Join SA young water professionals sharing stories at 'Sundowners'

Each month, a group of South Australian young water professionals gather at the Belgium Beer Café in Adelaide’s East End to talk all things water.

These events, called ‘Sundowners’, feature speakers giving a short presentation about their work before an interactive Q&A session.

They are designed to give opportunities to local water professionals to showcase their contribution to the industry, and bring the water community together in an informal way to connect and share knowledge.

There have been three great speakers since the series began in March this year:

• WSP Water Engineer and co-recipient of the SA Young Water Professional Award for 2018, Adele Hay, who shared the work and experience that brought her recognition for outstanding career achievement.
• The winner of the Australian Water Association’s SA Branch 2018 Hodgson Medal, Andrew Knight. He presented some of the key findings from his doctoral project, The onshore influence of offshore fresh groundwater, and the impact on water security.
• 1414 Degrees Project Analyst Josh Zowtyj, who showed off the work he and his company are doing in conjunction with SA Water to provide a unique thermal energy storage system using molten silicon at Glenelg WWTP, prior to the site tour planned later in June.

The June speaker is SA Water Wastewater Research Scientist Ben Thwaites. With a background in molecular and microbiology, Thwaites applies these techniques to research, optimise and understand wastewater treatment processes within the Catchments, Wastewater and Environmental Science Team.

He is currently completing his PhD at the University of New South Wales in civil and environmental engineering, investigating the potential for aerobic granular sludge to replace the current secondary activated sludge treatment process.

Everyone is welcome at these free events, which are held on the third Thursday of each month starting from 5:15pm. Grab a drink and look for the AWA banner.