Upcoming Events
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
AR&R 2016 in Practice – Learning the concepts, understanding the limitations and knowing how to implement
Presenter: Martin Giles
Includes: Presentation, Q&A Session and Lunch
As part of our regional focus Stormwater Queensland is proud to announce the above-mentioned event.
It’s fair to say that no other release of technical guideline information has had more of an impact in our industry than the latest release of the Australian Rainfall and Runoff. But what does this mean to practising engineers?
AR&R 2016 is a phenomenal update on the previous version with far more thoroughly researched concepts and extensive data captured in the review but has been criticised in the industry for its complexity, mixed understanding and potential difficulty in applying in practice.
Regardless, the literature remains as our premier piece of engineering guidance in how to approach flood modelling in particular and as an industry, we must move forward to begin to understand and apply the concepts in all facets where it is suitable.
This event will aim to provide:
- A high-level overview of the guideline including all nine books of the recent addition focusing on major components such as temporal pattern changes.
- Application of understanding the transition from theory to practice. As an example, what will happen to our detention basin and channel sizing? What does this actually mean for hydrological ensemble modelling now?
- As an engineer do I now need to become accustomed to this? Do I need to apply it now? What does this mean to my day to day? Am I going to need to charge clients more to allow this adoption and implementation?
This course will be presented by Martin Giles. Martin has 28 years experience, specialising in hydraulic and environmental investigations. Modelling work undertaken by Martin has included complex floodplain systems and the application of dynamic modelling to urban stormwater design. Martin has also recently run Stormwater Queensland’s Winter School on AR&R16 which was well received by various professionals across the industry.
An open facilitated question and answer session will also be incorporated within the components above allowing consultants and council officers to liaise about various components of the new guideline. This is an essential part going forward for this relationship to allow and facilitate a transition to AR&R 16.
Stormwater Queensland value the contribution of all areas across Queensland and wish to promote and encourage the support and contribution from areas outside of the Brisbane CBD. Such that the cost of this event will be significantly reduced, from approximately $450-$550, to encourage and maximise participation.
Seats are limited, so hurry and book your spot now.
Includes Presentation, Q&A Session & Lunch.
Incorporating Water Sensitive Ideas into our progress as a city. Where to from here for Toowoomba?”
Presenters:
Alan Hoban – Bligh Tanner
Adam Berry – Stormwater Queensland
Representatives from Toowoomba City Council
This event will centre on East Creek and how that history can highlight the progressive nature of the City and where concepts of good design can be incorporated into the development of a water sensitive city.
A tour will be undertaken of East Creek, highlighting its colourful history, hints of earlier attempts at water sensitive design and how it has progressed over its life to its current mixed state now. This tour aims to:
- Showcase some of those attempts both historical and recent
- Highlight significant constraints within the corridors
- Highlight potential opportunities and learnings
- Discuss design and construction detail on various projects in the East Creek Catchment
Following the tour a presentation and interactive session will take place on:
- An overview of some of the challenges and opportunities facing the Toowoomba Regional Council Region
- Moving from East Creek learnings and into urban development discussion
- A presentation on options available inclusive on targeted outcomes and design/construction overview
- A discussion and analysis from the audience on these options
- Where to from here?
Stormwater Queensland value the contribution of all areas across Queensland and wish to promote and encourage the support and contribution from areas outside of Brisbane CBD. Such that the cost of this event will be significantly reduced to encourage and maximise participation.
Seats are limited, so hurry and book your spot now.
Includes: Site Tour (Transport included), Presentation, Lunch and a Q&A Session
INVITATION TO MEMBERS
Extended Committee Meeting
Draft Point Source & Diffuse Source
OFFSETS POLICY CONSULTATION
The QLD Department of Environment and Science (formerly DEHP) have released draft policies on Point Source (eg. WWTPs) and Diffuse Source (eg. urban development) Offsets. Please find them available for download below.
Draft-off-site-urban-stormwater-management (PDF)
Draft-point-source-water-quality-offsets-policy_March 2018 (PDF)
A supporting Guideline for implementation is also under preparation by Healthy Land & Water.
Due to limited time for public consultation, Stormwater Queensland is holding an Extended Committee meeting and invites all members interested in providing feedback to attend. Mr Jim Fewings, Ms Paulina Kaniewska & Mr Brad Dines will be attending to discuss the background to the Policies. Mr Paul McDonald (Healthy Land & Water) will speak to the preparation of the Guidelines. Stormwater Queensland will formally collate the feedback from the workshop and respond to the Department.
Price: Nil
It is anticipated that the consultation will be completed by 3pm, and the workshop will break. Members are welcome to stay for the regular Stormwater Queensland committee meeting thereafter.
