Life's Blood

UQ is recognised as one of the world’s leading research organisations in the area of water.

Some research and training developments in this area involving the University include:

• the South East Queensland Healthy Waterways Ecosystem Health Report Card prepared each year. Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield chairs the South East Queensland Healthy Waterways Partnership’s Scientific Expert Panel responsible for preparing the report. The University provides scientific support and conducts some of the field work for the report through the Ecosystem Health Monitoring Program (EHMP) – one of the most comprehensive marine, estuarine and freshwater monitoring programs in Australia.

• the launch in 2006 of a Masters program in Integrated Water Management by the International Water Centre (IWC), already attracting water professionals from around the world. The IWC aims to improve the capacity of future leaders in water resource management to respond to the global water crisis. In 2008, Premier of Queensland Anna Bligh observed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the IWC and China’s Ministry of Water Resources on April 2. Both organisations will now undertake cooperative activities in the fields of consultancy, research, education and training in water management. The IWC was formed in 2005 as a Queensland Government-supported joint venture between UQ, Griffith University, Monash University, the University of Western Australia, the Moreton Bay Catchment Partnership and the International River Foundation.

• the establishment late last year of a $2.5 million Chair of Water Recycling at the University by one of the world’s leading water infrastructure companies, Veolia Water France. The new professor based at the University’s Advanced Water Management Centre (AWMC), directed by Professor Jurg Keller, will shortly be joined by a team of up to seven researchers. Believed to be the first of its kind in Australia, the professorial post indicates the importance placed on research finding solutions to the continent’s, and indeed the world’s, dwindling water supplies.

 


Fireweed bloom in Moreton Bay
Photo: courtesy UQ’s Coastal Resource Management (CRM) Unit
• University research showing removing sediment and reducing industrial run-off into Moreton Bay will not only help control fireweed but also improve the general health of the Bay. Scientists from the University’s Coastal Resource Management (CRM) Unit have shown that fireweed, a toxic blue-green algae, spreads by feeding on a cocktail of nitrogen, iron and phosphorous compounds found in sediment in the Bay. They’ve found that as water temperature increases, natural processes unleash tonnes of nutrients and compounds including metals, which feed the fireweed bloom.

 

• University engineering researchers are driving a sustainable solution to the problem of waste caused by tourism. Beth Rounsefell and Simon Tannock  from the University’s BioMass BioEnergy Group are working with local company, EcoNova Pty Ltd, to create a waste treatment system that turns potentially harmful human and food waste into water, soil conditioner and clean energy. The system takes toilet and organic food waste and digests it under anaerobic conditions to produce clean water, methane (a green source of electricity), and a solid residue that can be used to condition soil. Significantly, the system design is also applicable to any small-scale community wishing to become ecologically sustainable. Based on the success of the test system, which has now been in operation for 18 months, a pilot model will be built at UQ this year. The BioMass BioEnergy Group will use the new system to improve the treatment process and quality of by-products so they can be re-used more effectively.

 

 


WATER wisdom ... Beth Rounsefell, right, of the BioMass BioEnergy Group
Photo: courtesy Maria Zsoldos
 • a new UQ-led research project to streamline access to data underpinning decisions about water management in southeast Queensland and globally. In mid-August 2008, the Queensland Government announced $720,000 towards a $1.5 million Health-e- Waterways information management project, which is also funded by Microsoft Research, UQ and South East Queensland Healthy Waterways Partnership (HWP).

Researchers from UQ’s Research Centre, HWP and Microsoft Research (who have experience in Californian water information management systems) will give resource managers a better system for tackling water shortages and water health. UQ Vice- Chancellor and HWP Scientific Expert Panel Chair Professor Paul Greenfield said: “The clear goal of this research is sustainable, healthy waterways and healthy ecosystems.”

Since 2002, the University has invested more than $1 million in water-saving measures, reducing water consumption by 50 percent and making UQ the Brisbane City Council’s “Top Water Saver” for 2006. Savings to date have been achieved through initiatives including retrofitting toilets, urinals, hand basins and showers with water-efficient devices; using recycled water for irrigation of grounds; installing water meters to monitor water consumption; and installing two 110,000 litre rainwater tanks in a new building.

Story author: Shirley Glaister

 

 


FIRST step ... Chief Executive Officer, Veolia Water Australia, Peter McVean, left, signs a key research agreement with UQ’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research)  Photo: Jeremy Patten

 

 

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