In-Stream – Victoria’s Water Industry Innovation Festival

IWN is partnering with Isle Utilities to create an exciting new initiative for the Victorian Water Industry.

In-Stream, Victoria’s Water Industry Innovation Festival, is a 12-month cycle of co-creation and collaboration between the public and private sectors to actively generate real, fit-for-purpose solutions to the opportunities and challenges facing the Victorian water industry.

Expression of Interest (EOI) documents were sent out on 3rd March for organisations to register their interest in being part of the initiative and leading a challenge.

If you are keen to learn more, please register at this link https://events.humanitix.com/in-stream-sponsors-eoi-briefing and we will send you the EOI documents and an invite to the online EOI briefing on 7 March at 12 PM.

Smart Water Networks Forum (SWAN)

IWN and SWAN have recently reaffirmed our collaboration MoU and will establish some joint initiatives in the coming months. The first of these will be a webinar that will explore Data to Decision Making for the Water Sector, jointly developed by SWAN and the IWN Data and Analytics Program. We will provide more details in our next newsletter.

The SWAN Annual Conference will be held in Berlin from 27 to 29 May. For more information head on over to https://swan-forum.com/events/swan-2025/.

Biosolids Training Centre Annual Symposium

The fifth Annual (final) Symposium is on 1-2 July 2025 at the Capitol Theatre – RMIT University on Swanston Street. This event is FREE for all IWN members. See further details regarding the event HERE. Please see HERE for sponsorship opportunities.

Gas Stream (with John Day and Deepak Mallya)

The IWN Gas Stream is focused on unlocking opportunities in biogas, hydrogen, CO₂, N₂O, and O₂ to support decarbonization, emissions reduction, and resource recovery in the water sector. Over the past few months, significant progress has been made in shaping its direction and engaging with key stakeholders.

  • Victorian Renewable Gas Directions Paper Response – On behalf of Victorian water utilities, the Gas Stream submitted a response to DEECA’s Victorian Renewable Gas Directions Paper, advocating for sector-wide collaboration. Watch this space.
  • Upcoming Gas Stream Workshop – March 21, 2025. To drive actionable outcomes, a full-day workshop will bring together representatives from Victorian water utilities, DEECA and industry leaders to discuss on opportunities and  identify key IWN Gas Stream projects to advance in 2025-26. Please reach out to John Day and / or Deepak Mallya for more information.

The Gas Stream continues to explore and develop innovative approaches to integrate renewable gases into the water industry, ensuring a more sustainable and low-carbon future. Stay tuned for further updates!

Loo Lab  comes to SE Water

The Loo Lab is a living lab developed by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Nutrients in a Circular Economy Research Hub (ARC NiCE Hub) in partnership with South East Water to research and trial urine nutrient recovery and transformation to liquid fertiliser.

The pilot plant captures and diverts urine to the mini treatment plant within the trailer where the urine is transformed into an ammonium nitrate liquid fertiliser that supports healthy plants and soil.

You can see the Loo Lab in Sydney at the upcoming Climate Action Week from March 11 to March 14 following which it will relocate to Melbourne to begin public demonstration and engagement within South East Water’s local community.