Flooding within the Hawkesbury-Nepean River floodplain is complex, due to its large catchment area and confined sandstone gorges that serve as “choke points” resulting in large differences in flood levels between events.
An update to the Hawkesbury-Nepean Flood Study has been in development since 2020. As one of the largest flood studies currently being undertaken in NSW, it uses state of the art technical approaches to define the flood risk throughout the floodplain and builds upon the 2019 Hawkesbury-Nepean Regional Flood Study.
The abstract submission deadline has been extended to 11:59 PM AEST Friday 3 June.
All abstract submissions will be reviewed by the HWRS Scientific Committee. The Scientific Committee may accept or reject abstracts and their decision is final. The outcome of abstract submissions will be emailed in June.
A multidisciplinary research team has made important progress on the operation of a new type of fishway, the Tube Fishway, which promises to be a cost-effective alternative to existing fishways. This presentation will provide an overview of the Tube Fishway operation, including progress in attracting native Australian fish and lifting these fish across barriers of 4 and 8 m. It will further provide an outlook into upcoming field installations.
The Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium 2022 has been announced with a call for abstracts already out. It is scheduled for 30 November – 1 December 2022. From the Organising Committee:
“Engineers Australia is set to host the 40th iteration of the Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium from 30 November – 1 December 2022, under the theme, ‘the past, the present, the future.’
Join us as we look back at the work and impact of our industry predecessors, discuss current water-related issues and trends, and explore the innovations and technologies that are shaping the future of water engineering. “
Start time 12.00pm AEDT 1st November 2021. Free for members but you must pre-register.
This seminar will outline opportunities and challenges in using satellite remote sensing data in water engineering. A new evapotranspiration product developed by CSIRO will be presented.
The franc.sydney conference early bird registration is now open. This is the new Stormwater NSW conference and has a huge line up of keynote speakers announced:
Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons, Resilience NSW
Gary Jubelin, former NSW Police Detective Chief Inspector
Zali Steggall OAM, Independent Federal Member for Warringah
Professor Thomas Astell-Burt, University of Wollongong
Prof Kenneth Leung, City University of Hong Kong
Distinguished Prof Lesley Hughes, Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists
With panellists including:
Rosie Wheen, CEO, WaterAid Australia
Chris Quin, Resilient Projects
Dr Katherine Dafforn, Macquarie University
Professor Holger Maier, The University of Adelaide
Associate Professor Gary Sheridan, The University of Melbourne
Dr Jocelyn Dela-Cruz, NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
Associate Professor Will Glamore, Water Research Laboratory, UNSW
With the support of Stormwater Queensland, Stormwater Victoria, theSydney Institute of Marine Science, the Parramatta River Catchment Group, the Cooks River Alliance and the Georges Riverkeeper, this conference aims to join stakeholders in the urban water management sector across multiple disciplines to become more future-focused, resilient, adaptive and connected.
This event is supported by the Water Engineering Panel.
The next Water Panel even is titled What Can We Learn About Water Availability From The Pan Evaporation Record? And is scheduled for 12th July in a special lunch session 12-1pm. Registration is free for EA members but you will need to pre-register to get access to the online session.
Abstract
Changes in atmospheric evaporative demand can alter water flux from the landscape, impacting water security. Evaporation pans are widely used to measure and investigate these dynamics. Declines in Australian pan evaporation were reported between the 1970s and 2000s (despite increasing temperatures) due to decreases in wind speed, a phenomenon labelled the ‘pan evaporation paradox’. We revisited this finding with data up to 2016 using a flexible regression technique to identify changes in trends over time. We found that the trends largely reversed in the mid-1990s, when pan evaporation increases were driven by rising vapour pressure deficits (decreasing relative humidity) due to increasing air temperatures. If evaporative demand continues to rise, it could increase water loss from storages and shallow soil moisture, with implications for water and environmental management. To this extent changes in rainfall, soil moisture and streamflow since the 1960s were examined using the Bureau of Meteorology’s Australian Water Resources Assessment Landscape model (AWRA-L). Streamflow droughts, measured by the standardised runoff index, are indeed increasing across large parts of Australia, with these increases more widespread than changes in rainfall alone.
Management rules in regulated systems are in place to supply water and protect the environment through environment flow rules.
Have you ever wondered how it works? Why we have the Water Sharing Plans?
Tim Hosking will be discussing the policy and science behind active river management and Dan Berry the implementation and operation of the regulated rivers.
Active Management of rivers for the environment, community, and economy.
It takes a lot of work to put, the right amount of water, in the right place, at the right time. WaterNSW ensures rivers rise and fall with environmental water while also scheduling access to water by towns and irrigators with releases from dams and weirs.
Uses of Water for the Environment in the Macquarie catchment
Water for the Environment has been managed in the Macquarie River since 1980 – with the only thing consistent over that time being the controversy. A case study of 4.5 recent real-life uses of Water for the Environment will be presented to help illustrate why Tim struggles whenever someone asks what he does for a living.
Speakers
Dan Berry
Manager Water System Operations, WaterNSW
Dan is responsible for implementation of statewide bulk water operations for; the Greater Sydney supply, as well as rural NSW. This includes the development of annual operating plans, flood operations, and the management of numerous decision support systems.
Dan’s career theme has been as a practitioner in integrating all the aspects of water reform, particularly directing these reforms to achieve environmental and productivity outcomes. Dan has a proven record in identifying and implementing changes that increase efficiency in water delivery and increase the value of these services to both customers and the environment.
Dan has over 35 years’ experience with WaterNSW and its predecessors. He has a degree in civil engineering and has completed a substantial portion of an MBA.
Tim Hosking
Senior Wetlands and Rivers Conservation Officer. NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
Tim works as part of a regionally-based team within DPIE who work to maintain and improve the health of wetlands and aquatic ecosystems across north west NSW catchments. Currently his focus is on the Macquarie-Cudgegong catchment, with the main tool for this task being to manage Water for the Environment in collaboration with the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office.
Tim has a multi-disciplinary background including environmental engineering, environmental impact assessment, ecology, strategic and statutory planning, and now as a natural resource manager – which is lucky, as environmental water management is an entirely silo-busting occupation.
Tim has a combined degree in Environmental Engineering and Natural Resources Management, with postgrad studies in Urban and Regional Planning.
Our next presentation is will cover some different perspectives on the monitoring of COVID in waster water systems. We are pleased to have a balanced perspective here with:
Prof. Gertjan Medema, Principal Microbiologist, KWR Water Research Institute
Dr Kaye Power, Principal Public Health Advisor for Sydney Water
to give a combined European and Australian perspective.
The next Water Panel webinar is schedule for 4:00pm on Wednesday 30 September and is free for EA members but pre-registration is required.
Scrivener Dam is a critical piece of Canberra’s infrastructure, maintaining water levels of the iconic Lake Burley Griffin. Like all dams in Australia, it requires regular maintenance and assessment to ensure ongoing safe operation.
Dye tracing of Scrivener Dam Model
A recent inspection identified potential for undesirable uplift forces under the stilling basin slab, triggering a more detailed assessment of dam stability. This included a 1:40 scale physical model by the UNSW Water Research Laboratory (WRL) for the National Capital Authority. The model was used to measure water dynamics for the dam at critical flood conditions, with a focus on dynamic pressures within the stilling basin.
This presentation will discuss findings and the unique advantages and limitations of physical hydraulic modelling. It will be streamed live from WRL and includes a live demonstration of model flows.
This event will be co-presented by WRL’s Dr Laura Montano and Ben Modra.
