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42nd EEA 2-Day Stormwater Management Workshop June, Sydney

The following is an advertisment for the upcoming EEA Stormwater Management course:

A 2-day Workshop entitled “Stormwater Management (source control)” will be presented in Sydney on Thursday/Friday 27/28 June, 2013. The Notes provided in the course are based on the content of the award-winning manual “WSUD: basic procedures for ‘source control’ of stormwater – a Handbook for Australian practice” edited by Professor John Argue AO (University of South Australia). This document is endorsed by Stormwater Industry Association (SIA), Australian Water Association (AWA) and by Department of Water, Western Australia. The Notes have been updated, most recently in February, 2013.

Serious issues of stormwater management in Australia are posed by the prospect of 35 million population of Australia by 2050.

  •  How will Sydney’s existing stormwater infrastructure and that of other major population centres such as Wollongong and Newcastle  cope with change under the ‘high density’ option being suggested as a possible re-development scenario ?
  • What strategies can be adopted to enable existing (competently-performing) infrastructure to manage these changes without expensive upgrade?
  • How can re-development in catchments with existing under-performing stormwater infrastructure be managed to enable the existing in-ground works to progressively meet greater demand without expensive upgrade?
  • Must the creeks and natural waterways falling within the jurisdictions of metropolitan and regional population centres such as Western Sydney and the Blue Mountains be sacrificed to hard-lining in the wake of the proposed expansion?

Positive answers to these and many other questions based on WSUD (quantity) ‘source control’ practice will be provided in the Workshop.

The Workshop will also include results of hydrological modelling of high-performing filter bio retention systems enhanced by treatment taking place in parent soil masses; the fate of dissolved pollutants is singled out for particular attention.

The short course includes: design procedures based on state-of-the-art analyses and best overseas practices adapted to Australia-wide conditions; case study illustrations drawn from field installations with between 10 and 18 years of Australian operational history; design ‘worked examples’; introduction and access to rainwater tank sizing software applicable across Australia. An understanding of basic engineering hydrology will be assumed. An optional, overnight homework exercise (requiring use of a calculator) will be included. The Workshop will be conducted as a joint presentation by Professor John Argue and Mr Peter Newland who will take over as sole Presenter of the Workshops in 2014 and beyond.

Why you should attend the Workshop:

  • It is offered only once per year in each of the major population centres;
  • It covers the three domains of WSUD practice – quantity (urban flooding), quality (pollution treatment/control) and stormwater harvesting – in a comprehensive, integrated manner;
  • It provides cost-effective strategies for managing re-development with the potential (already proven) for avoiding hundreds of millions of $ in conventional infrastructure upgrade costs;
  • It earns participants 32 hours of CPD credit with Engineers Australia.

More information about the workshop including course content, cost and Registration Forms is available on the EEA website http://www.eeaust.com.au/ or by calling Anna on (03) 9274 9600.

ARR April 2013 Update

Project Updates

Areal Reduction Factors (ARF)

Due to a lack of adequate research carried out in Australia to derive ARF for use in the different  parts of the country, “Australian Rainfall and Runoff” (ARR87, IEAust, 1987) recommended the set of curves derived from a study in the Chicago area for all Australian zones except for the dry inland area of Zone 5 (Figures 2.6 and 3.2 in ARR87). These ARF values apply to design rainfalls for any average recurrence interval (ARI) up to 100 years. The ARFs obtained from a study in the Arizona area, a semi-arid part in the United States, were recommended for use in Zone 5 (Figure 2.7 in ARR87).

There has since been a concern in some sections of the Australian hydrological community that the results from the United States may not be appropriate for the Australian conditions. This concern was confirmed by a number of studies (Nittim, 1989; Avery, 1991; Porter and Ladson, 1993; Masters, 1993; Masters and Irish, 1994; Meynink and Brady, 1993) in which the authors found that the values from ARR87 were generally larger than those from their own study. Moreover, studies in the United Kingdom (Bell, 1976; Stewart, 1989) have conclusively shown that ARFs for that region are dependent on the annual exceedance probability (AEP) of the rainfall. The above established the development of ARFs appropriate to Australia as a high priority research area in flood estimation.

This report provides a summary of ARF assessments around Australia that are recommended for current use in design practice. It also provides a list of recommendations for future research work to further reduce any potential uncertainty in design flood estimates introduced due to uncertainties in the ARF. The report can be downloaded here.

Two Dimensional Modelling

Darwin

Mark Babister, the editor of Project 15, will be giving a presentation on the 23rd of May in the Engineers Australia office in Darwin. This seminar will provide details on the Australian Rainfall & Runoff Update. The session will include Project 5 software demonstration and a presentation on Project 15 – Hydraulic Modelling. Flyer can be downloaded here.

