Dr Shiroma Maheepala, Principal Research Scientist.
Dr Shiroma Maheepala: researching integrated urban water management
Dr Shiroma Maheepala is leading integrated urban water systems planning research to optimise strategic planning for the progressive transition to more sustainable urban water configurations.
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31 August 2009 | Updated 14 October 2011
Current activities
Dr Shiroma Maheepala is a principal research scientist of CSIRO Land and Water.
Her primary research areas include:
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integrated urban water systems modelling to predict changes to flow, nutrient and sediment regimes
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energy use and greenhouse gas emissions over time with changes to climate, demographics and alternative water and land management options
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development of planning and decision-making processes based on sustainability concept.
Research topics of special interest have included:
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planning processes and modelling methods that optimise strategic planning for progressive transition to more sustainable urban water system configurations
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climate change impact assessment of urban water systems
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water supply and demand balance analysis of diversified and integrated urban water systems
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demand modelling, analysis and tracking
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stormwater harvesting and quantification of its implications on the total water cycle.
Background
Dr Maheepala joined the CSIRO in 1993 as a Research Scientist.
Dr Maheepala's research includes climate change impact assessment of urban water systems.
In 1997 Dr Maheepala was promoted to a Senior Research Scientist of the CSIRO.
During 1997-2006, she provided leadership to a number of projects aimed at:
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developing methodologies for climate change impact assessment of urban water systems and tracking water consumption
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assessing sustainability of urban water systems and its application to evaluating alternative water service provision options
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modelling total water cycle at city and regional scales.
In 2006, Dr Maheepala was promoted to a Principal Research Scientist of the CSIRO.
Since 2006, she has been providing leadership to Integrated Water Systems Research Stream as part of Water for a Healthy Country National Research Flagship.
The stream aims at delivering integrated urban water cycle system simulation and triple bottom line decision-making capability at regional, city and development scales, to optimise strategic planning for the progressive transition to more sustainable urban water system configurations.
In addition, Dr Maheepala is the leading author of CSIRO’s Hydro Planner software, a linked modelling system for water quantity and quality analysis of integrated urban water systems. This software is currently being applied to assess total water cycle implications of alternative urban water management options in Canberra and South East Queensland, Australia.
Dr Maheepala developed methodology for optimising real time operation of ‘secondary reservoirs’ in order to improve low efficiency of water use in large irrigation systems, using stochastic dynamic programming optimisation method as part of her doctoral work from 1987-1990.
Academic qualifications
Dr Maheepala has been awarded a:
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Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (First Class Honours), University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka in 1986
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Doctor of Philosophy in Water Resources Systems Engineering, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom in 1990.
Achievements
Dr Maheepala is the author of seven journal articles, 22 reports, five book chapters and 29 conference papers.
Dr Maheepala has won several awards including:
Professional activities
Dr Maheepala is a member of the:
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