SUSE 6



29 May – 1 June 2023



Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia



-On the unceded lands of the Turrbal and Yagara people-


​At SUSE6 we heard from a range of diverse voices covering themes including: water pollution and catchment stressors,  urban water management, urban water policy and planning, social science and community engagement, stream restoration, nature based solutions, stream ecosystem structure and function, and biogeochemistry. A summary of the topics discussed are shown in the wordle below.

Final Program

Monday, May 29, 2023
  All sessions will take place at QUT Kelvin Grove, Building E
  Please note: All conference sessions will be held at Building E, Level 5, QUT Kelvin Grove Campus (149 Victoria Park Rd, Kelvin Grove QLD)
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM Conference Registration
Collect your name badge and materials from Level 5 (Building E) at QUT Kelvin Grove
  CONFERENCE OPENING SESSION
Sponsored by Melbourne Water
  Room: 550 | Session Chairs: Kathy Russell and Matt Burns
3:00 PM - 3:30 PM Welcome and Opening (including Welcome to Country from Turrbal Elder, Songwoman Maroochy)
3:30 PM - 4:15 PM Invited Presentation - Reph Lankri and Mark Gardiner
4:15 PM - 5:00 PM Invited presentation - Tim Fichera and Dwayne Honor
5:30 PM - 6:30 PM Welcome Drinks and Networking
  Please enjoy dinner at leisure at one of Brisbane's many cafes and restaurants
Tuesday, May 30, 2023
  Room 557 Room 550 Room 556 Room 555 Room 558 Foyer - 551 Foyer - 551
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM Conference Registration (Tuesday)
9:00 AM - 10:30 AM Workshops and Discussions (1)
W1 - Integrating nature-based solutions for urban water quality benefits in the developing world W2 - Setting urban streamflow targets: Quantification and application W3 - Are current urban stormwater management guidelines suitable for managing micropollutants? W4 - Inspire Change through Effective Communication with Non-Scientific Audiences W5 - Tools and principles for protecting headwater streams in urbanizing areas W6 - How to establish equitable, realistic, meaningful urban restoration goals W7 - Better bioassessment: urban focused biological monitoring
             
Theme: Nature-based solutions Theme: Catchment stressor Theme: Water Pollution Theme: Social science and community engagement Theme: Urban water; management Theme: Urban planning and policy Theme: Urban water management
             
Facilitators: Dr Suman Jumani and Dr Kyle McKay Facilitator: Dr Geoff Vietz Facilitator: Dr Claudette Kellar Facilitator: Ms Stephanie Ambrosia Facilitator: Dr Belinda Hatt Facilitator: Dr Seth Wenger Facilitator: Mr. Mateo Scoggins
10:30 AM - 4:30 PM Field Trip - Tuesday 30 May 2023 - Small Creek Naturalisation – Ipswich City Council and Hanlon Park / Burúda Rejuvenation Project
6:30 PM - 10:30 PM Symposium Dinner, including Guest Speaker, Theresa Bower
Garden Marquee, Victoria Park
Wednesday, May 31, 2023
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM Conference Registration (Wednesday)
9:00 AM - 9:15 AM Day 3 opening remarks
Includes Field Trip debrief and announcements
9:15 AM - 10:00 AM Room: 550 | Session Chair: Tony Weber
Keynote presentation - Brian Bledsoe
10:00 AM - 10:30 AM Morning tea (Wednesday)
             
