Upcoming 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
The Report Card provides an annual assessment of the pressures facing our waterways, their current environmental condition (A-F grade), and the level of social and economic benefit the waterways provide to local communities (1-5 star rating).
As their organisation transitions into the new entity Healthy Waterways and Catchments, they have leveraged the combined skills and resources of Healthy Waterways and SEQ Catchments to further build upon their holistic monitoring and reporting approach. This includes working with the Council of Mayors to assess the risks to environmental values in each sub catchment. A component of this assessment will be released through the 2016 Report Card, identifying the sub catchments in most need of action to reduce sediment pollution.
To release the results, four launch events will be held simultaneously across South East Queensland.
Central Launch
Host: Healthy Waterways and Catchments
Venue: Riverlife Centre – Naval Stores, Lower River Terrace, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane
Northern Launch
Host: Unitywater
Venue: Mooloolaba Yacht Club, 33-45 Parkyn Parade, Mooloolaba QLD 4557
Western Launch
Host: Somerset Regional Council
Venue: Kilcoy Information Centre, 41 Hope St, next to Yowie Park, Kilcoy, QLD 4515
Southern Launch
Host: Scenic Rim Regional Council
Venue: Tamborine Rainforest Skywalk, 333 Geissmann Dr, Mt Tamborine QLD 4272
For more information and/or to register your attendance, head over to http://healthywaterways.org/eventscalendar . You don’t want to miss this one!
River Basin Management Society invite you to attend:
A Discussion on the 2016 Healthy Waterways and Catchments Report Card
“Please join us for a conversation with Dr Emily Saeck, Senior Scientist with Health Waterways and Catchments, to discuss the results of the 2016 Report Card. The Report Card provides an annual assessment of the pressures facing our waterways, their current environmental condition (A-F grade), and the level of social and economic benefit the waterways provide to local communities (1-5 star rating). This is the second year of the newly evolved Report Card, which provides a deeper understanding of the current pressures, benefits we receive, and importantly what needs to be done to protect and improve our waterways.
Please visit the Healthy Waterways and Catchments website to view the Report Card results after the launch on 16 November: http://healthywaterways.org/report-card”
To Register your attendance – click here
The SQ Management Committee invites all members, and potential members, to attend the 2016 End of Year Celebration event. The event is an opportunity for members to provide feedback and ideas to the committee on 2017 event topics/speakers and new initiatives, and to express your interest in participating in a sub-committee next year.
The program for the evening will also include a short presentation from Mike Smith about “When Government Says “No” at Christmas”. Mike Smith is a National Director of Stormwater Australia, and the founder of Ethical Consulting Services, a consultancy all about communications – lobbying, government relations, campaigning, marketing and governance. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and has been a Company Secretary, and Chief Executive. He’s worked at UQ as a lecturer/course coordinator on government policy-making; he’s also lectured on government relations, governance, board effectiveness, elections and campaigning, as well as developing and delivering customised training courses for business, community organisations, university students, and to professional conferences. His main recreational interest is elections, and he’s been a volunteer in five US Presidential campaigns, as well as managing and mentoring many Australian campaigns and candidates.
If you are able to join us on the 13th, please RSVP via return email by COB 6 December 2016 so as we know numbers for catering.
The Management Committee looks forward to meeting many members for an enjoyable evening.
Brad Dalrymple
President
Stormwater Queensland
Effective land and water management requires a holistic approach across catchments and the development cycle. But it also throws up challenges – grey areas – that require new or different ways of thinking.
For that reason, Stormwater Queensland (SQ) and the International Erosion Control Association (IECA) Australasia have come together for a joint conference in 2017 to recognise the common values and purpose they share in effective land, stormwater and waterway management:
All soil and water professionals are invited to join us in beautiful Brisbane in October 2017. The conference will bring together practitioners, academics, suppliers, asset owners and students in a common forum to engage, collaborate, discuss and dive headfirst into the grey areas of land and water management.
With so many established concepts and approaches for land and water management, this conference will explore the grey areas, the subtleties that exist within those approaches that can trip us up or mean the difference between success and failure. We’ll look at emerging technologies, established approaches, and will never discount embracing the old ways; what can we learn from past mistakes and how can we work smarter to manage our land and water resources?
This conference aims to celebrate our successes, explore new challenges, encourage better integration of soil and water management, and promote engineering and science as complimentary disciplines.
