There are concerns that recycled wastewater used for watering gardens or washing cars might be accidently ingested…
Sewage is delivered to wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) where benign microbial organisms within ‘activated sludge’ vessels contribute to the removal of harmful pathogens from the sewage…
European carp have decimated native fish species in the Murray-Darling River…
Failure to maintain appropriate levels of knowledge, skill, and experience in the frontline operator workforce runs the risk of disruption and loss of service delivery consequent to human error, along with associated risks to the environment and public health and safety…
Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) which float in reservoirs have been studied for decades because when they bloom, the very high cell numbers cause a problem for water treatment plant (WTP) operators, who have to remove the cells, toxins, and taste and odour compounds they produce…
Before treated wastewater can be discharged to the environment, utilities are required to perform a direct toxicity assessment (DTA), which usually requires that live aquatic animals, such as fish, swim in the clean discharge water for 4-10 days while their growth and activity are observed and measured…
The management of blue-green algae (cyanobacteria), and the toxins and taste and odour compounds they produce, have been the focus of more than 30 years of research, but there is still a need for a suite of user-friendly tools to assess and manage aesthetic and toxin risks…
In Australia, remote and regional communities frequently manage relatively small, isolated water treatment and waste management systems which have water quality and health risks characteristic of small-scale decentralised operations…
Although a cluster of customer complaints can identify specific water quality issues such as a dirty water event, it is more difficult to understand the extent of general customer satisfaction with water quality and taste…
Water treatment plant operators remove cyanobacteria and the toxins they produce from source waters but calculating the amount of treatment needed for effective removal is difficult, particularly in bloom conditions when cyanobacterial cell numbers and toxins change quickly…