GWI impresses at Ozwater'17

GWI was out in force at Ozwater’17, held on 16-19 May at the International Convention Centre, Sydney.

Known as ‘Australia’s International Water Conference’, Ozwater is organised annually by the Australian Water Association and is made up of presentations, workshops, case studies, and an extensive open trade exhibition.

Ozwater'17 was a truly exciting and refreshing event

Prof Nick Schofield, Director, UNSW-GWI

The breadth and depth of GWI’s expertise was evident throughout the Ozwater’17 program, with Ruth Fisher, Andrea Gonzales, Jennifer Lun, Richard Stuetz and Arash Zamyadi presenting on a range of interesting water topics - from odour management to algal blooms and more.

GWI’s A/Prof Stuart Khan, who is also on the Ozwater program committee, facilitated a workshop on the future role of planned potable reuse in Australia, while GWI Director, Professor Nick Schofield, facilitated an interesting panel session on Australia's future water security.

One of our current students, Sina Moradi, was in the spotlight during the conference gala dinner on Wednesday 17 May, having qualified as a finalist in the Student Water Prize for her outstanding work on the assessment and modelling of chloramine residual decay in drinking water.

Ruth Fisher’s ‘biosolids processing odour wheel’ innovation – which can provide water utility staff with an easy to use guide for combating nuisance odours – was highlighted as an innovation of special interest by the MC in the plenary session.

A highlight of the week was the opportunity to host an AWA international delegation comprised of 60 visitors from Vietnam and Indonesia, who toured GWI’s Water Research Laboratory, learning more about our approach to tackling pressing global water-engineering problems and seeing first-hand the impressive facilities we have at our disposal.

GWI also had an exhibition booth within the ‘Aquademic Hub throughout Ozwater17, showcasing our latest inspiring research findings, our ongoing projects, our innovative multi-disciplinary approach and our many collaborative local, national and global partnerships.

Professor Nick Schofield, GWI Director, was enthusiastic about all the event had to offer, saying “OzWater’17 was a truly exciting and refreshing event themed on innovation and disruption, introducing inspiring out-of-sector keynotes and strong policy and diversity sessions to complement first class technical presentations. The UNSW Global Water Institute is pleased to partner with AWA on its new national and international initiatives.”