Murray Petrie, Principal Environmental Engineer, Dunedin, New Zealand

Murray Petrie is very highly regarded for his technical capability and expertise in the water treatment design sector. The work he has been involved in recently in designing a water treatment system for the removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) using “Vortex Accelerators” is truly leading-edge and one that may lead to this system being used in other locations as a sustainable alternative for the removal of CO2.

Martin Gordon, Infrastructure Asset Management, Victoria, Canada

Martin Gordon’s efforts in developing a comprehensive marine (inland ferries) asset management plan for the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure Marine Branch has been outstanding.

He has recognised the need to involve others, to coordinate the technical components, and to apply his own expertise in transportation that produced a very well structured and integrated plan. This plan is now being promoted for its technical excellence as a best practice asset management plan in British Columbia for marine assets.

John Black, Principal Environmental Engineer, Christchurch, New Zealand

John has recently incorporated CT scanning technology into his specialist pipe condition assessment service. This initiative is based solely on a his idea and we are not aware of it being used elsewhere in NZ or internationally. This CT scanning innovation has enhanced the quality and value of this Opus service by increasing confidence levels in assessing pipe condition and predicting remaining life of underground pipe assets. This is a key tool in the Opus water asset management field as Local Authorities nationally are struggling to know when and how to deal with underground pipe assets.   This service (and the technical expertise which underpins it) is being sought out by Local Authorities nationally. John’s technical skills are assisting them make, and justify, significant capital works investment decisions for an ageing pipe network.  The value of this service is that clients are able to plan their pipe replacement /renewal with more certainty and are able to programme replacement over a longer time period thereby avoiding large one-off costs to ratepayers. The CT scanning technology now provides clients with up to 300 cross sections of pipe condition per pipe length (compared with one cross section with a manual sample). This detail is providing Local Authorities with a greater level of science and robustness in their decision making which is an important area of review by Audit NZ.   John’s technical expertise is nationally recognised. John is one of three specialist invited to give a presentation to NZWWA Water Supply Managers annual conference in Blenheim in March 08.   His technical expertise in pipe condition assessment is also recognised internationally.  John has been commissioned by Jason Consultants (Geneva) to undertake work for the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (“USEPA”) on the “Identification and characterization of the state of condition assessment technology for water transmission and distribution systems”.