Water quality services

Water quality services

We offer an integrated approach that enables total solutions design for urban, peri-urban and catchment systems. We have a detailed understanding of water quality and behaviour in a whole catchment context.

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Key contact

Lee Hedd

Business Development Manager

Ottawa, Canada

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We specialise in integrated solutions and provide a holistic assessment of water quantity and quality issues. Our insight enables businesses and governments to protect the natural environment while supporting development.

We understand the complexities of water quality and sediment dynamics and help you develop effective strategies to identify, monitor, measure, manage, and mitigate environmental changes. We use risk-based assessments and environment risk management processes under the International Standard for Risk Management (ISO 31000).

We also offer a wealth of experience in collecting soil, groundwater, and sediment samples using established protocols.

Integrated water cycle management

Our experience:

  • Approval documentation and management
  • Regulator and stakeholder consultation and liaison including compliance
  • Responses to submissions and appeals, including advice services
  • Achieving compliance with regulatory water and sediment quality objectives
  • Incident response to ship groundings and oil spill events
  • Inspection of ship hull and benthic marine pest species
  • Rehabilitation and restoration projects, including seagrass meadow and coral reef
  • Water and wastewater efficiency audits and advice.
  • Hazardous waste/material testing (Heavy Metals, TCLP, LC-50)
  • Marine benthic habitat mapping and ecological surveys
  • Marine megafauna surveys
  • Soils and sediment testing across terrestrial, aquatic, and marine environments

Specific capabilities:

  • Advanced mapping technologies
  • Ballast water management plans
  • Data collection and analysis
  • Development of reactive water quality monitoring programmes
  • Equipment calibration, deployment, and telemetry
  • Liaison and management of interactions with accredited laboratories
  • Produced Formation Water (PFW) discharge modelling
  • Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) for data collection and mapping shallow and -benthic sea habitats
  • Solid waste testing
  • Tracking discharge plumes using ocean gliders
  • Water efficiency data collection, including the performance of water infrastructure
  • Water quality numerical modelling

Where we work

  • Catchment and riparian areas (including terrestrial areas)
  • Estuaries and nearshore environments
  • Freshwater environments
  • Mining operations and decommissioning projects
  • Open and offshore marine environments (including associated with offshore installations)
Water quality services

Water efficiency optimisation and auditing

With careful targeting, water efficiency optimisation and auditing achieve an excellent return on investment.

We offer world-leading expertise in the highest standard of water management, efficiency auditing, strategic water planning and training across all kinds of sites and portfolios - including the Defence, industrial, commercial, government, business, and high-rise residential sectors.

Our practical and innovative recommendations achieve on average 20-60% water savings through:

  • Experienced, thorough, and collaborative investigation and analysis of water use patterns and water balances
  • Sophisticated use of remote flow and pressure monitoring data and equipment
  • Intelligent targeting of improvement options - typically targeting a return on investment
  • Innovative alternate supply opportunity assessment, concept design and implementation assistance
  • Ongoing support services to help achieve, maintain, and continually improve water performance and resilience
Image of a water efficiency plant

Water quality modelling

We support you with the complexities of water quality dynamics and developing practical management strategies.

Lake and reservoir modelling image
  • Assessing the relationship between water movement and exchange processes, pollutant loadings and resultant water quality in natural waterways
  • Computer modelling of water quality within receiving waters such as lakes, estuaries, rivers, and coastal oceans
  • Fluid dynamics modelling of di-user releases
  • Associated water quality assessments within waterways relating to domestic and industrial wastewater discharges, plant brine releases, and all catchment runoff
  • Di-user and pipe discharge dilution analysis, with an assessment of regulatory compliance
  • Translating process flows or assessing the performance of policy development and management
  • Providing advice on the management of shallow urban lakes, including the design of advanced grading and water treatment devices
  • Undertaking quantitative microbial risk assessments of drinking water supply reservoirs
  • Developing and accessing management techniques to protect water quality
  • Writing water quality management plans or associated catchment management plans

Surface water quantity and quality

Surface water quality is affected by complex natural and human influences across climate, catchment inflows, and processes occurring within estuaries and offshore effects.

We have a long history of successfully measure, monitor, and control environmental water quality. To do so, we use highly advanced numerical models, many of which have been developed in-house, to carry out complex hydrology and water quality management studies.

We support more intelligent decision making for developers who need to demonstrate compliance with regulations or governmental organisations looking to protect and enhance the environmental values of hydrology and water quality.

