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Revised Australian Rainfall and Runoff Guidelines completed, transferred to Geoscience Australia

By Stephen Lees posted 10-10-2016
The ten-year long Engineers Australia project to revise its widely-used Australian Rainfall and Runoff (ARR) is almost complete, and its ongoing management has now been transferred to Geoscience Australia. The industry launch of the ARR Guidelines was held at Engineers Australia’s Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium in Hobart October 2015. Most books of the new guidelines were launched then, although some required further work to address ...
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Infrastructure Sustainability Annual Awards Dinner & Conference – excellence IS spreading

By Stephen Lees posted 11-10-2015
The Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA) will celebrate sustainability achievement in the infrastructure industry at its Annual Awards Dinner on Wednesday 21 October 2015 in Sydney NSW.The next day, Thursday 22 October 2015, ISCA will hold its annual Infrastructure Sustainability Conference to address key issues, trends and opportunities for sustainability in infrastructure. Find our more here >
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City of Sydney Climate Adaptation Strategy – Best of its Kind to Date?

By Stephen Lees posted 17-08-2015
The City of Sydney Council has released for public exhibition its draft long-term climate change adaptation strategy - and it may be the best of its kind to date. The draft strategy, called Adapting for Climate Change – was developed with political support and resource that staff in most other local councils can only dream about. Over 90 councils around Australia have already developed and adopted climate change adaptation plans, but the City ...
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2015 IPWEA Conference in Rotorua - Sustainability Perspective

By Stephen Lees posted 25-06-2015
IPWEA’s best-ever conference was held in Rotorua, New Zealand, from 5 to 8 June 2015. The conference theme was “Sustainable Communities - Sharing Knowledge”. Here are some observations on the conference from a general and then a sustainability perspective. The 2015 IPWEA International Public Works Conference was held in conjunction with the International Federation of Municipal Engineering (IFME) World Congress. It featured almost ...
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EA seeks comment on Interim Guideline for Considering Climate Change in Flood Estimation

By Stephen Lees posted 06-12-2014
Here is good news for those of us concerned about climate change and our profession’s current lack of guidance on when and how to consider potential climate change impacts when making flood-related designs or decisions with long lasting implications. Engineers Australia’s Australian Rainfall & Runoff (ARR) Revision Team has just released a discussion paper on an interim guideline for considering climate change in flood-related planning, ...
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Retrofitting an aquatic centre to save water and energy

By pwpro posted 11-06-2014
Towards its ambitious goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2020, Darebin City Council in Victoria has retrofitted one of its aquatic and recreation centres, resulting in impressive energy and water savings. Darebin City Council – located on the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria – joined the Australian federal government’s Cities for Climate Protection program in 1997. Representing a population of about 150,000, the council has since developed ...
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Case study: Making effluent dissapear

By pwpro posted 26-05-2014
Livestock effluent goes from being a major health and safety concern to an environmental success story in New Zealand. by Simone McClenaughan There is no delicate way of putting it … livestock effluent – that is, urine and faeces – is wreaking havoc on New Zealand roads. It has been for years. “It’s a national problem that goes back to the 1970s, when livestock transport became more popular and there was increased access to grazing areas, ...
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PWPro Sustainability Roundtable Discussion

By pwpro posted 21-05-2014
To get the conversation started ahead of the IPWEA’s Sustainability in Public Works Conference in July 2014, PWPro moderated a roundtable discussion with a group of public works thought leaders about the sustainability challenges facing their sector. PWPro: Let’s start by talking about the term ‘sustainability’. What does it really mean, and is there a risk the broadness of the term could prevent meaningful action and measurable ...
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Sustainability: A good news story

By pwpro posted 12-03-2014
A critical goal of sustainable public works will be to ‘decouple’ our environmental footprint from economic growth and wellbeing. The good news, says Peter Newman, is that we’re now starting to see signs of this happening. by Peter Newman AO , Professor of Sustainability, Curtin University, Perth WA ...
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Stepping stones stormwater solution

