Australian Water Association Podcast Series

Zoubir Ait Mansour, Asset Knowledge & Performance Consulting Engineer at SUEZ speaks with Ellen Fanning about a practical approach to balancing risk and cost and Unitywater's sewage treatment plants assessment. They talk about how Unitywater is strongly focused on optimising value to their customers by achieving acceptable compliance risk at lowest life cycle cost. In line with that objective, they’ve decided to implement the Suez practical framework to asset failure risk, asset condition and projects prioritization on 11 sewage treatment plants in the Sunshine Coast.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ryan Brotchie, GHD’s Service Line Leader for Integrated Water Management and Karey Wills, Sewerage Networks Operations Engineer at Icon Water speak with Ellen Fanning about Canberra's 50 year sewerage strategy. In developing the long-term strategy for the ACT’s sewerage system, Icon Water identified that they are operating in an environment of change and uncertainty.  An Adaptive Pathway Planning approach was therefore used. They discuss key drivers of change and uncertainty and how they developed five plausible future scenarios.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Elizabeth Christian, Asset Performance Manager at Lendlease and Daniel Watson, Manager Partnerships and Asset Systems at Coliban Water speak with Ellen Fanning about Lendlease's and Coliban Water's journey to continuously challenge and optimise Coliban Water’s preventative maintenance (PM) program. They discuss the development of a bespoke ‘Maintenance Strategy Optimisation’ (MSO) process which is based on the principles of Reliability Centred Maintenance and talk about lessons learned. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kristina Campbell, Associate Director at KPMG speaks to Ellen Fanning about capital investment approaches and tools. They discuss the findings of a review into current Australian capital investment decision making approaches and considerations for Australian utilities to implement better practices. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Christopher Raynor, Process Engineer; Pramod Janardhanan, Service Planning Senior Analyst and Ronica Koey, Senior Communications and Engagement Officer all at Sydney Water speaks to Jo Taranto about the ‘Poo Switcheroo’, a retrofittable valve to improve sanitation in India they secured them them 2018 WaterAid Winnovators challenge. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joel Spry, Demand Management Coordinator of Minor Centres and Schools for Northern Territory Power and Water Corporation speaks to Jo Taranto about creating a generational change in regional attitudes. They discuss some of the challenges Katherine has faced in delivering safe drinking water in it's worst wet season on record. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr Michael Di Matteo, Senior Environmental Engineer at Water Technology speaks to Jo about smart stormwater storage systems. Michael was involved in a research project that used machine learning optimisation methods to evaluate the potential benefits and costs of a range of urban stormwater storage retrofit options. This was done for an urban catchment in the City of Unley, Adelaide, Australia See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Richard Greenwood, Principal Consulting Engineer with Jacobs New Zealand speaks with Jo Taranto about how a dairy plant can be water and carbon neutral. He explains how New Zealand's dairy industry is moving towards plant production with a fully integrated approach to the recovery of water, nutrients, energy and waste streams. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark Vaughan, Alliance Manager at Logan Water Infrastructure Alliance speaks to Jo Taranto about one of Australia's most sustainable wastewater treatment plants, the Cedar Grove Environmental Centre. It will be the QLD’s first wastewater treatment plant to benefit the environment by reducing nutrients in treated water to record low levels, polishing treated water in constructed wetlands, and offsetting any remaining nutrients through riverbank restoration projects. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark de Jong, Senior Environmental Officer in the SA Department for Environment and Water and Phil Staniford, Manager for KBR’s Water & Environment consulting business in SA and WA speak with Peter Dredge about the South East Flows Restoration Project which was established after the Millennium Drought to manage salinity levels in the Coorong South Lagoon and prevent further ecological degradation. They discuss the question if local ideas and collaboration will secure the future of the internationally significant Coorong. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hemant Ojha, Director at the Institute for Studies and Development Worldwide speaks with Peter Dredge about climate risks to water security in the Asia-Pacific region. They discuss key lessons and insights from a review and synthesis of existing knowledge and responses to water insecurity in the region. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adam Jones, Principal Engineer and Water Efficiency Lead for BMT speaks to Peter Dredge about drought adaptability of large commercial and industrial water users. They talk about key learnings from visiting, assessing and liaising with a wide range of water users across NSW in the context of drought – and highlight a significant and potentially surprising capacity and willingness to adapt. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ben Furmage, Chief Executive Officer of the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities speaks to Peter Dredge about a guide and supporting tool kit for choosing, financing and funding options for addressing urban flooding. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Madelyn Pardon, PhD Candidate at James Cook University, speaks to Peter Dredge about understanding threat perception to inform environmental communication. Threat perceptions are known drivers of behaviour. This is particularly important for environmental issues, where human behaviour may mitigate the impacts of such threats. Communicating threat information to increase mitigation behaviour presents multiple challenges to a number of stakeholders. Given the likelihood of Australia experiencing water security issues in the future due to anthropogenic climate change, gaining a greater understanding of individuals’ threat perceptions as they pertain to water security may assist in the development of more effective communication strategies in the long-term. Her research highlights the complexities of communicating environmental threat information, more specifically information relating to water security threats. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Philip Joyce, Technical Director and Leader of the Waterways and Stormwater Team in GHD’s Melbourne Office, speaks to Peter Dredge about the Water Sensitive Drainage and Flood Strategy, developed by the Fishermans Bend Water Sensitive City Working Group. The strategy collaboratively explored the potential to use distributed flood storages in streetscapes and open spaces (i.e. a green infrastructure approach) as an alternative to the ‘baseline’ drainage infrastructure plan (i.e. conventional drainage pipelines and pump stations). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

James Goode, Asset Management Program Coordinator at the Water Services Association of Australia and Steven Nash, Manager of Operations at Goulburn Valley Water speak to Jo Taranto about the management of asbestos cement pipes now and into the future. They discuss the legacy risks associated with asbestos pipes, including best practice guidelines for replacement and maintenance. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark Babic, James Wallace and Lucas Finch from Sydney Water speak to Jo Taranto about maximising employee performance and wellbeing through an employee lifecycle approach. They discuss how employees are supported throughout their working lifecycle, including how they're supported when they return to work following an injury. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Icon Water's Ben Wood, Team Leader for Health & Safety Services and Michael Nolan, Health & Work Fitness Coordinator speak to Jo Taranto about a workplace health, safety and wellbeing program called Live Well. They discuss the initiatives that helped improve hazardous manual tasks including the implementation of an onsite physiotherapy program for field staff. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

James Ryan, Business Systems Coordinator at Allwater speaks to Jo Taranto about keeping people safe while working alone. They discuss the concerns that were raised by staff working alone and the measures that were put in place to protect their workforce and make them feel safe and secure at all times. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Clare Hesketh, Senior Media Advisor at SA Water speaks to Peter Dredge about using social media to influence customer behaviour and awareness. They discuss the communications campaigns that were rolled out to build public awareness around sewers, the people involved and the work that goes on behind the scenes to remove blockages (like fatbergs) from sewers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.