eFlash #535
Date: 18-May-2022
In this edition: qldwater Position – Director Innovation Partnerships| Intelligent Water Networks (IWN) Digital Water Metering - Economic Model User Guide available to qldwater members| Ozwater Wrap| Water Skills Forum 2022 – Registrations Close Today!| Gympie Regional Conference – Call for Papers| Fundamentals Webinar – Register Now
1. qldwater Position – Director Innovation Partnerships
Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia Queensland
Brisbane
CBD & Inner Suburbs
Consulting and Strategy
Other
Full time
The Queensland Water Directorate is the state’s peak body for the water services industry and is a business unit of the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (Qld).
Purpose of this role - Drive the ongoing growth and success of the Queensland Water Regional Alliance Program and other key qldwater partnerships and activities.
Your stakeholders are water and sewerage service providers across the state, from the largest utilities in the South-East to remote councils in the outback and north to the Torres Strait.
The Queensland Water Directorate facilitates programs which mean that these providers achieve economies of scope and scale and reduce duplication, costs to their customers and deliver better services for Queensland’s ratepayers.
The Queensland Water Regional Alliance Program (QWRAP) is a partnership between us, the Queensland Government, the Local Government Association of Queensland and nearly 60 participating councils. The management and leadership of this Program is a primary role for this position.
To apply for the role
- you must have a C Class Driver’s licence and the ability to travel intrastate up to a couple of times a month.
- a tertiary qualification in an appropriate discipline would be great, but is not as important as experience in managing collaborative projects. (Note these are not engineering activities, these are typically working with consultants, helping to jointly procure services by developing funding applications for the Program, reviewing progress etc)
- you must have excellent communications skills and an ability to work with people from all walks of life. Confidence in presenting publicly, convening meetings, an ability to translate the technical into plain language and so on.
- You must have strong supervisory skills, with currently two staff directly reporting to the role.
A salary package in excess of $100,000 will be negotiated with the successful candidate. Opportunities for secondments will be considered if able to be negotiated with existing employers.
To apply, please provide a cover letter that outlines how you meet the requirements above along with your resume. Check out the “Programs” tab at https://qldwater.com.au/ for more information.
Please direct any enquiries about the role to dcameron@qldwater.com.au.
2. Intelligent Water Networks (IWN) Digital Water Metering - Economic Model User Guide available to qldwater members
With the support of several members (Cairns, Fraser Coast, Whitsunday, Charters Towers and Southern Downs Regional Councils) qldwater has purchased tools developed by Isle Utilities on behalf of the Victoria’s Intelligent Water Networks collaboration.
The purpose of this economic model is to provide a digital metering economic model template and accompanying digital metering economic business case document template that can be deployed across the water industry.
The economic model includes the 12 most influential cost and benefit drivers as determined through previous experience with Victorian utilities and through discussions with the IWN.
The available documents are:
- A financial modelling tool to support the business case (Excel with macros)
- A business case template (DOC)
- A business case model user guide (PPT)
Please contact enquiry@qldwater.com.au if you’d like to be able to access the materials. Their use is limited to qldwater core members. Similarly email the enquiry address if you are interested in participating in an online demonstration by Isle Utilities on Monday 6 June at 2pm. The session will be recorded – some Victorian utilities have sought support in implementation, and Isle will also outline those services including pricing.
Rather than put the documents in our resource library, they will be located on our Zoho platform so there is a ready-made user forum to exchange ideas and questions as you start exploring the model
3. Ozwater Wrap
qldwater was well represented at Ozwater’22 last week with staff making the most of this signature event being held on our home turf this year. It was a great opportunity to connect with our members, affiliates, partners and the broader water sector. The event was jam-packed with lots of interesting keynote speakers and 8 streams of presentations running concurrently over the course of three days.
One of the highlights included our workshop to develop solutions to the water industry’s training supply market crisis, where we explored some of the issues and opportunities relating to learning resources, delivery methods, subject matter experts and regulation of minimum competency standards.