Please RSVP your intention to attend by 5th April 2018. Click the register link below or email admin@stormwaterqueensland.asn.au
**IMPORTANT NOTICE – Stormwater Queensland will be broadcasting a live stream of this event to enable our regional members & others who are not able to attend to view the event while it is underway. Note: Stream will not include the regular committee meeting thereafter.
To view the broadcast click here – GO TO EVENT LIVE STREAM BROADCAST
Webcast participants will be able to post questions via the broadcast through the chat function. An association representative will be moderating the questions raised online.
Time : 5:30pm registration, 6pm start, 8pm finish
Queensland has recently introduced the single use plastic bag ban and is working towards a Container Recycling Scheme later this year. This has come about from the extensive research into the impact that plastics are having on our oceans. However, aside from the vision of turtles swimming in oceans of plastic bags and dead whales with plastic filling their gut, what is the science behind the news items? Is it as big an issue as the sensational headlines make out?
Come and hear from Professor Kevin Thomas (UQ Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), about the latest advancements in microplastics measurement and management challenges. Then learn from Colin Hester (Queensland Urban Utilities) on the logistics of managing a waste stream with microplastics within it.
Light refreshments & finger food included
Joint event between;
Stormwater Queensland & Engineers Australia, Queensland Division, Water Panel
Date: Thursday 6th September, 2018
Time: 1pm – 5pm (Registration opens 12.30pm)
Location: Hawken Auditorium, Engineering House
Flood Forecasting requires underlying systems and techniques that has applications within various parts of the water industry. While the Bureau of Meteorology is the official flood forecasting agency, they work in close co-operation with related agencies who manage emergency response and/or water resources. This requires systems that take in real-time data and provide robust and quality controlled data to decision makers. Flood forecasting systems are a rapidly advancing, highly innovative field solving unique problems.
This event will provide a range of presenters from the industry including:
- Seqwater (Lindsay Millard)
- Bureau of Meteorology (Sue Oates & Jonty Hall)
- Ipswich City Council (Adam Berry & Matthew Pinder)
- Water Technology (Alister Daly)
The event will highlight and showcase how some of the different forecasting systems across organisations are being used and their linkages. You will get to see firsthand how different authorities respond to actual flood events and how they work together in Qld – it is a peek into something quite unique and exciting. A range of different forecasting and meteorological products ranging from basic to complex will also be demonstrated within multiple flood forecasting systems.
BoM will provide a presentation on their new, current and future products. This presentation will include information on their HyFS [Delft-FEWS] system and a general overview on the development phase STEPS and Rainfields products and how these have been incorporated into a trial flash flood forecasting system at Ipswich City Council. Furthermore, an insight into how an Emergency Management Response team would utilise some of this data in an actual flood event will be provided
Seqwater will demonstrate the real-time data exchange between the modelling systems occurring between BoM’s HyFS and SeqFEWS [Delft-FEWS flood warning systems. The quality control of the rain and flow gauge datafeeds that inform the models will also be presented.
A method in which radar rainfall is utilised by flood modellers will also be showcased in an example of how to calibrate flood events using a radar rainfall calibration approach.
This promises to be an event full of new information, practice and innovation in an emerging and exciting space in floodplain management.
Event facilitated by Daniel Niven (Engineers Australia Water Panel and Stormwater Qld Committee Member)
Like all infrastructure, stormwater control measures (SCMs) and other Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) assets require appropriate maintenance to ensure they are achieving their original purpose. It is subsequently recognised that the operation and maintenance of SCM and other WSUD assets require significant and appropriate resources to ensure their appropriate function. However, anecdotal and published information indicates that these assets are often not being appropriately maintained and are subsequently often not achieving their design objectives. ‘Stormwater utilities’ have been proposed as one solution to provide a stable funding source for stormwater management.
Our upcoming workshop will be a chance to describe and discuss the current status of SCM management in QLD (for both privately and publicly owned assets), and describe/ discuss the potential option for future ‘stormwater utilities’.
The format will include short presentations from an Expert Panel followed by an interactive discussion between the audience and panel. Come along, be involved and debate the many competing issues. A complex challenge that requires broad discussion to provide direction and lead our thinking on this critical topic – don’t miss your chance to contribute in this important area.
Confirmed Expert Panel Members include:
- Jonathon Whitcombe (Moreton Bay Regional Council)
- Andy Hornbuckle (SPEL Environmental)
- Charles Coathup (Renew Solutions)
- Stephen Turfrey (Redlands Shire Council)
Cost:
- Members and students: $65/ person (incl. GST)
- Non-members: $100/ person (incl. GST)
