Our expertise

WRL is considered the birth place of coastal engineering in Australia, comprising a great history of experience and current knowledge.

The hydraulics laboratories at WRL are the largest and most comprehensive in Australia. WRL occupies 3.8 ha of land immediately downstream of Manly Dam, and has 4 fully equipped laboratories for research and specialist consulting studies.

Environmental engineering combines the resources of groups within the Water Research Laboratory to provide an integrated assessment of environmental impacts.

The award-winning Ecosystems Engineering group (EcoEng @ WRL) is a worldwide leader, with a twenty-year track record, in developing practical solutions for the successful restoration and functional recovery of damaged, contaminated or endangered ecosystems.

Blue Carbon is the carbon captured by the world's ocean and coastal ecosystems. Coastal Blue Carbon ecosystems, including mangrove forests, saltmarshes, and seagrass meadows, are highly effective at sequestering carbon from the atmosphere and locking it away for very long periods of time.

WRL scientists and engineers can provide a range of expert services to assess and restore both tidal and riverine wetlands. Our researchers understand the environmental issues behind the observable problems and have a track record of developing tailored, on-ground solutions to stimulate functional wetland recovery.

When hydraulic behaviour is crucial to the operations of large (or small) infrastructure, WRL can utilise its knowledge and experience, specialist hydraulic laboratories and instrumentation to provide robust and cost saving solutions.

WRL is an industry leader in the engineering and science of marine and riverine outfalls. Over the past 20 years WRL has been involved in numerous studies covering all aspects of outfalls including hydraulics, dilution, commissioning and field studies.

WRL has a team of hydrogeologists and environmental engineers who are highly regarded for groundwater problem solving. This team is recognised in Australia and internationally for expert groundwater services.

WRL have specialist expertise to provide solutions for critical water resource issues including the hydrology and quality of runoff in urban catchments, water budgeting, reservoir operations, environmental flows and the sedimentation, geomorphology, and flooding of rivers.

In the last 20 years, WRL has drawn on its long-standing experience in marine and coastal engineering to provide expert advice to the Australian Offshore Renewable Energy industry.