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Full Day Event: What’s happening in flooding in Australia

UPDATE: this has been rescheduled to 27th November 2013 at the same venue.

The Water Panel is pleased to announce, despite the late notice, that the next event on its calendar will be a full day event titled What’s happening in flooding in Australia.  This will be held at the UTS Aerial Function Centre on 23rd October and will cost $70, students are free but must pre-register.  The cost will include full catering for the day.

Update 2013-10-02: the event registration and payment gateway is now up an running.

Abstract

There is a lot going on in the flooding space in Australia at the moment. This includes the National Flood Risk Information Project (NFRIP), updating of Australian Rainfall and Runoff and the National Flood Manual. A number of projects underway are being funded by Geoscience Australia. This seminar will include an update on the upcoming milestones and deliverables of these projects. NFRIP which will undertake three core activities:

  • Work towards making flood study mapping information freely available from a central location through an online flood information portal.
  • Analyse Geoscience Australia’s historic archive of satellite imagery to derive water observations to help understand where flooding may have occurred in the past.
  • Improve the quality of future flood information by completing the revision of the Australian Rainfall and Runoff (ARR).

Presenters

  • Geoscience Australia Representative (TBC)
  • James Ball, Editor ARR, UTS
  • Janice Green, Project Manager ARR Project 1 –IFD revision, BoM
  • Duncan McLuckie, Editor “Managing the Floodplain”, NSW OEH

Details

Time: 10am to 4pm

Catering: included (if you have special needs please contact us)

Cost: $70 to cover catering and venue hire. Full time students free subject to registration prior to the event (email: arr_admin@arr.org.au)  Registration can be made at: https://events.engineersaustralia.org.au/ei/getdemo.ei?id=1881&s=_70S0ZGDRN

Venue: UTS Aerial Function Centre

Enquiries: Mark Babister (babister@wmawater.com.au) or Peter Brady (peter.brady@uts.edu.au)

Printable Flyer: a PDF printable flyer is available for download.

WSRG Stormwater Presentation

The Western Sydney Regional Group is running a presentation titled “Integrated Water Cycle Management – From Modelling to Delivery on Ground”, on the 25th September.  If you are interested please see the full pdf flier.

Speakers:

Tony Weber:

Tony is an Associate at BMT WBM with over 25 years’ experience in the water industry. In his current role, Tony provides expert advice, peer review, mentoring and business development support for water sensitive urban design, catchment modelling, integrated water cycle management, policy, planning and practical capacity building amongst government and industry across Australia, the UK, Europe and Asia. He has been a co-author in many water quality and WSUD guideline documents across Australia, especially those around stormwater quality modelling and integrated water cycle management. Tony has a degree in chemistry from QUT, is a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University’s Fenner School and was awarded Fellowship of the Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand in 2012.

Reid Butler:

Reid is nearing 20 years in the water industry in Sydney, and during that time has been involved with numerous projects which have achieved significant water conservation, runoff quality improvements, flood mitigation and sustainable outcomes.
He has been the manager of the Sydney office of BMT WBM for the past six years and before that worked in state and local government as well as a stint project managing the innovative WSUD in Sydney capacity building program.

Call for Papers: Brisbane Hydraulics Conference

A call for papers is now open for the 5th International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures and the 11th  National Conference on Hydraulics in Civil Engineering, which will be held in Brisbane on 25–27 June 2014. The symposium has the theme of “Hydraulic Structures and Society – Engineering Challenges and Extremes”, and will focus on the role of hydraulic structures in meeting the challenge of extreme events while addressing the requirements imposed by our growing population, the environment, agriculture, industry, and tourism for the current and future generations. Abstract submissions are due by 2 Dec.

More information: https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/ishs-2014

2013 Darcy Lecture

IAH NSW and the Engineers Australia Sydney Division Water Engineering Panel proudly present the 2013 Darcy Lecture, with a presentation by Professor David L. Rudolph, a geological engineer in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Waterloo.

Professor Rudolph  will be talking on the matter of managing Groundwater Beneath the Agricultural Landscape.

We hope to see you on Wednesday 4th September, 6 to 8 pm at AECOM (Level 21, 420 George Street, Sydney). For more information on the topic and the venue click here.

ANCOLD Workshop for September

The Australian National Committee on Large Dams is running a a series of workshops around the country titled “ANCOLD Hydrology, Dambreak and Consequence Workshops”.  They are two day workshops with the full details available on a PDF flyer.

The dates and locations are:

  • Melbourne: 2-3 September, Rydges Exhibition Street
  • Brisbane: 5-6 September, Rydges South Bank
  • Sydney: 9-10 September, Rydges World Square

ARR Update July 2013

Project 1 – IFD Release

The Bureau of Meteorology has been working to develop new Intensity–Frequency–Duration (IFD) design rainfall estimates. We’re pleased to inform you these new IFDs have now been released.

