Principal Consultants

Water Sciences Group

Catchment Management

Meet some of our principal consultants specialising in Catchment Management.

Norm Mueller – Principal Engineer

Norm Mueller is a Principal Hydrologist with Ecowise, and has more than 20 years' experience in water resource management.

Norm was the project manager for the assessment of water quality and quantity impacts as a result of the ACT January 2004 bushfires on Canberra's water supply security.

Ongoing work in the area has included catchment remediation, monitoring, yield analysis and hydrodynamic modelling. The work has also incorporated close liaison with many ACT and NSW government departments and ACTEW Corporation.

Norm has completed stormwater masterplans for several proposed urban developments, including analysis and preliminary design for water quality control ponds and dry retardation basins, and determination of pollutant loads and reduction ratios.

He is currently Program Manager for the rehabilitation of the Cotter Catchment in the ACT.

Dr Nimal Chandrasena – Principal Consultant (Vegetation)

Dr Nimal Chandrasena has advanced qualifications in Plant Ecology (specialising in Weed Science), with more than 25 years of consulting and research experience garnered both nationally and abroad.

Nimal's work as a Weed Scientist and Natural Asset Manager has included assessments and management of catchments and waterways, with particular emphasis on managing 'in-stream' vegetation and riparian zones.

He has played major roles in strategising and developing management plans for various natural assets. His specialties include management of aquatic and terrestrial weeds, wetland, and water quality management – in particularly nutrient management and blue-green algal management.

He has led many projects on improving catchments through rehabilitation of waterways, wetlands and damaged riparian zones through revegetation. He has also developed guidelines for riparian zone rehabilitation.

Nimal is also credited with the restoration of two important Wetlands in Sydney –Botany Wetlands and Eve Street Wetlands. These wetlands are listed in Australia's Wetlands of National Significance. The 'Restoration of Botany Wetlands, Sydney', a project Nimal led for 10 years (1996-2005), won the NSW Premier's Environment Award in 2003, in recognition of highly successful integration of ecological theory with practice.

Stephan Gabas – Principal Consultant in Aquatic Sciences

Stephan Gabas is a Principal Aquatic Scientist specialising in the ecology of freshwater, estuarine and marine systems. Stephan has over 14 years of experience in aquatic ecology, ranging from academic research to consultancy to public and private sector. As a former academic, he presented lectures in fish ecology and biology and genetics of aquatic organisms at several Universities in Europe and Australia.

In 2002, Stephan was appointed by the Hon. Candy Broad as a Scientific Advisor to The Victorian Minister of Agriculture (Fisheries Division) and has since been re-appointed twice. His role was to provide scientific recommendations for the sustainability of both recreational and commercial inland fisheries. He participated in the technical review of most Regional Catchment Strategies and River Health Strategies since 2002. He was also actively involved in the production of Fishery Management Plans and Fisheries Reserve Management Plans.

He conducted many stream monitoring programs and impact studies using macroinvertebrate and fish communities as bioindicators, elaborated biomonitoring programs and developed water quality management plans. He is an experienced macroinvertebrates’ taxonomist and routinely uses different indices to assess river health (SIGNAL, AUSRIVAS, EPT, ISC). He was also a NATA signatory for the identification and enumeration of Microalgae and Cyanobacteria to species level.