Professor Peter Cullen, AO, FTSE

Professor Peter Cullen is a Commissioner of the National Water Commission. He is Chair of the Victorian Water Trust Advisory Council and Chair of the Independent Panel reviewing the Sydney Metropolitan Water Plan. Professor Cullen was founding Chief Executive of the CRC for Freshwater Ecology at the University of Canberra from 1992- 2002. Professor Cullen developed the first guidelines for water pollution
control ponds in the ACT in the late nineteen eighties and was responsible for the design of such ponds in various cities.

He served as President of the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies. 1998-9, 2001, and a member, Prime Ministers Science, Engineering & Innovation Council, 1998-9, 2001 He is a graduate in Agricultural Science from the University of Melbourne and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. He is a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists and has been a commentator on water reform over the last decade.

Professor Cullen was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2004 for service to freshwater ecology, particularly in the areas of policy development, implementation and sustainability in relation to
water and natural resource management.

Biography

Professor Mooyoung Han is a professor at the Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Seoul National University in Korea. He has worked on teaching and research in the conventional water and wastewater field for 30 years. His major interest has been particle separation, working as the secretary of IWA Particle Separation Specialist Group. He received the 2005 AEESP outstanding publication Award from his theoretical paper on flocculation.

His recent research interest has been extended to an area of new paradigm of rainwater management. After several activities in the field of rainwater harvesting as a task force in IWA, he recently organized and became the co-chairman of Rainwater Harvesting and Management Specialist Group in IWA. On May 2007, he organized the first International Rainwater Leadership workshop to train the water managers in the developing countries and to make a network of the rainwater group.

His activity to prove the importance of rainwater in developing countries and disaster area has been reported in IWA journal Water 21.
http://www.iwapublishing.com/pdf/w21June07%20banda%20aceh.pdf

It is his goal to combine the theory of particle separation into the practice of rainwater management and develop the management methods which require low cost and low energy. Also his vision includes the promotion of rainwater harvesting and management by training the experts as well as educating public using appropriate tools such as DVD or UCC.

Biography

Josh Byrne is an environmental scientist with a passion for green gardening. He believes that many of the pressing environmental challenges that confront our cities and towns can be tackled by gardeners if given the opportunity. Water shortages, nutrient pollution, organic waste management, urban biodiversity and clean food production are all is issues that fall well and truly into the realm of gardeners.

Well known as the WA presenter on ABC TV’s Gardening Australia program, Josh also writes for several leading gardening magazines and his first book, The Green Gardener, was recently published by Penguin.

In between filming and garden writing, Josh is working on a PhD at Murdoch University examining the role of wastewater reuse in sustainable urban landscapes. He is also engaged in teaching, as well as environmental and horticultural consultancy work in the area of sustainable landscape design and management.

Biography

John is a director of the Sydney Catchment Authority and the Hunter Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority. He has over 30 years experience in working with utilities, particularly energy and water.

In addition, he has been an environmental advocate since 1972, holding many positions in community organisations. He has been Secretary of the NSW Nature Conservation Council and for the past 8 years has been Chairman of the Community Environment Network. In these positions, he has worked on many aspects of water reform including water sharing plans, demand management and water tanks.

John also works with academia, industry and government on sustainability issues with a focus on the Central Coast and water. He leads a group called the Sustainable Business Network which seeks to create marketing and employment opportunities from sustainability applied in regional areas.

Biography

Mr. Lucey is a private consultant in Aquatic Ecology and Municipal Watershed Management Planning with Aqua-Tex Scientific Consulting Ltd. Aqua-Tex specializes in leading-edge integrated ecological site planning for water management, particularly rainwater, urban stream restoration, applied ecology and science education. He has established a personal reputation as a specialist in design and construction of quality rainwater management systems that are ecologically functional, economically viable and improve the natural environment. Mr. Lucey’s background includes 10 years in industry and 16 years with the Biology Department at the University of Victoria, followed by 13 years as a private consulting scientist. His academic background is in Marine Biology, Natural Resource Management Geography, Phycology (algae) and Aquatic Ecology. Mr. Lucey has over 150 publications.

Mr. Lucey is a founding member of the Canadian and BC Proper Functioning Condition (PFC) stream/wetland assessment cadre and is trained in the USGBC LEED™ certification process. He acts as a graduate studies supervisor for students in urban stream ecology and was instrumental in the establishment of an Industrial Chair in Environmental Management of Drinking Water Watersheds, at the University of Victoria, which began in 1999. Mr. Lucey and colleagues have worked for the past two decades with community groups to develop affordable, effective, locally-based programs to protect and restore aquatic habitat, especially in urban areas. Mr. Lucey’s most recent project has been the development of a Smart Municipal Development Program to protect public drinking water watersheds, urban freshwater habitat and to reduce the effects of stormwater on receiving environments.

