Water management capacity building to support rapidly developing mining economies

Many developing countries are experiencing rapid expansion in mining with associated water impacts. In most cases mining expansion is outpacing the building of national capacity to ensure that sustainable water management practices are implemented. Since 2011, Australia's International Mining for Development Centre (IM4DC) has funded capacity building in such countries including a program of water projects. Five projects in particular (principally covering experiences from Peru, Colombia, Ghana, Zambia, Indonesia, Philippines and Mongolia) have provided insight into water capacity building priorities and opportunities. This paper reviews the challenges faced by water stakeholders, and proposes the associated capacity needs. The paper uses the evidence derived from the IM4DC projects to develop a set of specific capacity-building recommendations. Recommendations include: the incorporation of mine water management in engineering and environmental undergraduate courses; secondments of staff to suitable partner organisations; training to allow site staff to effectively monitor water including community impacts; leadership training to support a water stewardship culture; training of officials to support implementation of catchment management approaches; and the empowerment of communities to recognise and negotiate solutions to mine-related risks. New initiatives to fund the transfer of multi-disciplinary knowledge from nations with well-developed water management practices are called for.

Regulating ride-sharing in the peer economy

This magazine article examines the challenges of digital disruption and the way the struggle for legitimacy is playing out in mainstream and social media. Using ride-sharing as a case study, our team at the QUT Digital media research centre seeks to develop the tools policy-makers need to make evidence-based policy decisions in response to digital disruption.

Water quality: Indicators, human impact and environmental health

This book provides an overview of state of the art assessments of water quality; with an understanding how water quality is affected, and improving water quality for irrigation, drinking and recreation activities.

Statistical tools for analyzing water quality data

Water quality data are often collected at different sites over time to improve water quality management. Water quality data usually exhibit the following characteristics: non-normal distribution, presence of outliers, missing values, values below detection limits (censored), and serial dependence. It is essential to apply appropriate statistical methodology when analyzing water quality data to draw valid conclusions and hence provide useful advice in water management. In this chapter, we will provide and demonstrate various statistical tools for analyzing such water quality data, and will also introduce how to use a statistical software R to analyze water quality data by various statistical methods. A dataset collected from the Susquehanna River Basin will be used to demonstrate various statistical methods provided in this chapter. The dataset can be downloaded from website http://www.srbc.net/programs/CBP/nutrientprogram.htm.

Water resources: Embed stormwater use in city planning [Correspondence]

Potable water resources are being depleted at an alarming rate worldwide. Storm water is a hugely under-utilized resource that could help as extreme weather events become more frequent...

Paper 1: The disruptive forces of the sharing economy

Overview: - The sharing economy unlocks a previously unused value of goods and labour, and causes disruption in established industries. - The pattern of disruption is similar regardless of the industry that's impacted. While the initial phases of disruption are transformational for many (e.g. lost jobs), often the industries end up stronger than before they were before the disruption. - Due to different in setting, upholding and enforcing standards, it is hard to assess the regulatory trade-offs. Safety, labour relations and social fairness are important factors to consider across the industry.