ORCID Profile
0000-0002-3800-0765
Current Organisation
University of New South Wales
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Water Resources Engineering | Civil Engineering | Water Quality Engineering |
Water and Waste Services not elsewhere classified | Water Services and Utilities
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2021
Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
Date: 2023
DOI: 10.1039/D3EW00347G
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2023
Publisher: IWA Publishing
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.2166/BGS.2020.017
Abstract: Historic relationships between communities and waterscapes are complex and often explained solely in technical terms. There is a key need to understand how human-centered developments have shifted the use of river spaces over time, and how these changes reflect on the values of rivers and surrounding cultures. In this paper, we develop a critical analysis of the historically changing relationship between urban communities and water infrastructures using the Georges River catchment in Sydney, Australia. Our focus was on bringing together past and current perspectives, engaging with the formation of erse hydrosocial behaviors entangled with water infrastructures. Using post-settlement historical documents, maps, journals, and newspaper articles, we trace shifts in hydrosocial perspectives over time, mapping six distinct historic phases. In our study, we offer a shift from the main paradigms currently influencing the development of urban water infrastructures, moving away from the dominant technical propositions of systems designed purely for the management and treatment of stormwater. Drawing on our analysis, we propose a new urban water design concept: Culturally Inclusive Water Urban Design (CIWUD). This presents an advancement on current framework to include a consideration of people's connections and uses of urban waterscapes, as well as a shift towards democratic space design.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2023
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2021
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2020
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2020
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2019
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.WATRES.2019.115092
Abstract: Green walls are becoming a popular infrastructure choice in densely built urban environments, due to their multiple benefits. However, high and vastly variable water requirements of these systems are preventing their further widespread. Only a small number of studies have investigated water needs of green walls, even though this can help to design more optimal systems with increased benefits. Additionally, the knowledge on interactions between plant uptake and climate conditions (temperature and humidity) is lacking. The aim of this study was to understand daily water requirements of five plant species (C. appressa, N. obliterata, L. muscari, M. parvifolium and O. japonicus) used in greywater treating green walls, across different seasons, temperature, and humidity conditions of temperate-oceanic climate (common in parts of Australia, US and Europe). The results showed that during summer, dominant water uptake processes were plant uptake and transpiration, resulting in three to four times higher water needs than during winter, when evaporation is a major effect. Top levels of the multi-level green wall exhibited significantly higher plant activity compared to bottom levels, showing four times greater water uptake. Temperature and humidity changes during winter caused the change in water uptake of plants, pointing to different growing and activity patterns of tested plants. During summer only N. obliterata showed temperature and humidity dependence. Annual plant water uptake and other practical recommendations are given based on the results. Even though this study focused on water requirements of greywater treating green walls, its findings can also inform traditional green wall designs.
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 09-2019
Publisher: Springer Nature Singapore
Date: 2022
Publisher: Springer Nature Singapore
Date: 2022
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2022
DOI: 10.1016/J.WATRES.2022.118774
Abstract: Green walls can provide an aesthetic approach to treat domestic greywater in urban landscapes. However, the widespread adoption of green walls for greywater treatment depends on its performance to remove the emerging contaminants from greywater such as xenobiotic organic compounds (XOCs). In this study, the performance of five lightweight green wall media types (zeolite, perlite, date seeds, coffee grinds, and coco coir) was evaluated for the removal of six XOCs representing a range of hydrophilic to hydrophobic organic micropollutants in domestic greywater (acetaminophen, diethyltoluamide, bisphenol A, oxybenzone, triclosan, nonylphenol). The adsorption affinity of targeted XOCs on different green wall media types, the role of contact time on XOCs removal, and the impact of background pollutants in greywater matrix on the adsorption of XOCs were analysed. Results indicate that removal of XOCs was higher using carbonaceous waste materials (date seeds, coffee grinds, and coco coir) as compared to natural minerals (zeolite and perlite). Moreover, the adsorption of XOCs increased with the increase in pollutant hydrophobicity. All XOCs showed highest removal using coco coir with fast adsorption kinetics, achieving 90% of the removal in 30 min. The only exception was acetaminophen that showed best removal using zeolite but exhibited slow adsorption kinetics with 90% of the removal attained in 24 h. The initial adsorption kinetics (<30 min) of XOCs in greywater were adversely affected by the presence of background pollutants, indicating the need of higher residence time of greywater in green wall system for better removal of XOCs. Based on the findings of this batch study, it is recommended to design a green wall system with more than 30 min of greywater residence time using a mixture of coco coir and zeolite for effective removal of XOCs from domestic greywater.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2017
