LATEST NEWS


Greg Leslie wins Eureka Prize

IWES presenter Greg Leslie was recently awarded the 2010 National Water Commission Professor Peter Cullen Eureka Prize for Water Research and Innovation.  Greg shared the award with his collaborator, Professor Bruce Sutton from the Universities of NSW and Sydney.  As well as being a long term IWES presenter, teaching courses on membrane process technology and water recycling, Greg is an Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering at the University of New South Wales.  Greg and Bruce were awarded the prize for inventing the Reverse Osmosis Subsurface Drip Irrigation System that lets plants draw water through salt filters in irrigation pipes at their roots.  See the full story at the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes web site. 

 

IWES Gold Coast 2010 - A Big Success

IWES Gold Coast 2010 ran from July 19 - 23.  The final program consisted of 14 courses in water and wastewater treatment and environmental management.  We launched several new courses at this event, including 'Coal Seam Gas Water Management', 'Coastal Processes and Coastal Engineering', and 'Desalination: Technologies, Applications and Trends'.

We would like to thank all of the people that attended, and who helped to make the event so successful. 

This photo shows the delegates from the Trade Waste and Industrial Wastewater Treatment course at the CUB Brewery water recycling plant (Yatala, Qld).

IWES Hobart 2010 will run from Nov 8-12, 2010.

IWES Perth 2010 will run from Nov 22-26, 2010. 

IWES Sydney 2011 will run from Feb 14-18, 2010.

Get them in your diary !  We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Mary Drikas - AWA Water Industry Woman of the Year

Congratulations to IWES presenter Mary Drikas who was recently awarded AWA Water Industry Woman of the Year.  The award is given in honour of the remarkable Nancy Millis.

Mary is Principal Research Chemist of the Water Treatment Unit in the Australian Water Quality Centre (AWQC), and leads one of the most influential and respected water treatment research groups in Australia. She has also been involved in the investigation and development of several innovative processes, such as biological activated carbon using ozonation and UV irradiation, methods for determining assimilable organic carbon and is a co-patentor of the magnetic anion exchange resin (MIEX®) for the removal of natural organic matter.

Mary teaches the IWES course Introduction to Potable Water Treatment.

Sydney 2010

IWES Sydney 2010 ran from Feb 15-19.  The final program consisted of 10 courses in water and wastewater treatment and environmental management, including new courses in Asset Planning and Management and Management, and Community Engagement for Water Industry Projects.  We would like to thank all of the participants for making the event so successful.

This image is from North Head Membrane Bioreactor which we visited as part of the Principles of Wastewater Treatment course.  The image shows the aerated membrane tank.  Sydney Water very kindly hosted site visits to North Head and the West Hornsby STP plant.  These were both extremely interesting. 

IWES is next running at the Gold Coast in the week of July 19-23.  Make a note in your diary ! 

IWES goes to Libya

IWES Director Paul Lant recently participated in a Capacity Building workshop in Tripoli, Libya (May 10-14, 2009).  Paul was part of a teaching team from the International WaterCentre and Uniquest.  The workshops were facilitated by the UNDP.

There were 20 participants from a variety of Libyan Govt Departments, and the workshop theme was Integrated Water Management.

Paul reported that "Tripoli was an exciting and fascinating city, and the Libyan people were excellent hosts.  Libya faces some quite unique and challenging issues in regard to water management, but there are clearly many skilled and highly motivated people ready to take on the challenge."

We look forward to returning to Libya.

IWES visits Melbourne and Perth - Nov 2008

IWES had a very busy month in November.  We ran events in Melbourne (Nov 10-14) and Perth (Nov 24-28).  It was our first event in Melbourne since 2004, and was very well supported. 

This image is from Subiaco sewage treatment plant (Perth) which we visited as part of the Principles of Wastewater Treatment course.  The image shows the aerobic and anoxic basins which are covered for odour control.  Water Corporation very kindly hosted site visits to Subiaco and the Kwinana Water Reclamation plant.  We also visited the Eastern and Western treatment plants when in Melbourne, and we would like to thank Melbourne Water for being excellent hosts for both of these visits.

Melbourne and Perth were excellent host cities, and we look forward to returning in the near future.  There is an on-going debate about which city provided the best restaurants and local beers - we may need to return soon in order to develop a larger sample size !  

We look forward to returning to Victoria and WA in the near future.

IWES Director wins national teaching award

IWES Director, Paul Lant, has been named as a recipient of a 2006 Carrick Australian Award for University Teaching.  The announcement was made at Parliament House on November 28, 2006.  Paul won the award with his colleagues Catherine Manathunga and George Mellick from The University of Queensland.  The award was in the Postgraduate Education category.

Paul is teaching in Principles of Wastewater Treatment and Trade Waste and Industrial Wastewater Treatment at the upcoming event at The Gold Coast (July 16-20, 2007).

IWES and WaterAid

IWES is a corporate member of WaterAid.  We are promoting their work to our clients, and offer the opportunity to forward your contact details to them via our Registration forms.

WaterAid is an international NGO dedicated exclusively to the provision of safe domestic water, sanitation and hygiene education to the worlds poorest people.

WaterAid works by helping local organisations to set up low cost, sustainable projects using appropriate technology that can be managed by the community itself.

National Director of Fund Raising, Martin Carolan, gave a brief overview of the work of WaterAid to our delegates at IWES Gold Coast during our wednesday evening Happy Hour.  His presentation was passionate and made a powerful impact.

Needless to say, no networking or drinking time was lost because of the presentation.  In the true traditions of Happy Hour, our Director Paul Lant extended the hour to compensate for the lost 'thinking' time !

WaterAid is independent and relies heavily on voluntary support.

Click this link for more information about WaterAid.

IWES Presenter Zhiguo Yuan wins largest ARC research grant for sewer research

IWES presenters, Zhiguo Yuan and Jurg Keller, are lead investigators in the largest ARC research grant awarded to start in 2008.  They have won $4.66 million to undertake the largest project yet to tackle odour and concrete pipe corrosion in the sewerage system. The project partners include Australian and international universities and several Australian water utilities.

Zhiguo and Jurg are teaching in the new IWES course Corrosion and Odour Management in Sewers at IWES Sydney, February 13-15, 2008.

[Photo: David Sproule, The Australian]