I N DUST RY INS IGH T
COLLABORATION IN THE WATER SECTOR: more voices means better ideas Water utilities around Australia face similar challenges – population growth, more frequent weather events, drought and climate change means there’s more pressure on our water storages than ever before. But the industry focus remains the same, utilities are committed to providing the community with safe water now and into the future, while dealing with these challenges, managing water quality and water availability and keeping costs down. With these same goals, it’s critical that utilities around the country collaborate with each other as well as with different sectors and educational institutions, to share insights and solutions.
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ara Olsen, Managing Director of South East Water, believes the water industry is the most collaborative sector in the country, especially compared to other industries she’s worked in, such as energy. “We have the same goals, so the only way you really achieve them is when you work at scale and go with the best ideas rather than trying to do everything in your own organisation,” she said. In addition to providing water, sewerage and recycled water services to 1.91 million people across Melbourne per year, South East Water is focused on developing new technologies to solve some of these water challenges, which are then tested in their network. For instance, it’s recently achieved this with Sotto and Lentic, two technologies that its engineers conceived, developed and manufactured for market. Embedded within digital meters, these technologies help locate leaks early before they impact the community, helping save water and additional water usage charges.
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Ms Olsen said sharing these insights and collaborating with other organisations has been a key part of these projects having the biggest impact in the sector as possible. “If you're just looking to solve a problem for your particular situation then you miss some of the best ideas and the chance for it to have a much greater impact than it otherwise could, and I think that comes from collaboration right from the start,” Ms Olsen said. “The more voices you have around the table, asking questions and suggesting ideas, the better the technology or solution that you will get. That includes customers as well.”
APPROACHING COLLABORATION WITH STAKEHOLDERS It can be hard to know what the best approach is when it comes to collaboration; who to partner with and why, what people, projects and technologies should be involved, and what are the best outcomes. Ms Olsen said the approach can be different based on what you’re trying to achieve.
“There's certainly some projects which we've initiated and led, and then other projects where we are a project partner, learning from others and looking to see what they're doing. I think that's an important characteristic – there is not just one set organisation that looks to lead, it's a sharing of that role as well.” One example of this is South East Water’s Biosolids to Biochar project, a partnership with RMIT University, Intelligent Water Networks and Greater Western Water. RMIT was developing a technology to transform biosolids – a waste product from sewage treatment – into something beneficial for the agriculture industry such as soil fertiliser. “This was a project that focuses on what we could do with those biosolids and how we make the treatment of them more energy efficient. How do we keep the great parts of the biosolids in terms of nutrients but remove the contaminants, and come up with a solution that not only works for us, but also for the broader water industry. “It's been a great example of working with universities in terms of
