ICYMI: read on for some Ozwater highlights on the challenges achieving a low-emission, circular water economy, from our research team on the ground at Ozwater’26.
We are challenged to face the complexity that lies ahead but luckily, we don’t have to face it alone ...
No plan B for biosolids
Australia produces ~350k dry tonnes of biosolids per year, with agriculture remaining its dominant end use (Australian & New Zealand Biosolids Partnership - end use survey). This pathway is under increasing pressure from contamination (PFAS, microplastics, pharmaceuticals) and the regulatory changes that follow. If land application is no longer an option, alternative reuse pathways won’t deliver the same benefits, and getting there will be harder than it sounds: technologies are complex to deploy and markets for resource recovery products are not yet established (Jason Mingo and Matthew Stewart ).
PFAS: the water sector is cleaning up everyone else’s mess
We are regulated at orders of magnitude below the industries generating the problem. Source control works (the AFFF phase-out proved it) but only when measures are comprehensive, enforcement is strong, and effort is sustained over years if not decades (Louise Reeves). In the meantime, PFAS accumulates in our biosolids, demanding significant investment that the water sector cannot really afford and could put to better use elsewhere. Karl Bowles walked us through the analytical, treatment and destruction options available to us: none of them silver bullets, all of them requiring expert input and case-specific consideration.
Net-zero targets are only as good as the investment behind them
Our sector emits potent GHGs (nitrous oxide and methane) that are difficult to quantify accurately and hard to abate. Our colleagues overseas are grappling with the same challenge even with decarbonised grids; fugitive emissions don’t disappear when the electricity is clean (Jeremy Kraemer). We’re building the capability to measure accurately from conventional plants but that needs to extend to lagoons, sewer networks and reservoirs. And we need to monitor with purpose: to understand the extent of the problem and to generate the evidence base that turns monitoring data into credible, effective mitigation.
Vince Bianchini
Research Program Manager, WaterRA