E-Flashes

The IPWEAQ Excellence Awards recognises and rewards practitioners within local government and public works who achieve innovation and best practice.

IPWEAQ members from councils and organisations are invited to nominate people and projects in the various categories and be a part of this prestigious awards gala dinner event. 

qldwater is again sponsoring the Water Awards in the following categories:

Water, Waste Water, Sewerage and Drought Management (sponsored by Queensland Water Directorate) 

• Projects over $10 million
• Projects $5 million to $10 million
• Projects $1 million to $5 million
• Projects under $1 million (assistance with Nomination is available)
• Innovation and/or Introduction of New and/or Improved Techniques

For more details including formats for submissions on the Excellence Awards and details on People and Project Awards, please website http://www.ipwea.org.au/Queensland/Education/AwardsScholarships/ or email cwarne@ipweaq.asn.au

Scholarships for the 2012/13 round of the IWC Water Leadership Program are now open. Applications can be made on-line until 30 June 2012. The next program will begin in December 2012.

Designed for emerging water leaders at the project to middle management level, this program is customised for the water sector through sound research and collaboration with experienced industry practitioners.

The program helps emerging leaders to develop the abilities they need to exert influence, drive change and advance challenging integrated water management projects — abilities associated with the most effective integrated water management leaders.

Several full ($10,000), half ($5,000) and quarter ($2,500) merit-based scholarships are available in 2012. Scholarships are currently only available to Australian citizens and permanent residents of Australia.

• Program brochure 
• More about the scholarships 
• Apply now 

Queensland Health Scientific Services has released a new procedure to help operators clean and preserve sensors used as part of the fluoridation dosing and monitoring process.  It is available on the Fluoridation page on our website - www.qldwater.com.au/fluoridation.                                                   

Thanks to Dr Henry Olszowy for preparing this practical procedure.

Next week is Water Connections Week!

Since 2004, qldwater has hosted a four-day intensive tour visiting eight remote and regional councils. Until 2011, the event’s primary focus was on touring water, sewerage and treatment plant infrastructure and helping to plan future water infrastructure and management needs within each council region. During the six years, qldwater has conducted more than 50 visits throughout the progra

The aim of the tour is to provide valuable face-to-face opportunities for remote and regional Service Providers to gain access to up-to-date technical and policy information from water specialists and government representatives.  Seeking opportunities for regional collaboration amongst service providers is another desired outcome.

The tour also provides first-hand opportunities for tour participants to explore and understand issues facing remote and regional communities. Past participants have used the opportunity to discuss current issues and ongoing directions for the industry.

In 2012 the Water Connections Week heads back to North Queensland to visit some new councils and a couple that have been visited in previous years. The week will include a regional mini-conference on the first and last days as well as two regional finals for the Best of the Best Water Taste Test.

2012 Itinerary

Day 1. Monday 30/4/2012 – Longreach – CQ West taste test and mini-conference.

Day 2. Tuesday 1/5/2012 – Croydon and Etheridge Water Connections Tour.

Day 3. Wednesday 2/5/2012 – Cook and Wujal Wujal Water Connections Tour.

Day 4. Thursday 3/5/2012 – Cassowary Coast and Burdekin Water Connections Tour.

Day 5. Friday 4/5/2012 – Whitsunday - NQ taste test and mini-conference.

Please visit our taste test page under programs for links to register for the Longreach conference on 30 April or the Bowen conference on 4 May.

(Please note, when dealing with new policy, legislation and other matters, information can become out of date very quickly.  qldwater is happy to provide current information on any topics.)

The topics discussed at the TRG Meeting in Brisbane on 20 April included:

Total Water Cycle Management Plans

Recycled Water Management Plans

Demand Management Fact Sheet

Queensland Water Regional Alliance Program

New Government Announcements and Briefings

Communications Activities

TRG Topics from Mini-Conferences

Skills

Future promotional campaign (extension of Best of the Best Water Taste Test)

Trade Waste

ERA 63

SWIMLocal

Technical Presentation – Cairns Water and Waste Department

The summary information is available by following the link at the TRG page http://www.qldwater.com.au/TRG and entering your qldwater username and password.

