eFlash #536
Date: 26-May-2022
In this edition: qldwater Position – Director Innovation Partnerships| National Survey – ‘The Future of Water - The Australian Context'| Port Douglas Conference Wrap| Flushable Products: Standard Now Available| Gympie Regional Conference – Call for Papers| Fundamentals Webinar
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. National Survey – ‘The Future of Water - The Australian Context'
AWA has recently launched a national survey titled 'The Future of Water - The Australian Context' in partnership with Arup. This is a new survey to better understand Australians' perspectives on the challenges and issues for sustainable water management and is an opportunity for all Australians to have their say on the future of our water.
AWA would love to hear the views of qldwater members and invite you to complete the survey. They are hoping to get more than 5,000 responses to ensure a diverse range of voices is heard and will donate $1 to WaterAid Australia for every response received.
The survey closes on 12 June and will take approximately 15 – 20 mins to complete.
Any queries please contact Carlie Sargent at csargent@awa.asn.au.
3. Port Douglas Conference Wrap
A big shout out to Douglas Shire Council for hosting our Port Douglas Regional Conference this week. It was great to be able to connect with so many of our far north Queensland members, affiliates and industry partners.
On Monday we visited the Rex Creek water intake at the beautiful Mossman Gorge – no doubt one of the most picturesque water sources in the country, if not the world! The site tour also included Mossman Water Treatment Plant and the Port Douglas Wastewater Treatment Plant. Again, a big thanks to Douglas Shire Council staff for showing us around.
On Monday evening we had a huge turnout for dinner at Hemingway’s Brewery overlooking the Port Douglas marina. Great food and great company made for a special evening of networking.
The conference proceedings on Tuesday kicked off with a welcome by the Deputy Mayor of Port Douglas Cr Lisa Scomazzon, before we settled in for a day of interesting presentations covering topics like ultrafiltration issues and solutions, the FNQROC sewer relining program, Cairns water security, Ravenshoe WQIP, challenges for water education and water conservation, turning mud into water in the wet tropics, chlorates, reframing our regulatory relationships and the Fishery Falls filtration trial. We also revisited some of the automated metering discussions through an interesting panel discussion which included case studies from First Nations communities, Port Douglas, Mareeba and Toowoomba.
The winning slogans for our attraction competition were “water treatment – the talent behind the tap” by Amanda Hancock and “It’s the number 1 and number 2 best career choice” by Dave Stevens.
Thank you to our sponsors Grenof, WAGNERS, GanDen, Royce Water Technologies, Simmonds & Bristow, Endress+Hauser, McBerns and Taggle for supporting this event.
Photos and recordings of the presentations will be available shortly with links provided in the eFlash next week.
4. Flushable Products: Standard Now Available
Following nine weeks of public consultation and consideration of comments received, Standards Australia has published the highly anticipated standard, AS/NZS 5328, Flushable Products.
AS/NZS 5328’s publication follows years of contention around what can be flushed down a toilet, an issue that only worsened during Australia’s COVID-19 lockdowns.
The standard defines criteria for what material can be flushed down the toilet and, therefore, what products can be classified ‘flushable.’ To assist manufacturers in developing these products, the standard provides test methods for determining ‘flushability.’ In order to be ‘flushable’, the standards must have a declaration that it has passed six stringent tests. It also specifies disposable labelling requirements so that if a product is flushable, it will be clearly indicated on the packaging, providing confidence for the end consumer.
AS/NZS 5328 was developed by technical committee WS-041, including experts from consumer interest groups, water utilities, local government organisations, suppliers, manufacturers, and associations, including The Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA).
“During the onset of COVID-19, we saw a toilet paper shortage, and people resorted to flushing inappropriate materials down the toilet,” said Roland Terry-Lloyd, Head of Engagement at Standards Australia.
“This standard will hopefully help mitigate the risk of blockages as it will provide clarity to both manufacturers and consumers on what can be flushed.”
“We welcome the release of this Australian and New Zealand Standard. Clear specifications for manufacturers and clearer labelling for customers will help reduce pipe blockages and extra costs for water utilities and customers due to inappropriate material being flushed down the toilet,” said Adam Lovell, Executive Director, Water Services Association of Australia
“We congratulate the urban water industry, manufacturers, suppliers and consumer interest groups for their commitment and contributions to developing this important Standard, which is already receiving attention with other countries expressing interest in adopting it,” Mr Lovell concluded.
AS/NZS 5328, Flushable Products, is available here via the Standards Store.
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 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.