Melbourne School of Engineering Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

eWater Cooperative Research Centre

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is a research node of the eWater Cooperative Research Centre. Other research nodes include Monash University, Griffith University, The University of Adelaide, The University of Newcastle, The University of Queensland, University of Canberra and CSIRO.

The central goal of the eWater CRC is to deliver to resource managers the capability to assess the impacts of catchment, water resource, and waterway management decisions on water systems and the environment. To achieve this, the eWater CRC has an integrated research and development program that is developing a range of products for the water industry.

This will provide powerful capability to catchment and water resource managers, helping them to evaluate the short-term and long-term outcomes of policy decisions at regional scales, focus management and operational activities efficiently, and assist with interpreting monitoring information and target setting.

To meet its objectives, the eWater CRC has a portfolio of multi-disciplinary research programs.

The Department's hydrology group is involved in the following research projects.

 

In addition the Department has a number of PhD students and Post-doctoral students supported by the eWater CRC:

 

Multiple Drivers of River Ecosystems

This project is identifying the individual and interacting effects of the numerous simultaneous disturbances that drive river condition in lowland rivers.

 

 

Enhanced forecasting of catchment stream-flow

This project is building systems to more accurately model the impact of vegetation on hydrology, model catchment runoff in real time, and for model-data assimlation using widely different data sources to improve precision and accuracy.
 

Predicting constituent generation, transport & transformation in catchments

 

This project aims to predict thebehaviour of key constituents in streams, including sediments and nutrients by focussing on generation and delivery pathways and transformations and storages along each pathway.

 

Total error framework for model calibration & prediction

 

This project will develop a total error framework for use in mathematical simulations of system behaviour. It will account for all major sources of 'error' that can ndermine confidence or cause uncertainty in the outputs of modelling.

 

Analysing, modelling & optimising water resources management decisions

This project focuses on four areas related to water resources management: (i) water management rules; (ii) demand modelling and uncertainty; (iii) multi-criteria analysis (MCA). This project will support the development of modules for use in the river operations and planning models.

 
 

Research & Product Integration - Design, Development & the Integration Blueprint

This project is an overarching platform that manages the ongoing integration processes within eWater CRC, ensuring that research projects, product projects, and research and product projects are compatible with and related to each other.