Revolutionising water-quality monitoring in the information age. In today’s information age, automated low-cost sensors distributed in the environment have the potential to revolutionise the way we monitor and manage air, water and soil. This project aims to develop novel statistical methods to detect anomalies in the data generated from these in-situ sensors with computationally efficient modelling on river networks through space and time, with the applied goals of automating anomaly detection ....Revolutionising water-quality monitoring in the information age. In today’s information age, automated low-cost sensors distributed in the environment have the potential to revolutionise the way we monitor and manage air, water and soil. This project aims to develop novel statistical methods to detect anomalies in the data generated from these in-situ sensors with computationally efficient modelling on river networks through space and time, with the applied goals of automating anomaly detection in water-quality data and generating predictions of sediment and nutrient concentrations throughout river networks in near-real time. This will represent a fundamental increase in scientific knowledge, which will be immediately useful in the domains of aquatic science, environmental monitoring, and statistics.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
Fate of micropollutants in water recycling: influence of dissolved organic matter. Access to safe drinking water is essential for the economic and social development of Australia. There is increasing interest in applying advanced water treatment processes, such as membrane filtration or ozonation, to treat secondary effluent to a potable standard. This project promotes improved organic pollutant removal and monitoring during advanced water treatment and will contribute to the National Research P ....Fate of micropollutants in water recycling: influence of dissolved organic matter. Access to safe drinking water is essential for the economic and social development of Australia. There is increasing interest in applying advanced water treatment processes, such as membrane filtration or ozonation, to treat secondary effluent to a potable standard. This project promotes improved organic pollutant removal and monitoring during advanced water treatment and will contribute to the National Research Priority goal, water - a critical resource, by providing the increased protection of receiving waters including rivers and seawater. Further, as very few studies consider the role of dissolved organic matter for organic pollutant fate in water reuse internationally, this project will help to advance Australia's position in science.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE210100035
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,205,137.00
Summary
Founding an Australian Critical Zone Observatory Network. This proposal founds a new network of Australian Critical Zone Observatories. The network will fill essential knowledge gaps about interactions of under- and above-ground environmental processes and their responses to disturbance and change. These interactions determine the sustainability of food, clean water, mineral resources and Australian ecosystems, and cannot be studied with existing environmental infrastructure. The 5 foundation ....Founding an Australian Critical Zone Observatory Network. This proposal founds a new network of Australian Critical Zone Observatories. The network will fill essential knowledge gaps about interactions of under- and above-ground environmental processes and their responses to disturbance and change. These interactions determine the sustainability of food, clean water, mineral resources and Australian ecosystems, and cannot be studied with existing environmental infrastructure. The 5 foundational sites will host integrated monitoring equipment to observe stocks and fluxes of carbon, water, energy and mass across the “Critical Zone” – the vertical span from plant canopies to fresh bedrock. Joining a burgeoning international movement, the network will catalyse Critical Zone science in Australia.Read moreRead less
Understanding and controlling bioavailability: passive dosing of persistent organic pollutants into recombinant cell bioassays. Bioassays with mammalian cell lines may replace animal testing in chemical risk assessment if issues with limited sensitivity can be overcome for very hydrophobic chemicals such as polychlorinated dibenzodioxins. The project will solve this problem by developing a polymer-release dosing technique that assures defined and constant exposure.
A novel path to environmental and human health risk assessment of transformation products. Chemical pollution is a threat to our rivers and drinking water supplies. Degradation during water treatment and in the environment may lead to persistent and toxic transformation products. This project will provide a practical and cost-efficient risk assessment strategy for transformation products - to help ensure that our drinking water is safe.
Saving Nemo: Reducing animal use in toxicity assessments of wastewater. Every day, Australians produce ~5 billion litres of wastewater, which contains a cocktail of chemicals. Industries that discharge wastewater are required to assess chemical risks to the receiving environments by conducting whole animal direct toxicity assessments (DTA), which are expensive and pose an ethical dilemma. Our preliminary research shows that new in vitro bioassays provide an ethical and cost effective alternative ....Saving Nemo: Reducing animal use in toxicity assessments of wastewater. Every day, Australians produce ~5 billion litres of wastewater, which contains a cocktail of chemicals. Industries that discharge wastewater are required to assess chemical risks to the receiving environments by conducting whole animal direct toxicity assessments (DTA), which are expensive and pose an ethical dilemma. Our preliminary research shows that new in vitro bioassays provide an ethical and cost effective alternative that could be incorporated into DTA programs if their ecological relevance can be demonstrated. This project will develop and validate a new and internationally significant suite of in vitro bioassays for incorporation into DTA programs, leading to more ethical, cost effective and improved environmental protection.Read moreRead less
Diagnosing river health using invertebrate traits and DNA barcodes. Diagnosing river health using invertebrate traits and DNA barcodes. This project aims to develop indices that link change in invertebrate communities to specific environmental stressors, and combine these indices with innovative, low cost molecular approaches to species identification to rapidly identify the causes of decline. River health assessment methods, usually based on aquatic invertebrates, identify if rivers are impaire ....Diagnosing river health using invertebrate traits and DNA barcodes. Diagnosing river health using invertebrate traits and DNA barcodes. This project aims to develop indices that link change in invertebrate communities to specific environmental stressors, and combine these indices with innovative, low cost molecular approaches to species identification to rapidly identify the causes of decline. River health assessment methods, usually based on aquatic invertebrates, identify if rivers are impaired but must be developed to identify the causes of decline. The intended outcomes are improved sustainable water resource management within and among states, and improved natural resource policy development.Read moreRead less
Remote sensing estimation of greenhouse gas emissions from floodplains in the wet-dry tropics. This project provides regional-scale estimates of greenhouse gas emissions from major floodplains in the wet-dry tropics. These estimates are required for future national carbon accounting, and are critical knowledge gaps for current global climate models.
Improved monitoring of aquatic pollutants in national water resources. Clean water is predicted to become the world’s most valuable asset during this century, necessitating the improved monitoring of Australia’s limited water resources. Using a new and integrated monitoring approach, this project expects to develop and implement novel passive sampling technologies to monitor a range of water pollutants, specifically toxic ionised organic chemicals of emerging concern. The outcomes of this projec ....Improved monitoring of aquatic pollutants in national water resources. Clean water is predicted to become the world’s most valuable asset during this century, necessitating the improved monitoring of Australia’s limited water resources. Using a new and integrated monitoring approach, this project expects to develop and implement novel passive sampling technologies to monitor a range of water pollutants, specifically toxic ionised organic chemicals of emerging concern. The outcomes of this project will create cost-effective tools to advance the detection of emerging chemicals in drinking, ground, surface and waste waters. The technology will benefit millions of Australians by safeguarding essential water resources.Read moreRead less