qldwater Blog

The Federal Budget released yesterday was a bit of a mixed bag for the water sector, and it’s clear that we have a long way to go to raise the profile of our sector as an essential service.  The Federal Government says it will “scope the establishment of a National Water Commission to deliver national water reform”, in collaboration with state and territory governments, and we hope to see this come to fruition.
 
There was some shuffling of money in the National Water Grid Fund with $1.7 billion cut over four years (or $4.6 billion over 12 years) with some projects being deferred “to be reconsidered once business cases are completed and viable pathways to delivery determined”.
 
The Government will invest over $1.1 billion on water infrastructure projects including $11.5 million towards strategic planning for improving water security in Queensland. Other Queensland projects that got the nod include:

• $600 million towards the Paradise Dam Improvement project
• $107.5 million towards the Cairns Water Security – Stage 1 project
• $3.5 million towards the Mount Morgan Water Supply project
• $8 million in additional funding towards Big Rocks Weir in Queensland
• $12.5 million towards groundwater improvement and water efficiency in the lower Burdekin

• The Growing Regions Program will fund local infrastructure projects such as libraries and regional airport upgrades.

The regional Precincts and Partnerships Program will work with states and local councils to invest in place-based projects that transform regional centres.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ publication Water Account, Australia, 2020-21 was released last Thursday.
 
This publication includes information on:

• Physical and monetary supply and use of water in the Australian economy
• Water-related indicators including consumption, use, expenditure, intensity and productivity
• Industry water use splits for states/territories
• Water supply industry highlights
• Gross value of irrigated agricultural production (GVIAP) for states/territories and NRM regions

The ABS would like to thank everyone who provided data.

The Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water (RDMW) has developed, with input from a working group which included qldwater and a range of water service providers, a new online interactive dashboard to display your KPI data. It is anticipated that the online dashboard (called Queensland’s Urban Water Explorer) will be released to the public later this year.
 
RDMW has sent letters to all CEOs informing them about the Urban Water Explorer and have sent an email to Water and Sewerage Service Business Managers inviting interested participants to their information sessions where they will demonstrate / walk through the system. These information sessions are being held on:

• Tuesday 1 November 2022, 10am to 11am
• Wednesday 2 November 2022, 2pm to 3pm
• Wednesday 9 November 2022, 10am to 11am

1. Providing a pre-release version (in November) for all Water Service Providers to get familiar with and understand the data and analytics (for a 4-week period)
2. Providing Q&A’s and other material to support you in the rollout
3. Seeking WSP profile information from you for the new tool
4. Providing an opportunity / final chance for WSPs to correct errors in the data prior to the public release.

RDMW are proposing a ‘Soft Launch’ in December with a 2-week embargo period before going live. The system will be reviewed by RDMW and the Working Group in March and then updated with the 2021-22 data.
 
If you have any questions about the new Urban Water Explorer tool please email Dinesha Emmery using the above email address.

The Water Supply Regulator (RDMW) has released their latest ‘Water Supply Regulation e-Alert’ and all members are encouraged to ensure that the right people in their organisations are registered to receive these as they are a key/main part of RDMW’s communication strategy. 
 
Key points include:

• The DWQMP guideline, which will be renamed the Guideline for the preparation, review and audit of DWQMPs, is due to be published in the next few weeks.
• The Department’s Regulatory Strategy and Compliance Plan outlines the regulatory approach taken and highlights their aim of achieving voluntary compliance. Nevertheless, when compliance is not achieved, they may escalate their compliance response as deemed necessary.
• Performance reporting (KPI) data was received by the regulator from SWIM on Tuesday 4^th October. The Regulator is now in the process of analysing the data for any anomalies or missing information. Where identified, a request to review anomalous data will be emailed to service providers within the next month. Please give this request due consideration and update SWIM if necessary.
• DWQMP and RWMP Annual Reports are due by 19th December 2022.
• Drinking Water incident investigation reports are due within 5 business days after completing your investigation of an incident or event.

If you would like any further information or would like to receive the Water Supply Regulation e-Alerts please contact drinkingwater.reporting@rdmw.qld.gov.au.

The AWA Queensland Conference 2022 was held in Cairns during National Water Week on the 20th and 21st of October and hosted by Cairns Regional Council. The presentations were of high calibre and echoed the Conference theme of “Surviving, Thriving and Inspiring”.
 
Day one presentations initiated ongoing discussions throughout the conference, particularly from Gudju-Gudju Gimuybara and Jenny Lynch from Agriculture, presenting on the power of connecting indigenous knowledge and science in the sustainable management of the land and water. The conference dinner was held at Kuranda Rain forestation Nature Park where participants experienced the Nature Park at night before enjoying a buffet style networking dinner.
 
Exceptional presentations continued on day two and included a mini workshop run by the Young Water Professionals (YWP) focussing on “Building Community and Environmental Resilience: Where should the Water Industry lead next?”. qldwater’s Queensland Water Regional Alliance Program (QWRAP) was highlighted during Richard Savage’s (Aurecon) presentation and called for necessary further collaboration for a sustainable water industry. Overall, the best paper was “The 60-year Journey to an Australian Flushability Standard” by Chantal Keane, Urban Utilities, focusing on the flushability of wipes, this outstanding presentation sparked questions from intrigued delegates. Well done to the AWA team and Cairns Regional Council for putting on a successful event!

Register now to participate in qldwater's next Fundamentals Webinar, to be held on Thursday 10th November, 10am AEST.

This webinar's topic is ‘Inflow & Infiltration' presented by Dominique Keirens, from City of Gold Coast.

Dominique was scheduled to present on this topic at our recent Annual Forum and due to the amount of interest we received about Dominique's presentation we have asked her to present at our next Fundamentals Webinar in November. Register now so you don't miss out!

This will be our last Fundamentals Webinar for 2022. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our presenters who took the time and effort to put together amazing presentations for our members this year. It is greatly appreciated.

If there are topics you would like us to organise as a Fundamentals Webinar, please email webinar@qldwater.com.au with these topics. 

Keep an eye on our Upcoming Events page for details for 2023.

Recordings of all previous webinars are available to view on the qldwater website.

Kind Regards,

qldwater

qldwater is a business unit of IPWEAQ