The new IFDs are based on a more extensive database, with nearly 30 years’ additional rainfall data and data from 2300 extra rainfall stations. IFDs are part of a larger suite of design flood estimation inputs currently being revised though the ARR research project, to be released progressively over the next two years. Until all components of ARR are revised, the new IFDs can only be used in specific circumstances. Please read the guidance provided by Engineers Australia prior to using the new IFDs.

Visit the Bureau’s website to access the new IFDs, along with technical information about the new estimates and answers to common questions.

Please email ifdrevision@bom.gov.au if you have any further questions or feedback about the new IFDs.

Draft Terminology Section Release

The section in ARR that defines the terminology to be used has been released. It aims to provide three things:

  • Clarity of meaning;
  • Technical correctness; and
  • Practicality and acceptability

This section defines terms such as Annual Exceedance Probability (AEP) and Annual Recurrence Interval (ARI).

Call for Reviewers

Those interested in officially reviewing projects should email arr_admin@arr.org.au briefly describing which projects they are interested in reviewing and what qualifications/experience they have in those practice areas. Please include a brief CV. Those wishing to review project reports in an unofficial capacity can download project reports from the website and email comments to arr_admin@arr.org.au.

Steve Perrens’ Presentation Slides

Steve Perrens has kindly allowed us to post PDF copies of his slides as there was a lot of interest.

June Presentation: Water and Mining

The Engineers Australia, Sydney Division Water Engineering Panel is pleased to announce that the June presentation is titled Water and Mining and will be jointly given by Dr Steve Perrens and Mr Steve Pells.

Date: 26th June 2013
Time: 5:30 for 6pm
Location: EA Chatswood, 8 Thomas Street
Entry is Free
Refreshments will be provided
A printable PDF flyer is available

Abstract: Mining and unconventional gas developments are intrinsically linked with the production and use of water. The impacts of mining on both surface and groundwater resources are a topical and controversial issue for government and industry alike.

Dr Steve Perrens of Evans & Peck is an experienced environmental engineer who has been involved in water resource management issues for many years. His experience in assisting mines to manage surface water covers most commodities including bauxite, coal, metalliferous and uranium mines.
Dr Perrens will present on the challenges associated with managing surface water in open cut mining operations. He will review the current regulatory context, uncertainties in the assessment of water demands and the effect of climate variability, all of which need to be taken into account in managing surface water on typical open-cut mine sites.

Mr Steven Pells of Pells Consulting is a civil engineer who has practiced over the last 15 years in the fields of hydrology, hydrogeology, hydraulics and geotechnical engineering. Consulting to various longwall mining proponents in the Sydney Basin has led to an active research interest in the impacts of underground mining and coal seam gas extraction on groundwater systems. Mr Pells will present on the impacts of longwall mining and coal seam gas extraction on groundwater regimes in the Sydney Basin.

HWRS2014 Abstracts Close on 14th June 2013

Just a quick reminder that the call for abstracts for the 35th Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium close on the 14th June 2014.  If you are interested in submitting a paper please check out their site for full details.

ARR May 2013 News

Project Updates

Monte Carlo Discussion Paper

Monte Carlo simulation offers an alternative to the design event method. This approach recognises that any design flood characteristics (e.g. peakflow) could result from a variety of combinations of flood producing factors, rather than from a single combination. The approach mimics “mother nature” in that the influence of all probability distributed inputs are explicitly considered, thereby providing a more realistic representation of the flood generation processes.

This report describes the practical implementation of Monte-Carlo techniques for flood estimation. The discussion focuses on the manner in which the current (ARR) guidelines and available design information can be used to take into account the natural variability of the inputs, and presents the concepts in a manner that can be implemented in a spreadsheet. While it would be possible to directly employ these techniques with existing models, this guidance should also be found helpful to those using Monte Carlo frameworks that are available in the public domain. The report can be downloaded here.

ARR Update Presentation

ARR editor Professor James Ball is giving a general update on the ARR revision progress at Engineers Australia in Newcastle. Presented will be advice on the document, the progress towards completion and the many changes to practice that will arise from its publication. It will be held in Newcastle on the 3rd of July at 6pm. Further details can be found here.

ARR presentations at the FMA Conference

There will be three presentations directly related to the ARR revision:

  1. The Revised Intensity-Frequency-Duration (IFD) Design Rainfall for Australia, Janice Green (BoM) on the Thursday at 10.50am
  2. Estimation of Design Floods Using Continuous Simulation, James Ball (UTS and ARR editor) on the Thursday at 11.50am
  3. New Regional Flood Estimation Methos for the Whole of Australia: Overview of Progress, Ataur Rahman (UWS) on the Thursday at 1.10pm

For more information on the conference please refer to the website.

General Updates

Call for Reviewers

Those interested in officially reviewing projects should email arr_admin@arr.org.au briefly describing which projects they are interested in reviewing and what qualifications/experience they have in those practice areas. Please include a brief CV.  Those wishing to review project reports in an unofficial capacity can download project reports from the website and email comments to arr_admin@arr.org.au.

LinkedIn

Australian Rainfall and Runoff has joined LinkedIn. Join the group for discussions and updates on the revision of Australian Rainfall and Runoff.

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