Profile

Simon Fane

• Chief Investigator
• University of Technology Sydney

Dr Simon Fane has been an urban water researcher, policymaker and advocate for over 20 years. He is recognised as an expert in urban water planning, water conservation and options assessment. Simon provides technical and policy advice to State and Commonwealth Governments and has worked with utilities and non-government organisations across Australia. Simon is an author on over 50 journal and conference papers as well as industry guides and numerous consulting reports.

Simon gained his PhD at the Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) in 2005 with a thesis on ‘Planning for Sustainable Urban Water’. Staying at the Institute, Simon led ISF’s Water Research Area and managed a portfolio of multi-disciplinary research and consulting projects while supervising staff and PhD students. Simon led the Institute’s analyses that underpinned the 2004 and 2007 Metropolitan Water Plans for Greater Sydney. He also led the National Water Commission’s 2010 research program on urban water integrated resource planning.

From 2012 to 2017, Simon worked directly for the NSW Government in the Metropolitan Water Directorate. He was the principle analyst for the 2017 Metropolitan Water Plan working closely with the hydrological modellers on portfolio development and optimisation. He also worked on the Lower Hunter Water Plan and advised on a range of urban water policies. Simon developed a decision-making framework for the NSW Government to navigate the complex interactions between the Metropolitan Water Plan, the introduction of environmental flows at Warragamba Dam and the decisions on flood mitigation by the Hawkesbury Nepean Valley Flood taskforce (led by iNSW). Simon also represented the Department on Flood the taskforce.

In June 2017, Simon re-joined ISF to continue his research as an Associate Professor. Since then he has provided strategic advice to the: NSW Government, iNSW, ACT Government, Sydney Desalination Plant Ltd, Central Coast Council, Hunter Water and Sydney Water. He has led multi-disciplinary teams on projects that have, among other things, explored: external factors for the Melbourne Sewerage Strategy, the environmental and economic impacts of the Commonwealth’s WELS scheme, the integration of land and water planning for growth areas in Western Sydney, real options for drought response in the Lower Hunter, communicating optionality to senior stakeholders within Sydney Water and stratifying corporate risks for Water Corporation WA. Simon has led a series of projects on water conservation that are developing the next generation of demand management anchored in digital technologies. Simon currently supervises four PhD students on Integrated Water Management, sanitation in Cambodia and organic waste management.