This conference effectively unites two organisations that are in the business of managing stormwater quality and quantity at various stages of development, from design to construction and on to operation.
The conference will include keynote speakers, plenary sessions, open discussion forums, panel sessions, technical workshops, exhibitions and a comprehensive social program.
With SQ and IECA coming together for this conference, it is sure to be a fun, vibrant, thought-provoking event that will expand delegates’ thinking and knowledge while challenging them to investigate the nuanced grey areas of land and water management.
We look forward to seeing you in Brisbane in October 2017!
Avoid disappointment and register today HERE
Awards Dinner Tickets
Members: $100.00 (inc. GST)
Non-Members: $155.00 (inc. GST)
For entry submissions see below;
EVENT CHANGE –
With the easing COVID19 restrictions, SQ is proud to announce a change to the proposed Excellence Awards Webinar to a face-to-face event in February. Come along to celebrate some of the great stormwater projects of the year, catch up with some old industry friends over a couple of drinks and meet a few new ones!
In Queensland, we have a history of excellence across every aspect of stormwater management. From outstanding examples of master planning to integrated stormwater design, the awards provide an outstanding opportunity to showcase the quality of our work and the beneficial impact it has on keeping our vital waterways healthy.
The 2020 entry categories include:
- Excellence in Strategic or Master Planning (Sponsored by Ocean Protect)
- Excellence in Infrastructure
- Excellence in Asset Management
- Excellence in Research and Innovation
- Excellence in Policy or Education
- Excellence in Integrated Stormwater Design
franc.sydney 2022 is powered by Stormwater NSW and is all about challenging the rationality of current practices and perceptions of urban stormwater and its management. It is a community of individuals and organisations who are, in some way, connected to or effected by urban stormwater and are passionate about changing the way the industry operates to become more future-focused, resilient, adaptive and connected.
The stormwater industry has, for decades, tried to shift the balance between vested interests and the greater good, but it has become clear that it can’t do this alone. So franc.sydney 2022 brings together individuals from beyond stormwater to tackle this issue together. Our members include professionals, scientists, academics, researchers and advocates that recognise the need for change, the need to put the long-term prosperity of the health of our waterways, emissions and sustainable development above short-term political and financial interests. Most importantly, we bring these people together to help us all speak with one voice.
And it all begins by having ‘franc’ discussions.
This conference has a total of seventeen (17) guest speakers (up from the traditional four), and will include a range of new topics including:
- How to develop resilient communities.
- The relationship between the environment and human health.
- Finding ways to help protect our aquatic environment and conserve biodiversity; and
Conversations between scientists, planners, hydrologists, environmentalists and academics to ensure we are all on the ‘same page’ going forward.
Franc.Sydney has also moved to become a hybrid event giving everyone the opportunity to be a part of franc either in person or from the comfort of your own home. In-person and virtual registrations are exchangeable at the rate you paid (early bird, standard) if you are to change your mind closer to the date.
Do you find the your work is affecting your mental health? Was that 20th drainage re-design one too many? Do you feel as though your clients still don’t care about water quality outcomes, even in 2022?
Come along to this panel discussion to hear from some diverse voices who’ve been there and seen that. This event aims to proactively review the pressures of mental health, uniquely to stormwater professionals, and how we can work together to overcome them as an industry.
This free 1-hour webinar is hosted by Stormwater Queensland and will include presentations, followed by Q&A with attendees.
Proof of CPD will be provided to attendees upon request to Stormwater Queensland.
We would like to invite you to join us for the 2022 Stormwater Queensland Sustainability Summit.
The Summit program will include one day of plenary sessions, presentation of our annual awards and a fun social evening event. The Summit will feature a co-located trade exhibition, providing an excellent opportunity to learn about the latest in product innovation.
Stormwater Queensland has proven to be leaders in providing high quality professional development for urban water, through their annual conferences and technical events. The 2022 Summit will be a step forward from our usual content with greater focus on new ideas, panel discussions, current research and innovation to both inspire and enable our industry towards a sustainable future.
Who should attend?
The primary audience for this event includes industry professionals such as engineers, asset managers, researchers, landscape architects, sustainability managers, knowledge transfer specialists, policy development practitioners, politicians, and advisors from Government agencies, Non-government agencies, Consultants, Research and development organisations, Regional NRM Bodies and Industry.