By pwpro posted 12-03-2014
A simple, natural stormwater solution in Brisbane, Qld, that doubles as an aesthetic and playful public space. By Gemma Black When the skies open above Glindemann Park in Brisbane, rather than retreat for shelter, a few residents have recently been heading outside to watch their newest public asset come to life. The Glindemann Park Creek Filtration System is the first of eight of its kind to be trialled across ...
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Drinking recycled wastewater

By pwpro posted 12-03-2014
Recycled sewage will play a vital role in securing Australia’s drinking water supplies, says Dr Stuart Khan , Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. A reliable supply of high-quality water is essential for all Australian towns and cities. Secure water availability facilitates agriculture, commerce, recreational activities, improved amenity and healthy lifestyles. As such, ...
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Our cities need more trees and water, not less, to stay liveable

By pwpro posted 10-02-2014
By Nicholas Williams , University of Melbourne ; Andrew Coutts , Monash University , and Stephen Livesley , University of Melbourne Australia’s major cities routinely rank among the world’s most liveable . But for all our clean streets, good healthcare and educational opportunities, one of the things we have to contend with is our sweltering summer heat. Urban vegetation has an important role in easing these temperatures, ...
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Interview with IPWEA Sustainability Director, Stephen Lees

By pwpro posted 30-01-2014
IPWEA's Director of Sustainability Stephen Lees acts as the Institute’s conduit and advocate for sustainability issues, and is on the organising committee for the 2014 Sustainability in Public Works Conference by Gemma Black Have you always been interested in sustainability? It’s been a progression through my career, from technical roles in water resources and flood plain management, to a more holistic approach. ...
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Two peak bodies collaborate in sustainability for public works

By Chris Champion posted 16-01-2014
The Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA) and the Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA) have been working together since 2012. IPWEA has partnered with ISCA to identify how the IS Scheme can benefit local councils. For many local councils, roads are their largest asset class, and road maintenance is consequently the largest operational activity. Therefore the first collaborative project explored ...
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Making the switch

By pwpro posted 25-11-2013
Upgrading to LED lights can slash a council’s electricity bill, as the City of Sydney has shown. As the cost of LEDs rapidly declines, the incentive to switch has grown nationwide. By Brian McCormack Street and public domain lighting is poised for its biggest global transition since electric lighting replaced gas lamps in the 19th century. Driven by light-emitting diodes (LEDs), this illumination ...
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Case study - Townsville wastewater plant

By pwpro posted 22-04-2013
A multiple-award-winning upgrade project to Townsville’s wastewater purification plant has accounted for the city’s projected population and significantly reduced pollution to the Great Barrier Reef. By Frances Sacco The upgrade to townsville city Council’s Mt St John wastewater purification plant was delivered on time and under budget in September 2011 – despite a cyclone, two wet seasons and the fact the facility was still operational. ...
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Revising the Australian Rainfall and Runoff standards

By pwpro posted 08-11-2012
The first update of the Australian Rainfall & Runoff guidelines since 1987 will address climate change for the first time. By Giles Parkinson The first complete book from a wholesale update of Australian Rainfall & Runoff (AR&R) – the de-facto bible for stormwater design – is due for release within a few months. The overall revision, involving more than 100 people, a budget of more than $20 million, and more than ...
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Placing Sustainability Back Under the Spotlight

By pwpro posted 15-07-2012
While sustainability has seemingly been placed on the back burner in Australia, Dr Stephen Lees explains some of the factors that make it a key area of action once again. By Dr Stephen Lees In April this year, the Sydney Morning Herald ran the provocative headline: ‘Nation now ‘indifferent’ to environment’. The article reported that a recent university study had found that public interest in the environment has declined sharply ...
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Future in Focus

By pwpro posted 14-06-2012
By 2050 Australia’s population will have grown to 36 million and the majority will be aged between 64 and 84 years. The population will be more than ever concentrated on the coastal fringe, because climate change will have made inland Australia increasingly uncomfortable to live in. Furthermore, the incidence of extreme weather events and natural disasters will have noticeably increased. These forecasts aren’t new, but how public works professionals ...
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IPCC urges governments to plan for disasters

By Chris Champion posted 31-03-2012
The peak international body on climate change says all countries are becoming vulnerable to extremes in weather, and governments should make better plans to cope with natural disasters. See http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2012/s3467037.htm .
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