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Position Paper on Information and Research Needs for the Water Industry

Please note that this paper is held here for archival purposes, the most up to date papers are currently held on the Engineers Australia website.

Preamble

A major role for water engineers and hydrologists is to provide industry and government with a scientific/technical basis for dealing with current issues in water and land management. To enable them to fulfil this role, they need access to reliable water resource data and results from research projects aimed at improving the current planning, design and management methods. Water engineers are particularly interested in research that produces better and more practical "tools" in the areas listed below. In some of the listed areas, research is in progress and preliminary results may be available. Items where research is known to be in progress and preliminary results may be available are marked (f).

A significant number of the information and research areas identified in this paper are likely to require attention for the next edition of Australian Rainfall and Runoff. Those areas are marked (* ARR).

The purpose of this paper is to set out the Institution's position with respect to this subject, enabling the Institution to:

• Serve as an initial point of reference when the Institution is called upon to comment upon water industry issues;
• Provide an information package for use in secondary, tertiary and research institutions; and
• Respond to enquiries from Government, industry bodies, research and other institutions, the profession and the public.

Research priorities change with time in response to community and industry needs. The priorities assigned below are those that the Institution believes the majority of members practising in the relevant areas of each item would support as requiring attention in the next 5 years. The following list is a compilation of identified needs in 1994/95.

Priority Areas

Improved Data Collection Systems

• Development of integrated data collection networks for flow and water quality data, to maximise the information base and minimise redundancy to enable underlying relationships between flow and water quality to be established for a range of water quality parameters and catchment conditions.
• Refinement of data collection network design criteria and application of these to existing networks to determine the need for increases in station numbers recognising real time needs.
• Assessment of the potential of real-time data collection and processing of water quantity and quality data to enable the development of systems which will allow more rapid response of water resource managers to changes in conditions.
• Improved and economical means are required for establishing relationships between discharge and water level in waterways that take into account the mobile bed effects on these relationships. This research should also include the development of methods for establishing rating curves in situations where there is no unique relationship between level and discharge (including the effects of vegetation).
• Use of remote sensing data for hydrologic and water resources assessment (catchment wetness. vegetation, salinisation, waterlogging, etc.) to provide data on a widespread basis in areas where stream monitoring is not feasible or too costly.
• Collection of data for small and medium sized catchments for development of improved methods of flood and yield estimation for ungauged catchments, including standardisation of data collection methods.

