SYDNEY, Australia, Dec. 3, 2004 -- Dr. Richard Evans, a principal hydrogeologist with Australian environmental consulting firm, Sinclair Knight Merz is one of three eminent scientists to have been awarded a senior research fellowship from Land and Water Australia.
The senior research fellowships have been designed to enable a number of Australia's top scientists in natural resource management time to find answers to major environmental and landscape management challenges.
Selected by the board of Land & Water Australia, the three fellows for 2004 are leading thinkers and researchers in their fields.
Dr. Evans will use the fellowship to study surface water and groundwater interaction issues across Australia, with the aim of identifying practical management options and solutions. He'll be holding workshops with water resource managers and writing a comprehensive discussion paper to identify a range of practical tools and options for a variety of situations. His work will also build a platform for ongoing community education.
In accepting the fellowship, Dr. Evans said the effects of the huge growth in groundwater usage in the '60s, '80s and late '90s across Australia has, in many catchments, not yet been felt in reduced stream flows.
"In many countries throughout the world, groundwater use in the catchment has dried up rivers," he said. "The lack of integrated management of surface water and groundwater results not only in reduced availability of surface water, but also has the major impact on reducing environmental flows, even completely drying out rivers.
"This problem will only gradually get worse, as the water allocation decisions of the past catch up with us all. We will all need to face this issue over the next few years. I hope we can develop a truly holistic water management framework which involves integrated management of surface water and groundwater."
With offices worldwide, Sinclair Knight Merz Group (www.skmconsulting.com) is based in St. Leonards, a suburb of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The company is a leading professional services firm working with public and private sector clients across several chosen market areas. Services include engineering, scientific studies, planning, economics, logistics, architecture, geotechnical engineering, project management and spatial information.
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