eFlash #598

Date: 22-May-2024

NEW / HOT TOPICS

Water Connections Tour

qldwater completed the annual Water Connections Tour across the North-West of Queensland from 13 – 16 May 2024.

This year’s Water Connections Tour inspected assets, met with officials from water service providers and held discussions with elected officials. The tour traversed more than 1250 kms and visited the following water service providers:

Mt Isa Water Board
Mt Isa City Council
Cloncurry Regional Council
McKinlay Shire Council
Richmond Shire Council
Flinders Shire Council
Winton Shire Council

The touring party included representatives from; LGAQ, DRDMW, Queensland Health, Fraser Coast Regional Council and qldwater. The tour identified key opportunities which qldwater and the QWRAP Partners will be seeking to advance to support the North West Water Service Providers.

The Water Connections Tour was sponsored by Lackon Project Management.

Photos are available here.

qldwater Awards – Time to Recognise Your Staff!

qldwater is proud to again sponsor the Young Operator of the Year and Operator of the Year (Civil) awards to recognise the outstanding operational performance of Queensland water industry employees.

We invite all managers to nominate their staff to show your appreciation for the hard work and effort they put in to supply water and sewerage services to Queensland communities 24/7, 365 days of the year.

The 2024 winners will be announced at the 48th WIOA Queensland Water Industry Operations Conference & Exhibition to be held at the University of Southern Queensland – USQ Stadium in Sippy Downs on 24 & 25 July 2024.

For more information and to download the nomination forms, click here.

Emerging Contaminants Workshop

The qldwater Consortium for Research and Advocacy on Contaminants (qCRAC) is hosting an Emerging Contaminants Workshop from 21-22 November 2024 in Townsville.

This workshop will include presentations that are directly relevant to qldwater members in the following topic areas:

Science progressing understanding of emerging contaminants
Emerging contaminants regulation and solutions
Utilities' responses to emerging contaminants

The program will incorporate a technical tour on the afternoon of 21 November, followed by a casual dinner and a full day workshop on 22 November. This will be an in-person only event.

Please keep an eye open for a registration announcement soon.

If your organisation is interested in sponsoring this event, please contact Louise Reeves.

Fundamentals Webinars

Recordings of the last two webinars are now available on the watertraining website. These webinars act as introductions to the upcoming Micro-Credential courses to be delivered between June and September – dates to be announced soon.

SCADA Introduction

Murray Thompson provided an introduction and overview of SCADA and telemetry systems utilised within the water and sewerage industry including practical workplace examples of how these systems operate on a day-to-day basis. It is designed for field and operations staff to ensure these staff are able to confidently monitor, operate and report upon the performance of their water and sewerage assets and also response appropriately to events and alarms.

Make Use of Water Quality Data -

In this presentation James Howey from Viridis helps staff appreciate the value of using water quality data collected as part of operational roles including the use of tools like Excel spreadsheets and swimlocal to record data, see data trends, identify emerging issues, make informed decisions on corrective actions and comply with the organisation’s Drinking Water Quality Management Plan (DWQMP).

OTHER NEWS

New Director-General Appointed

qldwater would like to congratulate Linda Dobe for her appointment as Director-General for the Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water.

Linda is an experienced and highly regarded senior executive with more than 30 years of water, lands, mining and education experience across both public and private sectors. As DRDMW’s Acting Director-General since March 2023, she has steered the department to operational and transformational success.

WIOA QLD Conference

The Water Industry Operators Association of Australia (WIOA) QLD Conference and Exhibition will take place on 24 & 25 July at the University of Sunshine Coast.

Join your peers at this QLD Water Industry event fostering information exchange among operational roles in water, wastewater, and recycled water sectors. The Conference and Exhibition offers a platform for water professionals to update skills, network with peers, and explore cutting-edge technical advancements.

Sustainable Pumping Courses

Rob Welke from the Water Pumping Institute will be delivering a couple of pumping courses in Queensland.

Course 1

Where: MANTRA Club Croc, 240 Shute Harbour RD, Airlie Beach

When: Thurs/Fri, 18th, 19th July, 2024

Times: 2 Days, from 8.30am to 4.30pm

Cost: $1,350 + GST

Course 2

Where: Gladstone Engineering Alliance, 4/69 Goondoon St, Gladstone, QLD

When: Tues/Wed, 30th, 31st July, 2024

Times: 2 Days, from 8.30am to 4.30pm

Cost: $1,350 + GST

For more information and to register, contact Rob on 0414 492 256 or email r.welke@talle.biz.

New Queensland Water Strategy Website

The new Queensland Water Strategy microsite is now live. This new Queensland Government website for their Water Strategy links to their wider goal to lift the visibility of the sector and showcase partnerships in collective action across the delivery focus areas.

Extensions to Fire Ant Biosecurity Zones

The fire ant biosecurity zoneshave been updated with full or partial suburbs expanded or added to zones 1 and 2 to reflect recent fire ant detections in Toowoomba, Lockyer Valley, Moreton Bay and Scenic Rim. Please refer to the fire ant biosecurity zones interactive map.

A reminder that everyone located inside the fire ant biosecurity zones and dealing with materials that can carry fire ants must follow their general biosecurity obligation by:

Checking the fire ant biosecurity zones before moving materials off-site.
Using fire ant-safe practices when handling, storing, and moving materials.

Make Developers Pay Bill

The Housing, Big Build and Manufacturing Committee’s inquiry into the Planning and Other Legislation (Make Developers Pay) Amendment Bill 2024 is now complete. The committee tabled Report No. 8, 57th Parliament – Planning and Other Legislation (Make Developers Pay) Amendment Bill 2024 on 15 May 2024 which recommended not to pass the Bill. The report can be found here.

Documents relating to the committee’s inquiry including qldwater’s submission, can be viewed on the inquiry page found on the committee’s website.

Funding Opportunities

Works for Queensland guidelines have been released, they are available here. The program has a short turnaround time with a deadline of 5 July to get applications in.

Non-Urban Water Measurement Policy Implementation Plan

As part of the Non-urban water measurement policy implementation plan for Queensland, the Department provides annual progress reports on its delivery and upcoming activities. The second state-wide report outlining progress made during 2023 and activities planned for 2024 is now available on the Department’s website here.

The report highlights the broad spectrum of implementation activities delivered across the water business during 2023 and work planned for the remainder of 2024 including:

changes to the Water Act 2000 to establish the regulatory framework for strengthened measurement requirements
ongoing metering activities, including an overview of meter revalidation and new metering activities undertaken to meet water plan and Water Regulation requirements.

CURRENT CONSULTATIONS

Composting Facility Standards

The Department of Environment, Science and Innovation welcomes feedback on proposed stronger regulations requiring composting facilities to minimize odour impacts on local communities.

The proposed changes would enable the regulator to require composting facilities near residential zones receiving highly odorous waste to have in-vessel or enclosed processing.

They would also better enable the regulator to ensure interstate transporters of highly odorous waste do not take waste to sites which do not meet these requirements.

Operators not accepting highly odorous feedstocks, or not located near residential zones, would be able to continue open windrow composting under the proposed regulation changes.

The government is now seeking community and industry feedback on proposed regulation changes to prescribe the standard for composting facilities in Queensland.

To participate in the consultation, visit https://intheloop.des.qld.gov.au/composting-facility-standards