Key Staff
Nathan Rugless
Hydrographic Projects Manager / Director
Nathan started his career in the Hydrographic industry as a Trainee with Australian Water Technologies in Sydney in 1998, in the Sydney drinking water catchment monitoring group. Being trained by and working alongside highly experienced Senior Hydrographers, Nathan developed a wide range of field and data management skills in stream flow and quality, Waste Water and meteorological monitoring areas. During this time, Nathan also completed an Associate Diploma in Applied Science (4 years full time).
Monitoring of particular interest during the period 1998 to 2003 with AWT (later becoming Sydney Water) included operation and maintenance, plus data management of stream inflows into the Warragamba, Nepean and Hawkesbury catchments. Nathan was also heavily involved in the operation and maintenance of the Warragamba thermistor chain stations and automated stream samplers targeted at identifying potential sources of the Sydney Giardia spp and Cryptosporidium spp warnings of 1998.
In 2004 Nathan moved to Perth, Western Australia to broaden his Hydrographic experience after being offered a position with the WA Water Corporation. During a relatively short stint with the Asset Monitoring Services group, Nathan operated a network surface water and meteorological monitoring sites within the greater metropolitan area.
Inspired by the opportunity to develop his Hydrographic skills in the challenging and exciting consulting sector, Nathan accepted a position with Ecowise Environmental (WA) in mid 2004. During the ensuing 4 years, he worked his way up to the Operations Manager of all Perth, Kimberley and NT projects. In addition to continuing and improving existing client networks, Nathan was also highly successful in developing new client relationships and projects.
Monitoring of particular interest during the period 2004 to 2008 with Ecowise Environmental included operation & maintenance, plus data management of stream discharge & quality, meteorological and groundwater license point networks for Pilbara Iron (Pilbara Region WA), Argyle Diamonds (Kimberley Region WA) and ERA Ranger Uranium Mine (Kakadu NT).
In 2008, Nathan decided it was time to create a new company focussed on providing specialist hydrographic monitoring services – Element Hydrographic Solutions Pty Ltd. Rather than a divided focus in a broad range of environmental assessment areas as many Environmental consultancies attempt to provide, Element is a company that specialises in Hydrographic monitoring – that is in the monitoring of Surface Water, Groundwater & Meteorological parameters.
Recent and ongoing Hydrographic monitoring projects of particular interest include:
- Argyle Diamond Mine (Kimberley Region WA): Operation & Maintenance, plus data management and web reporting of Surface Water, Groundwater & Meteorological Sites
- Champion Lakes (Armadale Redevelopment Authority WA): Operation & Maintenance, plus data management and web reporting of Surface Water sites
- Department of Water (various regions WA): Testing, installation, operation and data management from groundwater monitoring instruments at +220 groundwater monitoring bores. Regions within WA include the Gnangara Mound, Carnarvon, and the Southwest.