An environmental engineering running tests in a stream
  • Receiving water quality assessments using TUFLOW and other software solutions
  • Catchment rainfall/runoff analysis
  • Hydrologic assessments of changes to catchment land use to achieve water quality outcomes
  • Water quality assessments as a result of urban sprawl
  • Design of water quality and hydraulic control structures
  • Construction, supervision and establishment of water management assets
  • Stormwater management
  • Dam and reservoir management
  • Water sensitive urban design and integrated water cycle management planning

Sedimentation studies

Sediment characteristics can be crucial to understanding and protecting the coastal and estuarine environment.

Our laboratory-based sediment measurement techniques and ability to interpret the results effectively support more intelligent decision making.

Innovations include our recently developed field sediment card, which provides a fast and effective way to identify key characteristics.

Our understanding of quality guidelines, standards, and trigger values supports compliance and intelligent decision-making across various parameters, including toxicants (and toxicity), nutrients, organics, pesticides, herbicides, PFAS and hydrocarbons.

Calibrated with data collected on sediment particle size and underlying hydrodynamics, we can undertake complex assessments of bed mobility, organic enrichment, channel siltation and dispersion from marine placements sites and outfalls.

eDNA

eDNA is trace amounts of DNA obtained from substrates rather than directly from a biological source.

This preserved genetic material provides a tool to monitor the composition of biological communities at a given location.

When combined with next-generation DNA sequencing technologies, eDNA provides a wealth of information for studies of biodiversity, threatened species, biosecurity, pests/diseases, food webs and dietary analysis.

Using these state-of-the-art eDNA techniques, WE can design and carry out rapid marine and aquatic surveys, including marine pest species.

Measurement of the presence or absence of introduced marine species and to characterise marine fish and invertebrate assemblages (eDNA)

Point sources of water pollution

Measuring the impact on the natural environment of plumes and outfalls is both essential and complex.

We have been managing the effects of point source pollution for more than 20 years.  Our experience translates into an unsurpassed level of corporate knowledge about the local issues affecting ocean discharge in temperate and tropical waters and different discharge types.

We use numerical models and field instrumentation to predict the mixing and broader interaction of pollutants discharged from a point source within your receiving environment.

From mining by-products to aquaculture to hydropower and wastewater treatment plants, we can help you model and mitigate environmental and regulatory risks from point sources of water pollution.

We can help you model and mitigate environmental and regulatory risks.

  • treated wastewater
  • produced formation water (PFW)
  • post salt removal ‘brine.’
  • salt production waste ‘bitterns.’
  • industrial cooling water

Ecosystem modelling of lakes and reservoirs

Simulating circulation and water quality impacts across impounded lakes and storages, our models can consider volumetric capacity, stratification, and nutrient levels to predict and develop appropriate management responses to issues in impoundments such as algal blooms and microbial contamination.

We help developers and governments successfully design and maintain artificial lakes and reservoirs, from monitoring water quality to managing stormwater.

We advise on detailed design, construction, establishment, management, and handover.

We also undertake mine void lake hydrology, geochemical and ecological modelling to:

  • identify and assess risks of lake overtopping and contaminant release (water balance modelling)
  • characterise lake water quality conditions and capacity to support beneficial uses in the long term (e.g., stratification, algae blooms, geochemical processes etc.)

We enable you to measure and mitigate environmental risk while supporting successful development.

Dangerous and inaccessible locations

We use remotely operated vehicles (ROV) and apparatus for working in dangerous or inaccessible locations

Oil spill emergency planning

We use specialised oil spill software to help predict the location and impact of an oil spill, enabling better planning and preventative measures.

Mine pit water quality modelling

Our related mine water services include:

  • 1D, 2D, 3D hydrodynamic models, coupled with Aquatic Ecosystem Dynamics (AED) for biological and biogeochemical processes (partnership with UWA)
  • Characterisation of pit lake physio-chemical processes
  • Informs an understanding of:
  • Potential biodiversity and beneficial uses of pit lakes closure phase
  • Water quality risks of pit lakes to adjacent receiving environments (e.g., dewatering, outflows)
  • Long-term prediction of water quality outcomes for mine pit management (and closure) scenarios
  • Local, mine scale models derived to predict water quality changes for different strategies (e.g., diversion of mine waters)
  • Receiving environment water quality modelling to assess and manage the risks of mine water discharges to downstream users and values (e.g., compliance to WQOs/targets)
Picture of a mineral mine in Australia

Projects