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Queensland Urban Utilities
Feature
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Chief Executive Officer of Queensland Urban Utilities, Ian Maynard talks about the challenges facing the water utility in South East Queensland. By Ian Armitage
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ueensland Urban Utilities is a statutory body providing integrated distribution and retail water and sewerage services to 1.3 million people who live within a 14,364 square kilometre service territory. The territory covers Brisbane, Ipswich, Lockyer Valley, Scenic Rim and Somerset, and these five participating councils each have a shareholding within the water utility which is South East Queensland’s largest and was formed on 1 July 2010. “Our primary role is to deliver drinking water, recycled water and sewerage services to the cities and townships within our boundaries,” says Chief Executive Officer Ian Maynard, who recently talked with Australasia Outlook.
Queensland Urban Utilities
have put up much more explicit signage at major works and sites so, as we’re putting in a new sewer or water main, there is signage there and an explanation as to how that project is contributing to deliver better water or sewerage services so residents in that area can have a better understanding of what they’re getting for the investment that we’re making,” Maynard says. “We also distribute a fantastic newsletter every quarter with the customer’s water bill and that newsletter goes into some detail about the preciousness of water and steps that our customers can take to reduce their demand and preserve the scarce resources that we have in South East Queensland.” Queensland Urban Utilities gets a good report from Energy and Water Ombudsman and customers alike, he adds. “We track our brand and our corporate reputation on a monthly basis. Our brand has a number of key value drivers that customers emphasise when they think of us as a water utility and it’s pleasing to see that in the last 12 months - since we’ve had this mechanism in place – customers’ perceptions have improved by eight percent. Measuring it monthly gives us the ability to regularly test the impact of the programmes that we’re putting in place to improve the quality of our service.”
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Mr Maynard was appointed Chief Executive Officer on 1 July 2011. He has previously held executive positions within the private sector including Ampol and Fonterra. He has also worked within government at Brisbane City Council. “The move to Queensland Urban Utilities is a good one and is very exciting. I work in a business that supplies products and services that are critical to everyday life. I get to make a difference to people’s lives.” Mr Maynard says one of the key challenges for the organisation continues to be increasing the understanding of the role of water utilities. “For a long time in Australia, we have taken for granted the fact that we have access to clean, fresh drinking water simply by turning on the tap. There needs to be a better understanding of what it takes to deliver high quality drinking water and what is involved in taking away sewerage through the simple push of a button. It is not as simple as people might want to believe. “The perception is that water falls from the sky and therefore it should be free – okay that is a fact, but the water still needs to be piped to treatment plants or storage dams, it needs to be treated and then piped into cities and reservoirs and it then needs to be reticulated into city streets and into homes, all the time ensuring that it is free of any bacteria and other contaminants. A significant amount of processing and testing needs to be done to ensure that it complies with drinking water standards. “And at the back end of the process we have a significant investment in sewerage treatment plants that deal with wastewater from domestic homes as well as from commercial and industrial customers. “There is a lot going on.” Queensland Urban Utilities’ asset base ranges from civil infrastructure with an expected life of more than 100 years through to mechanical and electrical equipment with a design life in some cases of less than eight years. This includes tanks, wet wells, pipe work, pumps, variable speed drives and instrumentation and control systems. And customers are beginning to realise just how valuable Queensland Urban Utilities’ work is. “In the last 12 months we
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QUEENSLAND URBAN ???????????? UTILITIES
Rob Carr Pty Ltd Rob Carr Pty Ltd is a micro-tunnelling and civil engineering contractor which specialises in trenchless pipeline, deep shaft excavation and concrete caisson construction. The company utilises micro-tunnelling as its primary form of trenchless construction and has completed a number of sewerage, drainage, water, storm water and energy projects for a variety of government authorities and private industry. Rob Carr Pty Ltd has a fleet of 14 control cabins which operate between them 29 tunnel boring machines (150 mm to 2,400 mm OD). Rob Carr Pty Ltd has extensive experience in working in difficult ground conditions including fill, dry/wet sands, dry/wet clays and rock. Rob Carr Ltd is proud to work with Queensland Urban Utilities.
Of course, South East Queensland is one of Australia’s driest but fastest growing areas and this presents a challenge for Queensland Urban Utilities, which committed to invest A$341 million in infrastructure projects in 2011–12 to cater for regional growth and urban renewal. “We have a three-pronged strategy,” Maynard says. “First we will protect ourselves against the major environmental conditions that affect our water supply. Most of our water currently comes from dams, which require rainfall over catchments, so investing in desalination capability provides a new water source into the region. The South East Queensland water grid enables us to move water over a geographic area of nearly 230 kilometres. We can move water from full dams to areas where there are water shortages. “The second prong of that strategy is improving the quality of effluent out of our sewage treatment plants to the point that the quality of that water is purified recycled water. Then in the event of another drought, we are able to pump that back into storage 4
“There needs to be a better understanding of what it takes to deliver high quality drinking water and what is involved in taking away sewerage through the simple push of a button”
dams and that’s another new source of water. Instead of effluent going out into creeks, rivers and the bay through reverse osmosis and micro-filtration, we’re able to put purified recycled water back into the dams. “Thirdly we’re working with our customers to reduce their demand. Looking at water saving, water conserving behaviours and new infrastructure that uses less water and therefore reducing the demand on our network.” To learn more visit www.urbanutilities.com.au.
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Microtunneling | Deep Shaft Construction | Concrete Caissons | Pipeline Infrastructure | Engineering Workshop QLD Brett Everard 0407 088 116 E brett@robcarr.com.au WA Barry Crowley: 0418 334 787 E barry@robcarr.com.au NSW Angelo Soumboulidis: 0413 019 143 E angelo@robcarr.com.au Website www.robcarr.com.au
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Delivering outstanding results for water utility clients across Australia www.smec.com
Water Services Engineering Pty. Ltd. (WSE) provides multi-disciplinary Engineering Consultancy services to industries in Queensland and has since expanded to provide civil, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and process control engineering, design and project management services throughout Queensland. Industry sectors serviced include: • Water and Waste Water Transportation and Treatment; • Industrial Process Engineering • Industrial Projects Power System Analysis and Protection Coordination The company has undertaken many projects in association with Queensland Urban Utilities, including: • Queensland Urban Utilities (QUU) - Goodna STP Upgrade – Stage 4A • QUU’s Woogaroo Creek Trunk Sewer Main • QUU’s SP01, SP33 & SP34 Sewage Pumping Station Upgrades • QUU’s East Street Water Main Rehabilitation • QUU's Rosewood STP - Process Optimisation Upgrades • QUU's Gibson Island STP- Power Systems Analysis and Protection Coordination
PO Box 487, Aspley Queensland 4034 Australia Tel: 0061 7 3353 6452
Australasia Outlook TNT Multimedia Limited, Unit 209, 16 Brune Street, London E1 7NJ E nqu i r i es Telephone: 00 61 (0) 2 8332 7512 nicholas@tntdownunder.com S U B S C RI P T I O N S Telephone: 00 61 (0)2 8518 1223 nicholas@tntdownunder.com
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Queensland Urban Utilities GPO Box 2765 Brisbane QLD 4001 Tel: + 61 7 3403 8069 Email: customerservice@urbanutilities.com.au
www.urbanutilities.com.au