industry Archives - Water Research Australia

Emerging chemicals database | Free access extended

Kathryn Nicholas — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 04:06:58 +0000

Almost one year ago Water Research Australia proudly launched ECHIDNA — Emerging Chemical Database of National Awareness — exclusively to WaterRA members. While its development continues, we are delighted to announce that the free period of access for members will be extended until 31 December 2022.

A key deliverable of Project 1127, ECHIDNA is a searchable online database designed to equip the water industry with relevant information to make evidence-based and informed decisions around the management of contaminants of emerging concern (CEC).

ECHIDNA includes several unique features:

Classification and filtering functionalities to group CEC based on key properties such as persistence, bioaccumulation and toxicity making it valuable across drinking water, recycled water and wastewater industries.
An inbuilt risk prioritisation tool that identifies high risk contaminants ranking them based on the user-specified shortlist.
Direct links to information on management options to address the risk of environmental and human health effects.

With over 200 subscribers to date, ECHIDNA has proved a useful tool for utilities, regulators, researchers, and consultants. The ECHIDNA project team has prioritised the following proposed additions to the functionality of ECHIDNA, based on extensive user feedback over the past year. The highest priority proposals are currently under development as Project Briefs and Requests for Funding (RFFs), and include:

The addition of new contaminants.
Occurrence data.
The addition of biosolids, recycled water and untreated sewage to the risk framework.
Sources of contaminants and integration with the CHASM stormwater tool.
Remediation and removal options.

We encourage all members to register for free ECHIDNA access if you haven’t already, or continue to use and contribute to the database during this period of development.

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Welcome to new member Macquarie University

Kathryn Nicholas — Thu, 01 Sep 2022 01:45:44 +0000

Water Research Australia is delighted to announce Macquarie University has joined the BIG Team.

Macquarie has joined as a Research Member and bring significant expertise in groundwater ecosystems, ecological monitoring, environmental DNA (eDNA) and are eager to work with our industry members across the country. The University was involved in the early days of WaterRA’s research to improve water security, drought and environmental resilience of our water bodies through exploring ways to augment natural systems with Highly Treated Recycled Water (HTRW).

Professor Grant Hose, Associate Dean Innovation in the School of Natural Sciences is Macquarie University’s Member Representative.

Please join us in welcoming Macquarie University.

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Dr Heather Lacey joins WaterRA

Kathryn Nicholas — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 05:59:23 +0000

Water Research Australia is pleased to announce that Dr Heather Lacey has joined us on secondment from WaterNSW as a Senior Research Manager.

Heather is a scientist with an extensive research background in microbiology and chemistry and has obtained her PhD in Chemistry from The University of Sydney. Heather possesses over 15 years of experience in managing collaborations between industry, research providers, and government in the water and pharmaceutical industries.

Heather seeks to understand water industry challenges and aims to provide tailored research solutions. Her project portfolio covers many topics including water quality modelling, microbial secondary metabolites, water chemistry, and the identification, assessment, and operationalisation of new technologies for remote water quality monitoring.

Heather will join WaterRA’s Research Team and work closely with utility and research partners to facilitate the delivery of our research programs.

Heather will be with WaterRA until end of December 2022. She can be contacted via email or on (08) 7424 2445.

Please join us in making Heather feel welcome!

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