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Water Quality Advisory Committee (WQAC)
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Membership
Professor Don Bursill (Chair)
Professor Bursill has recently retired as the Chief Scientist of the Australian Water Quality Centre, South Australia Water and CEO of the CRC for Water Quality and Treatment. He has a long history of involvement with water science as applied to the water industry, both in respect of the utilities sector as well as the natural resources management sector. Professor Bursill has been a member of the NHMRC Rural and Remote Water Steering Committee, the NHMRC Drinking Water Review Coordinating Group, and numerous other water related committees including being the Chair of the Torrens Taskforce.
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Dr David Cunliffe
Dr Cunliffe is the Director of the Environmental Health Service with the South Australia Department of Human Services. He has been a NHMRC representative on the Rural and Remote Water Quality Steering Group, and on the Northern Territory’s Remote Community Water Management Project Reference Group. He currently chairs the Drinking Water Working Group, as a part of the development of the National Water Recycling Guideline by the Environment Protection Heritage Council, National Resources and Management Ministerial Committee and the NHMRC.
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Dr Karin Leder
Karin heads the Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Unit at Monash University. She spent 3 years as an Infectious Disease Fellow at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in Boston and completed a Master of Public Health at Harvard University. Her specific areas of interest include traveller’s health, health issues in immigrants and refugees, and waterborne infections. She manages a clinical load as well as research activities, and represents the NHMRC on the Joint Steering Committee for Phase 2 of the National Guidelines for Recycled Water.
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Dr Martha Sinclair
Dr Martha Sinclair is a Senior Research Fellow in the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at Monash University. She is primarily involved in the public health research program of the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Quality and Treatment. Main areas of interest include the development and implementation of epidemiological research and health risk assessment studies on drinking water, recreational water, and alternative water sources. She is the chief writer and editor of the CRC's public health newsletter Health Stream.
She holds a PhD in Genetics and Developmental Biology from Monash University. Prior to becoming involved in the public health field she spent several years as a laboratory researcher in microbial and molecular genetics.
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Associate Professor Greg Leslie
Greg Leslie is the deputy director of the UNESCO Centre for Membrane Science and Technology at the University of New South Wales. Prior to joining UNSW, he worked in the public and private sector on water treatment, reuse and desalination projects in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and the United States. He currently serves on the Independent Advisory Panel for the Orange County Groundwater Replenishment Project and was a member of the World Health Organisation Technical Committee preparing guidelines for desalination.
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Dr Stuart Khan
Dr Stuart Khan is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Water & Waste Technology, University of New South Wales. Stuart is the Discipline Leader for research activities on the topic of trace organic chemical contaminants in water. Current research projects include characterisation and optimisation of advanced water treatment processes for trace contaminant removal, chemical fate modelling, analytical method development and chemical risk assessment.
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Peter Donlon
Peter is currently Technical Director of the Water Services Association of Australia. He has previously held a number of senior positions in water utilities in Victoria. He has over 25 years of experience in urban water management which includes strategic planning and policy areas, water quality and its management and water and wastewater treatment systems. He has a particular interest in institutional and regulatory frameworks supporting safe drinking water outcomes for consumers. His early career was in the public health sector associated with management of infectious diseases.
He is a member of the International Water Association of Australia Governing Committee, the Australian Water Association Strategic Advisory Council, the Western Water Community Advisory Committee and a Board member of the Sunbury Community Health Centre.
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Chris Davis
Chris Davis is UTS’s Sustainability Business Development Manager, a role he has been in since July 2007. Before taking up that position, Chris was CEO of the Australian Water Association for 15 years, having had a career in local government, consulting and process contracting for water. Chris has a BSc in Civil Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg), a Masters Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the University of New England. In addition to his UTS role, Chris serves on several advisory committees, panels and boards, relating to the water industry.
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Representative from the Department of Environment and Water (DEW)
The National Water Quality Management Strategy (the Strategy) was previously managed by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) . The relevant sections in DAFF responsible for the Strategy are moving to DEW which is now responsible for the Strategy. Charles Lewis is currently representing DEW on this committee.
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Jan Bowman
Jan is the Assistant Director, Environmental Health in the Victorian Department of Human Services. She has made substantial contributions to the fields health risk management and population health activities including regulation and the provision of statutory and policy functions, risk assessment and research, emergency and incident response and raising community and stakeholder awareness and knowledge across a range of areas including water policy and water regulation, Legionella, environmental sustainability and climate change, air quality, soil contamination and radiation safety.
She has also been involved with the development and implementation of State and National strategies to increase awareness of and facilitate adoption of measures to protect health and prevent illness.
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Professor Tania Sorrell (infectious diseases specialist, NHMRC grant holder)
Tania Sorrell is Professor of Clinical Infectious Diseases and Director of the Centre for Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, the University of Sydney at Westmead and has served on many National and State Committees including Advisory bodies for Infectious Diseases, Drug Evaluation and Research.
Until June 2006, she was a member of the NHMRC Research Committee, Chair of the Urgent Research Subcommittee, member of the Strategic Research Initiatives Subcommittee and the Clinical Research Advisory Group and member of the NHMRC Australian Health Ethics Committee. She is a member of the ad hoc NSW Expert Panel on water issues.
She pioneered the establishment of Infectious Diseases as a discipline of Internal Medicine in Australia and has written extensively on the pathogenesis, epidemiology and treatment of fungal infections. She is a consultant in, and Head of, Infectious Diseases at Westmead Hospital.
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Dr Peter Mosse
Dr Peter Mosse worked initially as an NHMRC Research Fellow researching atherosclerosis and then as a university lecturer. He then entered the water industry and has held positions as senior scientist, laboratory manager, operations manager and technology manager over a period of 18 years. He has practical experience with all operational aspects of water treatment, wastewater treatment and distribution system management. He now runs his own company providing specialist technical support in those same areas. He is editor of WaterWorks and is Technical Advisor to the Water Industry Operators Association (WIOA) and is currently producing a series of Practical Guides to the key control points in the production of safe drinking water. He is the project manager of the Water Treatment Alliance in Australia. He was on the working group that produced the WSAA Aquality tool and ADWG Chapter 8.
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Terms of Reference
The Water Quality Advisory Committee will:
- Provide rapid scientific and technical advice to the CEO of the NHMRC, on health issues relating to water quality in Australia with a particular focus on:
- Human health implications of the potable use of recycled water (priority task),
- Emerging water related health issues such as water fluoridation and drinking water security, and
- The need for contribution to community debate on these issues;
- Identify gaps in knowledge and public policy relating to health issues of water quality and advise on ways of filling those gaps;
- Identify and advise on key health related research requirements on water quality;
- Provide advice on the translation of research findings into national health related water quality policy and practice initiatives;
- Advise on health related ethical issues relating to water quality in Australia, in particular the potable use of recycled water;
- Advise on how to effectively engage relevant stakeholders.
The Advisory Committee will commence on 1 March 2007 and finish on 30 June 2009.
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