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The qldwater Annual Forum was held from 5 to 7 September 2023 at the Toowoomba Turf Club, with welcome drinks and an awards dinner at the Burke & Wills Hotel. With thanks to our hosts, Toowoomba Regional Council.
More photos of the event is available on the qldwater SmugMug site.
Day 1 - Site Tours and TracWater Best of the Best Queensland Water Taste Test
Annual Forum attendees met at the Burke & Wills Hotel for two site tours. First stop was Perseverance Dam to take a closer look at the new pump station which is located below water level inside an old tower structure built over the dam. The new pump station enables approximately 550 litres of raw water per second to be delivered to nearby Pechey Road Reservoir, and ultimately to tens of thousands of homes and businesses in the Toowoomba region.
In the afternoon we visited the Wetalla Wastewater Reclamation Facility which included a tour of the LGI Biogas generation facility, a BNR sewage treatment plant and advanced water treatment plant. Biogas recovered from the adjacent Toowoomba Waste Management Centre is collected and converted into electricity via LGI's recently commissioned power station. The initiative significantly reduces Toowoomba Regional Council's greenhouse gas emissions while powering the Wetalla Water Reclamation Facility, one of Council's highest energy users, with reliable renewable energy. The official opening took place on Thursday 7 September - read more here.
Day 1 finished with a Cocktail Function where water from sources all across Queensland went head-to-head in a blind taste off in the TracWater Best of the Best Queensland Water Taste Test. Around 50 attendees sniffed, swirled, sipped and scored 18 samples from across Queensland in the quest to find Queensland’s best tasting tap water - a record number of entries received!
The winner of the 2023 competition was Fraser Coast Regional Council with water from the Burgowan Water Treatment Plant getting the highest score. The Burgowan Water Treatment plant sources water from Lake Lenthall on the Burrum River and takes it through a pre-treatment process of lime and carbon dioxide to produce a non-corrosive product water. The treatment includes clarification, ozonation to remove dissolved organic matter, taste compounds and any algal toxins, biological activated carbon filters to remove readily biodegradable bi-products and residual floc particles and finally disinfection and water pH correction with sodium hypochlorite and sodium hydroxide respectively.
Fraser Coast will now go on to compete in the National best tasting tap water competition to be held at the Lilydale & Yarra Valley Show on Saturday, 18 November.
Other entries included samples from the Banana, Bundaberg, Central Highlands, Cherbourg, Fraser Coast, Gladstone, Goondiwindi, Gympie, Isaac, Livingstone, Mackay, North Burnett, Palm Island, South Burnett, Southern Downs, Toowoomba and Western Downs council regions as well as a blend of water from the Wide Bay Burnett Water Alliance.
Toowoomba Regional Council’s sample from the Mt Kynoch Water Treatment Plant came second.
Day 2 - Celebrating the Directorate's 20th Anniversary
Official Opening
Cr Nancy Sommerfield, Portfolio Leader for Water and Waste, Toowoomba Regional Council
Setting the scene
Short video of the Queensland Water Directorate's achievements over the past 20 years.
Keynote 1 - Managing capital delivery and water security risks and outcomes in a regional context
Wayne Middleton, Australasian Business Leader, ARUP
Wayne highlighted the importance of water in community resilience and health and the need to pull together the "misunderstood twins" of Reliability (water security) vs Resilience (ability to cope with shocks).
Panel 1 - Where are they now? Catching up with past Young Operator of the Year and Operator of the Year (Civil/Allrounder) award winners
Facilitated by Desiré Gralton
Shannon Thomas - 2021 Young Operator of the Year, Ben Haddock - 2020 Young Operator of the Year, Ben Pennell - 2016 Young Operator of the Year, Sarah Walton - 2014 Young Operator of the Year, Jason Vade - 2013 Operator of the Year (Civil/Allrounder) talked about their career journeys since winning their respective awards and shared ideas on how we can attract more people to work in the industry and retain those we've already got.
Keynote 2 - Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs) in industrial trade waste: establishing a source control framework
Chantal Keane, Futures Specialist Circular Economy, Urban Utilities
Chantal is currently completing a part-time PhD on contaminants of emerging concern in trade waste, with the hopes to inform source control strategy to effectively regulate and eliminate CECs from wastewater networks. Her past endeavours include developing the bench-top slosh box disintegration text for the Australian Standard for Flushable Products and subsequently winning the best paper award in 2022 at the Queensland Water Conference.
qldwater Program Update: Using data to understand and manage service risk using SWIM and swimlocal
Dr David Scheltinga, SWIM Manager, qldwater
David presented on the history of the Statewide Water Information Management (SWIM) system and it's offspring, swimlocal, and how the powerful tools built into the platform is now used by all Queensland water service providers for reporting and benchmarking purposes.
qldwater Program Update: Moving beyond PFAS NEMP 3.0 and other SWEAP and qCRAC activities
Dr Louise Reeves, Major Programs Manager, qldwater
Louise reflected on the establishment of the SWEAP and qCRAC programs and two key activities including an industry submission on PFAS NEMP 3.0 and the launch of the Chemical Concoctions website to educate people on contaminants hiding in the products we use at home.
