Events

Stormwater Australia invites you to attend STORMWATER 2016, the 4th National Conference convened by Stormwater Australia, to be held from Monday, 29th August to Friday, 2nd September, 2016 in Surfers Paradise, Queensland.

In 2009, the United Nations reported that more than half the world’s population lived in urban centres. This proportion is set to increase to 66% by 2050, when it is estimated that city dwellers will live and share their neighbourhoods with an additional 2.5 billion people.

As our cities grow and evolve, it is imperative that we manage our resource and our natural resources to ensure they continue to provide clean, healthy environments for ourselves and the next generation. Access to adequate supplies of safe and fit-for-purpose water will be increasingly important to meet the needs of a growing population, while the responsible management of runoff from both increasing sprawl and density in existing urban areas will be needed to increase our resilience to natural disasters such as flood and heat waves, and to avoid further environmental and social degradation.

The modern stormwater industry seeks to balance traditional issues with emerging priorities which are being placed on our infrastructure. Practitioners are experienced in working at the coal face, often pragmatically dealing with issues in a complex environment where policy requirements are often unclear, but the demand for good outcomes and multiple benefits are not. The growing need to work in multidisciplinary teams, to lead and influence, to understand and assimilate different points of view and technical requirements, will be core skills required in the future.

Challenge and change brings opportunity. Fiscal constraints are an ever present reality. New and emerging technologies are developed to provide technical solutions. Increasingly we are seeing new business models that empower greater choice. Increasingly we are looking to solve nexus issues around water, energy and food. In an increasingly connected world, information has a new currency to support decision making and engagement with community. As economies around the world transition to make better use of all this knowledge, there is potential to develop new markets and trade opportunities.

The ‘Rising to the Challenge’ Conference will reach out beyond our core industry practitioners to engage with a broader group of committed and talented people who will all need to work together to develop the solutions of the future. Stormwater Australia invites you and your colleagues from all disciplines and experiences to participate in what we anticipate to be an exciting and engaging Conference that builds upon earlier successes, inspires participants and provide opportunities for collaboration and knowledge sharing.

For all enquiries and registrations please visit – www.stormwater2016.com.au

As the Stormwater Industry gathers for its first National Conference following COVID19 it is clear that the world has changed, and we are an integrated part of that change. Technology has leapt forward in a significant way. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now identifying and counting gross pollutants in stormwater. Remote monitoring of floods, structures and community alerts have become a widespread, standard Best Practice. DNA testing in waterways can now identify if a platypus is nearby – giving a rapid ecosystem health assessment! And Mother Nature has been updating the Intensity Frequency Distributions for Far North Queensland. In this era of rapid change, however, Regulation has struggled to keep pace with legal challenges arising for businesses that have suddenly found themselves operating outside their Licence conditions.

SET 2024 provides an opportunity for the sharing of knowledge in these overlapping areas where stormwater influences the environment, where technology improves our understanding of stormwater and environment, where gaps in environment knowledge could be measured and filled by technology. The National Conference is a collaboration of researchers, designers, scientists, engineers, legal professionals, ecologists, community, modellers, government and technology providers. It gives space for new research findings, and innovation in practice. It encourages both academic and practitioner/industry presentations, with peer-reviewed papers being eligible for publication in an international journal following the Conference. It hosts Exhibitors from stormwater, environment and technology (and others) to open our eyes to the possibilities ahead.

SET 2024, as the National Conference, is deliberately different. Delegates don’t have to be a traditional “stormie”. Conference themes include environmental law, policy, community resilience, IoT, and ecosystem processes, as well as erosion control, urban drainage, water sensitive urban design, nature-based solutions, modelling, water quantity and quality. The world is more connected than ever before, and collaboration between disciplines is the way forward. If you have something to share via paper and presentation, please submit your abstract via the Portal. If you are interested to learn from the best in their field, join us in Brisbane, QLD, Australia on 8-11th October 2024

For more information please visit the conference website here.

Key Dates