Archived Industry News for Water Professionals

Tasmanian groundwater users will find it easier to access groundwater information and plan bores following the introduction of a new web-based tool funded by the National Water Commission. 

The University of Newcastle and Hunter Water have announced a series of wastewater research initiatives under a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

Dr John Radcliffe, who currently chairs the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering (ATSE) Water Forum, has been appointed chairperson of the Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence Research Advisory Committee.

Radcliffe said he was delighted to be asked to take up the role.

"I believe that the Centre of Excellence has an important part to play in progressing water recycling research and development in Australia," he said. "The centre can help the nation both prepare for its own growth, and potentially contribute to greater international adoption of water recycling, including among other things, to meeting an expanding world food demand."

Radcliffe is a council member of the University of Adelaide and chairman of the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry Eminent Scientists Group

Previously a commissioner with the National Water Commission, deputy chief executive of the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation and South Australian director-general of agriculture, Radcliffe was chair of the board of the South Australian Research & Development Institute from 1993 to 1998.

He is author of Water Recycling in Australia published by ATSE in 2004, as well as an update on water recycling in Australia published in Water Science and Technology in 2010.

The Lake Eyre Basin Ministerial Forum has affirmed support for the sustainable management of the Lake Eyre Basin based on science and local knowledge at its recent meeting.

A water quality improvement plan for the Leschenault Estuary will be released by the Department of Water for public comment on 16 August 2011.

The Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) has announced its plans to use extensive community consultations with local fishers to further scientific understanding of fish species in the Basin.

Australia is leading a $16 million international research project into why and when buried water pipes burst.

A scientific study that brought data from major coal seam gas companies together for the first time has opened the doors for more research to be undertaken into the exploration and production methods for the Surat Basin in southwest Queensland.

The latest cost projections issued by the Gold Coast City Council show that the cost of divorcing from its water retailer has soared from an initial estimate of $60 million to around $200 million.

Global project management specialist Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) has continued to build its South American presence after merging with Chilean water engineering consultancy firm IRH.

The Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) has confirmed it will have completed its work on the new Basin Plan in mid-October to allow for it to be finalised and printed by November.

The Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) has announced its support for the creation of a co-operative research centre (CRC) for Cotton Regions.

High levels of winter rain coupled with dam releases have resulted in the Murray River flowing at above average levels, according to the South Australian Water Department.

New South Wales Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal has found that Sydney apartment dwellers are paying disproportionately less for water services than their counterparts in stand-alone houses.

Redland City Council has become the latest Queensland local government body to withdraw from Allconnex Water after it voted to break from the water retail supplier.

The first early stage works of the Waterproofing the West project have started with the $58.6 million Stage One project starting in Adelaide.

Research by Flinders University’s School of the Environment has shown that a shallow, high-rate pond system to treat wastewater will slash the loss to evaporation as well as boosting the rates of removal of bacterial and viral pathogens.

UNSW researchers have shown they can safely destroy hazardous industrial toxins in groundwater arising from PVC plastic production by injecting naturally occurring bacteria into a contaminated Sydney aquifer – an Australian first that raises hope of cleaning up this and similarly polluted sites around the country.


The trial has confirmed the bacteria's natural ability to degrade and clean up chlorinated solvents that leaked many years ago from a former ICI Australia chemical plant into the Botany Sands Aquifer, creating large plumes of contaminated groundwater.


ICI's successor, Orica Australia Pty Ltd, presently pumps out the contaminated water to prevent the plumes from spreading and entering Botany Bay. That water is then piped to a special treatment plant for decontamination. No other feasible option has been available.


"With present technology, it was expected that it might take decades or perhaps centuries before these toxic solvents are removed from the aquifer," says research team leader Associate Professor Mike Manefield, a Future Fellow in the UNSW School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences and Deputy Director of the Centre for Marine BioInnovation.


"Our tests showed that these bacteria effectively breathe these pollutants the way we breathe oxygen. It's a big step forward. These cultures represent a greener and cheaper tool we can use to clean up some of our contaminated sites. They have not previously been available in Australia. The real appeal is that they’re Aussie bugs."


Large volumes of the bacteria grown in beer kegs showed they thrived on a variety of diets, including ethanol, glucose and emulsified vegetable oils.


The team will soon publish technical details of the discovery of these cultures and has received $1.14 million in funding from industry and the Australian Research Council to carry out a large-scale biological remediation of groundwater at Botany and Altona in Victoria.

The CSIRO have deployed three deep-ocean moorings that will be used to observe and measure change in currents linking the Pacific and Indian Oceans through the Indonesia Archipelago, which is considered a key factor in influencing Australia’s climate.

The Department of Finance and Services has released a discussion paper for public comment regarding last resort arrangements under the Water Industry Competition Act 2006 (WIC Act).