A very topical article appeared in the recent edition of Stormwater Magazine based on US usage but would seem highly relevant for use in Australia right now.
A post grad student used drone flights and various software programs to assess the landscape following fire, in California but this seems highly useful for eastern and south eastern Australia right now in early 2020 to assess our burnt landscapes.
The emphasis was on how the landscape patterns have been changed and how this has influenced how the hydrology of the area has been impacted.
The link is below and should be readily available.
Seems a very timely application, now that some rain seems to be arriving which may quench a number of the fires.
Link is:
https://www.stormh2o.com/erosion-control/article/21117902/eyes-in-the-sky?utm_source=EC+Weekly+Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CPS200114039&o_eid=0996E9426678A4U&rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C0996E9426678A4U&oly_enc_id=0996E9426678A4U
Showing posts with label stormwater. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stormwater. Show all posts
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Mosquitoes, Stormwater and Infrastructure - A Primer
Mosquitoes and other biting insects are a bit of a pest. If living in the tropics they are a nuisance, as well as a vector of some serious diseases. Zika virus is the newest one to hit the headlines, but there are plenty more.......and more serious too.
Locally in north Australia the more notable issues relate to Ross River Fever, Barmah Forest virus, Murray Valley Encephalitis as well as Dengue Fever and possibly Chikungunya Virus in some areas, Overseas in Asia, Dengue and Malaria can be of major concern.
Often the pesky biting is enough to cause problems, even without disease issues.
Standing shallow and still water can be a major haven for harbouring mosquitoes.
An article prepared for Stormwater magazine way back in 2002 is still relevant in providing ideas, guidelines and a reality check about water and mosquitoes.
It was prepared with the US situation first and centre of mind, but is a relevant readable article for use in Australia too. Information on insecticides is a bit dated but the concepts are useful to understand.
The link is here :
http://foresternetwork.com/weekly/stormwater-weekly/the-dark-side-of-stormwater-runoff-management-disease-vectors-associated-with-structural-bmps/
The other link below refers to Zika virus details based on US data - although the primary carrier mosquito is not nominally present in Australia.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/health/zika-virus/?hpid=hp_no-name_graphic-story-b%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Locally in north Australia the more notable issues relate to Ross River Fever, Barmah Forest virus, Murray Valley Encephalitis as well as Dengue Fever and possibly Chikungunya Virus in some areas, Overseas in Asia, Dengue and Malaria can be of major concern.
Often the pesky biting is enough to cause problems, even without disease issues.
Standing shallow and still water can be a major haven for harbouring mosquitoes.
An article prepared for Stormwater magazine way back in 2002 is still relevant in providing ideas, guidelines and a reality check about water and mosquitoes.
It was prepared with the US situation first and centre of mind, but is a relevant readable article for use in Australia too. Information on insecticides is a bit dated but the concepts are useful to understand.
The link is here :
http://foresternetwork.com/weekly/stormwater-weekly/the-dark-side-of-stormwater-runoff-management-disease-vectors-associated-with-structural-bmps/
The other link below refers to Zika virus details based on US data - although the primary carrier mosquito is not nominally present in Australia.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/health/zika-virus/?hpid=hp_no-name_graphic-story-b%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Wednesday, July 02, 2014
Recycling Water Crucial To NT Water Supplies
In the face of global water supply shortages, recycled water has the potential to help us be more climate-independent. And even though it seems novel, reused water is already cycled back into the supply. If you live in a community downstream of another one, chances are, you are reusing its water.
Australians and Americans have embraced “sustainability” in so many aspects of modern life, but not when it comes to water resources.
Recycled or reclaimed water is water that is used more than one time before it passes back into the natural water cycle. Treated wastewater, including sewage and water used for industrial processing, can be cleanly recycled for agricultural and landscape irrigation, industrial processes, toilet flushing, replenishing a groundwater basin and even for drinking water.
