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Guidelines for the ASE Micropollutants in Water Special Interest Group

Objective/Purpose

By 2030, two thirds of the world’s population will live in areas of acute water stress, causing increased reliance on treated wastewater, and increased exposure to cocktails of micro-pollutants in water, the ecological and health effects of which are little understood. The SIG provides a platform to promote a broad exploration of current and future impacts of the water crisis on water quality and consequent health of humans, wildlife and ecosystems in Australia and NZ. It will facilitate exchange of information and the development of research networks as well as attempt to make the science more accessible to those involved in water and chemicals policy.

Membership of the Group

Any ASE member can be part of the Micropollutants SIG and participate in its activities.  Interested people who are not ASE members may also participate in its activities.  Information is available at the website - http://www.ecotox.org.au/edcsig/index.html. 

Governance

The MIW SIG is authorised and formally recognised by the ASE Council and is accountable to it.  The Group is managed by a chair and a steering/advisory committee made up of research, government and industry representatives. 

Responsibilities of the Group

• Develop a workplan for the Group for approval by ASE Council
• Develop an effective network amongst the Group to keep everyone up to date with the research projects currently underway and opportunities for feeding research outcomes into decision making processes
• Organise workshops, seminars and short courses as appropriate
• Facilitate the UK/OZ/NZ collaborative network
• Manage the funds provided to ASE from time to time specifically for the activities of this Group
• Develop a website for the group to be hosted at the ASE website

Chair

Currently Therese Manning from NSW DECCW is the chair. 

Steering/Advisory Committee

Currently the members of the advisory committee are

• Prof Beate Escher, Deputy Director, National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology (EnTox)
• Dr Anu Kumar, Senior Research Scientist, Environmental Biogeochemistry Program, CSIRO Land and Water
• Prof Dayanthi Nugegoda, School of Applied Sciences, RMIT University
• Dr Susan Codi King, Environmental Scientist, AIMS
• Dr Frederic Leusch, Program Leader, Smart Water Research Centre, Griffith University
• Dr Louis Tremblay, Environmental Toxicology, Cawthron Institute
• Dr Vincent Pettigrove, CAPIM - Centre for Pollution Identification and Management, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Water

Past Activities of the SIG

Business Meetings

• Organisational meeting September 2009 – ASE Conference, Adelaide
• Organisational meeting November 2007 – What’s in our Water Conference, Canberra
• Organisational meeting November 2005 – What’s in our Water Conference, Canberra
• Organisational meeting 2002 – ASE Conference, Sydney

Technical Sessions

Sessions on endocrine disrupting chemicals and/or micropollutants were held at the following ASE conferences

• 2009 Adelaide
• 2008 Sydney (SETAC World Congress)
• 2006 Perth
• 2005 Melbourne
• 2004 Gold Coast
• 2003 Christchurch
• 2002 Sydney

What's in our Water conference series

• 2009 Canberra
• 2007 Canberra
• 2005 Canberra

Administrative

• Webpage established - http://www.ecotox.org.au/edcsig/index.html
• Group mailing list established