Logan Water’s winning formula: innovation, culture and sustainability

September was a big month for Logan Water, which received multiple individual, team and innovation awards for its boundary-pushing, creative and sustainability-focused work.  

Firstly, Logan Water received 2 awards at Queensland Water Awards: Young Water Professional of the Year, which went to Sustainable Solutions Lead Johanna Johnson, and Infrastructure Project Innovation Award for Australia’s first biosolids gasification facility. ‘Logan Water’s Transformation Program was also a finalist in the Operational Excellence category 

Just a few days later, the team received an international award at the International Water Association (IWA)’s World Water Congress and Exhibition in Copenhagen. Logan Water and partners received the prestigious Bronze award for Project Innovation (Breakthroughs in Research and Development), also for the recently-opened biosolids gasification facility. 

Johanna says she felt honoured to receive her award. 

‘It’s wonderful to be recognised, and for the team as well. It really illustrates the work Logan Water has been doing to help and enable young water professionals in the space – including project management and upskilling,’ she says. 

Johanna, who is also President of Young Water Professionals Queensland Branch and who recently presented at the 100 Climate Conversations exhibition at the Powerhouse in Sydney, says she wants to see more skilled young professionals in the water industry and keep them there. 

‘There is a lot of encouragement for young people within the whole industry, not just Logan Water, to get involved and stay in the industry; it’s a diverse, exciting space and there is a lot of mentoring and enablement.’ 

Water wasn’t always in Johanna’s career plans – she initially studied pharmacy, but her lab work led her to becoming a project manager with Logan Water. Her background has helped her in the innovation space. 

‘As I am a chemist and microbiologist by trade, I really look at the chemistry behind projects, the contaminants and harmful chemicals that go into sewage and how that can be broken down and put back into soil,’ she says. 

‘It is an exciting time and the work we are doing is so good for the environment, and the agricultural sector.’ 

The double-award-winning, $28 million biosolids gasification facility is an Australian first. The facility transforms human waste into renewable energy and biochar, a sustainable product. It destroys pollutants and micro and nano plastics in biosolids, and will reduce carbon emissions by around 6000 tonnes per year.  

Biochar contains nutrients that are great for healthy soil and plants. Biochar can also be added to asphalt, concrete and bricks to sequester carbon for thousands of years.   

Logan Water group manager Mike Basterfield says the facility and awards puts Logan on the world stage for sustainability innovation. 

‘This is an Australian first that now has global recognition and shows that we are pushing the boundaries of how we can bring resources back to a circular economy, reducing pollution and costs,’ he says. 

To find out more, check out this Logan Water article and follow them on Linkedin.