On 20 September, Intelligent Water Networks hosted the Catchment Health Hackathon, drawing 100 participants to Melbourne Water’s offices. Primary data for the event was provided by Eco Detection, through trials conducted with Greater Western Water and Coliban Water in Victoria. Program Director Jason Cotton and event architect Peter Prevos hailed the hackathon as a great success.
The hackathon’s core challenge revolved around developing innovative ways to analyse water catchment data and present the findings in a clear, accessible format. Participants were tasked with answering the central question: “How can we care for the environment with data and analytics?” The event aimed to enhance understanding of water contaminants in catchment areas and support risk management for safe drinking water production.
Participants worked with data from Eco Detection’s automated Ion-Q trial, which collected over 1,000 measurements across four locations in the Upper Coliban River/Upper Campaspe River catchment areas. Supplementary data sources included meteorology, stream flows, soil moisture profiles, and laboratory samples from Coliban Water and Greater Western Water.
Hackathon deliverables included a data product—such as a report, dashboard, or application—and a five-minute presentation. The event encouraged a diverse range of tools, from spreadsheets to coding solutions like Python, R, or Julia, and visual tools such as Power BI and Tableau.
The event provided valuable insights into communicating complex environmental data, with participants offering creative solutions that could shape future water catchment management practices.
Pictured L – R: Phil Fox, CTO, David Clinton, Head of Business Development, Reynaldi Roman, Account Manager, Peter Prevos, Coliban Water Manager Data Science, Marcia Konno, Principal Software Engineer, Jason Cotton, IWN Program Director, Kerryn Hyde, Melbourne Water Analyst.