ISSUE 1, 2021 WATER LINES Supporting communities to succeedHello, and welcome to Water Technology's first Waterlines of 2021! From where we're standing today, I find myself looking back and thinking about how I am so incredibly proud of this company and everyone's efforts in water management, rehabilitation and building community resilience throughout an extraordinarily challenging (both professionally and personally) 2020. I have found our teams’ unparalleled sense of hard work, team spirit, and selfless dedication to clients and project outcomes to be genuinely inspiring. I have every confidence that we will only continue on this path throughout this year. In the following pages, I'd like to share with you a brief look into some of the unique projects and challenging scenarios the team has faced, along with their powerful approaches to finding and implementing solutions to support and protect vulnerable communities. Water Technology staff pride themselves on discovering and implementing real, actionable solutions and improving the world around them wherever they go. I can think of no more straightforward way to show that than by inviting you to read the team's exploits in action for yourself and in their own words. STEVE CLARK Managing Director Welcome to our latest issue of Waterlines Featured in this edition: • Billabong and wetland rehabilitation; • Supporting indigenous communities; and • An investigation of managed aquifier recharge viability to improve water security in Sri Lanka. Please do not hesitate to contact me or any of the Water Technology team at any stage if we can be of assistance. 2 WATER LINES : ISSUE 1, 2021Australia's remote north-west is home to some of the country's most significant resource projects, including iron ore, natural gas and salt/ potash. However, it is also an area of limited flood measurement data, with expansive areas being represented by a minimal number of rain gauges and streamflow gauges, meaning that there is little information available to validate flood models for design purposes. Recent advances in communications technology have helped break down the data collection barriers in this remote area, with low power instruments and cost- efficient satellite communication now making it possible to install equipment in remote areas with no 3G network. This requires only infrequent visits to the sites for maintenance, where physical access to the site is quite often limited. One such example of this innovative approach is the LoRaWAN technology delivered by Perth-based technology company Simply City, enabling hundreds of instruments to wirelessly communicate with a single satellite gateway. The LoRaWAN hubs can communicate over many kilometres and use a very low energy signal, allowing the portal to operate for over a year using a small battery. The FLEET satellite gateway logs all incoming data and transmits it via satellite to an online database, which is then made available to the end user via a live web portal. There is truly no limit to the types of instruments that can be connected to these networks, including rain gauges, weather stations, streamflow gauges and groundwater loggers – really, anything that can communicate on an SDI12 platform. The FLEET satellite network promises to deliver significantly reduced costs for satellite transmission over the next few years, thus enabling more frequent transmissions and potentially larger packets of data. Water Technology is partnering with Simply City to deliver remote monitoring capabilities to some of our major clients in the Pilbara. Find out more: Ashburton Salt - Stronger with Salt . Live Data Monitoring is Transforming Data IN THE REMOTE PILBARA For more information, contact +61 8 6555 0105 , Scott Wills (scott.wills@watertech.com.au) WATER LINES : ISSUE 1, 2021 3Initially drawn to geology through photos of Yosemite National Park in high school (yes, photos existed back then), Andrew studied Applied Geology at university and became particularly engaged in hydrogeology. Now, having worked in the industry for the last 35 years, Andrew Telfer is a highly regarded Senior Principal Hydrogeologist on the eve of taking a well-earned break. Hydrogeologist steps out from the dark For more information, contact +61 8 8378 8000 Rohan Baird ( rohan.baird@watertech.com.au ) A well-earned long service leave break 4 WATER LINES : ISSUE 1, 2021Andrew began his career at the Engineering and Water Supply Department (now SA Water) before moving into consulting and founding Australian Water Environments (AWE) in 1998 with Nick Watkins (and later, Geoff Fisher). AWE was born out of a desire to make things happen, tackle new challenges and pursue interesting work. In 2017, AWE joined forces with Water Technology to expand AWE's groundwater and natural resource management capabilities into the rest of Australia and connect with a larger pool of like-minded individuals with powerful water management capabilities. Andrew has dedicated much of his career to managing salinity along the Lower River Murray through the creation of Salt