Perth

Andrew McCowan and Mark Babister are running a half day workshop on the recently completed ARR project 15 two dimensional Modelling on Monday the 13th of May. This will be followed by an update on the ARR revision progress. The presentation will also cover the test catchments program which is aimed at testing and validating new methods. Sample catchments in each state/territory will be used and tested with these new methods. Workshop flyer can be downloaded here and the presentation flyer here.

ARR Update Presentation

ARR editor Professor James Ball will be giving a presentation on the status of the ARR update at the Engineers Australia Regional Convention in Port Macquarie. Presented will be advice on the document, the progress towards completion and the many changes to practice that will arise from its publication. The convention runs from the 24th to the 26th of May. Flyer can be downloaded here.

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.

HWRS 2014 Call For Papers

The call for papers has now been announced for the 35th Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium.  Full details are available on their website.

ARR Update for February 2013

Project Updates

Project  6 – Loss Models for Catchment Simulation- Rural Catchments

The Stage 2 report on Loss Models for Catchment Simulations – Rural Catchments is being released for industry comment. It involves a pilot study on a limited number of catchments that trials potential loss models to test whether they are suited for parameterisation and application to design flood estimation for ungauged catchments . A range of conceptual loss models were considered for application to rural catchments and the following 4 models are considered most suited for further development for design flood estimation in Australia:

  1. Initial loss – constant continuing loss
  2. Initial loss – constant proportional loss
  3. Initial loss – variable continuing loss
  4. Probability distributed storage capacity loss model

The careful extension of the study to a larger number of catchments should provide the best opportunity to link the derived loss values to catchment characteristics; a link that has in the past proven elusive. Download Report

Project  1.3 Stage 3 – Rainfall Intensity-Frequency-Duration (IFD) Relationships under Climate Change

Human-induced climate change has the potential to alter the prevalence and severity of rainfall extremes, storm surge and floods. Recognition of the risks associated with climate change is required for better planning of new infrastructure and mitigating potential damage to existing infrastructure.As part of stage 3 funding for the Climate Change component of Project 1 was received (over 1 million dollars). The project official started with an inception meeting last month between the project team including CSIRO, BoM, University of Adelaide, and UNSW.

The goals of the project are to:

  • Quantify possible changes and uncertainties in rainfall intensity-frequency-duration (IFD) curves due to anthropogenic climate change.
  • Provide interim advice to practitioners on how these changes can be included into design and planning decisions.

In this project, the main objective will be to provide interim advice to practitioners on how possible changes in the magnitude and uncertainty of rainfall IFD under anthropogenic climate change can be incorporated into design and planning. In order to estimate these potential changes, IFD curves for the current climate will be compared to IFD curves estimated for a future climate. Current IFD curves will be generated using different regional climate models and alternative statistical methods, and they will  be  benchmarked against the IFD curves currently being prepared by the BoM as the baseline.. Any differences between the generated IFD curves and those prepared by the BoM will be investigated for systematic errors and, if there are biases, the generated IFDs will be corrected to be equivalent to the AR&R IFDs.

The project will also include two sub-components that will focus on (a) assessing whether sub-daily rainfall in the study region is non-stationary and (b) using a combination of station and radar data to evaluate the how well dynamically downscaled output reproduces the spatial extent of observed rainfall extremes.

The project will focus on the greater sydney region due to availability of data. A future stage will focus on South East Queensland.

Report Review Process-

The Revision team is committed to producing a quality project for industry. As part of the revision process has been developed where reports are reviewed by the Technical Committee as well as Australian and International reviewers. The following reports are undergoing the detailed review process prior to release to the industry for comment and are expected to be released soon.
-Project 2 – Collation and Review of Areal Reduction Factors from Applications of the CRC-FORGE Method in Australia

General Updates

Call for Reviewers

Those interested in reviewing projects should email arr_admin@arr.org.au or  review@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).

LinkedIn

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

ARR Update February 2013

Project Updates

Project 11

The Stage 2 report on Blockage of Hydraulic Structures has been released for industry comment. Hydraulic blockages can occur within a variety of structures including stormwater inlets and pipes, cross drainage structures, especially culverts and bridges, overland flow paths, drainage channels and waterways, dams and weirs. The principal areas of interest within this report are culverts and bridges as cross drainage structures and the inlets and pipes of urban drainage systems. The issues addressed within this report include:

  • Design of drainage systems
  • Evaluation of the performance of existing systems
  • Management of blockage

Blockage has been identified as an important aspect of drainage planning and design, but one that is little understood and often poorly managed. Blockage can have significant impacts on the drainage system and can lead to costly and sometimes dangerous impacts on the community. This report has followed on from Stage 1 of the project and has indicated recommended design guidance for the incorporation of blockage into the planning, design and management of drainage systems. Download Report

Project  6 and 7 – Losses and Baseflow

The Queensland Water Panel is giving a presentation on Projects 6 and 7 of the ARR revision. This seminar will cover the outcomes from:

Losses

The lack of guidance on design losses has long been regarded as one of the greatest weaknesses in the current edition of ARR. A pilot study has been completed involving 10 catchments (3 from Qld) which will inform the conceptual loss models and approach to be applied to a wider data set, which will ultimately underpin the new guidance in ARR.