Scientifically proven advances in water technology — including reverse osmosis, ultraviolet disinfection, and oxidation — applied to wastewater allow communities to reuse water for many different purposes, treating the water differently depending on the intended use.
And the best part is: there is huge potential for growth in using recycled water. Thirty-two billion gallons of municipal wastewater are produced everyday in the United States but less than 10 percent of that is intentionally reused and the equation is quite similar in the Northern Territory, particularly in the northern areas, as Alice Springs now does have an aquifer recharge program using treated wastewater from the effluent ponds.
Also, it is known that the NT uses up to four times water per person more than temperate Australia, and much of that extra water is used outside, where non potable water would do. It is certainly wasteful to treat all water to drinking standards and then use 70% outside as is common in Darwin.
One key reason that water reuse is not a bigger part of the nation’s water supply is that it is still characterized as a waste product in most places.
In a progressive move, California in the US recently enacted legislation that reclassifies recycled water as a water resource. The state government also recently streamlined the permitting process for using recycled water for irrigation and allocated $200 million in grants to encourage related projects. While California uses different legislative systems to Australia, the truth is, Australia could do a lot ore with use of appropriately treated wastewater. AND......such programs would be sensible infrastructure development in a continent as dry as ours.
In other parts of the USA,communities in dry west Texas have used state-of-the-art technology to augment their drinking water supply with reused water; Phoenix in Arizona has had an aquifer recharge program using treated effluent which is subsequently redrawn for use, for about 50 years; the governor of Oklahoma just signed a law to encourage water reuse; and Florida’s most recent water reuse report indicated that 719 million gallons of water is beneficially reused each day in 2013 — the largest amount in the country. Yet here in north Australia as we discuss developing the north, there is little discussion about reuse of water, in an environment which is totally dry for 6-8 months each year, while in the other few months water flows away freely [ admittedly it is used by the environment!].
The amount of water intentionally reused in both Australia and the USA still quite low and it will stay that way as long as the public regards reuse as an emergency measure. Citizens have embraced “sustainability” in so many aspects of modern life, but not when it comes to water resources.
Conservation cannot meet future water demands alone and other measures that create new sources of water, like desalination, are still more expensive, with some people believing that it is too expensive although newer technologies are encouraging in possibly lower costs. Desalination has its advocates though, with WA a champion of the technology, with development being driven by the woman who is the Chair of the WA Water Corporation.
In the Top End of the NT the only avenue seemingly being explored for more water is to develop more dams or other above ground storage systems, such as the pumped off river system discussed for an area in hills north of Adelaide River, and the dam above Adelaide River. Desalination of seawater is also a possible option around Darwin.
Water reuse is the easiest and most economical fix. It should be included in the water supply portfolio of the Darwin region, and in fact for all communities. It at least should be given equal weight in assessing future water resources for the region.
This is a solar technology to distill irrigation tailwater from agriculture fields using solar technology to heat a oil filled tube and then use the heat to distill the tailwater. It works and can be scaled up, with a projected cost of about one quarter the cost of desalination of sea water [ many places say a cost for this of $2 per kilolitre]. Search for Water FX online for more details.
Recycled or reclaimed water is water that is used more than one time before it passes back into the natural water cycle. Treated wastewater, including sewage and water used for industrial processing, can be cleanly recycled for agricultural and landscape irrigation, industrial processes, toilet flushing, replenishing a groundwater basin and even for drinking water.
Scientifically proven advances in water technology — including reverse osmosis, ultraviolet disinfection, and oxidation — applied to wastewater allow communities to reuse water for many different purposes, treating the water differently depending on the intended use.
And the best part is: there is huge potential for growth in using recycled water. Thirty-two billion gallons of municipal wastewater are produced everyday in the United States but less than 10 percent of that is intentionally reused and the equation is quite similar in the Northern Territory, particularly in the northern areas, as Alice Springs now does have an aquifer recharge program using treated wastewater from the effluent ponds.