Thanks to our topic leaders who pitched their provocations to attendees before we split into groups to share ideas on possible solutions. We’ll be sharing the outcomes of the workshop in due course.
Congratulations to Torres Strait Island Regional Council for taking out the Regional Infrastructure Project Innovation Award for its Mer (Murray) Island Water Network Management Program. The Safety Excellence Award was won by Logan Water, Downer and Mass Products for the innovative isolation lock they have engineered for buried water valves.
Some of the other presentation highlights from our members included Urban Utilities’ award-winning school education program, Unitywater’s digital neighbourhood program, Logan Water’s biochar and its key role in achieving a circular economy and CQU’s real-time analysis of inorganic nitrogen as part of its research for the WIM QWRAP Alliance.
The most entertaining presentation would have to go to Hunter Water’s Respect the Throne – flushing out problem behaviours from the bottom up. The success of this pun-filled campaign was explosive as it provided a quirky way to cut through when all communications platforms (and toilets) were clogged due to COVID. The campaign resulted in a reduction in blockages as people took on board the key messages around the environmental and safety risks from flushing wet wipes and other items. The campaign proved that you don’t need big dollars to do a marketing campaign, just some creative license and humour will do.
Well done to the AWA team on delivering another hugely successful event.
4. Water Skills Forum 2022 – Registrations Close Today!
Water Skills Forum registrations close today!
Register nowto secure your spot!
Our Water Skills Forum will be held at our Eagle Farm office on Thursday 2nd June 2022.
The forum will still proceed as a hybrid event so virtual registrations are available; however, we encourage you to attend the forum in person if you are able.
Graham Fraine, the Director General of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water, has agreed to attend the last session to discuss industry skilling challenges and potential solutions.
The Forum will explore the Lifecycle of a Water Industry Worker, with three half-hour panel sessions exploring possible career paths, from ways to gain interest through pre-vocational opportunities to traineeships, graduate employment and industry co-investment models to entice postgraduate industry research. It also includes a session on a successful transition to retirement model.
The event will also include an “Attraction Hack” for a bit of fun but with a serious intent – to give us useful ideas to build awareness of the great opportunities in our industry. It’s your big chance to get creative and think outside the box.
Thank you to our sponsors TAFE Queensland and Simmonds and Bristow for their support of the upcoming forum.
Whether you can attend in person at our office in Eagle Farm or online, we look forward to welcoming you to the Water Skills Partnership signature annual event.
Please contact Naomi Carragher if you are interested in sponsoring this event.
5. Gympie Regional Conference – Call for Papers
qldwater is excited to announce our next regional conference for 2022 will be held in Gympie, kindly hosted by Gympie Regional Council on the 13th & 14th of July.
Have you learnt something new that you would like to share? Or learnt a lot from an activity that other service providers should hear about? The call is now open for presentations to fill 20-25 minutes slots.
There will be a site tour taking place on Wednesday 13th followed by an option dinner in the evening. The main conference day will be Thursday 14th July.
Presentations from qldwater members or organisations able to co-present with members will always be prioritised. We aim to make the process as easy as possible: you will need to provide us with a brief outline now and a PowerPoint a couple of days before the event. Please forward your ideas to dcameron@qldwater.com.au.
Sponsorship opportunities are available for the Gympie Regional Conference. Please contact Naomi (ncarragher@qldwater.com.au) if you are interested in sponsoring this event.
To view our upcoming events please visit our website: https://qldwater.com.au/upcoming-events
6. Fundamentals Webinar – Register Here
Register now for our next Fundamentals Webinar on Tuesday, 31st May, 10am-11am, AEST with the topic ‘Lagoon Management’, presented by Kathryn Turner, Urban Utilities.
More sessions will be hosted in 2022, keep an eye on our Upcoming Events page for details.
Recordings of all previous webinars are available to download on the qldwater website. Please contact webinar@qldwater.com.au with any queries about previous or future webinars or to discuss sponsorship opportunities.