Title: Creating a smart water grid – bringing the environment, people and money together

Speaker: Prof. Tim Fletcher

Summary:

Cities suffer the cruel irony of both floods and droughts. Real-Time Control technology, applied to networks of rainwater tanks and stormwater storage basins, can be used to confront these challenges, and in doing so, transform the urban water industry. Tim will talk about the work being done to develop optimisation and control platform, along with novel economic incentives, to enable a market-driven smart-grid of stormwater storages, providing consumers with non-potable water supply, while financially rewarding them for contributions to flood mitigation and environmental flows to waterways. He will present the work that has built the foundations for such a concept, in partnership with Melbourne Water, one of OPTIMA’s foundation partners.

Biography:

Tim Fletcher is a Professor of Urban Ecohydrology at the University of Melbourne.  He is internationally regarded for his expertise in waterway and stormwater management. His research focus includes urban hydrology, stormwater quality and the design and performance of stormwater treatment and harvesting systems.  Tim co-leads the Melbourne Waterway Research Practice Partnership at the University of Melbourne.  He is an author of the industry-standard Model for Urban Stormwater Improvement Conceptualisation (MUSIC) and in 2011 received a prestigious Australian Research Council Future Fellowship.  Tim is a former Invited Professor at INSA Lyon (2008-9) and is co-chair of the Novatech conference, one of the leading international conferences on integrated urban water management.

MEETING ID: 873 1557 5255; PASSWORD: 778635

WED 2 August 16:00-17:00 (AEST, Melbourne Time) – online only