Read about the latest news, events and research from VicWater, and your colleagues around the Victorian water sector.
VicWater Update September 2023
One of the strategic priorities in VicWater’s new Strategic Plan 2023-2028 is to “promote the Victorian water sector”, and last month we had a couple of great opportunities to put this into practice.
I was delighted to join the Minister for Water Harriet Shing to celebrate Wear It Purple Day on 25 August. The Minister’s statement to Parliament especially called out water as "the exceptionally progressive sector which does encourage and welcome LGBTIQ+ people within our customer base, within the workforce and within the community.” Marking diversity celebration days like Wear It Purple not only supports our current employees, it helps to showcase our sector as a safe and inclusive ‘employer of choice’.
Also last month, VicWater and IWN hosted 12 students as part of RMIT’s Open Doors Melbourne – Industry Unlocked Micro Internship program. The purpose of the program is for students to get exposure to industry and contribute solutions to real world problems. The challenge we set our students was “How might we reduce residential water use in Melbourne?”. They worked in teams to come up with ideas ranging from creating water usage apps, to providing financial incentives, to running social media campaigns. It was such an energising experience to spend time with these bright and purposeful young people, and hopefully they’ve been inspired to consider a future career in the Victorian water industry.
This month we have another opportunity to promote the great work being done across our sector, at our Annual Conference on 13-14 September. The program features a number of industry speakers who will share their insights in panel discussions on customer affordability, capital works programs, water digitisation, non-regulated revenue initiatives and supporting regional development. There are only a handful of in person tickets left, so make sure you register before 6 September.
Finally, I’d like to welcome Elisa Bourke to the VicWater team, who joins us as Deputy IWN Program Director. Many of you will know that Elisa has been working in the role for the past two years on secondment from Melbourne Water, and we’re thrilled that she’s decided to make the move to VicWater and continue to be a valued member of the IWN family.
Finalising of the member survey to identify the training gaps and needs of the water sector has taken longer than anticipated and it will now be distributed in early September. A meeting has been held with WaterRA to brief them on the project and seek their input.
Carbon Offsets Project
MAG/Aurecon has now held three workshops with the project oversight group. These workshops have covered the following topics: re-affirming and aligning our Carbon procurement objectives and identifying...
Cybersecurity is a hot topic at the moment, as it has been for a few years now, however as the threat landscape continues to evolve and change, we need to be constantly vigilant to potential attacks, which can be a little overwhelming and at times a little confusing.
VicWater has a Cyber Governance Steering Committee which is ably Chaired by Izzy Frederick from Southern Rural Water. They meet as required to discuss the cyber needs of water corporations and to work collectively to understand obligations, requirements and the Black Mirror moments that cause sleepless nights.
There are just a few days left to register for the 2023 Annual Conference and with very limited registrations to go, we expect a full house at the Langham next week.
A few new speakers that we are thrilled to announce are:
Dinner Speaker - Stephane Roman, Salesforce
Stephane with be giving a short talk on data and AI and will discuss some of the trends that the top data-driven organisations have in common, looking at the 5 common elements of a data culture - trust, commitment, talent, sharing, and mindset ...
Day 2 Keynote Speaker - Mick Liubinskas
Mick Liubinskas is a climate tech activator and investor. He co-founded Climate Salad to help build climate-focused startups and help the world get to and beyond net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Registrations are open for this year's VicWater OH&S Network Forum. We are thrilled to be hosted by Barwon Water for our first in person forum since March 2019.
The theme Driving Safety brings together two areas of important focus for our sector… That of safety when driving, and that of moving (driving), our safety culture and behaviours forward.
The Water Minister’s Climate Innovation Challenge is currently in submission stage with submissions being accepted until 22 September 2023.
In collaboration with the Minister for Water and DEECA, IWN has invited all Victorian water corporations to take part in this exciting new challenge that encourages innovation, collaboration and sustainable thinking.
We are pleased to announce that WIOA and VicWater, including the Intelligent Water Networks (IWN) program, have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding to consolidate and enhance the existing strategic partnership between our organisations.
The MOU reflects our commitment to work collaboratively in a number of areas including technology and innovation, diversity and inclusion, OHS, events and communications, and employee development.
Solar farm powering wastewater treatment in Wodonga
A new 3 megawatt solar farm is now powering the Wodonga Wastewater Treatment Plant with renewable energy.
In a major step towards North East Water’s ambitions to reach net-zero emissions by 2035, the 6,500 panel solar farm will reduce the Corporation’s carbon footprint by 20% or 6,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalence every year.
Gippsland Water to continue wind farm investigation
Gippsland Water will continue to explore the possibility of a wind farm at Dutson Downs, following initial community consultation undertaken earlier this year.
The consultation sought to find out how customers and locals felt about the idea of a wind farm at the site, south-east of Sale.
Yarra Valley Water signs with NPS to deliver meter program
Yarra Valley Water has signed a new five-year contract worth over $40 million with New Plumbing Services (NPS) to deliver its meter replacement program.
NPS has been providing meter replacement services to Yarra Valley Water under the current contract for the past 5 years.
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.
Share
Share this newsletter with your colleagues and ask them to Subscribe to VicWater's monthly news.