Interception Schemes (SISs), and the efficiency of Andrew's work is demonstrated through his success in this competitive field. His schemes' total value exceeds $250m, and as a result of these and other measures River Murray salinity has been reduced by 25%. Additionally, SISs were instrumental in maintaining useable water quality for South Australians during the Millennium Drought. Andrew has demonstrated leadership and innovation in salinity management, recognising the secondary benefits of SISs in improving floodplain ecological outcomes and managing salt in the landscape. With all the large-scale SIS borefields built and operational, Andrew has more recently applied his skills toward solving other challenging groundwater and salinity problems in the agriculture, mining and construction sectors. He specialises in recognising patterns in data, identifying correlations and assessing their causality. This expertise has been applied to a range of groundwater engineering projects to great effect. Andrew is an 'ideas person'. This blue-sky thinking has enabled the hydrogeology team to work on a wide variety of exciting and innovative projects. He has helped create a workplace that has been productive, challenging and always with access to good coffee. Andrew is generous with his time and knowledge, and his enthusiasm is contagious. Andrew also encourages debate and a group approach to problem-solving, recognising that considering multiple viewpoints and approaches produces better results. Although Andrew is taking a well-earned break, part of his legacy is the strong hydrogeology team he has built, now led by Rohan Baird (mining), and including Craig Flavel (MAR) and Alison Charles (salinity), who will continue to deliver positive project outcomes in the groundwater space while he is away. Andrew will be back, refreshed, with even more to explore later this year. WATER LINES : ISSUE 1, 2021 5St Peters Billabong rehabilitation Restore and preserve the unique native habitat of St Peters Billabong “ St Peters Billabong is a valued community and ecological asset in St Peters, South Australia. The billabong was part of the Torrens River, which was isolated when the main channel was straightened to the west in 1978, and flows were diverted from Second Creek. By the late 1990s, the billabong had accumulated up to 1.5 metres of unconsolidated sediment and organic load that had severely impacted the health of the aquatic system. Rehabilitation works were commissioned in the early 2000s but had been unsuccessful, with significant organic loads bypassing the GPT and being deposited in the billabong. In 2009, further work was completed to partially remove the accumulated organic material from the sediment basin. An additional review indicated the billabongs potential to be converted to a groundwater- fed system with no inflows from Second Creek. Detailed rehabilitation plans based on a groundwater- only system were developed in 2013 and split into 2 stages, with the first stage focussing on isolating the billabong from Second Creek. For Stage 2, Water Technology was engaged by the Natural Resources Management Board to deliver the rehabilitation works. Following a detailed review of the site history and more recent water quality monitoring results, it was deemed beneficial to conduct a new Billabong before the rehabilitation works 6 WATER LINES : ISSUE 1, 2021round of water quality monitoring and trial plantings. The first stage in the process was establishing field trials that included a range of species and netted and unnetted quadrats across the billabong. These quadrats were frequently monitored, and at the end of the trial period, the nets over the protected quadrats were removed to confirm the likely impacts on grazing. Early results were encouraging, suggesting that the billabong could be stabilised through appropriate species selection incorporating more rigid, emergent macrophytes that provide physical protection for smaller, more delicate species. Water Technology oversaw the planting and civil works' delivery, including installation of a water level controller and reinstatement of the corroded southern billabong outlet structure. The project reached practical completion in December 2019 and the end of the defects period in December 2020. Vegetation coverage has exceeded expectations. The removal of protective netting occurred in late 2020. Although some grazing has been noted, there has not been a significant degradation in the coverage of fringe macrophytes, and the effective biomass and regenerative capacity exceed the anticipated loss. The project has successfully provided a low impact solution that maximises nature based approaches and utilises existing infrastructure. This is opposed to major disturbing activities such as dredging and filling across large areas, which was the previous focus of Stage 2. Water Technology worked closely with the Friends of the Billabong group to maintain a positive relationship and build capacity within the group to continue effectively monitoring the billabong. Key representatives