Biography

Ms. Barraclough is a freshwater ecologist with Aqua-Tex Scientific Consulting Ltd. She holds a master’s degree in freshwater ecology from the University of Victoria where she specialised in the study of algae in lake sediments and using them to understand the history of lakes and reservoirs. She has spent the last thirteen years involved in watershed management projects throughout BC and has worked extensively on Vancouver Island urban streams and stormwater management projects. She is a founding member of the Canadian and BC Proper Functioning Condition (PFC) stream/wetland assessment cadre (through the USDI Bureau of Land Management and US Forest Service) and is trained in the US Green Building Council LEED™ Certification process. Her educational background includes degrees in English and Secondary education and training in consensus building around water issues. She was a regional representative for the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) with the National Research Council of Canada from 1999-2002 and was a member of the Economic Sector Steering Committee of the Columbia Basin Trust from 2002-2005.

Biography

Dr. Hari Krishna is a Senior Engineer and Contracts Manager in the Innovative Water Technologies Program at the Texas Water Development Board in Austin. As part of the program effort, Dr. Krishna is involved with the planning and development of water resources for Texas. His passion, however, is Rainwater Harvesting. He founded the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (ARCSA) in 1994 and served as its President for 11 years. Dr. Krishna has been associated with the International Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (IRCSA) for over 20 years, and has served as its Executive Vice President since 2003.

Dr. Krishna served previously as the Director of the Water Resources Research Institute at the University of the Virgin Islands from 1998-1993. Hari has been working with rainwater catchment systems for most of his career, and especially during the last 20 years in Texas and in the Caribbean. He received his Ph.D. degree in Engineering from Utah State University in 1979 and served as a faculty member in Utah, and as a Consultant to the United Nations in the 1980s.

Dr. Krishna is a licensed Professional Engineer (P.E.), and a certified Professional Hydrologist (P.H.). He has presented and/or published about 100 papers nationally and internationally, and was honored with a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the College of Engineering at Utah State University in 1997. He has been listed in “Who’s Who in Science and Engineering”, and in “Who’s Who in America”.

Biography

Stan Abbott is a Senior Lecturer in Microbiology and Communicable Diseases in the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health at Massey University in Wellington, New Zealand. He has an MSc (Hons) in Microbiology and is a member of the American Society for Microbiology and an associate member of the New Zealand Water and Wastes Association. Stan’s major research interests are in Environmental Microbiology, especially drinking and recreational water quality monitoring and he has published and presented papers on a variety of water quality projects using rapid defined substrate technologies like Enterolert™ and Colilert™.

Stan Abbott is also the Director of Roof Water Research Centre at Massey University where the main research focus is investigating measures and systems for improving tank rainwater quality. A number of major conference presentations and publications have emanated so far from this research. For the Ministry of Health Stan recently produced a Water Collection Tanks and Safe Household Water public information brochure and contributed a chapter on Roof Water Supplies in the Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality Management in New Zealand.

Recently completed roof rainwater projects under Stan’s leadership include a 5-year study on the Microbiological Quality of Roof-Collected Rainwater of Private Dwellings and a case-control study to determine Risk Factors for Salmonellosis and Campylobacteriosis among Consumers of Roof-Collected Rainwater. In collaboration with researchers from the Wellington School of Medicine and Regional Public Health Units, Stan is currently doing a study on Infectious Gastrointestinal Illness among Consumers of Roof-Collected Rainwater. This study includes the investigation of illness rates in the community, presenting to general practice, and reported in national surveillance data.

Biography

Tony McAlister is a Director of BMT-WBM, and oversees Water and Environmental activities within the company. He is heavily involved throughout Australia and internationally in the development of water quality management strategies, catchment management studies, water quality process studies and the design of water quality treatment systems in urban and natural environments. He has been at the forefront of the promotion and development of Water Sensitive Urban Design and Integrated Water Cycle Management solutions to assist with management of the environmental implications of urban development for many years and he is the Urban Program Leader of the eWater CRC.

Biography

Dr Cunliffe is the Principal Water Quality Adviser with the South Australian Department of Health. He has over 25 years of experience dealing with public health aspects of drinking water, rainwater collected in tanks and recycled water quality. Dr Cunliffe has conducted numerous investigations and developed policy on the management and quality of harvested rainwater. He is the author of the Australian Guidance on the Use of Rainwater. He has also contributed to the development of Australian and International guidelines including the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines, the Community Water Planner and the Australian Guidelines for Water Recycling. Dr Cunliffe has been a member of World Health Organization working groups since 2001 and has contributed to development of WHO Guidelines dealing with drinking water, desalination, recreational water and safe use of wastewater.