eFlash #477
Date: 07-Apr-2021
In this edition: Barcaldine Regional Conference - Registrations Now Open!| Essentials Webinar - THM Management in Drinking Water Networks - Register Now!| Swimlocal and SWIM Training and Workshops| Drinking Water Quality Management Plan Guideline Review| Guidance on Short-Term Exposure Values in the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines| Protocols for Biological Assessment and DGV Master Table Now Available| Principal Engineer Position - Whitsunday Regional Council
1. Barcaldine Regional Conference - Registrations Now Open!
Our next qldwater regional event will be in Barcaldine on 19th and 20th May, hosted by Barcaldine Regional Council. Parts of the program will again be available online, but we hope to get as many people in person as we can.
Note that you will need to sort out your travel and accommodation logistics nice and early as limited flights are available.
Early bird registrations will be complimentary again for qldwater members, with a dinner planned on the evening of the 19th and full day conference on the 20th. There will also be a site tour in the morning of the 20th May.
The event theme will be focussed on service delivery in the West and we hope to be able to showcase some of the activities of the Remote Area Planning and Development Board’s Water and Sewerage Alliance which is supported through QWRAP.
A preliminary version of the program is available on the event website.
Please contact Naomi (ncarragher@qldwater.com.au) if you are interested in sponsoring this event.
Thank you to our major event sponsor George Bourne and Associates who are our Principal and Dinner sponsors for this event. GBA Engineers has provided services including Engineering, Survey, Building Certification, Cultural Heritage & Environmental, Design and Project Management to outback Queensland.
Also thank you to our other confirmed sponsors Dial Before You Dig for the Water Connections Tour, Aquatec Maxcon and Royce Water Technologies our Gold Sponsors.
Register here to book your spot now! Early bird pricing ends 23 April 2021.
2. Essentials Webinar - THM Management in Drinking Water Networks Register Now!
The next webinar in the qldwater Essentials Webinar Series will be held on 15 April 2021 starting at 10:30 am.
The session will be on THM Management in Drinking Water Networks and will be chaired by David Sheehan from Coliban Water in Victoria.
Speakers from Mackay, seqwater, Fraser Coast and Logan will each outline their current and past issues.
Stuart Boyd (Mackay)
Duncan Middleton (Seqwater)
Cameron Ansell (Fraser Coast)
Phil Wetherell (Logan)
This will be followed by a panel session with audience questions invited.
Our panellists include:
Phil Wetherell (Logan
Paul Sherman (Urban Utilities)
Terry Fagg (Western Downs)
Registrations will be required to participate in this webinar. Click here to register.
3. Swimlocal and SWIM Training and Workshops
qldwater will be holding some free swimlocal/SWIM training and workshops in the next couple months. If you would like training and can’t attend the below sessions, please let David know.
- Cairns: 19-21 April
- Longreach/Barcaldine: 17, 18, 19 and 21 May
- Brisbane: 21-22 June
We can tailor the swimlocal training/setup work to whatever you need. For example, have training sessions for both ‘systems administrators’, i.e., those people who setup Users, sites, indicators, etc. and sessions for ‘data entry operators’, i.e., those people entering data via tablets and computers.
You can attend for as little or long as you want/need.
We will also have time to spend specifically helping you to setup or modify your swimlocal system to get the most out of it, e.g., add alerts, automating SWIM annual reporting, importing lab data directly, SCADA data imports, adding new sites/indictors, etc. and discussing future reporting tools and dashboards.
Please let me know if you (and/or other staff) are interested so we can work out numbers and meeting rooms.
Note that there should be minimal to no changes to the SWIM indicators this year.
If you have any questions about SWIM or swimlocal please contact David Scheltinga (dscheltinga@qldwater.com.au).
4. Drinking Water Quality Management Plan Guideline Review
The Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water’s Guideline Development Advisory Group met last week to review the latest iteration of a new DWQMP guideline.
The Advisory Group will have another chance to review a final draft, after which time all stakeholders will have an opportunity to provide feedback before the document is finalised and published.
There is still a significant amount of supporting information to be prepared so no set timeframes for the draft being available as yet. Members will receive advice as soon as the consultation process for review of the document is finalised. Please contact Dave Cameron (dcameron@qldwater.com.au) if you have any queries.
5. Guidance on Short-Term Exposure Values in the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) maintains the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines 2011 through a rolling review process to ensure they provide an evidence-based framework for the management of drinking water supplies.
NHMRC has published new guidance on short-term exposure values in Chapter 9 of the Guidelines. The inclusion of guidance on short-term exposure values in the Guidelines will assist water regulators and suppliers to manage instances where short-term drinking water contamination occurs, such as during extreme weather events.
NHMRC drafted the guidance with the expert advice of the Water Quality Advisory Committee. Input was provided by the Environmental Health Standing Committee (enHealth) Water Quality Expert Reference Panel. The Administrative Report provides information on how the guidance was developed.
Several minor edits to the Guidelines have also been actioned as part of this update. Details of these updates, the updated Guidelines and Administrative report are available here.
Contact water@nhmrc.gov.au with any questions.
6. Protocols for Biological Assessment and DGV Master Table Now Available
Protocols for Biological Assessment
The recommendations of the biological monitoring protocols provided in Volume 2, Appendix 3 of the ANZECC/ARMCANZ (2000) guidelines for fresh and marine water quality have now been updated and published on the Water Quality Guidelines website.
Instead of providing detailed protocols, the new guidance advises users to seek the latest relevant methods and protocols for a chosen biological response indicator in the peer-reviewed, international, published literature and as provided or advised by relevant national, state or territory governments.
To read more on protocols for biological assessment, please visit: waterquality.gov.au/anz-guidelines/resources/guidance/biological-assessment.
Default Guideline Values Master table - Now available to download
The master table of toxicant default guideline values (DGVs) is now available for download at waterquality.gov.au/anz-guidelines/guideline-values/default/water-quality-toxicants/search/master-table.
The updated excel spreadsheet contains a complete list of data on toxicant DGV’s, consistent with the current database underpinning the DGV search tool.
7. Principal Engineer Position - Whitsunday Regional Council
Vacancy: Principal Engineer - Water & Wastewater Treatment Operations at Whitsunday Regional Council
The Principal Engineer role within the Water and Wastewater team will see you be the focal point
for initiatives associated with operation, control & optimisation of processes in the region's treatment plant.
Call Julie Barr for a confidential discussion on 07 3211 9700
Follow the link to request a candidate information pack and apply https://lnkd.in/gq6D6wG