Also, it is known that the NT uses up to four times water per person more than temperate Australia, and much of that extra water is used outside, where non potable water would do. It is certainly wasteful to treat all water to drinking standards and then use 70% outside as is common in Darwin.
One key reason that water reuse is not a bigger part of the nation’s water supply is that it is still characterized as a waste product in most places.
In a progressive move, California in the US recently enacted legislation that reclassifies recycled water as a water resource. The state government also recently streamlined the permitting process for using recycled water for irrigation and allocated $200 million in grants to encourage related projects. While California uses different legislative systems to Australia, the truth is, Australia could do a lot ore with use of appropriately treated wastewater. AND......such programs would be sensible infrastructure development in a continent as dry as ours.
In other parts of the USA,communities in dry west Texas have used state-of-the-art technology to augment their drinking water supply with reused water; Phoenix in Arizona has had an aquifer recharge program using treated effluent which is subsequently redrawn for use, for about 50 years; the governor of Oklahoma just signed a law to encourage water reuse; and Florida’s most recent water reuse report indicated that 719 million gallons of water is beneficially reused each day in 2013 — the largest amount in the country. Yet here in north Australia as we discuss developing the north, there is little discussion about reuse of water, in an environment which is totally dry for 6-8 months each year, while in the other few months water flows away freely [ admittedly it is used by the environment!].
The amount of water intentionally reused in both Australia and the USA still quite low and it will stay that way as long as the public regards reuse as an emergency measure. Citizens have embraced “sustainability” in so many aspects of modern life, but not when it comes to water resources.
Conservation cannot meet future water demands alone and other measures that create new sources of water, like desalination, are still more expensive, with some people believing that it is too expensive although newer technologies are encouraging in possibly lower costs. Desalination has its advocates though, with WA a champion of the technology, with development being driven by the woman who is the Chair of the WA Water Corporation.
In the Top End of the NT the only avenue seemingly being explored for more water is to develop more dams or other above ground storage systems, such as the pumped off river system discussed for an area in hills north of Adelaide River, and the dam above Adelaide River. Desalination of seawater is also a possible option around Darwin.
Water reuse is the easiest and most economical fix. It should be included in the water supply portfolio of the Darwin region, and in fact for all communities. It at least should be given equal weight in assessing future water resources for the region.
[ partially adapted from an article by Melissa Melker of the US Water Reuse Association in the NY Times 30 June 2014]UPDATE - http://ecowatch.com/2014/03/20/solar-technology-californias-water/
This is a solar technology to distill irrigation tailwater from agriculture fields using solar technology to heat a oil filled tube and then use the heat to distill the tailwater. It works and can be scaled up, with a projected cost of about one quarter the cost of desalination of sea water [ many places say a cost for this of $2 per kilolitre]. Search for Water FX online for more details.
Join Room for Debate on Facebook and follow updates on twitter.com/roomfordebate.
Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Urban Stormwater Management – Smarter Solutions and Better Stormwater Use
While almost no urban sewerage system in Australia is
designed to also handle stormwater, as is the case in some older cities,
particularly in the USA, the management of stormwater productively is quite a
challenge. With our increasingly hard
surfaced cities, the stormwater system has grown, usually channelling away
water that previously would have often dissipated within the landscape where it
was generated, often even into the ground, or at least nearby.
While there are places around Australia where the stormwater
is planned to move and actually recharge local aquifers, with Mawson Lakes near
Adelaide a good example, as is some stormwater even around Palmerston, recharging
the aquifer under the city in the wet season.
Normally, most stormwater runs off, and is lost to local use.
With about 80% of contaminants on hard surfaces, being moved
with the first flush of rain [even more in the tropics with the first break
storms of the wet season], colleting that and filtering through land and used
by plants is a major and distinct improvement to the quality of stormwater
discharged into nearby rivers, creeks and ultimately the harbours and oceans. Most of the pollutants are remediated by soil
borne organisms.
