Our water systems will be impacted by climate change. Engineers are vital in designing and implementing solutions to improve and protect our water.
Carbon Accounting Guidelines for Wastewater Treatment: CH4 and N2O
This document provides guidelines for accounting for methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from municipal wastewater treatment, discharge and sludge processing in New Zealand. Emissions from on-site septic tanks are also covered. The guidelines build on methods published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2019), that can be used by local wastewater treatment plant providers to develop greenhouse gas estimates in a standardised way.
Read Carbon Accounting Guidelines for Wastewater Treatment: CH4 and N2O
Water and climate change podcasts and webinars
The impact of climate change on our water infrastructure is explored through a series of podcasts and webinars, curated by Water New Zealand’s climate change group. Podcasts, webinars, and information about the group and how to get involved in the Climate Change group are available on their homepage.
Find out more about Water and Climate change
Māori Worldviews, Climate & Carbon Pathways Webinar
The Water New Zealand Climate Change Group has taken up the task to suggest a pathway to transform how our infrastructure is designed, managed & operated to appropriately adapt, mitigate and decarbonize our sector services. This webinar was created to start the conversation about how this can be done in a way that is aligned with the aspirations of Tangata Whenua, Te Mana o Te Wai and Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership agreements at local and national governance levels. This webinar was made possible by collaboration with The Sustainability Society.
Watch Māori Worldviews, Climate & Carbon Pathways Webinar
Navigating to Net Zero: Aotearoa's Water Sector Low-Carbon Journey
Developed by Water NZ's Climate Change Group this resource establishes key principles and frameworks for collaboration to reduce emissions in the water sector to minimise the extent of anthropogenic climate change. It introduces the overall direction of changes required, case studies of good practice, resources to help organisation create or test their climate change strategies, and highlights gaps in understanding.
Read Navigating to net zero - Aotearoa's water sector low carbon journey.
Guidelines for Responding to the Effects of Climate Change in Coastal and Ocean Engineering
Engineers Australia has developed coastal engineering guidelines for ecologically sustainable development.
Climate change adaptation in water engineering
Explore a rethink of our approach to designing hydraulic structures and managing water resources in most climate-sensitive environments (coasts and islands, mountain areas, and fast developing cities)
Mitigating climate change at the carbon water nexus
This paper explores a case for environmental engineers leading the development of climate change mitigation technologies at the carbon-water nexus (CWN). In this article, Clarens and Peters put forward a call to action for the environmental engineering community.
Read Mitigating climate change at the carbon water nexus.
Impact analysis of climate change on water resources
This paper reviews the relationship between climate change and water resources. It summarises the methods for analysing the impacts of climate change on hydrology and water resources, such as generation technology for climate change scenario and hydrologic simulation.
Climate change and hydrological risk in the pacific: a humanitarian engineering perspective
Anthropogenic climate change is expected to further increase the environmental pressures Pacific Island communities face, such as exposure to natural disasters and limited access to water resources. Humanitarian Engineering, a discipline centred around strengths-based and context-appropriate solutions, has an important role to play in climate change adaptation.
