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
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
Water availability and demand: better forecasts, better management. This project aims to improve Australia’s capability in the provision and use of water forecasts for managing water resources. The current water forecasts are not fully utilised by water agencies as they are not sufficiently comprehensive and advanced. This project expects to achieve a step change in the uptake and utility of hydro-climate forecasts through an extensive partnership of leading researchers and operational agencies ....Water availability and demand: better forecasts, better management. This project aims to improve Australia’s capability in the provision and use of water forecasts for managing water resources. The current water forecasts are not fully utilised by water agencies as they are not sufficiently comprehensive and advanced. This project expects to achieve a step change in the uptake and utility of hydro-climate forecasts through an extensive partnership of leading researchers and operational agencies of hydro-climate forecasting, with federal, state and regional water agencies.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
Adapting catchment monitoring and potable water treatment to climate change. Adapting catchment monitoring and potable water treatment to climate change. This project aims to make the water industry capable of foreseeing and managing adverse raw water organic matter quality from the catchment to the treatment plant. It will research the triggers for organic matter excursions that compromise treatment plant performance and affect public health. The project will develop and deploy innovative senso ....Adapting catchment monitoring and potable water treatment to climate change. Adapting catchment monitoring and potable water treatment to climate change. This project aims to make the water industry capable of foreseeing and managing adverse raw water organic matter quality from the catchment to the treatment plant. It will research the triggers for organic matter excursions that compromise treatment plant performance and affect public health. The project will develop and deploy innovative sensors to detect targeted water quality changes at the molecular level in situ and real time, and improve operating strategies for robust and reliable performance of existing treatment plants. This catchment to plant approach is expected to make existing treatment assets more productive and defer additional treatment costs.Read moreRead less
Robust streamflow predictions by improving the identification of hydrological model structure. This project aims to provide Australian environmental agencies, design engineers and policy-makers with robust methods that better utilise observed environmental data and process understanding to produce hydrological models with stronger scientific basis and improved operational predictive ability in gauged and ungauged catchments.
A robust integrated streamflow forecasting framework for Australian water information and management agencies. This project aims to deliver an accurate and reliable seasonal streamflow forecasting system for Australian water users by developing a flexible rainfall-runoff modelling approach integrated into a Bayesian inference and prediction framework. These scientific developments aim to significantly advance the operational capabilities of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology to deliver robust ....A robust integrated streamflow forecasting framework for Australian water information and management agencies. This project aims to deliver an accurate and reliable seasonal streamflow forecasting system for Australian water users by developing a flexible rainfall-runoff modelling approach integrated into a Bayesian inference and prediction framework. These scientific developments aim to significantly advance the operational capabilities of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology to deliver robust streamflow forecasts to water agencies such as South East Queensland Water and others across Australia. Accurate predictions of future water flows are of tremendous value to urban and rural Australian communities whose economic prosperity, water security and social well-being depend on reliable estimates of water availability.Read moreRead less
Developing a truly intelligent water meter through advanced data analytics. Developing a truly intelligent water meter through advanced data analytics. This project aims to develop intelligent pattern recognition algorithms using international data sets to autonomously categorise household water consumption data into end-uses (e.g. showers, leaks). Despite intelligent meters, big data chokes rather than enables decision making for customers and utilities. This project will resolve information sy ....Developing a truly intelligent water meter through advanced data analytics. Developing a truly intelligent water meter through advanced data analytics. This project aims to develop intelligent pattern recognition algorithms using international data sets to autonomously categorise household water consumption data into end-uses (e.g. showers, leaks). Despite intelligent meters, big data chokes rather than enables decision making for customers and utilities. This project will resolve information synthesis concerns using a combination of non-linear blind source separation techniques adapted from the pattern recognition, signal processing and decision science fields. Expected outcomes are that utilities will be leaders of sustainable water use in the information age, and that customers can use phones to access real-time data of water consumption.Read moreRead less
Assessing future drought risk for water resources system management. The project aims to develop a new method for understanding drought drivers in eastern Australia and how well these are portrayed by climate models. The intended outcome of the project is to provide a framework for evaluating climate models on their representation of drought drivers and then use this information to develop improved downscaling schemes. Traditional downscaling approaches do not capture changes in variability in r ....Assessing future drought risk for water resources system management. The project aims to develop a new method for understanding drought drivers in eastern Australia and how well these are portrayed by climate models. The intended outcome of the project is to provide a framework for evaluating climate models on their representation of drought drivers and then use this information to develop improved downscaling schemes. Traditional downscaling approaches do not capture changes in variability in rainfall and evaporation at interannual and interdecadal timescales. This project aims to address this problem by providing a comprehensive drought downscaling framework which will provide inputs to water sharing plans that can be used to assess the future risks of droughts in catchments across New South Wales.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