eFlash #551
Date: 14-Sep-2022
In this edition: From Interim CEO – Linda Roberts| qldwater Recruiting – New Skills Manager| Supply Chain Resilience Initiative Round 2 Announcement| 2022 Annual Forum Wrap| Mackay Water Crowned Top Drop Again| AWA Queensland Gala Dinner| Position Available – Southern Downs Regional Council
1. From Interim CEO – Linda Roberts
Firstly, I would like to thank the incredible staff of qldwater who have planned and delivered another great Annual Forum. Secondly, acknowledge the continued leadership and direction from Dave Cameron until the very end on Friday 9th September. On that note, please see link to Dave’s farewell message. Lastly thanks to the sponsors, presenters, panellists and attendees of the annual forum, without your ongoing support these events would not exist.
The Strategic Day (day 3) of the Annual Forum resulted in some old priorities remaining along with new spotlights. It was agreed at the Strategic Priorities Group (SPG) meeting on Friday 9th September, that there would be a working group formed to work through the material from the strategic day to inform the Roadmap. Contact will be made soon to keep momentum.
This Friday is Anna Mehonoshen’s last day with qldwater, accepting a new role within project management and the gas industry. We wish Anna all the best and thank her for contributions during her time with us. Recruitment for this role has commenced, if you are interested or know of someone who is passionate about skills, partnerships and training, please reach out.
2. qldwater Recruiting – New Skills Manager
We are recruiting for a new Skills Manager and the duty statement is available here. It is an exciting and challenging role and before we go out to the broader market, we thought tap into our qldwater network. From our perspective, someone with a HR/ Training/ Workforce Planning background, but water industry experience would be ideal.
While we are open to flexible working and really keen to promote regions, the nature of this position with our Department of Employment, Small Business and Training (DESBT) contract does mean a number of face to face meetings so in practice someone located within a reasonable driving distance of Brisbane seems most practical.
If you are interested, please contact LRoberts@qldwater.com.au.
3. Supply Chain Resilience Initiative Round 2 Announcement
The Supply Chain Resilience Initiative intent was to provide businesses up to $2 million to establish or scale a manufacturing capability or a related activity to address supply chain vulnerabilities for a critical product or input identified in the Sovereign Manufacturing Capability Plan.
Link below contains the list of successful recipients with 5 Queensland based companies being successful.
4. 2022 Annual Forum Wrap
It was great to catch up with so many of our members in person at the Annual Forum last week – a big shout out to all our sponsors and the City of Gold Coast team who were incredible hosts across the three days. As a venue, the Home of the Arts didn’t disappoint either!
Day 1 of the Forum focused on innovation in the water sector, starting off with a couple of keynote speakers to set the scene. The first provided an overview of the impacts of climate change on water resources, with a flood map indicating that the area where we were meeting would be under water by the end of this century - a stark reminder of things to come. Charles Dyer did a great job in real world grounding of small and remote community technology needs by introducing us to “Outback Man” and his contrasting views to technology. Over the course of the day, we learned about microbial risk assessment, moving bed bioreactors, autonomous monitoring instruments, water and wastewater pipe relining options and leak detection.
Day 2 included site tours to the Tugun Desalination Plant and the Merrimac Recycled Water Facility in the morning, followed by a scrumptious lunch at the Kurrawa Surf Club. The afternoon included the TracWater Best of the Best Queensland Water Taste Test (more info below), as well as four action-packed vendor pitches from Royce Water Technology, Taggle, Suez and Concept Environmental Services. Sean Cohen from Suez won the Vendor Pitch session by bribing participants with a bag full of chocolates – we hope to see more of this tactic at future events!
Day 2 ended on a high note with an amazing outdoor dinner overlooking the HOTA building. Great food and company made for an enjoyable evening, and the water elders provided some perspectives on water and sewerage services based on their extensive experience working in the industry. We also took the opportunity to recognise Shaun Johnston for his extraordinary support of the Water Directorate.
The final day of the Forum was jam-packed with interesting presentations and panel sessions to help qldwater refine its Industry Roadmap. Topics included planning in uncertain times, reshaping the sector’s approach to regulation, risk and investment and developing industry priorities with the Queensland Government. We are still digesting all the information that came from these sessions and will provide more details in due course. In the meantime, check out the photos from the event and remember to send us your feedback so we can continue to improve our offerings at these events.
Thank you to our sponsors Grenof, TracWater, Veolia, Calibre Group, Simmonds & Bristow, Endress+Hauser, Royce Water Technologies, Taggle, SUEZ, Concept Environmental Services, EnviroSonic, McCullough Robertson Lawyers and Trility.
