He gained his BE degree in Civil Engineering at Sydney University, MS in Environmental Engineering Science at Caltech and PhD in Hydrology and Hydrodynamics at MIT. He is recognised as an international expert, as a specialist in integrated water management and numerical modelling of hydrological systems, and as a highly skilled researcher, consultant, leader, manager and mentor. Dr Townley has broad knowledge across a range of industry sectors, and very specialised knowledge in quantitative scientific methodologies to address the problems that arise. He has worked in senior positions (i) on faculty at the University of Western Australia, (ii) as a principal research scientist at CSIRO, (iii) as a principal consultant with CDM Smith and others and (iv) in a global water management role with Rio Tinto. He has worked on behalf of proponents of projects; for community groups reviewing proposals for projects and mine closure plans; for Government agencies reviewing work undertaken by companies, consultants and other Government agencies; in due diligence teams assessing the risk associated with mergers and acquisitions; as an expert consultant in formal Government inquiries; with other professionals developing industry guidelines; and with researchers advancing the state-of-the-art. Dr Townley’s breadth of experience allows him to assess situations quickly and to understand the perspectives of a wide range of stakeholders. Dr Townley believes in the advantages of a quantitative approach. He has wide experience in mathematics, simulation methodologies and software engineering. His academic publications suggest a focus on groundwater and hydrogeology, especially on surface water – groundwater interaction, the response of aquifers to periodic (tidal and seasonal) forcing, and model calibration. But his experience spans surface hydrology, hydraulics, aquatic ecology and some aspects of geotechnical engineering. He has worked on studies of the Upper Nile Basin in Central Africa, the Terengganu River Basin in Malaysia, groundwater-surface water interaction in the Murray-Darling Basin and Condamine River in Australia, and upper tributaries of the Amazon River in Peru. He has taught professional short courses in Egypt, Thailand, Vietnam, China, USA and Australia.

Lecture title “Water Resources Management”

Abstract

"Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful. Uses of water include agricultural, industrial, household, recreational and environmental activities" (Wikipedia). Humans and most living things require water to survive, grow and reproduce. Rather than attempting to trace the history of water resources management through thousands of years of history, this talk will focus on the last ~100 years. In this short period there have been enormous changes in our understanding of water resources, the scientific and engineering methods that we use to manage water and water quality, the recognition of water resources management and environmental management as highly interdisciplinary fields, and increasing stress on water resources in many countries around the world. Water resources management has moved from a focus on water supply, especially the supply of drinking water to houses in cities, to multi-objective management, where the competing needs of farmers, industries, people and the environment need to be balanced. Reuse and recycling are now important contributors in the pursuit of water supply security, or in integrated water resources management (IWRM). There are special challenges associated with rivers that pass through many countries (e.g. the Danube, Rhine and Mekong Rivers) or many states (e.g. the Murray-Darling or Yangtze Rivers), with groundwater in aquifers that underlie many states (e.g. the Ogallalla Aquifer) or where estuaries and lakes receive inflows from many states (e.g. Chesapeake Bay or Tai Lake). Water resources management requires teamwork and negotiation between many people. The technical and social challenges range across many scales in space and time. Once water resources are diminished or the water quality is impaired, the time required to restore water resources is generally much longer than the time it has taken to damage them.

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