AUTUMN | 2017WATERLINESContinued focus on Integrated Stormwater Management2 : WATERLINES : AUTUMN 2017Water Technology is fortunate to be working with a diverse range of clients on a wide variety of interesting projects. In this respect, the last quarter has seen us delivering on projects right across the country, and internationally into China. This work has included rapid responses to significant events such as the flooding and coastal erosion in Queensland and Northern NSW associated with Tropical Cyclone Debbie. This edition of Waterlines brings together some of our recent project highlights and outlines on-going work aimed at improving and expanding our technical capabilities.ANDREW McCOWAN - Managing DirectorWelcome to our Autumn Issue of WaterlinesSome of the developments within Water Technology that are described in this edition include:• Rebranding of what was formerly the Victorian Stormwater group to the Integrated Stormwater Management group. This has been done to better reflect our client’s needs and our diverse and expanding range of stormwater and urban water cycle management related skills and tools. • Expansion of our data collection capabilities. Access to quality data sets for environmental process modelling is essential for many of our projects. The developments in our data collection capabilities are a natural progression for the business which help to complement readily available data sources, as well as to fill data gaps where required, especially in remote locations. Other items of interest include: • Working with passionate landowners to restore a natural floodplain ecosystem • Integrating usable community assets with important water quality and quantity systems • HydroNET’s International Award Recognition • A large-scale master-planned community developmentThank you for taking the time to read Waterlines. Please do not hesitate to contact me or any of the Water Technology team at any stage if we can be of assistance. Water Technology’s Stormwater Group has changed its name to the “Integrated Stormwater Management” Group. The change reflects the diversification of the team since its inception over 10 years ago. Luke Cunningham, the Integrated Stormwater Management Group Leader commented on the reasons for the change: We’ve grown to be quite a large group of urban stormwater management specialists spread across Victoria, working with government and private clients within Victoria, across Australia and internationally. The Group’s roots are in flood and water quality modelling, but we’ve been moving with the industry over the years to provide a more integrated and sustainability focused stormwater service to our clients. We have some amazing clients and projects which demonstrate our wide and varied skill set – these range from major wetland and waterway designs for large developments, urban billabong restorations, future population planning, dam break modelling in urban environments and community and stakeholder engagement. This is all on top of our core business of integrated water management backed by our leading water quality and flood modelling skills. The group is very proud of their involvement in the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities, being active members of discussions and currently working on several key projects with the CRC. In February, Luke travelled to China with the CRC on a Victorian Government trade mission to present on how Australia leads the way in Integrated Water Management, or “Sponge Cities” as they call it in China. It was a fantastic opportunity which he thoroughly enjoyed.For more information about the services provided by the Integrated Stormwater Management Group, please contact Group Leader, Luke Cunningham, or Assistant Group Manager, Rianda Mills.The Integrated Stormwater Management Group WATERLINES : AUTUMN 2017 : 3For more information, contact +61 3 8526 0800 Luke Cunningham (luke.cunningham@watertech.com.au) Rianda Mills (rianda.mills@watertech.com.au)4 : WATERLINES : AUTUMN 2017Harpley Estate is a premiere new residential estate being developed by Lendlease in the suburb of Werribee, approximately 30 kilometres southwest of Melbourne’s CBD.The development will feature over 60 hectares of interconnected waterways, wetlands, and open water areas. Cells 2 and 3 represent a significant portion of the major drainage infrastructure works being incorporated within the estate and will include approximately 4.5 hectares of wetlands, 4 sediment basins’, 650 metres of new constructed waterways and 4 major culvert crossings.Water Technology recently completed the functional design for Cells 2 and 3 which will see important water quality and quantity assets built as Harpley Estate develops. The design of the systems not only allows for hydraulic and treatment functions, but critically will also form a useable community asset in the heart of the development for future residents. This will ultimately add to the impressive arrangement of stormwater assets within the development which hold true to Harpley’s motto of “Life by the Water”.More thanjust water quality and quantityFor more information, contact +61 3 8526 0800 Thomas Cousland (thomas.cousland@watertech.com.au) Luke Cunningham (luke.cunningham@watertech.com.au)The Aura development, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, is a 50,000 person/2,500 ha masterplanned community being developed by Stockland. Aura is located adjacent to the