Australia’s water sector is advancing with bold new investments, scientific insights and community-driven solutions – from a cutting-edge national membrane pilot facility to breakthrough wastewater technologies designed to prevent costly fatbergs, and a pause on environmental watering in NSW that highlights the complexity of water policy in the Murray-Darling Basin.
Across the states and territories, utilities are delivering milestone infrastructure for growing communities, supporting future workforces with student placements, and celebrating community achievements in water savings.
Globally, Australian expertise is helping to shape sustainable cities abroad while new science is challenging how we measure water availability in a changing climate.
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Monash and CSIRO open national membrane pilot facility
Monash University and CSIRO have launched the new Joint Membrane Pilot Facility at Monash’s Clayton campus, a national-scale investment bridging the gap between lab research and commercial applications.
“This isn’t just a facility – it’s a national capability that will accelerate the development of next-generation membrane technologies in areas like water purification, green hydrogen and resource recovery,” said Professor Matthew Hill, Director of the Monash Centre for Membrane Innovation.
CSIRO’s Dr Zongli Xie added: “Together, Monash and CSIRO offer a complete innovation pipeline – from material design to membrane fabrication, optimisation and scale-up. This facility gives Australian science and industry a shared foundation to rapidly co-develop solutions for the most pressing resource and environmental challenges”.
Environmental watering paused in NSW
The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH) has temporarily paused all environmental watering actions in NSW following new interpretations of water-sharing frameworks.
“Compliance is a core priority for the CEWH. As one of the most heavily regulated water users in the Murray–Darling Basin, we are committed to acting as a model licence holder. The CEWH team is working diligently to find a resolution.,” said CEWH Dr Simon Banks. “We will only proceed with our watering actions once we are confident all our obligations are met under the current interpretation of NSW rules”.
Unitywater milestone for Waraba wastewater project
Unitywater has sealed a five-storey underground wet well, marking a major milestone in its Waraba Wastewater Network Project in Caboolture.
“The wet well is a 15-metre-deep storage chamber that helps us manage the flow of wastewater to the pump station during peak periods,” said Principal Project Manager Victor Cabrera. “We are grateful to our neighbours here in Caboolture and our delivery partners… for working so closely with us as we deliver this growth-supporting infrastructure”.
Lady Barron community lifts restrictions
After nearly five months under Stage 1 restrictions, water-saving efforts by Lady Barron residents have restored local groundwater supplies.
“We are pleased to see slow but steady recovery in groundwater levels… Even with water restrictions lifting, we encourage residents, visitors and businesses on Lady Barron to be mindful of their water usage,” said TasWater’s Matt Balfe.
RMIT research tackles fatbergs
RMIT University researchers have developed a novel wastewater treatment system that prevents fatbergs – massive blockages formed by fat, oil and grease.
“Traditional grease traps aren’t designed to catch the finer particles and emulsified fats in modern kitchen wastewater. Our system targets all fat types, even hard-to-remove emulsified fats that slip through conventional traps,” said Dr Biplob Pramanik.
“While traditional interceptors only remove around 40% of fats, our system achieved up to 98% – even when tested with actual kitchen wastewater,” added lead author Dr Nilufa Sultana.
Yarra Valley Water calls for student placements
Yarra Valley Water has opened applications for its 2025/26 Vacation Program, offering summer placements across engineering, data science, business and project management.
“Working in the water sector means shaping the future as we face challenges like climate change, population growth and renewing infrastructure,” said Programs Lead Laura Barstow. “Our Vacation Program puts students at the centre of this work with direct experience in problem solving”.
Australian expertise supports Indonesia’s new capital
Experts from Monash University are working with the Asian Development Bank to deliver water sensitive urban design training for officials developing Nusantara, Indonesia’s new capital.
“Water sensitive cities is an Australian concept, underpinned with interdisciplinary research at Monash University since the early 1990s,” said Professor Tony Wong. “The concept has helped transform cities in Australia and overseas… and has formed the basis for programs such as China’s sponge cities and Singapore’s Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters Program”.
New insights into the aridity index
Hydrologists publishing in Nature have refined the aridity index – a key tool for estimating water availability – by incorporating lateral water flow.
“As water also flows laterally across the land, from hills to valleys and from mountains to plains… a climate-only water balance does not fully reflect the water availability in the receiving lowlands,” said researchers Gonzolo Miguez-Macho and Ying Fan.
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