Following e-flash #158 which detailed new ministerial appointments, the State Government has this week released Administrative Arrangements Order (No. 3) 2012 to identify which new departments will administer existing legislation.  The full document is available here.

Of particular interest to Water and Sewerage (by no means comprehensive – just major Acts):

Health (Minister Lawrence Springborg)  –Water  Fluoridation Act 2008

Environment and Heritage Protection (Minister Andrew Powell) – Environmental Protection Act 1994

Housing and Public Works (Minister Bruce Flegg) – Plumbing and Drainage Act 2002

Natural Resources and Mines (Minister Andrew Cripps) – Water Act 2000 (majority), Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008

Energy and Water Supply (Minister Mark McArdle)  - South-East Queensland Water (Distribution and Retail Restructuring) Act 2009, South East Queensland Water (Restructuring) Act 2007 (part)

Local Government (Minister David Crisafulli) – Local Government Act 2009

The list of legislated reporting and planning requirements developed by qldwater has been updated and is now available on our website - http://www.qldwater.com.au/Regulatory_Plans - Members will need to log in first to access this page.

This annotated summary lists regulatory requirements of Queensland Water Service Providers (WSPs) as of March 2012 and dates the plans are due. It is not a comprehensive list and feedback from WSPs is welcomed.

Please contact hgold@qldwater.com.au with feedback or information requests.

The State Government has announced an immediate review of bulk water prices in SEQ (SOURCE).  Options for a new price path are to be brought back to Cabinet by 31 May 2012.  The review, determined after Cabinet consideration this week, will be undertaken by the Queensland Water Commission (QWC) and Treasury.  It forms part of the new government’s “Lower Cost of Living for Families Package.”

The government has further provided a complete list of new interim Directors General (to complement details of Acts administered in previous e-flashes)

Premier and Cabinet – Jon Grayson

Public Service Commission – Brett Heyward

State Development, Infrastructure and Planning – David Edwards

Co-ordinator General – Barry Broe

Reconstruction Authority – Graham Newton

Treasury and Trade – Helen Gluer

Health – Tony O’Connell

Education, Training and Employment – Julie Grantham

Police – Bob Atkinson

Community Safety – Kelvin Anderson

Justice and Attorney-General – Barry Leahy

Transport and Main Roads – Michael Caltabiano

Housing and Public Works – Natalie McDonald

Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry – Jack Noye

Environment and Heritage – Andrew Chesterman

Natural Resources and Mining – Dan Hunt

Energy and Water – Tim Spencer

Local Government – Neil Castles

Communities, Child Safety, Disabilities – Margaret Allison

Science, IT and the Arts – Phillip Reed

National Parks, Sport and Racing – John Glaister

Tourism, Major Events, Small Business and Commonwealth Games – Richard Eden

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Multicultural Affairs – Debbie Best

(NB – Debbie Best is the former DERM Deputy Director General responsible for Water)

Environmentally Relevant Activity (ERA) 63 in the Environmental Protection Regulations (EP Regs 2008) includes the operation of large sewage pumping stations. The ERA applies to stations with a design capacity exceeding 40kL per hour (11L/s) unless the pump is part of a sewage treatment plant. This requirement was added to the Regulations in 2008 and commenced in early 2009 requiring Development Approvals (DA) and registration certificates for these pumping stations.

The initial guidelines for meeting the requirements of this ERA were criticised by the industry in terms of their practicality and a long negotiation process between the industry and the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) commenced in 2011 (see e.g.  e-Flash #132 (September 2011), e-Flash #137 (October 2011) and e Flash #150 (December 2011)).  An industry expert group was formed and several rounds of consultation have been undertaken to develop final drafts of three documents that provide practical and achievable guidance for service providers in meeting their General Environmental Duty and complying with ERA 63(3).

qldwater thanks the numerous water managers from around the state who contributed to these discussions. While meeting the guidelines will still require significant work from most service providers across the state, the negotiated outcome is far more practicable whilst still mitigating sewage overflows and potential environmental harm. Some of the key outcomes of the consultation process are summarised below.

