Moving from water ‘shortage’ to water ‘storage’.

Securing adequate water supplies to meet the needs of ever‐growing coastal populations is a major challenge faced by water authorities across the world. Research undertaken at the University of Wollongong (UOW) over the past decade or so, has led to the development of a novel approach which involves an improved coastal reservoir (CR) design that harnesses flood water from sea, at a fraction of the cost of the desalination technologies currently being used. This improved design also addresses most of the limitations associated with the previous generation of CRs that have been adopted in several countries.

This improved design also addresses most of the limitations associated with the previous generation of CRs that have been adopted in several countries; for example, the Marina Barrage in Singapore, Plover Cove in Hong Kong and Sihwa Lake in South Korea.

Building on its pioneering work in this area and its reputation for ground‐breaking research, UOW has taken a crucial step to expedite the development of CRs by setting up the world’s first‐of‐its kind Centre for Coastal Reservoir Research (CCRR). Through this ambitious initiative, UOW has been able to assemble a strong multidisciplinary research team with vast experience and reputation in all requisite areas, including: geotechnical and structural engineering; water quality and environmental engineering; systems engineering and risk analysis; and modelling and simulation. This has also meant that CCRR is now in a position to contribute to any future CR development efforts with the following capabilities.