Read about the latest news, events and research from VicWater, and your colleagues around the Victorian water sector.
VicWater Update | November 2022
This past month has been dominated by extreme storm events and flooding across much of the state, so it’s not surprising to learn that Victoria had its highest ever area-average October rainfall. At VicWater, our hearts go out to all the people who have been affected by the floods and we wish them well as they start to clean up and put their lives back together again.
Several of our members have been impacted and I’d like to acknowledge and commend their efforts, not just in competently managing the operational response, but in playing a significant leadership role within their local communities as a reliable and trusted authority in times of crisis.
Even if they are not currently impacted, all Victorian water corporations are responsibly planning for an extended campaign of flood response and recovery due to the forecast impacts of the La Nina weather pattern over the rest of spring and summer. The VicWater team has been supporting our members through the coordination of mutual aid arrangements, acting as a clearing house for receiving requests for assistance and offers of assistance, and matching them up according to priority needs. As a sector we often pride ourselves on our ability and willingness to share and collaborate, and the mutual aid arrangements are really showing how our “better together” ethos delivers practical results.
On a final note, I’ll take this opportunity to welcome Stuart Craven who commenced as VicWater’s Policy and Regulation Manager in October. Stuart is well known across the sector through his long tenure at DELWP, where he was successful in managing relationships and negotiating outcomes with water corporations, government and other stakeholders in a range of different water policy and program areas. Stuart replaces David Sheehan, who was with us on a 12 month secondment from Coliban Water, and I’d like to thank David for the great work he did in progressing a number of projects and initiatives for the benefit of members.
Vision Super is aware of the recent data breaches, such as the one involving Optus customer information. Keeping your super and data safe is very important to us. We have safeguards in place to protect your personal information. Our teams are engaged in heightened monitoring for ID theft. We may ask you additional security questions when you call us, and this is done to protect your personal information.
Practical guidance documents to support the implementation of EPA revised guideline for water recycling
Feedback on the drafts of the three guidance documents has now been received from both EPA and DELWP. This feedback is quite extensive and has been provided to the consultants for comment. We are currently awaiting their advice on how they will address the feedback.
Make sure you register for the long-awaited IWA Conference and SIG meetings, that will be held in-person next week on 17 & 18 November 2022 in Geelong across 2 venues: Novotel Geelong and Barwon Water.
SIG Meetings - Thursday 17 November - FREE
Conference Dinner - Thursday 17 November -$120 + GST
Half-Day Conference - Friday 18 November -$250 + GST
The conference theme is ‘Creating the future’ and will focus on what we can do now to plan for a successful future...
The Women in Water Directors Network (WWDN) is thrilled to introduce their new co-Chairs in Leanne Mulcahy (North East Water) and Nicola Hepenstall (South Gippsland Water) and would like to thank outgoing Chair Tania Fryer for all her hard work over the past two years.
In shifting to a Co-Chair model, part of our inspiration has been thinking about role modelling flexibility and encouraging diversity of thought into leadership positions across the sector, we have been particularly inspired by the concept of ‘top sharing’ which was covered in the October WWDN event.
WaterAble International Day of People with a Disability
Join WaterAble for this free online event with special guest speaker Dinesh Palipana OAM, an emergency doctor living with quadriplegia and a passionate disability advocate dedicating his professional life to working, teaching and researching health.
Join us for this webinar as we discuss Circular Economy, Carbon Offsets and the importance of Digital technology to help us on our journey
In this session, AECOM will share with VicWater Members their Sustainable Legacies Strategy and mindset shift towards achieving net zero. AECOM will explore the importance of circular economic concepts, show how they have applied this thinking, and how their Digital Evolution has supported the embedment of these concepts.
During October, large areas of Victoria become flooded and some areas continue to face a flood emergency. October 2022 has been officially declared the wettest month in Victoria since records began.
Rosslynne Reservoir which holds 25,368 ML of water, spilled for the first time since 1996. Rosslynne River is one of Southern Rural Water's assets and is located in the upper reaches of Jacksons Creek near Gisborne and is the only major storage in the Maribyrnong catchment.
Goulburn-Murray Water (GMW) and Goulburn Valley Water (GVW) recently teamed up to relocate some fish to a place where they will be a perk instead of a pest.
During its Winter Works program, GMW lowers channels across its region so it can desilt them and treat them for weeds. One such channel GMW lowered in late July was the Number 1 Channel at Leitchville.
Greater Western Water progresses gender equality with new parental leave policy
Greater Western Water (GWW) has introduced a supercharged parental leave policy in a strong show of support for all working parents.
Combatting gender stereotypes, the new gender-neutral policy allows employees to access 16 weeks paid parental leave from the day they start, and a superannuation top up on return. The policy recognises the importance of flexibility for new parents with an option to take leave in three blocks over two years.
Warrnambool's Brierly Basin will soon host Australia’s largest floating solar array as part of our plan to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2030.
The $1.4 million project is expected to have a net-positive value of more than $500,000 by significantly reducing power costs and saving more than 600 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year.
Central Highlands Water (CHW) is implementing changes that will make a big difference to both team members and customers.
In a first for Ballarat, we have recently installed an assistance dog relieving area for the use of CHW team members’ assistance dogs. It also features Braille signage to explain how the area is used. Managing Director, Jeff Haydon said, “This area will provide a dedicated, safe, clean and purpose-built space for our team members’ assistance dogs to use during all weather.”
Do you have a water sector event you'd like to promote? Maybe an announcement you'd like us to share on behalf of your organisation? VicWater Update has opened the news and events section of the monthly update to promote visibility of things that are happening within the water sector.
If you'd like something included email Lauren Vines with your request for consideration in our next edition.
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