eFlash #660

eFlash #660 New

Date: 17-Jun-2026

Wastewater Quality and Trade Waste: Out of Sight, Top of Mind

22-23 July 2026, qldwater Headquarters, Eagle Farm

Program is now available

Join water industry colleagues from across Queensland at this in-person event to explore the real-world challenges facing wastewater and trade waste management.

This practical workshop will cover:

Identifying and managing contaminants entering the sewer network
Trade waste compliance and what it means on the ground
Lessons learned from utilities across Queensland and beyond
Practical approaches to improving trade waste programs
Tools, resources and solutions that can be applied in your workplace
Opportunities to share experiences, discuss challenges and learn from your peers

A highlight of the program is a panel session on Water Cremation, an emerging issue for trade waste managers. After all, while death and taxes may be inevitable, only one of them ends up in the sewer network.

An optional technical tour (on 22 July) will provide a behind-the-scenes look at a specialised treatment facility and the technologies used to manage landfill leachate, including PFAS.

Whether you're an operator, trade waste officer, environmental professional, engineer or manager, this event will provide practical knowledge, useful contacts and ideas you can take back and apply in your own organisation.

State Benchmarking Report Released

Queensland’s 15th water and sewerage benchmarking report, based on 2024-25 data, is now available.

The report package includes two interactive slide decks with performance charts for:

Medium, large and extra-large service providers (>1,000 connections), and
Small and Indigenous service providers.

An accompanying explanatory report provides context, key insights and guidance to help interpret the data.

Together, these resources present a comprehensive set of indicators for all 72 of Queensland’s council-owned urban water and sewerage utilities, supporting informed decision-making, performance comparison and continuous improvement across the sector.

Access the full report package on the qldwater website.

SWIM™/swimlocal™ Training

qldwater is hosting a free two-day SWIM™/swimlocal™ training session at our Brisbane office on Monday 22 June (also available online) and Tuesday 23 June (in person only).

What to expect:

Monday: SWIM™ Annual Data Tool Webinar via TEAMS from 9:30-10:30 am including a SWIM™ refresher, swimlocal™ overview, Web Admin Tool, OpsTool and reporting. Jess and David will be around for the rest of the day for swimlocal discussions via TEAMS or in person.

Tuesday: Hands-on swimlocal™ training and system setup (9 am–3 pm). This session will help you to setup or modify your swimlocal™ system to get the most out of it, e.g., add alerts, automating SWIM™ annual reporting, importing lab data directly, SCADA data imports, calculations, adding new sites/indictors, setting up reports and dashboards, etc.

You can join for all or part of the sessions, either in person or online (Monday).

To attend, please contact Jess Dean or David Scheltinga.

Essentials Webinar: When a Regulator Visits

A recording of last week’s Essentials Webinar by Sarah Hausler and Caitlin Steuart from McCullough Robertson Lawyers is now available on the qldwater website.

In our sector, the Drinking Water Regulator and the Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation play an important role in ensuring that community safety and environmental expectations for water services are met. However, inspections and audits by the regulator can be a cause for concern. This webinar provided an overview on how to confidently prepare for an inspection or audit, including:

How to prepare for the visit, including who should attend and respond to correspondence
What is the scope of the regulator’s powers
Your rights and obligations
What to say and what not to say in an inspection, audit or interview
Tips and tricks to navigate the process effectively

Recordings of all past webinars are available here.

OTHER NEWS

IPWEA-QNT Annual Conference

Call for Abstracts are open for the 2026 IPWEA-QNT Annual Conference, taking place on 2 September - 2 October on the Sunshine Coast

As the premier event of the year, the Annual Conference brings together public works professionals from across Queensland and the Northern Territory to share knowledge, showcase innovation and explore solutions to the challenges facing the sector.

If you have a project, case study, research initiative or practical insight that would be of value to the public works community, they invite you to submit an abstract for consideration.

Presentations can be delivered in either:

A 30-minute format (including Q&A) – eligible for the Geoff Wilmoth Best Paper Award
A 15-minute lightning talk – ideal for high-impact insights and short case studies

To submit an abstract, please complete the online submission form and provide the following:

Abstract Title
Abstract (up to 500 words)
Biography of presenting author(s) (up to 150 words)
Preferred presentation format

Submit Your Abstract Here

If you have any questions, please email events@ipweaq.com.

