Ronald Hicks Memorial Award

The Ronald Hicks Memorial Trust Fund was established in 1984 to recognise and commemorate the contribution that Ron Hicks made to water and wastewater management in New Zealand from the mid-1950s until his death in 1983. Ron joined the Auckland Metropolitan Drainage Board from the UK as Chief Chemist at the time when the Manukau Sewerage Purification Works was under development. He became widely respected as an international authority on domestic and industrial wastewater treatment practices, and it was through his efforts from 1957 to 1959 that the NZ Sewage and Industrial Wastes Association, the forerunner of Water New Zealand, was formed. Ron Hicks legacy is remembered annually through the Ronald Hicks Memorial Award made to the author(s) of an article or paper considered significant in solving or clarifying sewage treatment or water pollution problems in New Zealand.

The Trust Fund is administered by three trustees who together comprise the judging panel for the award. The current trustees are:

• Mark Milke, Christchurch (Chairman)
• Nick Dempsey, Auckland
• Paul Barter, Nelson

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Nomination

Any queries regarding this Award should be made to the Chairman in the first instance. Applicants or submitters should include a copy of the article or paper, together with the name(s) and address(es) of the author(s) and a brief justification of the significance of the contents. Where the submission is by a third party, their name and address should also be provided.

Applications or submissions for consideration should be addressed to the Chairman of the Memorial Trust:

Dr Mark Milke
Department of Civil & Natural Resources Engineering
University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800
CHRISTCHURCH 8140
Phone: 03 364 2248
Email: mark.milke@canterbury.ac.nz

The closing date for applications or submissions is Friday, 27 July 2018.

Prize

This award will be made to the author(s) of an article or paper considered significant in solving or clarifying sewage treatment or water pollution problems in New Zealand. Awards may take the form of cash, books, equipment, etc, as seen appropriate to the Trustees in each case.

Special thanks

Water New Zealand acknowledges the services of the Trustees, namely Chairman Dr Mark Milke, from the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering at the University of Canterbury; Paul Barter from the Cawthron Institute and Nick Dempsey from Mott MacDonald. The Trustees comprise the judging panel.

2017 Recipient - Hugh Ratsey, The Wastewater Specialists

for the paper Upgrading Waste Stabilisation Ponds: Reviewing the options presented at the Annual Conference & Expo 2016

This paper gives guidance on an important New Zealand issue: which upgrade option should be considered for existing pond infrastructure? The paper examines 16 options across six performance criteria. Although broad-brush in nature, and acknowledging that individuals might care to disagree with some specifics, the paper is well supported by using recent New Zealand data into actual performance of upgrade options, and greatly advances the national discussion over pond upgrade options. Rather than providing a new solution to a water pollution problem, the trustees believe it shows excellence in clarifying an important issue in sewage treatment with particular relevance to the New Zealand water sector.

While acknowledging the contribution of others who have been involved in the project, the author is judged to be a worthy recipient of the Ronald Hicks Memorial Award for 2017.

Ronald Hicks Recipients