Flooding/Drainage

• Rationalisation and where necessary the development of improved methods of flood estimation in small to medium sized ungauged catchments, allowing more cost-effective design of waterway crossings and drainage works. This would include the development of regional methods of estimation, which would be of value in low flow hydrology as well as flood hydrology (*ARR)(+).
• Development of effective and relevant data storage and dissemination technologies and mechanisms (to the research community, practitioners and the public) (+).
• Development of methods for hydrologic scaling and, where possible, relationships between small, medium and large scale catchment behaviour will enable more realistic estimates of flood peak ('ARR) (+).
• Investigation into spatial and temporal variability of rainfall patterns to be applied in design. This would need to draw upon the hydrologic scaling research referred to above but would provide design information on storm movements and temporal patterns (*ARR) (+).
• Development of areal reduction curves based on Australian data to enable the conversion of point rainfall data to area rainfall depths for various duration storms and possibly various annual exceedance probabilities and regions ('ARR) (+).
• Development of improved loss modelling procedures for flood estimation is required to reduce uncertainty in flood estimation and to meet operational requirements of flood forecasting. Research is required into the dependence of loss parameters upon catchment characteristics, the spatial and temporal distribution of losses, probabilistic descriptions of loss parameters, exceedance probability of the event and real-time interactive procedures (' ARR) (+).
• Research and development is required in the area of flood plain hydraulic models to overcome shortcomings due to simplification, and in terms of useability, particularly for real-time applications. Research and development in this area is needed to provide more user friendly yet theoretically sound models (+).
• Operational flood forecasting techniques exist that could enable the prediction of flood discharges and levels in real-time with acceptable accuracy and provide reasonable warning time of impending flood conditions. The methods need to focus on real time calibration rather than be based on design flood estimation methods and deliver timely, readily understood warnings. Improved real time modelling systems including the utilisation of real-time data collection technologies are required (+).
• To aid in the assessment of spillway adequacy of large dams, a number of research issues arise as follows:
  • Research into more reliable estimation of the probability of large and extreme floods to facilitate risk-based design of major dams and hydraulic structures. This would include definition of estimation errors for large and extreme floods and would encompass the range of floods up to the Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) (* ARR) (+).
  • The extension of the generalised probable maximum precipitation method to the determination of extreme rainfalls between the 1% event and the PMP would provide a valuable addition to present technology (+).
  • Derivation of the PMF usually requires the expenditure of substantial resources, justified only for large dams. A generalised method is needed for small to medium sized dams (* ARR).
  • Existing computer models for predicting flood hydrographs are based on non-linear relationships. These relationships have proven reliable in the more frequent flood events, but may be overly conservative for rare and extreme (e.g. PMF) floods. Research into the non-linearity of catchment flood response for large events is needed to investigate the appropriateness of the method and to develop necessary improvements. This research would need to account for the contributing effects of overland and overbank flow, would apply river hydraulics knowledge and would concentrate on extending knowledge beyond the recorded range of flows (* ARR) (+),
  • Research into rainfall and flood events prior to and following the PMP and derivation of appropriate joint probability relationships.
  • Estimation of the risk to communities downstream of dams during intense rainfall events requires estimation of the concurrent rainfall occurring outside the dam's catchment while a PMP is occurring over it. Present methods for estimating this rainfall are very crude; research is needed to estimate the correct joint probabilities,
  • Part of the assessment of dam hazard and incremental damages requires effective dam break analysis. Some reasonable models are available but analysis is sensitive to a number of parameters and assumptions including:
    • mechanism and timing of breach development,
    • for multi-gated dams, probabilities of more than one gate failing during extreme flood events;
    • capacity of dams to withstand overtopping;
    • downstream channel resistance under inherent flooding, and flood wave propagation;
    • flood damage analysis, including effects of high velocity flood waters on economic losses and loss of life, Research is required to provide data and parameters applicable to Australian dams, river characteristics and the nature of downstream development; it is also needed to establish modelling procedures to examine the effects of debris.
• Development of methodologies for establishing appropriate tailwater (downstream boundary) conditions for coastal flood studies.
• The accuracy of catchment rainfalls requires research so that the limits for calibration and validation of event based models can be well understood.

Water Resource Planning and Management

1) Quantitative Aspects

• Research into the applicability of estimation of methods for potential and actual evapotranspiration for a range of climatic and catchment conditions recognising the different degrees of data availability.
• Development of improved hydrologic catchment models for the prediction of the impacts of land use changes associated with urban and industrial development and agriculture/forestry on both water quantity and quality, suitable for application at a range of scales and covering the delivery of pollutants associated with runoff to streams (f).
• Research and development of predictive methodologies linking large scale climatic and oceanographic processes (e.g. El Nino southern oscillation and other historical cycles) to the occurrence of droughts, and to enable integration of these methodologies into short and long term water resource management policies and procedures ("I").
• Development and application of models for optimising the operation of water supply headworks and distribution systems, allowing better use of scarce water resources and savings in operating costs. This would include adaption, development and use of expert systems and artificial intelligence for water resources planning and hydrologic design, to provide professionals with a broader knowledge base for analysis and management.
• Development of river forecasting technologies to improve operational management of water resources.
• Development and application of weather-based water consumption models for trend analysis and possibly forecasting.
• Development of strategies for demand management under normal conditions and during droughts to enable the deferral of otherwise necessary water resource infrastructure developments
• Research into effectiveness of structural water quality control measures (e.g. artificial wetlands, pollution traps etc. (f).
• Development of more efficient and ecologically sustainable irrigation and drainage systems and practices (f).
• Research on effects of management of irrigation areas on downstream water quality (f).
• Research into waste management impacts on groundwater and surface water.
• Development of models which represent heterogeneity in catchment characteristics in a realistic and parsimonious manner.
• Procedures, processes and methods for integrating community inputs with water resources and risk management.
• Analysis and development of methods for identifying the defining features of droughts.

2) Environmental Aspects

• Research and development in groundwater in the following areas:
  • Development of integrated modelling procedures describing the interactions between surface and groundwater systems to enable more effective management in areas where this interaction is of significance, such as salt affected irrigation areas and areas where groundwater tables are near-surface (f).
  • Development of techniques for quickly and inexpensively identifying recharge zones, especially in rock;
  • Development of quick and inexpensive measures for identifying recharge areas in dryland salt affected regions.
  • Special emphasis placed on pesticides (insecticides, herbicides & fungicides), nutrients, metals, organics, urban and industrial wastes and leachates from municipal wastes.
  • Research into groundwater contamination processes with particular reference to processes and mechanisms by which contaminants enter surface and groundwater systems:
  • Research into techniques for the management of groundwater contamination.
  • Development and application of models and techniques for handling non-point source pollution in surface and groundwater.
• Research into modelling techniques for predicting the fate of nutrients and associated transport in river systems and the collection of appropriate data to support such models, with an emphasis on diffuse nutrient sources (f).
• Research to develop indicator systems to assist with improved river basin management with particular reference to the management of instream and riparian resources, including wetlands, and maintenance of instream and riparian environments and environmental flows and quantitative links between biota instream requirements and hydrologic regime (f),
• Research and development in salt disposal is needed to assist in the siting, design and management of salt water disposal basins, particularly associated with irrigation areas of the Murray Darling Basin. This would include:
  • Processes of leakage in salinising soils, design of clay liners;
  • Fate of brines in groundwater, including observations of near natural salinas:
  • Reuse of irrigation drainage water and economic uses of disposal basins; and
  • Design of evaporation basins to maximise evaporation.
• Development and evaluation of more cost effective measures to control/reduce various forms of land degradation and mitigate its impacts.
• Research into reuse of urban stormwater and treated effluent including:
  • Lowering freshwater inputs and wastewater outputs per capita in cities by integrated water planning:
  • Setting of standards for the quality of water for reuse applications;
  • Evaluation of the economics of dual reticulation and distributed wastewater treatment systems in retrofit and greenfield suburban developments;
  • Development of techniques for groundwater storage and recovery of wastewaters, including pre-treatment in wetlands and packaged plants.
• Further development of integrated catchment management mechanisms.

Outcomes, Resources, Implementations and Roles

If successful, this research will lead to increased:

• Security of water supplies;
• Cost effective protection from the effects of flood and droughts;
• Protection of the quality of surface water and groundwater resources;
• Environmental conservation and sustainability of productive resources;
• Potential for the creation of new enterprises with national and international markets; and
• Economic efficiency in water resources infrastructure.

The ingredients necessary to undertake such research are:

• Research engineers and scientists with a high level of training located in supportive organisations;
• Funding to pay for field data acquisition, experimentation, analyses and operating costs;
• In many cases postgraduate research students will be necessary, requiring appropriate undergraduate training and availability of scholarships;
• Involvement of the water management industries in defining problems and assessing research results:
• Co-ordination of research to ensure researchers are competitive, well focussed and form strong teams to give research the maximum likelihood of success.

Measures required to ensure the implementation of results are:

• A clearly formulated technology transfer strategy, developed through consultation with all parties concerned, to effectively communicate research findings into professional practice;
• Close involvement of the implementing group/client with the research project during conception and execution;
• Appropriate communication of research results via publications and conferences which will benefit target audiences;
• Documenting research publications in "Streamline" the Australian water research data base;
• Spinning off new processes and patents into market-orientated enterprises; and
• Co-ordinated research and development of a research database to avoid unnecessary duplication of effort.

Water engineers have roles that encompass all these activities from management and conduct of research projects, to communicating and implementing results of research. If Australia is to responsibly manage its water resources and offer valued services to the international environmental management industry it must continue to expend significant effort and resources in the field of water engineering research.

Existing organisations which support and co-ordinate such research include:

• Land and Water Resources Research and Development Corporation;
• Urban Water Research Association;
• CRC for Catchment Hydrology;
• CRC for Freshwater Ecology;
• CRC tor Waste Management and Pollution Control;
• CRC for Soil and Land Management.

and other sponsors of research at a broader scale such as.

• Australian Research Council; and
• Australian Road Research Board.

The National Committee on Water Engineering of the Institution of Engineers Australia actively encourages adoption of improved methodologies and dissemination of new knowledge through its conferences including the Hydrology and Water Resources Symposia and through the publication and updating of Australian Rainfall and Runoff.

For further information please contact

National Committee on Water Engineering,
The Institution of Engineers, Australia
11 National Circuit Telephone. (02) 6270 6555
BARTON ACT 2600 Facsimile: (02) 6273 1488

Prepared on behalf of the National Committee on Water Engineering

Nov 1996

Last Modified: Thursday, October 7, 2010 20:44
Comments to: peter.brady@eng.uts.edu.au