But driving that change is difficult as engineering has
dominated how urban stormwater has been managed and the usual method has been pipe,
or surface hard channel it, away.
More localities are reconsidering this however, through
design modification to use plant based drains and detention areas before excess
water flows elsewhere. Volumes handled
by expensive engineered solutions are often decreased as is cost, and water is
used productively near where it is produced.
Better design can actually increase volumes handled by
bioengineering approaches, so often even reducing overall costs. This type of approach may even be retro fitted
at modest cost or with little disruption to existing facilities.
It is more difficult in monsoonal areas with major
differences in urban water between the wet and dry seasons, but it is possible
to modify designs to at least allow a reduction in irrigation in the early and
late wet seasons by better using locally generated surface waters locally with
better design of roads and local parklands.
Some projects have been finished in Sydney as well as overseas.
There are some smart designs on the web site of www.atlantiscorp.com.au used in Sydney, an Australian company in this
design space. See more here - http://www.atlantiscorp.com.au/solutions/civil-engineering/road-solution-drainage
.
More are being planned, with some further details here –
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/to_tackle_runoff_cities_turn_to_green_initiatives/2613/
And then there are green roofs, aimed at collecting and
using water that falls on buildings and preventing much of that getting to
street level – it helps cool buildings too, reducing heat load on concrete
roofs. More of these options are
developing.
We just do not do enough of these more appropriate solutions
here in the NT. 
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Stormwater Management - Green Roofs Play a Part
The concept of using green roofs has more been around overall city heat mitigation, reduced heat absorption on concrete roofs, more oxygen in the city, even reuse of waste water.
Recent work has indicated that the 'green roof" may be significant in stormwater management, a slightly different outcome than was expected.
While Australia and many other regions do not have a single stormwater and sewer pipe system, some cities do. There the collection of stormwater on green roofs appears to greatly reduce the amount of stormwater entering the sewer system, and thus reduces the potential overflow, quite a problem for these types of systems.
In the areas with separate storm water and sewer disposal systems, it would seem that the collection of especially higher intensity storm rain, the event that often overloads streets and stormwater disposal designs, would also be enhanced, and less stormwater would flow through the system. And, even if it was partially reduced, it would most likely time shift and reduce the major flows, after the rain had flowed down through the green roof and then out down a drainpipe to the ground. The green roof would also assist with removal of pollutants, often in the rain in cities.
More details of the study here -http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/42701
Green roofs lend themselves well to regions with some regular rainfall, year round. Has not been much development here in the NT, due to our very strongly seasonal rainfall - wet for half the year, generally totally dry for the other half, so plants require watering then.
There is a good example of a green roof in Singapore, at the Botanical Gardens. It seems to work well.
Recent work has indicated that the 'green roof" may be significant in stormwater management, a slightly different outcome than was expected.
While Australia and many other regions do not have a single stormwater and sewer pipe system, some cities do. There the collection of stormwater on green roofs appears to greatly reduce the amount of stormwater entering the sewer system, and thus reduces the potential overflow, quite a problem for these types of systems.
In the areas with separate storm water and sewer disposal systems, it would seem that the collection of especially higher intensity storm rain, the event that often overloads streets and stormwater disposal designs, would also be enhanced, and less stormwater would flow through the system. And, even if it was partially reduced, it would most likely time shift and reduce the major flows, after the rain had flowed down through the green roof and then out down a drainpipe to the ground. The green roof would also assist with removal of pollutants, often in the rain in cities.
More details of the study here -http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/42701
Green roofs lend themselves well to regions with some regular rainfall, year round. Has not been much development here in the NT, due to our very strongly seasonal rainfall - wet for half the year, generally totally dry for the other half, so plants require watering then.
There is a good example of a green roof in Singapore, at the Botanical Gardens. It seems to work well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)