means to handle the inherent weaknes ....Smart metering founding a holistic evidence-based performance evaluation framework and demand forecasting model for diversified water supply schemes. The Australian water industry faces the challenge of catering for the potable water demand of a rapidly expanding population with reduced reliability on supply imposed by an increasingly variable climate. Diversified water supply schemes (DWSS) incorporating decentralised systems or reuse sources are touted as a means to handle the inherent weaknesses of centralised urban water supply schemes by potentially drawing 30-50 per cent less demand on their reserves. This research study will provide evidence to support the implementation of best practice DWSS based on an evidence based holistic assessment of their performance considering potable water savings, capital and operation costs, energy demand, as well as environmental and community impacts.Read moreRead less
Assessing risk of oligomictic conditions in sub-tropical water supply lakes. Assessing risk of oligomictic conditions in sub-tropical water supply lakes. This project aims to assess the risk of low rates of mixing in sub-tropical drinking water supply reservoirs, using environmental monitoring and numerical modelling. Emerging evidence suggests sub-tropical drinking water supply reservoirs could transition to low mixing states with increasing age and projected changes in global climate. While th ....Assessing risk of oligomictic conditions in sub-tropical water supply lakes. Assessing risk of oligomictic conditions in sub-tropical water supply lakes. This project aims to assess the risk of low rates of mixing in sub-tropical drinking water supply reservoirs, using environmental monitoring and numerical modelling. Emerging evidence suggests sub-tropical drinking water supply reservoirs could transition to low mixing states with increasing age and projected changes in global climate. While this risk is poorly understood, it could significantly affect the long-term reliability of water supply and potable water treatment costs. Addressing this knowledge gap is expected to develop effective management responses to ensure the long term sustainable use of these water resources.Read moreRead less