Australian Water Management Review Vol. 1 2014 | Page 106

www.iourivwatersolutions.com.au

Iouri Vaisman
MD Iouriv Water Solutions Pty Ltd (IVS)
Iouri is a civil – construction engineer with over 20
years extensive professional experience in the water
industry both in Australia and internationally. His
experience encompasses planning, design, project
management and operation of water reuse and
recycling schemes including stormwater harvesting,
sewer mining, grey water and effluent reuse,
stormwater management strategies and hydraulics
studies, drainage and Water Sensitive Urban Design.

Performance assessment for stormwater treatment devices
Selecting the right treatment train to meet the water
quality objectives is essential for the successful
and sustainable operation of SWH systems.
At present, there are no standard methods or
guidelines for the testing, validation and performance
assessment of stormwater treatment devices in
Australia. The wider uptake of IWCM and WSUD
and growing number of stormwater treatment
devices pose a need for the consistent and
verifiable performance database to inform the fair
and technically robust assessment and selection
processes for treatment of stormwater. As the market
for stormwater treatment devices’ expands – the lack
of published data on their performance becomes
more apparent (Victorian Stormwater Committee
1999), while detailed field monitoring is also
very scarce (Wong et al. 2000). The combination
of a large number of devices, a lack of reporting
protocols and standard methods and only a small
number of detailed monitoring studies has resulted
in a large uncertainty in stormwater treatment
devices selection. Local government, which is largely
responsible for the implementation and management
of stormwater infrastructure in Australia, is
dependent on in-house expertise and manufacturer’s
advice in selecting appropriate stormwater treatment
strategies. Independent discussions with local
government, water authorities and stormwater
industry professionals have revealed interest in
the documentation and development of guidelines
and frameworks to assist in the system design,
product selection and evaluation to ensure adequate
stormwater treatment and management.
Development of the protocols on the performance
assessment for stormwater treatment devices
will greatly assist in the adoption and utilization
of Integrated Water Cycle Management (IWCM)
approach in Australian towns and cities via the:
• Increased certainty in the performance of
stormwater treatment devices and resultant
water quality delivered by IWCM projects
• Consistent and structured approach to the
selection of stormwater treatment devices
with the direct benefit to the proponents (e.g.
councils/developers), designers, asset owners
and other stakeholders of a stormwater projects
100 | AustrAliAn water man age m e nt re v ie w

• Sharing the legacy of knowledge in stormwater
treatment with the industry
In recognition of this industry need a number of
research projects have been commissioned by
various organizations with a view to assess the
options available for independent verification of
stormwater treatment devices in Australia, both at
the state and federal level.
In this article I’d like to acknowledge the initiatives
and support of Melbourne Water Corporation
(MWC) and Stormwater Australia (SIA) and their
respective work in this area that resulted in two
reports produced and now displayed for public
consultation via the SIA website, namely:
1.0 Independent Verification Scheme for
Stormwater Treatment Devices – Road Map
Discussion Paper
2.0 Literature Review on Performance Testing
Approaches of Gross Pollutant Traps

Iouri is a well-respected member of many professional
bodies such as Stormwater Industry Association,
AWA, IEAUS and has been actively involved in the
training and professional development of the industry
on the issues of stormwater harvesting, testing and
validation of WSUD components, Integrated Urban
Water Management, etc.
Iouri designed and project managed eight currently
operational water reuse schemes in Australia
including stormwater harvesting, sewer mining, grey
water and effluent reuse schemes.

The pace that the stormwater market in Australia
grows will, to a large degree, depend on the
certainty that it can offer to the public, the clients
and the government in delivering the stated
objectives. Which requires, amongst other
things, the clear path on how to achieve the stated
objectives (i.e. Stormwater Harvesting Guidelines)
and the means to verify that it actually works (i.e.
validation and verification protocols).
The increased certainty in the requirements for
and the performance of the stormwater treatment
components delivered by these guidelines and
protocols should allow the market to offer/request
a guarante R