Publisher: IWA Publishing
Date: 12-2022
DOI: 10.2166/BGS.2022.030
Abstract: Stormwater biofilters are one of the most widely used nature-based solutions for urban water management. In the last 20 years, biofilters have been extensively studied for their pollutant removal performance however, their application in the field is limited by high maintenance requirements. In this work, we propose the concept of zero additional maintenance (ZAM) biofilters as a solution to this challenge. To understand the design and operation of ZAM biofilters, a three-stage research programme was conducted to (i) examine filter media configurations that could protect against surface clogging, (ii) test the pollutant removal performance of a variety of lawn grasses, and (iii) validate the laboratory findings through field monitoring. The results showed that a protective filter media layer delayed the onset of clogging. Five lawn grasses – Kenda Kikuyu, Empire Zoysia, Santa Ana Couch, Village Green Kikuyu and Palmetto Soft Leaf Buffalo – were found to effectively reduce nitrogen concentrations and meet other local pollution reduction requirements. Monitoring of three field-scale ZAM biofilters confirmed their high nutrient and heavy metal removal performance. Overall, the findings of these three studies confirm the potential for well-designed ZAM biofilters to achieve stormwater management requirements with no additional maintenance compared with standard street landscaping.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2018
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2022
DOI: 10.1016/J.WATRES.2022.119202
Abstract: Although iron salts such as iron(III) chloride (FeCl
Publisher: IWA Publishing
Date: 08-02-2022
DOI: 10.2166/WST.2022.046
Abstract: Planning for future urban development and water infrastructure is uncertain due to changing human activities and climate. To quantify these changes, we need adaptable and fast models that can reliably explore scenarios without requiring extensive data and inputs. While such models have been recently considered for urban development, they are lacking for stormwater pollution assessment. This work proposes a novel Future Urban Stormwater Simulation (FUSS) model, utilizing a previously developed urban planning algorithm (UrbanBEATS) to dynamically assess pollution changes in urban catchments. By using minimal input data and adding stochastic point-source pollution to the build-up/wash-off approach, this study highlights calibration and sensitivity analysis of flow and pollution modules, across the range of common stormwater pollutants. The results highlight excellent fit to measured values in a continuous rainfall simulation for the flow model, with one significant calibration parameter. The pollution model was more variable, with TSS, TP and Pb showing high model efficiency, while TN was predicted well only across event-based assessment. The work further explores the framework for the model application in future pollution assessment, and points to the future work aiming to developing land-use dependent model parameter sets, to achieve flexibility for model application across varied urban catchments.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2022
DOI: 10.1016/J.JENVMAN.2022.116063
Abstract: Since the needs and expectations of communities towards their urban environments often vary, landscape management strategies can often be prone to fail in the absence of social considerations. It is therefore incumbent on policy-makers to investigate and attempt to reconcile erse community perceptions toward the natural and built environment for more equitable governance. This is of particular interest when planning and managing nature-based solutions (NBS) for river protection. We considered this challenge in understanding human values, perceptions and behaviour in a multilayered ecosystem that includes waterways, NBS, green open spaces, and a built environment. This paper analyses perceptions and behaviour around a public urban park next to the Georges River in Sydney Australia, utilizing a proxy-based approach and a mixed-method comprising community surveys and behavioural mapping. The results showed that while users perceive the significance of the urban river environment differently, naturalistic (ecological), humanistic (recreational) and utilitarian (well-being) values are dominant. Urban river catchments are highly valued for recreational purposes, with a strong perception of potential flooding hazards. Through exploring the literature, we recognized that the dominancy of leisure-related values around urban river catchments can be generalized to similar cases worldwide. While NBS, as an urban stormwater management solution, address some user values (e.g., naturalistic) around urban river catchments, they may lack further delivery of humanistic and utilitarian values due to the poor integration with recreational and cultural spaces. It was also the case around the Georges River, where low prominence of cultural features was observed. We concluded that NBS development around Georges River and other urban river catchments should incorporate socio-cultural considerations and community values, in particular the ones related to leisure. The gaps between users' beliefs and behaviour do not greatly challenge governance, provided that the decision-makers utilise these gaps for optimising management actions.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2023
