Qldwater Report

Dave Cameron CEO, qldwater

Another eventful start to a year but hopefully we are over the main hump. Many qldwater staff were directly impacted by COVID but many more members have been dealing with significant seasonal events.

The disruption is unlikely to make a significant difference to how we approach events and other key activities in 2022. At the time of writing we were expecting a decline in physical attendance for our Skills Forum in early March but had adapted the program to hopefully make for an engaging hybrid experience.

The most significant announcement for us in recent months has been the Queensland Government’s decision to extend the Queensland Water Regional Alliance Program funding permanently. The original QG investment towards the program goes back to 2011, and the duration (and quantum) of each grant has been increasing since then. Now a mature partnership among Queensland councils, the Queensland Government, the LGAQ and qldwater - the funding certainty significantly helps maintain continuity for planning and in retention of key people. It’s too early to know exactly what this means for our little group, however, the extra funding will support new collaborative activities for nine regions – almost all of Queensland except for the southeast and some First Nations councils in the Cape.

Most of these Cape councils are the subject of visits planned for our Water Connections Week in May, in between Ozwater (in Brisbane this year) and our Port Douglas conference. COVID willing, we will be using Cairns as a base and along with various Queensland Government representatives, will be meeting with around 9 councils to discuss their service delivery challenges and look for opportunities for the broader qldwater network to provide support and expertise. We unfortunately had to cancel tours in 2020 and 2021, meaning a hiatus for what has historically been a major part of our regional outreach program. Securing a Principal Sponsor for qldwater in Grenhof along with some other savings has made a charter feasible for the first time in quite a while.

Much of our advocacy work has been delayed as agencies struggle with their own responses to COVID and seasonal challenges. Importantly, water sector staff have been recognised now as critically essential workers meaning that once Rapid Antigen Tests are more readily available, there is a process for close contacts to be able to attend to essential roles including treatment plants as Omicron continues to spread. In general, the industry continues to impress with its approach to information sharing and mutual support.

A few upcoming highlights from our programs:

• Lots happening in the environmental space including proposed changes to the

Environmental Protection Act and End of Waste Codes, as well as a lot of work around contaminants including the release in the coming months of a public-facing campaign to attempt to build awareness around everyday products and practices which contribute to sewerage service providers’ capacity to deal with contaminants including PFAS and microplastics. A national workshop is planned in April, and we have entered into a number of national partnerships and sponsored small research investments through the qldwater Consortium for Research and Advocacy on Contaminants.

• A coordinated review of the Drinking Water Quality

Management Plan Guideline with the Department of

Regional Development,

Manufacturing and Water participating in a final review workshop with industry in

March.

• Several activities with the

Water Services Association of Australia and other water directorates, including sectorwide approaches to address new Critical Infrastructure legislation and Workplace

Exposure Standards (particularly for hydrogen sulphide and chlorine).

• Continued advocacy to attempt to finalise an exemption to allow high pressure water jetting activities on AC pipes.

• An audience to progress a proposed restricted drainer’s licence along with an agreement to review MP1.4 of the Queensland Development

Code (building over/ near infrastructure).

• Major SWIM enhancements including strong uptake of the new WebReports module.

• At the time of writing we were recruiting to fill our Skills

Manager role, and the skills agenda is large, including working with RDMW on its review of potential minimum mandatory qualifications for drinking water operations staff, delivery of micro-credentials (SCADA commencing in

February), revisions to various online training products, and a lot in the national space with changes to the way training packages are administered. Our proposed workshop for OzWater on addressing the training supply challenges facing Registered Training Organisations nationally has been accepted and is in development.

• Finally, there are a number of other strategic advocacy activities in development based on the water industry roadmap priorities. These include briefings with key state agency executives as well as SEQ service providers, looking at opportunities for whole of industry approaches to support service providers in regional and remote Queensland.

Looking forward to getting out on the road again soon and catching up with everybody, and hoping the restrictions many members have necessarily imposed on travel don’t last too long so we can all have a break from online meetings.

ABOUT US

qldwater is a business unit of IPWEAQ. Its members include the majority of councils, other local and state government-owned water and sewerage service providers. It has strong effective working relationships with national water industry associations as well as local, state and Commonwealth government agencies eg Queensland Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy, Department of Environment and Science, Department of Health, Department of Local Government, Racing and Multicultural Affairs and the Bureau of Meteorology.

As the central advisory and advocacy body within Queensland’s urban water industry, qldwater is a collaborative hub, working with its members to provide safe, secure and sustainable urban water services to Queensland communities.

Key Programs

The Queensland Water Regional Alliance Program – a collaborative program between Queensland Councils, qldwater and LGAQ (supported by the Queensland Government) aimed at helping Queensland councils work together at a regional scale to achieve efficiencies for their customers;

The Statewide Water Information Management (SWIM) Program – advocacy and continuous improvement supported by a sophisticated regulatory and business reporting and benchmarking tool;

The Queensland Water Skills Partnership – a collaboration among utilities to identify skills needs and solutions and encourage appropriate investment;

Other Industry Advocacy Services – focused on sustainable investment and planning, and fit for purpose regulation;

Industry communication, innovation and marketing initiatives – creating a distinct profile for urban water and sewerage and celebrating its achievements with often limited resources, to make the industry an attractive place to work and exploit its competitive advantages and collaborative culture.

The Strategic Priorities Group (SPG) oversees industry priorities and the areas of technical focus for qldwater.

The SPG includes Water Managers, Chief Engineers, Chief Executive Officers and Water Operators from approx 30 urban water entities representing small, medium and large service providers from all regions across the state. A broad range of topics are discussed.

CAPABILITY STATEMENT

MEMBER BENEFITS