5. Mackay Water Crowned Top Drop Again!
Attendees sniffed, swirled, sipped and scored nine water samples in a blind taste-off event over lunch at the Kurrawa Surf Club as part of the TracWater Best of the Best Queensland Water Taste Test, selecting Mackay Regional Council’s Nebo Road sample as the best tasting water in Queensland.
This was Mackay’s first win for the Nebo Road Water Treatment Plant but fourth win overall with water previously from the Marian Water Treatment Plant taking the crown in 2018, 2019 and 2021. Other accolades for Mackay include winning the Water of Origin at the WIOA Conference in June 2022, the National Ixom Best Tasting Tap Water competition in 2019 and 2020 and winning silver at the 2020 International Water Tasting Competition in Berkeley Springs, USA.
Emma Fisher from Mackay Regional Council accepted the trophy on behalf of the Mackay water team. Emma said the win showed Mackay locals just how high quality the tap water was, thanking the "unsung heroes" at the Nebo Road treatment plant for their tireless efforts in providing safe, reliable water all year-round.
The winning sample is sourced from the Pioneer River and undergoes conventional treatment before being distributed to households and businesses in Mackay.
The runner up was Southern Downs Regional Council with water from the Wallangarra Water Supply coming in at a close second. Other entries included Cairns, Cook, Ilfracombe, Isaac, Livingstone, Longreach, North Burnett, Palm Island and Woorabinda.
Read more at: https://qldwater.com.au/qldwater-blog/mackay-water-crowned-top-drop-again
6. AWA Queensland Gala Dinner
qldwater was well represented at the AWA Queensland Gala Dinner on Friday evening with many of our members and supporters winning a whole host of awards – it is great to see these individuals and projects get the recognition they deserve! All the people awards were won by women this year – a clear indicator that the industry is changing with more and more women taking the lead.
- Johanna Johnson, Sustainable Solutions Lead at Logan City Counciltook out the Young Water Professional of the Year Award. Johanna Johnson is shaping the future of the Australian water industry. As Logan Water’s Sustainable Solutions Lead, Jo is demonstrating ways to achieve carbon neutral operations, eliminate contaminants in wastewater, and transform biosolids into energy and useful biochar. Jo is passionate about her work and industry, and gives her all.
- Kelly Hopewell won the Distinguished Service Award. Currently the Acting Executive Coordinator, Product Quality and Treatment at the City of Gold Coast, Kelly has been an active member of qldwater and the AWA for many years having served on the Queensland Branch Committee and the Australian and New Zealand Biosolids Partnership, which she has Chaired since 2018. She is a regular contributor of conference papers and in 2015, Kelly was awarded a Churchill Fellowship.
- Dr Lynne Powell won the Regional Service Award. As Environmental Officer, Strategic Policy and Compliance Coordinator at Cairns Regional Council, Dr Lynne Powell has been the driver for change, awareness, and education in Far North Queensland and across the state. She is an advocate for Indigenous partnerships and a strong regional voice and has been a key contributor to the ongoing success of the AWA North Queensland conference.
- AECOM, Townsville City Council, Hunter H2O, Evoqua Water Technologies, and Monadelphoustook out the Infrastructure Project Innovation Award (Regional) for the Cleveland Bay Purification Plant Upgrade Project. This complex and technically challenging project was successfully delivered by adopting an innovative nine phase project delivery strategy to mitigate time, cost, environmental and quality risks and shall provide a positive legacy for future decades.
- Urban Utilities, UQ Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology (formerly AWMC), Power and Water Corporation, Department of Environment and Science, and Aquatec Maxcontook out the R&D Excellence Award with their project CRC-P: Transforming Wastewater Treatment in Regional Australia. This project developed a low-cost solution to transform inefficient sewage treatment ponds into self-contained environmental assets. At the heart of the project was integration of 2 technologies: Up-flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactor and High Rate Algae Pond (HRAP) as an improvement on current Waste Stabilisation Pond (WSP) based treatment.
- Logan City Counciland Australian Renewable Energy Agency won the Infrastructure Project Innovation Award (Metro) for Australia's First Biosolids Gasification Facility. Logan Water has pioneered an Australian-first – a facility which transforms biosolids into renewable energy and a sustainable biochar. Biosolids gasification destroys chemicals like persistent organic pollutants and micro and nano-plastics, while reducing carbon emissions by about 6,000 tonnes a year. It also saves operating costs and creates a new revenue stream for Logan City.
7. Position Available – Southern Downs Regional Council
Southern Downs Regional Council now has an exciting full-time opportunity for a Manager Water Wastewater to join their team.
Reporting to the Director Infrastructure Services, the role will primarily be responsible for leading, managing and controlling the operation of the Council’s Water Services Division.
To find out more, click here.
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