ERA 63(3) Guidelines

The new Guidelines apply conditions to large (>40 kL/hr) pumping stations and also provide guidance for meeting the GED for other pumping stations regardless of size or age. A significant industry concern was about the cost of retrofitting improvements to existing pumping stations to meet new standard conditions. The Department has indicated that full retrofitting is not a necessary requirement but a continual risk-based improvement process (e.g. during upgrades to existing pumping stations) should take the guidelines into account. This issue has been clarified in the documents and a threshold introduced ($150,000 indexed with a 3% annual increase to account for inflation) before significant modifications are to be considered.

Specific requirements for holding capacity, alarm systems and response processes have been replaced with general guidance and requirements that service providers manage potential overflows using risk-based management to meet the General Environmental Duty. This approach allows greater flexibility and innovation in the way that conditions are met. This aligns well with the General Environmental Duty but also means that there is an increased onus on sewerage scheme managers to be able to demonstrate they have appropriately identified and managed potential risks.

Consequently, the new approach in the Guidelines includes a more stringent focus on planning, monitoring, notifications and reporting for overflows. However, many of the requirements are now limited to ‘reportable’ overflows rather than all spills (including e.g. minor emergency wet weather overflows).

qldwater is continuing to work with the industry to raise awareness of these changes and to develop planning templates and case studies to assist small and medium service providers in meeting their requirements. A copy of the final draft guidelines can be downloaded (after logging in at www.qldwater.com.au/sewage-pumping-stations).  A final version will be available on the DERM website by the end of the month.

Code of Environmental Compliance (log in to download at www.qldwater.com.au/sewage-pumping-stations)

The Department has proposed that in future, ERA 63(3) be regulated under a Code of Environmental Compliance (CoEC). This means that large (> 40 kL/hr ) pumping stations would become self-assessable and would not require a Development Approval if all standard conditions are met. The draft Code was developed with industry input and has the same conditions as the final guidelines. It will be raised for Ministerial approval later in 2012.

It is important to note that if the CoEC is adopted, all large pumping stations will become subject to its standard conditions. That is, regardless of age or whether a pumping station has an existing DA or not, it will need to meet the standard conditions within one year of the CoEC coming into effect.

Given there are estimated to be more than 1000 large (> 40 kL/hr) pumping stations across the State it was important that the industry was confident that the new standard conditions were achievable for both new and existing stations for dry weather and emergency wet-weather overflows. Extensive consultation was undertaken between the industry and the Department on this issue and the resulting document represents a workable compromise with the possibility for review when experience has been built with the new requirements.

Notification Requirements

A third document was also developed as part of the consultation process to deal with notification requirements for overflows. This can also be downloaded at www.qldwater.com.au/sewage-pumping-stations after logging in.

For further information and FAQs please see http://www.qldwater.com.au/sewage-pumping-stations

Our technical reference group (TRG) has requested that we contact members to advise the qldwater policy in relation to natural disasters.  In short, we have aimed to avoid interfering unless invited, leaving local and regional disaster management processes to run their course, and where possible help ensure that other levels of government do the same.

While the experts tell us that we might be lucky enough to experience a bit less flooding next season, they say that we need to get used to the idea of more intense storms.  For these reasons, the TRG is keen to let members know that the network exists and is willing to help.  Representatives are listed at http://www.qldwater.com.au/TRG and of course qldwater is available and willing to coordinate contact as needed. 

Our plan at the moment, as soon as we become aware of a significant issue, is to:

(a)    attempt to call on available phone numbers to check how things are going and offer assistance from the qldwater network

(b)    send an SMS on the mobile phone number we have recorded for you with qldwater staff direct mobile contacts

If you would prefer not to be disturbed, please let us know.