  Room 550 Room 557
  Oral Presentations - 1 - Urban Water Management Oral Presentations - 1 - Planning, policy, community
Sponsored by Alluvium Session chair: Seth Wenger
Session chair: Niloo Tara  
10:30 AM - 10:45 AM How more than a decade of environmental DNA research is supporting strategic waterway management across Greater Melbourne Groping our way across the river - integrating catchment management considerations in the urban planning process in tropical Hong Kong
Dr Rhys Coleman, Waterways and Wetlands Research Manager, Applied Research Melbourne Water Ms Yan Ling Yuen, Conservation & Research Manager, Green Power
10:45 AM - 11:00 AM Evaluating the performance of urban constructed wetlands and living streams: a case study of Nurdi Way in Perth, Western Australia Waterway Language Barriers: How Australian stormwater quality standards are ticking the box but missing the mark
Dr Jen Middleton, Co-Director, University of Western Australia Dan Friesen, Perth NRM Mrs Katie Fletcher, Australasian Water Skills Leader, Arup  
11:00 AM - 11:15 AM Streamflow change with urban development in the semi-arid Denver, Colorado, USA metropolitan area Urban riverscapes: policy, science, and storytelling
Dr Aditi Bhaskar (she/her), Associate Professor, University of Colorado Boulder Dr Brian Murphy, Healthy Rivers Program Manager, River Network
11:15 AM - 11:30 AM Using a novel large-scale stormwater retention, harvesting and reticulation scheme to protect headwater streams from the effects of urbanization Riding the wave of greener planning
Mx Moss Imberger, Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne Ms Kim Markwell, Associate Director, E2Designlab
11:30 AM - 11:45 AM Trash In Creeks: A field survey of trash intensity and source types in Austin, Texas The benefits of urban blue and green spaces during a pandemic: a case study of Melbourne
Mr Matthew Scoggins, Watershed Protection Manager, City of Austin Dr Belinda Hatt, Waterways & Wetlands Research Specialist, Melbourne Water
11:45 AM - 12:00 PM Linking the Water Cycles: A unified decision support tool to optimise funding allocation for waterways Characterizing the Urban Fishing Sub-Culture of the Miami River (FL)
Mr Glenn Browning, Engineering Contractor, BCC Mr Michael Borbolla, Graduate Student, Florida International University
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Lunch (Wednesday)
1:00 PM - 1:45 PM Room: 550 | Session Chair: Moss Imberger
Keynote presentation - Chris Walsh
  Room 550 Room 557
  Oral Presentations - 2 - Urban Water Management Oral Presentations - 2 - Stream Restoration
Sponsored by Melbourne Water Session Chair: Scott McKendrick
Session chair: Kyle McKay  
1:45 PM - 2:00 PM Protecting urban platypus and river blackfish from a drier future Microplastic distribution and characteristics across a large river basin: Insights from the Neuse River in North Carolina, USA
Dr Ryan Burrows, University of Melbourne Dr Jack Kurki-Fox, Research Scholar, North Carolina State University
2:00 PM - 2:15 PM Designing for people and plants. Refocussing stormwater objectives Incorporating climate change into restoration decisions: Perspectives from practitioners
Mr Carlos Gambirazio, Civil and Water Engineer, Bligh Tanner Ms Katherine Abbott, Phd Candidate, University of Massachusetts Amherst
2:15 PM - 2:30 PM Using real-time control technology to manage the stormwater problem - The Monbulk Creek Case Study Sharing the Riparian Zone: Two case studies form the Mid-Brisbane River
Dr Matthew Burns, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne Mr Daniel Trnovsky, Project Engineer, Water Technology
2:30 PM - 2:45 PM Water-Sensitive Urban Design Scenario-Building of Greenslopes, Brisbane for Optimized Water Metabolic Performance and Climate Resilience Post-earthquake restoration and recovery of a spring-fed urban waterway in Christchurch, New Zealand
Mr Eduardo, Jr. Bornilla, Senior Project Officer, Catholic Relief Services Dr Belinda Margetts, Principal Waterways Ecologist, Christchurch City Council
2:45 PM - 3:00 PM Defining and monitoring urban waterway health - what data do you really need to collect? Flow regime changes and impacts and management options for River Red Gums in urbanizing streams: Malcolm Creek case study
Greg Peters, Senior Team Leader, Streamology Pty Ltd Dr Christine Lauchlan Arrowsmith, Co-CEO, Streamology Pty Ltd
3:00 PM - 3:30 PM Afternoon tea (Wednesday)
  Room 550 Room 557
  Oral Presentations - 3 - Nature-based Solutions Oral Presentations - 3 - Stream Ecosystems and Functions
Sponsored by Water Technology Session Chair: Allison Roy
Session Chair: Eugenia Marti  
3:30 PM - 3:45 PM Floodplain wetlands: a nature-based solution to assimilate nutrients, reduce erosion, expand habitat, and facilitate a more natural flow/disturbance regime. Managing for biodiversity in degraded urban streams
Dr Robert Hawley (he/him), Sustainable Streams, LLC Dr Paul Maxwell (he/him), General Manager, EcoFutures Consulting
3:45 PM - 4:00 PM People, place and purpose – harnessing complexity to provide ecosystem services in urban environments via blue-green stormwater infrastructure. Comparing the Performance Standards of the Stream Quantification Tool (SQT) to Southeast Piedmont Streams of the U.S.
Dr Wade Hadwen, Lecturer, Griffith University Dr Barbara Doll, Associate Extension Professor, North Carolina State University
4:00 PM - 4:15 PM Comparing Dissolved Organic Carbon Quality and Quantity in Urban Stormwater and Beaver Ponds Riparian assessment models to inform urban watershed restoration in Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Dr Sandra Clinton, Research Assistant Professor, University Of North Carolina Charlotte Kyle McKay (he/him), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
4:15 PM - 4:30 PM A before/after - control/impact study to evaluate watershed-scale hydrologic and water quality improvements due to green stormwater infrastructure implementation Drivers and functions of instream vegetation in urbanised streams
Dr Ryan Winston, Assistant Progessor, Ohio State University Mr Scott McKendrick, Phd Candidate, University of Melbourne
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM Poster session and networking drinks
Thursday, June 1, 2023
8:30 AM - 9:00 AM Conference Registration (Thursday)
  Room 557 Room 550
  Oral Presentations 4 - Stream restoration Oral Presentations - 4 - Biogeochemistry
9:00 AM - 9:15 AM Urban stream renaturalisation projects create more than just vegetated stormwater assets Urbanization alters the quantity and quality of dissolved organic matter in subtropical river networks in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Mr Riley De Jong, Civil And Water Engineer, Bligh Tanner Dr Shuo Chen, Postdoc, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
9:15 AM - 9:30 AM Urban riparian revegetation - do we need guidelines? Stream health and controls on the complexity of dissolved organic matter in settled and Indigenous landscapes
Mr Greg Peters, CO-CEO, Streamology Pty Ltd Ms Shayenna Nolan, PhD Student, University of Windsor
9:30 AM - 9:45 AM Urban creek restoration: Lessons from Waller Creek flood diversion tunnel on primary production Spatial and temporal variation in quantity and bioavailability of dissolved organic carbon within a metropolitan area
Ms Ashlee Hernandez, Undergraduate Researcher, University of Texas at Austin Dr Annika Quick, Assistant Professor, Virginia Wesleyan University
9:45 AM - 10:00 AM We should be doing a lot less stream restoration Inputs from wastewater treatment plants drive hydrology and chemistry in an urban river network under water scarcity context
Dr Seth Wenger, University of Georgia Dr Eugènia Martí, Senior Permanent Staff Researcher, Centre D'estudis Avançats De Blanes (CEAB-CSIC)
10:00 AM - 10:30 AM Morning tea (Thursday)
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM Workshops and Discussions (2)
Room 557 Room 550 Room 556 Room 555 Room 558 Foyer - 551 Foyer - 551
W1 - Integrating nature-based solutions for urban water quality benefits in the developing world - 2 W2 - Setting urban streamflow targets: Quantification and application - 2 W3 - Are current urban stormwater management guidelines suitable for managing micropollutants? - 2 W4 - Inspire Change through Effective Communication with Non-Scientific Audiences - 2 W5 - Tools and principles for protecting headwater streams in urbanizing areas - 2 W6 - How to establish equitable, realistic and meaningful urban restoration goals - 2 W7 - Better bioassessment: urban focused biological monitoring - 2
             
