MARCH 2005 NEWS

Professor Howard Wheater has developed and leads a Global Network on Water and Development Information for Arid Lands (G-WADI),

G-WADI (March 2005)
Professor Howard Wheater  has developed and leads a Global Network on Water and Development Information for Arid Lands (G-WADI), under UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme. The aim is to make high level expertise, information and modelling tools available to institutions, individuals and regional centres worldwide, to support water management in arid and semi-arid areas.
With funding from UNESCO and the UK DfID, he organized the first G-WADI event - a modelling workshop in Roorkee, India (28 Feb-4 March). Howard brought in experts from the USA, Australia, S. Africa, India, the Middle East and the UK to gave lectures and computer workshops to an audience of 40 participants, from Sudan, Chile, Oman, India, Pakistan, China, Mongolia, Iran, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The material and computer modelling software made available to the participants will be provided as a global resource through the G-WADI web-site – shortly to be on-line e.
Howard was able to meet up with Dr Ohja, former PhD student of Professor Nigel Graham , and now a Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, and Prof. Abdin Salih, former PhD Student in Hydraulics, and an old friend of the Department. Abdin is currently in charge of UNESCO’s office in Tehran.

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Professor David Butler chaired a conference held in London this month entitled 'Urban Flooding'. Presentations were also given by Professors Cedo Maksimovic  and David Balmforth (visiting professor).

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Dr Michael Rogers has joined the EWRE Section to work with Dr Stephen R Smith on the survival of enteric pathogens in sewage sludge amended agricultural soil. Mike has a BSc in Microbiology from the University of Sheffield and received his PhD in 2003 from the University of Kent, where he worked on PCR analysis of microbial communities. Mike ha s very much an integrated understanding of microbiological systems, particularly prokaryote-eukaryote interactions and ecology, and his experience has greatly strengthened the team working with Dr Smith on this project, which is supported by Defra, the UK Water Industry and the NFU.

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Dr Simon Beecham, Associate Professor at University of Technology Sydney’s Institute for Water and Environmental Research Management. His main area of research is water sensitive urban design (WSUD) and, in particular, continuous simulation modelling of total water cycle systems. His other interests include sewer system modelling, computational fluid dynamics modelling of free surface flows, siphonic roof drainage and the hydraulics of spatially v aried flow. As part of a sabbatical period from his Australian university, Simon is currently working with Dr Christian Onof on the development of suitable rainfall disaggregation techniques for Australian climatic conditions.

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Congratulations to Dr Fayyaz Memon on his recent promotion to Research Fellow. This is very well deserved and reflects his outstanding contribution to the urban water group, in particular, and the EWRE Section as a whole.

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Welcome to Iakovos Skourides, who has joined the section as a PhD student under the supervision of Dr Stephen Smith. Iakovos was previously a student on the En vironmental Engineering MSc course (2003/04) which he passed w ith distinction. His project, which is funded by the Cyprus Research Promotion Fou ndation, will be based predominantly in Cyprus and is in collaboration with Vassiliko Cement Works and the UK based company, Internation al Waste Industries. The research will develop an aerobic biological dessication process for municipal solid waste to produce alternative f uel products for the cement industry in order also to divert biodegradable and high calorific value wastes, which have limited recyclab le value on the island, from landfill disposal.

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Dr Stephen R Smith,  Director, Centre for Environmental Control and Waste Management, hosted a conference on Biodegradable Waste Composting on 10 March, organized by The Norlands Foundation. The Norlands Foundation, an Environmental Body set up under the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme, has sponsored several major projects on composting biodegradable municipal solid waste, including two contracts on the role of home composting at diverting biodegradable waste from landfill disposal, supervised by Dr Stephen R Smith. The Conference provided an overview of the work and was attended by 50 delegates representing key stakeholder groups including local government, waste management companies, WRAP and The Environment Agency