Further to my previous post, the Lecturer and the Topic for the 2010 Darcy Lecture has been confirmed. The oration will be given by Dr Tim Scheibe on the topic: Quantifying Flow and Reactive Transport in the Heterogeneous Subsurface Environment: From Pores to Porous Media and Facies to Aquifers. Full details including an extended abstract and biography of the Lecturer are given below.
Once again the lecture is free but RSVP (HIDDEN EMAIL) is requested for catering. Alcoholic, non-alcoholic and light refreshments will be available after the Lecture.
Continue reading ‘2010 Darcy Lecturer and Topic’
In conjunction with the IAH NSW Branch the Panel is pleased to announce that the prestigious Darcy Lecture will again be held in Sydney. The Lecture will be given by Dr Tim Scheibe at the new UTS Aerial Function Centre on the 21st September 2010, 5:30pm for 6:00pm. The Lecture will be followed by light refreshments and beverages to allow for a chance to interact with Tim.
More details on the topic of the Lecture will be posted shortly.
The event is free but RSVP (HIDDEN EMAIL) is requested for catering.
Venue Details:
UTS Aerial Function Centre
Level 7, Building 10
Access via Jones Street off Broadway
Five minutes walk from Central.
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It is with regret that I have to announce that we have had to cancel the Water Panel’s August presentation. We had a willing speaker but last minute scheduling clashes with conferences meant he couldn’t make it.
Tentatively we have rescheduled the presentation for February/March of next year.
At this late stage we are unable to secure an alternate speaker.
Sorry if this causes any inconvenience.
Ian White, Professor of Water Resources and Associate Director Research at ANU, will give the next Sydney Water Engineering Panel session on the impacts of bushfires on the upper Murray-Darling basin. This is scheduled for Tuesday July 27th 2010, 5:30 for 6pm at the EA Auditorium, Chatswood. Refreshments will be available prior to, and during, the event and RSVPs are not necessary.
Professor White’s major research focus is into the interactions of surface water with groundwater systems. His current research activities include the mitigation of land use impacts on catchment yield and water management policy development.
Abstract:
Analysis of the long term impacts of Victoria’s 1939 bushfires on Melbourne’s water supply catchments in the 1970’s revealed startling, long-term decreases in catchment yields as the burnt out mountain ash forests regenerated. It has been suggested that similar decreases in yield would occur in other native-forested water supply catchments in the Murray-Darling Basin. The January 2003 bushfires, which essentially burnt out all of Canberra’s near-pristine Cotter River water supply catchments provided an opportunity to study the impact of severe bushfires on catchments predominantly containing dry sclerophyll forests. This talk will examine the impacts of the 2003 wildfire and a smaller fire in 1983 on water quality and on catchment yield in forests that are different from Victoria’s mountain ash water supply catchments and will discuss reasons for the marked differences in responses. Analysis of results was complicated by the exceptionally dry period following the 2003 bushfires. Additionally, impacts of management decisions on water quality will also be highlighted.
For further details please contact Peter Brady (HIDDEN EMAIL) or check out the PDF flyer.
The next presentation will be held on 22nd June 2010, 5:30 for 6pm and is titled Wetland Restoration. The venue is the EA Auditorium, Thomas Street, Chatswood and drinks and nibbles will be available in advance.
The presentation will discuss recent successes in coastal wetland restoration and the relevance of this outcome to development offsets via the NSW bio banking initiative http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/biobanking/. Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, yet their extent and health continues to diminish. Australia‟s remaining coastal wetlands are internationally recognized for their unique habitat supporting a range of important local and migratory species. The benefits wetlands contribute are significant. The ecosystem services wetlands provide underpin much of our economic activity and wetlands are recognised as contributing to healthier waterways, fish nursery and habitat areas, drought refuges for stock and wildlife, nutrient capture and recycling, and filtering and capture of sediment. This recognition of the importance of wetlands has led to a concerted effort to restore historical wetland areas to their previous function. This has its challenges as many of these areas have degraded over the years with acid sulphate soils being a specific consideration. Successful rehabilitation has the potential to offset fringe development of other wetland and high conservation areas via the bio banking concept.
A PDF flyer is available for distribution with the full details.
Bill Weeks has sent through a PDF copy of the slides from his recent presentation: Blockage in Drainage Structures.
You will need Adobe Acrobat to read this document.
The next Panel presentation is scheduled for 25th May 5:30 for 6pm and refreshments will be available beforehand. The abstract of the talk is:
This presentation will discuss the ARR Project 11 concerned with blockage. Blockage is an important issue for the design and management of drainage systems, and one that can cause considerable disruption and damage. Blockage can affect bridges and culverts as well as urban stormwater systems. While urban areas are of particular importance, blockage is also a concern in rural regions. Currently available guidelines have some comment but have limited guidance. This project is aimed at improving this situation. The project is being undertaken with the assistance of a committee of experts drawn from different sectors of the industry and different regions of Australia. A workshop in 2009 set the scene and a report was prepared on the issue. The project has continued in 2010 with another workshop and guidelines agreed among the committee. The presentation will describe the process and the conclusions of the project to date.
Full details are available on a PDF Flyer.
There was a typo in the PDF document that concerned the date of the presentation. To clarify the presentation is on the 28th April 2010 and the PDF flyer has now been corrected.
The next Panel presentation is entitled Sediment Transport in River Engineering and will be given on the 28th April 2010, 5:30 for 6pm at the EA Auditorium Chatswood. Drinks and nibbles will be available prior to, and after, the presentation.
The presentation will be given by Professor Ali Keshavarzy, Research Fellow, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, with the following abstract.
Sediment transport is a significant component of many environmental issues in rivers and stream channels. The process of sediment transport however is very complicated due to the interaction of sediment and flow turbulence. Using techniques, such as PIV lasers and high-speed ADVs, enables a better and more complete understanding of the interaction to be obtained. The results obtained from application of these techniques for the monitoring of flow turbulence and the prediction of sediment entrainment and deposition in a number of river engineering problems will be presented
A printable PDF is also available for this announcement.
The line up for the presentation next Tuesday (23rd March 2010) has been finalised and looks excellent. We have Fiona Johnson (UNSW) and Stephen Horne (Parsons Brinkerhoff Australia).
Fiona will present her paper on An assessment of Future Water Availability Across the World Using Nested Bias Corrected GCM Precipitation Outputs
Stephen will present his paper on Interactions Between Straight Channels and Their Floodplains.
As usual the presentations are at the EA Auditorium, Thomas Street, Chatswood, 5:30 for 6pm with drinks and nibbles available from 5:30.
A PDF of this information is available for distribution.