environmentally significant Pumicestone Passage. This, together with internal site issues related to groundwater dependent ecosystems and acid frogs, has required Stockland to include within the design of Aura one of 'sAustralia most comprehensive stormwater quantity and quality management systems. Water Technology’s Tony McAlister has been involved in the conceptualisation, configuration, design and construction of this system for more than 10 years.The Aura stormwater management system includes the following key elements:• Extensive use of high efficiency sediment basins to manage water quality during the construction stage of the project;• The mandating of rainwater tanks for all residential properties to supply laundry, toilet, hot water and external uses; and• An extensive network of water sensitive urban design elements (bioretention systems, wetland etc.) throughout the project.Stockland, Water Technology and Seqwater are currently investigating the feasibility of a potential stormwater harvesting scheme which could see carefully managed stormwater from Aura being collected and pumped to the nearby Ewen Maddock Dam for subsequent indirect potable reuse. A decision as to how and if this scheme will proceed is expected to be made early in 2018. WATERLINES : AUTUMN 2017 : 5A masterplanned communityFor more information, contact +61 7 3105 1460 Tony McAlister (tonya.mclister@watertech.com.au)6 : WATERLINES : AUTUMN 2017Restoring Farmland to Historic Floodplain WetlandsRECONNECTING FloodplainsBEFOREAFTER“It has been a pleasure working with Water Technology. Their professionalism in preparation of their report, prompt answers to our many questions and requests, as well as friendly guidance through this new experience has been greatly appreciated”. WATERLINES : AUTUMN 2017 : 7NSW landowners, Ken & Jill Hooper engaged Water Technology to better understand the flooding regime on their property, which they wished to restore to its natural floodplain ecosystem function. Their property, ‘Moona-Bingel’, comprises some 144 ha of land on the floodplain between the Edward River and Tumudgery Creek, adjacent to the Werai Forest in New South Wales.A series of historic unapproved and unlicensed levees along the Edward River and Moonyah Lagoon has altered flood behaviour and prevents connections from the river to adjacent flood dependent ecosystems. Leveraging off works proposed by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service to remove some of these levees, Ken & Jill developed their own plan to restore their property. Water Technology developed a hydraulic model of the property and surrounding floodplain to test the function of the proposed management infrastructure within the constraints of there being no adverse impacts on adjacent properties. The intent of the proposed works is to hold floodwaters in the designated ecological management areas at a desirable level and duration for their vegetation type. Perfectly timed, the collation of survey for this project aligned with the moderate August flow event in the Edward River, providing an opportunity to survey water levels for use in calibrating the model. The accuracy of this modelling was subsequently demonstrated in the higher October peak when part of Moona-Bingel was flooded, as predicted by the Water Technology investigations This was a rare opportunity to work with landowners with such an understanding and passion for restoring threatened floodplain ecosystems. Water Technology is proud to have assisted in the development of restoration plans for Moona-Bingel.For more information, contact +61 3 8526 0800Alison Miller (alison.miller@watertech.com.au) Ben Tate (ben.tate@watertech.com.au)8 : WATERLINES : AUTUMN 2017Expanded data collection capabilityMany factors impact on excellent environmental process modelling, analyses and subsequent design outcomes, potentially the most significant of which is the availability of sufficient, high quality, data. At Water Technology, much of our work is associated with the analysis and interpretation of data such as water levels, salinity and other water quality parameters that are measured in the field. We use the data to assist in developing an in-depth understanding of environmental conditions and to calibrate and validate the wide range of numerical models we regularly develop and apply for different projects. Water Technology is constantly expanding our data collection and data analysis capabilities to compliment datasets that are available from a wide array of national and state government sources – such as the Bureau of Meteorology, the Australian Ocean Data Network and GeoScience Australia, to name a few. The lack of measured data in remote locations in Northern Australia, in particular, has recently prompted WATERLINES : AUTUMN 2017 : 9the expansion of our in-house data collection, monitoring program design and project-based data collection and management capabilities. At the same time we have expanded the suite of tools we use for data capture and analysis. We have been capitalising on this upgrade in equipment, and experience, and have been rapidly expanding our data collection capability into urban and rural waterways across Australia.Find out more about our data collection capabilities at watertech.com.au/data-collectionFor more information, contact +61 3 8526 0800Christine Lauchlan-Arrowsmith (christine.arrowsmith@watertech.com.au) Elise Lawry (elise.lawry@watertech.com.au)Next >