Sustainable Learning Centre
The Sustainable Learning Centre at Mt Nelson, a suburb of Hobart Tasmania, is serviced by an aerated waste water treatment system designed by SEAM. The treated waste water is used to flush the facility's toilets, and excess water is used to sub-surface irrigate garden beds around the centre. The treatment system is used as a demonstration to educate students aout re-using waste water.
We worked with our client to design a system that was in keeping with the vision of the centre, with solar passive design and other sustainability features also incorporated into the building as a demonstration of practical sustainability for Tasmanian students and the public alike.
Site and Soil Evaluations and Wastewater System Design
Following a soil and site evaluation for soil type, rainfall and evaporation, site conditions, waste water loadings, risk to waterways, sensitivity of the receiving environment (for example, the Marakoopa Caves are in a limestone karst geological region) and other relevant factors, waste water treatment systems or system upgrades were recommended by SEAM.
An example of some of the site evaluations and wastewater system designs completed include the following sites and clients: Parks and Wildlife Service: Government Huts Mt Field National Park Tasmania; Wineglass Bay car park toilets; Marakoopa Cave and Visitor Centre (Southern Tasmania); Krakani lumi Standing Camp, (Indigenous camp at Musselroe Bay Northern Tasmania); South Coast Walking Track Toilet Replacements; Picnic Island Coles Bay East Coast Tasmania.
enHealth Standards and Guidelines National Workshops
This Commonwealth funded project was approved by the Environmental Health Committee (enHealth) as part of the enHealth Work Plan 2007-08. The work plan was endorsed by the Australian Health Protection Committee at its October 2007 meeting.
The project involved developing an annual roadshow of familiarization workshops for environmental health professionals to support the uptake of evidence based practices focusing on the standards and guidelines developed and supported through enHealth.
The National Environmental Health Strategy (NEHS) 2007-2012 builds on the framework established by the NEHS 1999 to identify the Australian environmental health sector’s role in developing and supporting infrastructure for health protection.
The strategy is targeted towards preventing disease and creating health-supportive environments, and will support the work of environmental health professionals at all levels of government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
One of the objectives in the NEHS 2007-2012 is to maximise the timely transfer of evidence into action by facilitating the development of Standards and Guidelines. To support the uptake of evidence-based practices by EHPs, it was deemed important to conduct familiarisation workshops across the nation around the following subjects:
NEHS 2007-2012A number of outcomes/benefits from the roadshow were:
Environmental Health Services (Tas) Pty Ltd, trading as Sustainable Environmental Assessment and Management (S.E.A.M.) is an environmental health consultancy specialising in all aspects of environmental health and environmental management.