Baseflows

Baseflow can potentially represent a significant contribution to smaller flood events. The baseflow characteristics were analysed for over 30,000 flood events from 230 catchments. Regional prediction equations have been developed to enable the estimation of baseflow for ungauged catchments across Australia and guidance provided on how to incorporate baseflow in design flood estimates.

The details are

Venue: Hawken Auditorium, Engineering House, 447 Upper Edward Street, Brisbane, QLD
Date: Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Time: 11:45am for 12 noon start
Cost: Free for EA Members/Students, $20 for Non-EA members – Light snacks and beverages will be provided

Project  15

Deadline for industry comment on Project 15 (2D modelling) is February 19th. Send you reviews to p15@arr.org.au

Report Review Process

The Revision team is committed to producing a quality project for industry. As part of the revision process has been developed where reports are reviewed by the Technical Committee as well as Australian and International reviewers. The following reports are undergoing the detailed review process prior to release to the industry for comment and are expected to be released soon.
-Project 6 – Losses (Rural component)

General Updates

Call for Reviewers

Those interested in reviewing projects should email arr_admin@arr.org.au or  review@arr.org.au briefly describing which projects they are interested in reviewing and what qualifications/experience they have in those practice areas.

LinkedIn

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

ARR: Two Dimensional Modelling Report Released

Project Updates

-Project  15 (Two dimensional Modelling of Urban and Rural Floodplains)

At the time that the 1987 Edition of Australian Rainfall and Runoff was prepared, the use one-dimensional hydrodynamic models for assessment of flooding in riverine and urban systems was an emerging area with two dimensional models being computationally impractical for real world problems. Since that time the situation has changed considerably with technological advances enabling 2D models to become the tool of choice for most hydraulic flood assessments.

For this reason it is necessary to provide guidance on the use of 2D models as part of the updating of ARR.

This project aims to provide guidance to not just modellers, but to those who commission studies and use model results. This document has been prepared in a collaborative approach by a team of Australian industry experts in the field of two dimensional hydrodynamic modelling. All team members gave their time for free.   While the document has been independently peer reviewed it is recognized by the project team that many aspects could be covered in more detail.  It is also recognized in two dimensional hydrodynamic modelling that practice and technology can advance very quickly.  For this reason the document will be reviewed after a 3 month period of industry comment.  It is also recognized that this document will need periodic updating.

The Project 15 report is now available on the ARR webpage for download. Comments should be emailed to p15@arr.org.au

Report Review Process

The Revision team is committed to producing a quality project for industry. As part of the revision process has been developed where reports are reviewed by the Technical Committee as well as Australian and International reviewers. The following reports are undergoing the detailed review process prior to release to the industry for comment and are expected to be released soon.

General Updates

Call for Reviewers –

Those interested in 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.

LinkedIn

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

Sydney Urban Water Management Seminar and Workshop

There is a workshop and presentation on WSUD in Sydney coming up:

Sydney Urban Water Management Seminar and Workshop
Macquarie University, 30th of November
PDF Flyer
wsud.org

Spotlight on Chris Derry

Chris is a toxicology consultant, senior lecturer at UWS and a member of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centres.

Chris has had a very distinguished career conducting research and publishing papers dealing with the health risks associated with re-using water.

Chris’s work with the WHO has recently centred on working with Chinese authorities dealing with the aftermath of their decentralised industrialisation policy. This has seen previously pristine lakes polluted by industrial effluent.

Recently he has worked with the City of Sydney to develop a monitoring and assessment framework for their raingardens. A fact sheet with further information is attached above.

We are very pleased that Chris has agreed to be part of the Seminar Session – his talk is titled “Sustainable monitoring of raingardens as decentralised treatment units”.

Note: this is not a Panel event and it is a pay to enter function.

ARR Workshop: New IFDs and 2D Modelling

The ARR revision team is running a full day workshop on Monday 19th November in Sydney.  The workshop will run from 10am – 4.15pm at UTS, Sydney. An updated schedule is included.

