Floodwater contaminants and effective mitigation techniques

Floodwater contaminants and effective mitigation techniques

Floodwaters may carry a wide range of contaminants, including hazardous chemicals, potential carcinogens and biological hazards. These pose a significant health risk to both SES operational personnel and members of the general community who may be exposed during flood events.

This Project Aims To

• Identify key hazards, biological and chemical, present in the flood water
• Assess the associated health risks for SES personnel including long-term health impacts
• Propose effective mitigation strategies to reduce risk from exposure to flood waters (note: elimination of the risk by not entering flood water is not possible in all instances)
• The project will review current literature to gather insights on floodwater contamination, identify and analyse existing water quality datasets that may reveal patterns or risks. A standardised survey protocol will be developed for sampling floodwaters across a variety of environments, including
  • riverine
  • urban flash floods
  • stagnant inland waters

This project is currently open for Expressions of Interest.

Project teams responding to this call for Expressions of Interest (see PDF in top-right corner) are required to submit their response using the Centre’s current EOI submission form. EOI proposals are due by 20 February 2026 to .

An online webinar, scheduled for 2:00pm AEDT on 19 January 2026, will provide a more detailed briefing of the project and the opportunity for interested parties to pose specific questions. Register to attend by clicking the button at the top right of this page. Once completed, a recording of this webinar will be posted to the website to ensure all interested respondents have access to this information.

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