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Competitive advantage
- Working at the intersection of plant science and water engineering; developing and applying low-cost and low-energy nature-based water treatment solutions
- Technologies that are easily implemented into food precincts, increasing water reliability while also promoting no-energy cooling and social amenity
- Creating water solutions for urban food production, including smart horizontal and vertical irrigation, water recycling and risk management
Impact
- Low-cost, low-maintenance water treatment solutions that are nature based and custom designed for specific water-reuse needs
- Production of plans to optimise water resources
- The design of water-wise food precincts
Successful applications
- Research commercialised into the industry-leading Biofiltration adoption guideline, contributing to the mainstreaming of technologies in Australia
- Large number of nature-based water treatment systems constructed and monitored across Australia (with industry and government)
- Tools for catchment-wide water management planning (UrbanBEATS), suitability mapping (SSANTO), and urban flood rapid evaluation (CA-ffe)
Capabilities and facilities
- State-or-the-art passive water treatment technology design, including smart monitoring, risk assessment, and socio-technical modelling
- Research greenhouse facility for developing and testing plant-based technologies
- Water chemistry and safety analysis facilities
Our partners
- Melbourne Water
- EPA Victoria
- Knox City Council, Melbourne
- George's Riverkeeper, Sydney
- Randwick City Council, Sydney
- Office of Environmental Heritage
- Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute, China