The National Conference Practical Responses to Climate Change is proud to confirm impressive keynote presentations from:
- Dr Jaap Schellekens, Expert Advisor at Deltares, Netherlands
- Dr Kevin Hennessy, Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Australia: Climate Change Science Update
- Dr Francis Chiew, Senior Leader at CSIRO Land and Water, Australia: Climate Impact on Water Resources
- Mr John Ginivan, Executive Director – Planning Policy at the Department of Planning and Community Development, Australia: Policy and Pragmatism in the Real World
- Mr Angus Gordon, former CEO of Pittwater Council: Terror Australis – Local Government in Deepening Water
- Mr Rob Skinner, Managing Director, Melbourne Water: Sustainable Cities of the Future
To view the full Conference program and register for the Conference please visit the website www.climatechange2010.org.
Early registration closes on Saturday 3 July 2010
The welcome letter from the congress chair is reproduced here with minor formatting changes:
The 34th Biennial Congress of the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR) will be held in Brisbane, Australia, 26 June to 1 July, 2011. The Congress theme “Balance and Uncertainty: Water in a Changing World” focuses on the central roles of hydraulic engineering, hydrology and water resources in our changing world and how these roles link to the broader issues. A balance is continually being sought between competing values in water engineering, including the environment, the economy, tourism, social and indigenous values, health aspects, aesthetics, and the needs of current and future generations.
The deadline for abstract submission is the 15 July 2010. Submit your abstract now!
To submit your abstract, visit www.iahr2011.org and select the “Call for abstracts” option. Once A full list of topics and themes is provided and you can quickly lodge your abstract using the on-line submission system. you submit an abstract, you will automatically receive updates. The notification of abstract will be early September and the deadline for full paper will be in October 2010. Each submitted paper will be peer-reviewed.
The congress is jointly organised by IAHR, Engineers Australia and its National Committee on Water Engineering. It will be held in conjunction with Australia’s two premier hydrology and hydraulic conferences:
- the 33rd National Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium and
- the 10th National Conference on Hydraulics in Water Engineering.
The integrated event will be attended by a wide range of international and Australasian academics, researchers, practitioners, regulators, infrastructure developers and resource managers with an interest in water . The congress will include the prestigious IAHR plenary lectures, the Munro and Henderson Orations, the Ippen Award Lecture, and announcements of the GN Alexander Medal recipient and John F Kennedy student award.
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.
Due to a number of requests to extend the abstract deadline for the Practical Responses to Climate Change conference the organisers have extended the deadline until Friday 23rd March 2010.
For full details check out: http://www.climatechange2010.org.
The Western Sydney Salinity Working Party, hosted by the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC Ltd) in partnership with the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW), was established in 1999. This group has representatives from each of the 14 Councils in Greater Western Sydney, as well as from relevant agencies and the development industry.
Following on from the success of the 2005 and 2007 Urban Salinity Conferences convened by the Western Sydney Salinity Working Party and due the ongoing need for awareness raising and education relating to urban salinity issues, the 3rd Urban Salinity Conference will be held on the 8th and 9th June, 2010.
The 2010 UrbanSalt Conference aims to:
- Increase the understanding of all of the issues that relate to urban salinity across local government, state government agencies and the building and construction industry.
- Provide delegates with an increased level of understanding of salinity issues from the “green fields” planning stage to the post development stage.
- Provide delegates with the knowledge, motivation and skills required to continue to develop effective projects that will reduce the effect of salinity in urban environments.
- Provide delegates with ample opportunity to participate and share knowledge on this issue during the two days of the conference.
- Encourage the development of networks across a range of sectors that can be strengthened after the conference.
On behalf of the Conference Organising Committee we would like to invite all professionals who deal with the effects of salinity in an urban environment to attend the 2010 UrbanSalt Conference.
For more details see: http://www.gemsevents.com.au/urbansalt/
ARR Reports Released
The ARR Technical Review team has just released a series of reports and would like feedback, see their email below: