Posted 2 December 2010
Cloudbreak mine, Pilbara, Western Australia. Image source: FMG web site.
The Fortescue Metals Group Cloudbreak Managed Aquifer Recharge Scheme has received the 2010 WA Water Award for infrastructure innovation.
Cloudbreak mine has developed an innovative Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) approach to balancing dewatering, process water supply and environmental impacts while successfully operating within a complex and sensitive groundwater environment in the Central Pilbara.
The adoption of MAR both conserves the brackish process water resource for future redraw and balances the impact of drawdown and discharge on the adjacent Fortescue Marsh.
UNSW alumnus Ian Brandes de Roos was involved in planning and implementation of the scheme. Click here for more about Dr Ian Brandes de Roos.
The annual WA Water Awards promote outstanding work by individuals and organisations in the water sector.
The Infrastructure Innovation Award recognises significant and innovative infrastructure projects and initiatives within the water industry.
These prestigious awards, supported by the Department of Water and the Water Corporation, recognize innovation and excellence in the conservation, management and delivery of water.
Along with the prestige of being recognised "the best in the West" during National Water Week, the winners in a number of award categories automatically progress as national finalists in the AWA (Australian Water Association) Water Awards.
The award winners were announced at a gala dinner at the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre last night attended by the Minister for Water Hon Dr Graham Jacobs.
For almost 50 years, AWA has offered a series of awards to acknowledge excellence and innovation in the sector.
Links:
Professor Andy Baker features in American Water Resources Association ‘Water Resources Impact’, September 2020 edition.
The Connected Waters Initiative (CWI) is pleased to welcome Taylor Coyne to its network as a postgraduate researcher. If you’re engaged in research at a postgraduate level, and you’re interested in joining the CWI network, get in touch! The CWI network includes multidisciplinary researchers across the Schools of Engineering, Sciences, Humanities and Languages and Law.
The Grand Challenge on Rapid Urbanisation will establish Think Deep Australia, led by Dr Marilu Melo Zurita, to explore how we can use our urban underground spaces for community benefit.
On the 21 August 2020, CWI researchers made a submission to the National Water Reform Inquiry, identifying priority areas and making a number of recommendations as to how to achieve a sustainable groundwater future for Australia.
Results published from a research project between the Land Development Department (LDD) Thailand and UNSW has demonstrated how 2-dimensional mapping can be used to understand soil salinity adjacent to a earthen canal in north east Thailand (Khongnawang et al. 2020).
