Waterways & Coastal

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Our waterways and coastal capability is an integral part of our service. We were involved in the water industry when the company started in 1928 and the skills of our staff have continued to grow as the company has expanded and diversified.

Today, GHD has one of Australia’s largest groups of dedicated water management professionals. We provide leading technical support for the study and management of all forms of waterways, including rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal areas.

GHD’s Waterways & Coastal offering service line covers background and baseline studies, strategic and planning studies, and impact assessments. We can work with you on all stages of the feasibility and design process through to the supervision of construction projects with respect to waterways and developments affecting waterways.

We focus on the interactions between the natural, built and social environments. Our work stretches across the globe, meaning you can benefit from experience in the urban, industrial, mining, agricultural, rural and environmental sectors.

Services

  • Background and baseline studies
  • Strategic and planning studies
  • Impact assessments
  • Feasibility and design
  • Stormwater and flood management
  • Wetlands and waterways design and management
  • Coastal and estuarine processes
  • Water quality and catchment management
  • Water resources, climate change and drought management advice
  • Construction supervision
  • Integrated surface and groundwater modelling
  • Modelling
  • Storm tide
  • EPCM services
  • Project management

For further information, contact:

Robin Connolly
Tel: +61 8 6222 8222
Email: Robin Connolly

Alaskan Way Viaduct & Seawall

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GHD has provided utility coordination and relocation design services throughout the two-mile long Alaskan Way Viaduct corridor in Seattle, Washington.

GHD is responsible for data quality review for all utility mapping throughout the corridor, performing research of the City of Seattle’s GIS and other utility records dating back to 1900, resolving discrepancies, performing field checks, and integrating survey data.

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Macquarie Marshes & Gwydir Wetlands

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GHD was engaged by the Central West (CW) and Border Rivers-Gwydir (BRG) catchment management authorities (CMAs) to study the distribution and management of Lippia in the Macquarie Marshes & Gwydir Wetlands.

Our work increased the CMAs' understanding of Lippia (Phyla Canescens) throughout the area, including the rate of spread, outbreak triggers and control measure successes.

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Enlarged Cotter Dam, Australia

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A prolonged drought during the late 1990s and early 2000s tested the security of the ACT water supply. In response to this a number of options to increase the reliability of the system during extreme droughts were considered.

GHD was engaged in 2004-2005 to undertake a study to investigate options for the augmentation of the ACT water supply. This initially included the consideration of three potential dam sites and associated pipelines, pumping stations and water treatment plants. The scope was subsequently widened to consider options involving the transfer of water from the Murrumbidgee River to the catchment of the existing Googong Dam. 

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Murray River wetland rehabilitation

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Known as the Wetland Rehabilitation Project – Reinstating Wetting and Drying Regimes, this is one of the first projects of its type in Australia. The Lower Murray-Darling Catchment Management Authority engaged GHD to investigate, design and implement rehabilitation works to restore flood flows and fish passage to approximately 700ha of wetlands.

The team investigated wetland ecosystems to identify environmental values, then used this information to propose works and complementary land management activities aimed at achieving specific rehabilitation objectives for each wetland. The process involved flora, fauna and aquatic assessments, grazing pressure and land management assessments, indigenous cultural heritage assessments, and hydrologic-hydraulic simulation of proposed water regime options.

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Regulating Murray River Flows (Australia)

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Improving the environmental health of the Murray River is a concern for all Australians. The Murray Darling Basin Authority regulates the river system. It offered to pay landholders affected by the release of water from storages.

GHD worked with the Murray Darling Basin Authority, the community and technical experts to identify the impact of released water on floodplain properties, to develop consistent assessment principles and to register the impact on title via easements.

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Salt River Ecosystem Restoration

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Working with a number of public agencies on one of the State of California’s biggest environmental projects, we provided design, permitting, and outreach services to restore more than seven miles of the Salt River and its floodplain and 290 acres of estuarine habitat.

The purpose of the Salt River Ecosystem Restoration Project is to restore historic processes and functions, necessary for re-establishing riparian floodplain corridor, wetlands and estuarine ecosystems as part of a land use, flood alleviation, and watershed management program, to the Salt River watershed. Levees constructed to protect the productive agricultural lands of the Salt River floodplain from the adjacent Eel River’s tidal and flood influences have altered regional drainage patterns, which, coupled with naturally high influent sediment loads, have resulted in accelerated aggradation and loss of stream and sediment transport function and habitat value across the Salt River floodplain. The ongoing aggradation and flooding of local infrastructure and agricultural land have led to loss of habitat for threatened and endangered species, reduced property values, and decline in agricultural productivity.

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Seaglider Innovation - a commercial success

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GHD has begun using an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUD), called a Seaglider, in what is believed to be the world’s first commercial application of this advanced technology.

The instrument, which previously has been used mainly by oceanographic research institutions, offers offshore operators a new, reliable and cost-effective way of collecting high quality spatial and temporal data for ocean and estuary environmental monitoring without the costly and sometimes dangerous use of ship time.

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Washington Suburban Asset Management (Md, USA)

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The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) appointed GHD to lead the provision of asset management services in support of master planning and enterprise resource planning initiatives.

WSSC is the eighth largest water and wastewater utility in the USA, owning USD$12 billion of infrastructure assets. While instituting a range of short-term measures to combat the increasing incidence of water main breaks and leaks, WSSC is also taking a long-range strategic approach to address the growing challenge of ageing infrastructure.

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Water Allocation Planning – Mt Lofty Ranges

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GHD was engaged to assist the Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation in South Australia develop water allocation plans for the Eastern and Western Mount Lofty Ranges Prescribed Water Resources. The project involved providing advice on water allocations to existing users and water trading rules for consideration in the Water Allocation Plan.

There were three project objectives:

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Water Plan for Wimmera Irrigation Upgrade Plan for Wimmera (Vic, Australia)

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GHD has been appointed by GWMWater to develop a modernisation plan for the Wimmera Irrigation Area in north-west Victoria.

The plan will consider the options available to increase the efficiency of the Wimmera’s irrigation system, taking into account issues such as climate change and the availability of water in the future.

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Dams
DAms Thumbnail		 Industrial Water & Waste
Industrial water and waste Management		 Irrigation
Irrigation Thumbnail		 Desalination
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Wastewater Systems
Watsewater Systems		 Wastewater Treatment
Wastewater Treament		 Water Efficiency
Water Efficiency		 Water Treatment & Desalination
Water Quality Treatment, GHD
Water Sciences
Water Sciences		 Water Sector
Water		 Water Systems
Water Systems

Robin Connolly

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Robin Connolly is a hydrologist with 20 years experience in surface water management in urban, rural, industrial and mining environments. He has worked across Australia and in India, Indonesia and Zimbabwe, and is experienced in dealing with mine and water issues in temperate, sub-tropical, tropical and arid climates.

He has experience contributing to environmental impact studies, addressing environmental, production and water supply issues related to surface water, and developing monitoring and management plans. Robin has worked on stream diversion, flood management and environmental and operational impact studies for several mines in the Pilbara, Western Australia. He has also been involved with the development of environmental management and monitoring systems and water management studies.

Robin has published a number of scientific and conference papers and prepared numerous consultancy reports.

Position: Service Line Leader, Waterways & Coastal
Tel: +61 8 6222 8222

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