Australian Water Management Review Vol. 1 2014 | Page 10

AdaptWater
highly commended
at AWA NSW
Conference

Alieta Donald,
Manager Strategy
and Research, Water
Services Association
of Australia

A

daptWater has been highly commended
in the Research Innovation category at
this year’s Australian Water Association
NSW Southern Regional Conference
2014.

“We are very pleased that AdaptWater has been
recognised in the Research Innovation category. Our
members operate around 260,000 km of pipeline
and hundreds of water and sewage treatment
facilities. Ensuring these assets perform reliably
under climate change will be an important outcome
of the AdaptWater tool,” said Adam Lovell, Executive
Director of WSAA.

4 | Australian water man age m e nt re v ie w

AdaptWater is a climate change adaptation
quantification tool for the water industry, currently
being researched and developed by Sydney Water in
partnership with WSAA. The tool gives utilities the
ability to undertake a quantitative risk assessment
for climate change impacts.
Risk associated with climate change can be
considered alongside other quantified risks within
the decision making process, including system
risks, engineering risks and operational risks, which
leads to more informed decisions.
AdaptWater ensures that climate change risks
can be incorporated into capital and operational
investment decisions, leading to selection of
appropriate adaptation actions and options for water
and sewage infrastructure and ensuring efficient
spending outcomes for government, regulators and
customers.
The current version of AdaptWater includes sewage
and water assets:
• Sewage: treatment plants, pumping stations,
pipes, chemical dosing facilities and odour
control facilities.
• Water: treatment plants, reservoirs, pumping
stations, pipes, and chemical dosing facilities.

• The tool is designed to address:
• Coastal inundation: Extreme event. Inundation of
assets due to flooding from high sea events driven
by increased mean sea levels and storm surge.
• Salt water ingress: Incremental. Saline water from a
tidal water table entering underground assets (e.g.
pipes, manholes, underground pumping stations).
• Riverine flooding: Extreme event. Inundation of
assets due to surface flows and increased river
heights during high precipitation events.
• Extreme wind: Extreme event. Extreme wind gusts
that may exceed the design standard of structures.
• Heatwave: Extreme event. High ambient
temperature event that may exceed the design
envelope of structures or equipment.
• Bushfire: Extreme event. Fire event in grassland
or forest which includes temperatures consistent
with direct flame exposure.
The Research Innovation Award aims to encourage
innovation, constant environmental improvement and
sustainable management of Australia’s water resources.
The award provides recognition for an environmentally
significant research project or initiative.