The new Federal Government Industry Skills Council and revised funding arrangements for the urban water sector
Brett Schimming, incoming CEO Build Skills Australia
Brett provided an overview of the VET reform process and the establishment of new Jobs Skills Councils to provide workforce planning, training product development, implementation, promotion and industry stewardship to deliver the occupations of the future.
qldwater Program Update: Water Skills Partnership and Water Industry Worker
Neil Holmes, Water Skills Partnership Manager, qldwater
Neil reflected on the history of the award winning Water Skills Partnership program and provided an update on recent skills and training initiatives.
qldwater Program Update: the Queensland Water Regional Alliances Program (QWRAP)
David Wiskar, QWRAP Director, qldwater
David Wiskar provided an update on the QWRAP program and the Queensland Government's ongoing commitment to the program.
Panel 2 - perspectives on the Water Industry Worker program
Facilitated by Neil Holmes
- A Program Organisers Perspective – Stuart Boyd
- A Trainee Perspective - Narelle D'Amico
- A Council or employers Perspective – Kathryn Turner
- An RTO Perspective – David Bristow
- A Queensland Government Perspective – Daniel Harris
- A qldwater perspective – Neil Holmes
The panel discussed the history of the Water Industry Worker program and the expansion of the program through QWRAP regions.
Gala Awards Dinner
Three awards were presented at the awards dinner held at the Burke & Wills Hotel, including:
The qldwater Government Stakeholder Contribution Award went to Chris Mooney from the Department of Environment and Science. Chris is a longtime supporter of the Directorate through her involvement in regular informal meetings with the Directorate, and more formally through involvement in SWEAP. She can lay claim to being the “most capped” government stakeholder to participate in qldwater’s Water Connections Tour to regional and remote communities, with 5 trips under her belt commencing in 2015. Despite not being able to attend the past two tours, she has been an enthusiastic supporter of the tour, resulting in three representatives from her Department attending in 2023. Through her involvement in SWEAP Chris is willing to front up every three months for a grilling from SWEAP members. This sort of engagement is deeply appreciated by the sector, where fostering good working relationships between the regulator and the industry are a cornerstone of effective regulation.
The qldwater Industry Recognition Award went to Terry Fagg, Water Treatment Principal at Western Downs Regional Council. Terry has been a strong supporter of qldwater, always ready to share his experience and knowledge whether at local schools or through our Fundamentals and Essentials Webinar Series where he has delivered presentations on a wide range of topics from media filter backwashing, chlorine disinfection, E.coli testing, jar testing, pumping fundamentals and enhanced coagulation in practice. Terry is also a valued member of our Strategic Priorities Group. The world needs more Terrys, and we’ve been fortunate to have him on our team.
The 2023 Supplier Contribution Award went to Zak Floyde Smith, Products and Service Manager at Aquatec Maxcon. Go to any water industry event in Australia or New Zealand and you will more than likely find Zak there. Zak has been a steady and active supporter of qldwater, supporting our regional events, as a QLD Committee member for the AWA and on the Water Industry Operators Association of Australia Queensland Advisory Committee. Zak is responsible for educating the market about innovative new technologies like Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactors to biologically reduce nutrients from wastewater. He is valued for his interest in promoting fit for purpose solutions for smaller and remote locations, an interest that is greatly appreciated by the sector. Always keen to share his views and experience with qldwater staff and members, Zak deserves a big pat on the back for a job well done.
Day 3 - Forum Day
The final day of the Forum focused on the Queensland Government's Statewide Risk Assessment Project.
Steph Hogan, Executive Director Strategic Water Initiatives at the Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water introduced the detailed risk assessment of regional and rural water businesses to be undertaken in Queensland to help inform the department on the necessary new programs, policies and approaches that the Government will develop over the coming years.
This was followed by a session facilitated by Michelle Bordignon from RDMW giving qldwater members the opportunity to help shape Government support activities for our industry. This work will also shape Queensland's involvement in the renewed National Water Initiative.
Toowoomba Regional Council's innovative $1.5 Billion pumped hydro project
Jaek Passier, Manager Strategic Water Planning and Capital Delivery at Toowoomba Regional Council
Jaek provided some background to the utilisation of Council's assets to generate electricity from gaining QTC advice to the EOI process under the Australian Government Underwriting New Generation Investments Program.
Water Reform Pathway - Central Queensland QWRAP Region
Scott Mason, Coordinator CQ Regional Organisation of Councils
Scott provided a vision for water reform through the CQ ROC region, planning to "build the plane while flying it".
Climate change and its impact on water security across Queensland
David Wiskar, Program Director QWRAP, qldwater
In this presentation, David shares the latest water modelling undertaken by the Queensland Government as part of their water planning and policy activities to help water managers understand the growing risks to water security across the state driven by changing rainfall and evaporation due to climate change.
Forum wrap up session
Dr Georgina Davis, CEO, qldwater
Georgina reflected on the issues and risks discussed over the course of the Forum, but also those not discussed but that should be on our radar.
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