Message from the Director

CAIRNS INFRASTRUCTURE AND ASSETS

I am proud to present Cairns Regional Council’s Annual Drinking Water Report for 2021-2022, which provides an overview of our results and achievements in providing our community with safe, high quality drinking water sourced from protected catchments in the Cairns region.

This year we continued to capitalise on gains made in previous years to transform our service offerings and improve our performance, while planning for the future of our water supply to ensure we can sustain our community now and into the future.

During 2021-22, we progressed several strategic priorities including:

• Securing $215 million in Federal and State funding ($107.5 million each) for Cairns Water Security Stage 1, which will secure the city’s drinking water into the next decade.

• Delivering Phase 1 of the Cairns emergency water supply plan.

• Delivering key asset upgrades on critical water infrastructure including Freshwater Water Treatment Plant filter upgrades, trunk main renewals, and reservoir upgrades.

• Implementation of demand management initiatives, including monitoring and repair programs, smart water metering and community education.

We continue to concentrate on the health and wellbeing of our customers and to deliver a brighter future for our community and the natural environment. We’re driven by this vision as we plan the delivery of our essential services to meet the challenges of a growing population, social change and climate change impacts.

Finally, the quality and reliability of your drinking water is the result of the dedication and expertise of Cairns Regional Council employees in ensuring that our customers have access to high quality potable water whenever they need it.