Theme: Nature-based solutions Theme: Catchment stressor Theme: Water Pollution Theme: Social science and community engagement Theme: Urban water management Theme: Urban planning and policy Theme: Urban water management
             
Facilitators: Dr Suman Jumani and Dr Kyle McKay Facilitator: Dr Geoff Vietz Facilitator: Dr Claudette Kellar Facilitator: Ms Stephanie Ambrosia Facilitator: Dr Belinda Hatt Facilitator: Dr Seth Wenger Facilitator: Mr. Mateo Scoggins
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Lunch (Thursday)
  Room 550 | Session Chair: Sally Boer
1:00 PM - 1:45 PM Keynote presentation - Brianna Williams
  Room 557 Room 550
  Oral Presentations - 5 - Stream ecosystems and functions Oral Presentations - 5 - Water pollution and catchment stressors
Session Chair: Geoff Vietz Session Chair: Katherine Abbott
1:45 PM - 2:00 PM Metabolic Regimes of Sub-Tropical Urban Streams Distribution of per and poly fluoroalkyl substances in urban environment
Ms Emily Taylor, Graduate Student, University of Florida Ms Vinitha Nanjappa, Phd Student, QUT
2:00 PM - 2:15 PM Low-cost turbidity sensors to understand suspended sediment dynamics in complex landscapes Demystifying Urban Stream Pollutants: Towards Source Specific Indicators of Contaminant Mixtures
Mr Paulo Vitor Ribeiro Marques da Silva, Phd Student, University of Melbourne Mr Jonathan Behrens, Phd Candidate, Duke University
2:15 PM - 2:30 PM   Salted Urban Streams: Understanding Spatial and Temporal Variability in Conductivity to Guide Management
Dr Allison Roy, Unit Leader, US Geological Survey, University of Massachusetts
2:30 PM - 3:00 PM Afternoon tea (Thursday)
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM CLOSING SESSION
Workshops debrief | feedback and reflections | next steps
Room: 550 | Chairs: Bob Hawley and Mateo Scoggins
  SUSE6 Close