The workshop will now include the launching of the long awaited Two dimensional modelling Best practice and how to guide. The guide has been authored by industry leaders in 2D modelling. The report covers all aspects of 2D modelling including model set up, data and calibration to direct rainfall. The report will be a handy resource for both new and experienced 2D modellers.

The Bureau of Meteorology is nearing completion of the revision of its Intensity-Frequency-Duration (IFD) design rainfall estimates.  The revised IFDs will be available to users via a new webpage which has been design to better meet the requirements of engineers and hydrologists.  At the workshop an update on the revised IFDs will be provided together with a demonstration of the new IFD webpage.  (Detailed presentations on the derivation of the revised IFDs will be made during the conference.) The planned enhancements to the webpage over the next twelve months will also be presented.

The cost of registration is $150 (inc. GST). Registration is open to those attending or not attending the Hydrology and Water Resources Conference. For those attending the Hydrology and Water Resources Conference 19-22nd November – Please note that registration for this event is separate to registering for the conference. Minimal overlap may occur with papers presented at the conference. The exact content of this workshop will not be repeated in other events. Workshops are planned to begin around the country in March next year but will have minimal overlap with this workshop. Morning Tea, Lunch and Afternoon tea and notes is included in the registration price. Please advise at time of booking if you have special dietary requirements. Enquiries should be sent to arr_admin@arr.org.au.

Hawkesbury Nepean Modelling Free Presentation

Date & Time: Monday 19th November, 13:00 – 16:00
Location: Second Avenue, Kingswood (University of Western Sydney – see attached map)
Room: Building K, room K.1.04
RSVP Online at: https://events.engineersaustralia.org.au/ei/getdemo.ei?id=1407&s=_IBO0V19EV
Enquiries: wsrg@engineersaustralia.org.au

Sydney Water is developing a new Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment, hydrodynamic and river system model. This new model will inform wastewater infrastructure investment decisions for Sydney’s northwest and south west growth sectors. The modelling is being undertaken by Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) in partnership with BMT WBM, eWater CRC and CSIRO.

A pilot modelling phase has been completed and simulates the hydrology, hydraulics and biochemical processes to determine the water quality benefits and impacts resulting from various waste water treatment environmental flow, water sensitive urban design and land-use change scenarios.

Presentations:
Overview of Sydney Water’s Modelling Project   
by Stephen Blockwell, Sydney Water Corporation

Modelling large catchments
by Phillip Jordan, Sinclair Knights Merz

Hydrodynamic, water quality modelling
by Tony McAlister, BTM WBM

ARR September 2012 Update

ARR receives funding for final stage

Geoscience Australia yesterday signed an agreement with Engineers Australia to fund the third and final stage of the Australian Rainfall and Runoff revision. Geoscience Australia will fund Engineers Australia $5 million over three years to complete the work. This was made possible through funding provided by the Australian Government through the National Flood Risk Information Project.

Australian Rainfall and Runoff Workshop

The ARR revision team is running a full day workshop on Monday 19th November in Sydney.  The workshop will run from 10am – 4.15pm at UTS, Sydney. A preliminary schedule is attached however this is subject to change depending on whether outcomes of other projects are available at the time. The worksop will discuss the framework for delivery as well as project updates. Registration is open to those attending or not attending the Hydrology and Water Resources Conference. For those attending the Hydrology and Water Resources Conference 19-22nd November – Please note that registration for this event is separate to registering for the conference. The cost of registration is $150 (inc. GST). Register NOW!

Report Review Process

The Revision team is committed to producing a quality project for industry. As part of the revision process has been developed where reports are reviewed by the Technical Committee as well as Australian and International reviewers. The following reports are undergoing the detailed review process prior to release to the industry for comment and are expected to be released soon.

  • Project 11 – Blockage of Hydraulic Structures – Stage 2 Report

General Updates

Call for Reviewers

Those interested in formally 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. Industry is welcome to download reports from the ARR website and provide comment.

HWRS 2012

Registration is now open for the Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium. HWRS 2012 is Australia’s largest event devoted to hydrology, water engineering and related areas in water resources management. The Symposium has a long history as Australia’s pre-eminent conference in hydrological research and provides a forum to discuss emergent and innovative approaches for practicing engineers and scientists. HWRS 2012 takes place from 19 – 22 November 2012 at Dockside, Sydney NSW,

HWRS 2012 will bring together a large audience of academics, government officials and industry practitioners. Symposium highlights will include presentations from various researchers working on the 21 Australian Rainfall and Runoff Revision Projects, and keynote speeches from some of the world’s leading experts in hydrology and water resources. Dr Rob Vertessy, of the Bureau of Meterology has been confirmed to give the Munro Oration.  Register Now!!

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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