Smart Water Connect

The Water Conservancy has launched a dedicated, annual national forum for urban water efficiency - Smart Water Connect.

To be held on Tuesday 13 October 2026 at the Aerial Function Centre, UTS, Sydney, Smart Water Connect brings together utilities, government, manufacturers, retailers, irrigators, service providers and researchers for a full day of focused, practical exchange — not just discussion, but the kind of cross-sector problem-solving that drives measurable outcomes.

The program spans six themes shaped by an independent Advisory Panel:

Driving community engagement and behaviour change
Increasing uptake of efficient products through information, incentives and innovation
Non-residential water efficiency solutions
Strengthening drought resilience and outdoor water management
Enabling impact through standards, policy and regulation
Harnessing data, smart technologies and insights

If you’d like to present your work — submit your abstract.

Whether it's a case study with real-world savings data, an innovative program that's shifting behaviour, or a policy approach that's delivering results, they want to hear from you. Presentations, panels, workshops and lightning talks are all welcome. Abstracts close Friday 10 July.

Early bird registration is also now open.

The day wraps up with the Water Night Launch Event, hosted by TWC Ambassador Costa Georgiadis. It's an evening of networking, the unveiling of the latest national research on Australia's relationship with water, and the announcement of the Smart Drop Excellence Award winner — all over drinks and canapés.

National Water Week

National Water Week 2026 returns 19-25 October 2026 with the theme Water is Life. The school theme for 2026 is: Water Connects Everything

The Australian Water Association (AWA) is inviting local water authorities, councils and regional providers to get involve, particularly by supporting the Primary School Poster Competition.

Participation can be simple: share resources, run a local competition, promote entries or connect with local schools.

With a strong focus on regional, rural and remote communities, this is a great opportunity to support water education and community engagement.

If your Council is planning other National Water Week activities such as school visits, community events, water education activities, tours, workshops, open days or local communications campaigns, please register them on the National Water Week website to promote them on the national events page:

National Water Week logo and graphics are also available for participating organisations to download and use.

CURRENT CONSULTATIONS

Queensland Productivity Review into Environmental Regulation

The Queensland Productivity Commission (QPC) is conducting an inquiry into the impacts of recent changes to federal environmental regulation.

The inquiry into reforms to Commonwealth environmental laws – including the 2025 changes to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act – is an important opportunity to address long standing issues around assessment timeframes, duplication and regulatory burden for urban water (infrastructure) projects in Queensland.

The QPC has released its Call for Submissions inviting all stakeholders to make a submission to the inquiry – closing date 13 July. Please contact Georgina at gdavis@qldwater.com.au if you are interested in contributing to the qldwater submission.

More info here.

Strengthening Protections Against Violent Workplace Incidents Amendment Bill

On 13 May 2026 the Hon Shannon Fentiman MP, Member for Waterford, introduced the Strengthening Protections Against Violent Workplace Incidents Amendment Bill 2026 into the Queensland Parliament. The Bill was referred to the State Development, Infrastructure and Works Committee for detailed consideration.

The purpose of the Bill is to strengthen protections against violent workplace incidents, by creating a new notifiable incident class of violent incident.

The Bill amends the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and the associated provisions in the Safety in Recreational Water Activities Act 2011 to widen the scope of a notifiable incident to include a new violent incident definition.

The closing date for written submissions is Thursday, 25 June 2026 at 5pm.

Have your say on Environmental Offsets Framework review

The Queensland Government is seeking feedback on a proposed refresh of the Environmental Offsets Framework, which helps balance development with environmental protection. The review will focus on improving how offsets are delivered, calculated and regulated.

A new discussion paper outlines key challenges, including delays and complexity, and invites stakeholder input on three focus areas: unlocking the Offset Account, financial calculations, and regulatory improvements.

An online information session will be held on 18 June (12.30–2.00pm) - register to attend or receive updates.

Feedback is open until 29 June 2026 via the consultation website or email offsetsreview@detsi.qld.gov.au.