with the Natural Resources Management Board with detailed knowledge of this project recognise its success and have stated the billabong is in the best condition it has been for many decades. For more information +61 8 8378 8000 Ben Taylor ( ben.taylor@watertech.com.au ) Monitoring and trial revegetation The billabong after the rehabilitation works WATER LINES : ISSUE 1, 2021 7Combat Warracknabeal Flooding CONSTRUCTION OF A LEVEE TO In January 2011, Warracknabeal experienced a flood exceeding a 1% AEP event (a 1-in-100-year event). At the time, Yarriambiack Shire Council and the Warracknabeal community worked 24 hours a day to construct a temporary levee, approximately 6 km in length, to stop floodwaters from inundating the town. The Warracknabeal and Brim Flood Investigation was finalised in 2014, quantifying the potential damage that could have occurred in 2011 (both above and below floor flooding of more than 100 buildings) and developing detailed designs for a permanent levee to protect Warracknabeal. The project was led by Wimmera CMA and Yarriambiack Shire Council, with Water Technology serving as the technical lead, and receiving input from the Bureau of Meteorology, VicSES and the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning – who funded the project through their Natural Disaster Resilience Grants Scheme. In 2016, the project won a Highly Commended Award at the Australian Floodplain Management Conference for "The methodology undertaken, combined with the subsequent community support to construct the recommended levee, is a testament to efforts of all involved in the investigation and highlights the project's local and regional significance to flood risk management". The levee design and proposed height were well communicated to the public through a comprehensive community engagement campaign. The technical levee design was distilled into an easily understood and visualised product that the community could digest and support. Upon successfully completing the levee design, the same project team drafted and applied for funding to construct the levee and successfully received $732,000 from Federal and State governments to build the levee. In 2019, Yarriambiack Shire Council and Water Technology worked toward finalising the levee design, incorporating sections of a temporary levee and a concrete retaining wall to ensure that the optimum solution was found. The levee's construction was tendered in late 2019, with the project being awarded to S and R Engineering. Yarriambiack Shire Council and Water Technology collaboratively supervised the construction of the levee through early 2020. They developed a Flood Response Plan in the latter part of the year, defining the actions that Council and emergency response services should both undertake when faced with the prediction of an impending flood event. Water Technology would like to thank and commend Yarriambiack Shire Council, Wimmera CMA, S and R Engineering, as well as the Warracknabeal community, on a terrific project which will benefit them for many years to come. Ten years after one of the worst floods in Warracknabeal's history, the Warracknabeal Levee has finally been completed For more information contact +61 3 8526 0800 Ben Hughes (ben.hughes@watertech.com.au) 8 WATER LINES : ISSUE 1, 2021Ramahyuck District Aboriginal Corporation (RDAC) is a leading primary health, social and family support services provider for Aboriginal people in the Gippsland region, whose services are currently almost entirely reliant on government funding. This could all change, however, with 16 hectares of farmland at Longford (Victoria) now being proposed to house a 5 MW solar farm, which would supply renewable energy powering around 2,000 households and provide an independent income stream for the RDAC. Water Technology has supported this proposal by assessing the flood risk of the site and proposing appropriate design and risk mitigation solutions. This work was completed in collaboration with Point Advisory, a leading sustainability services firm. Ramahyuck lists the following benefits to the project: • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment and training opportunities in the fast- growing renewable energy sector. • Aboriginal self-determination through control over income stream from investment in Aboriginal-owned land. • The Ramahyuck solar farm has the potential to be a template for other Indigenous organisations around the country. Water Technology is proud to continue its support for the renewable energy industry in Australia, helping our clients to develop sustainable solar and wind projects. We are particularly excited about this project, which offers an opportunity for self-determination for the RDAC, and could be used as a template for other indigenous organisations around the country in the future. Indigenous communities self-determination through RENEWABLES For more information, contact +61 3 8526 0800, Ben Tate (ben.tate@watertech.com.au) Celine Marchenay (celine.marchenay@watertech.com.au ) WATER LINES : ISSUE 1, 2021 9Next >