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2021
Publisher: IWA Publishing
Date: 2021
DOI: 10.2166/BGS.2021.023
Abstract: Strategic placement of water-sensitive urban design (WSUD) is essential in optimising its performance and maximising co-benefits. However, little is known about the current placement and interconnectedness between WSUD assets and the performance of current planning strategies. We evaluated the placement of existing WSUDs in a highly urbanised catchment in Sydney, Australia. We used a three-step process: (1) compiling a comprehensive spatial asset database, (2) performing spatial correlation analysis between asset locations and biophysical, urban form and socioeconomic variables and (3) using a novel approach to facilitate holistic understanding through analysing asset locations compared with the outcome of the spatial suitability analysis tool (SSANTO). WSUD coverage was generally low, with clustering in some municipalities. Placement was constrained by physical variables, such as slope, limited space and varying land uses. However, placement was not detectably influenced by most socioeconomic variables. SSANTO's suitability score at asset locations was only slightly higher than average, suggesting that the placement of existing WSUD was opportunistic, rather than strategically planned. Further development and implementation of tools able to account for spatial constraints will help guide future WSUD placement as a component of green urban stormwater management.
Publisher: IWA Publishing
Date: 2021
DOI: 10.2166/BGS.2021.024
Abstract: Constructed wetlands are a type of green infrastructure commonly used for urban stormwater treatment. Previous studies have shown that the various design characteristics have an influence on the outflow heavy metal concentrations. In this study, we develop a Bayesian linear mixed model (BLMM) and a Bayesian linear regression model (BLRM) to predict the outflow concentrations of heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn) using an inflow concentration (Cin) and five design variables, namely media type, constructed wetland type (CWT), hydraulic retention time, presence of a sedimentation pond (SedP) and wetland-to-catchment area ratio (Ratio). The results show that the BLMM had much better performance, with the mean Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency between 0.51 (Pb) and 0.75 (Cu) in calibration and between 0.28 (Pb) and 0.71 (Zn) in validation. The inflow concentration was found to have significant impacts on the outflow concentration of all heavy metals, while the impacts of other variables on the wetland performance varied across metals, e.g., CWT and SedP showed a positive correlation to Cd and Cu, whereas media and Ratio were negatively correlated with Pb and Zn. Results also show that the 100-fold calibration and validation was superior in identifying the key influential factors.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2021
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-02-2021
DOI: 10.1002/WER.1530
Abstract: In this study, three up‐flow fixed‐bed bioreactors, named as A, B, and C, packed with polycaprolactone (PCL) under different filling ratios (31%, 62%, and 93%, respectively), were investigated over a long period (96 days). During the stable period, the mean effluent concentrations in reactors A, B, and C were 1.35 ± 0.50, 1.07 ± 0.41, and 1.03 ± 0.27 mg/L, respectively, which showed the removal of was not closely related to filling ratio ( p 0.05, one‐way ANOVA). However, it was found that biomass in reactor A was 2.13 and 5.55 times in B and C, respectively. Excessively thick biofilm refrained the enzymatic hydrolysis of PCL and biofilm's specific denitrification rate (SDNR). Backwash stimulated organic matter release and enabled biofilm to restore its denitrification activity. The maximum cycle of backwash was 6 days for the lowest filling ratio reactor. Additionally, the utilization rates for denitrification were 83.3%, 86.4%, and 60.5% in reactors A, B, and C, respectively, which was higher after backwash than before backwash. Excessively thick biofilm refrained the enzymatic hydrolysis of PCL. Backwash stimulated organic matter release and enabled biofilm to restore its denitrification activity. The maximum cycle of backwash was 6 days for the lowest filling ratio reactor. A higher utilization rate of PCL for denitrification was observed after backwash.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2021
Start Date: 12-2022
End Date: 12-2025
Amount: $450,000.00
Summary: 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 more Read less
Funder: Australian Research Council
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