Read about the latest news, events and research from VicWater, and your colleagues around the Victorian water sector.
VicWater Update - July 2025
Incorporating IWN
One of the things that most impressed me about the Victorian water sector when I joined VicWater back in 2019, was the strong commitment to gender equity and improving the representation of women in a traditionally male-dominated industry.
Equity, diversity and inclusion has been a consistent focus area for VicWater’s work with members over the past several years, with the development of two industry ED&I strategies and publication of annual ED&I performance reports. As highlighted in these reports, many water corporations have been involved in initiatives aimed at attracting more girls and women into STEM studies as a career pathway into the water industry.
So I was very interested (and somewhat dismayed) to hear from Dr Morley Muse, keynote speaker at this week’s 5th Annual Biosolids Symposium dinner, that only 15% of women with a STEM qualification go on to work in a STEM field. Dr Muse is a chemical, environmental and renewable energy engineer and the co-founder of iSTEM Co, a research, consulting, and talent sourcing business that enables employment for women in STEM. As well as sharing that sobering statistic, Dr Muse talked about the need for collaborative effort to provide support, encouragement and most importantly, real employment opportunities for women in STEM.
As it happens, also this week I had the pleasure of meeting Hayley Monks, Managing Director at Echo Managed Services, long-time Principal Sponsor of our Annual Conference. Hayley is a co-founder of the Women in Utilities Network (WUN) in the UK, which has been operating since 2018 to give women the skills and confidence they need to build lasting, fulfilling careers in the utility sector. There are clear parallels between the WUN and the Women in Water Directors Network (WWDN) that VicWater has been supporting over the same time period.
I am delighted that Hayley will be attending our Annual Conference in September, and that she has accepted our invitation to be a guest speaker at the WWDN event which always forms the lead-in to our formal conference program. I’m very much looking forward to hearing her talk about the WUN and their mission to help women “join, stay and thrive” in the utilities sector. Registrations for the Annual Conference are now open, don’t miss out!
On 2 July the ACCC published the outcome of its considerations on both the interim authorisation and the substantive application for the proposed collective ACCU procurement approach. The ACCC has granted the interim authorisation to enable VicWater and the participating water corporations to:
issue RFPs in relation to proposed collective projects and acquisitions of ACCUs, and
share information and engage in discussions for the purposes of, and reasonably necessary for undertaking, the RFP process.
Happy New Financial Year! Hope your close outs went as well as they could go.
As you may be aware, we had a glitch in our IT matrix last month. In short, we had a series of “reply all” emails that went to our entire list – some 27,500 emails sent within an hour, resulting in Microsoft shutting down the VicWater email domain. The outage lasted 10 days.
We appreciate the frustration this has caused and are working on establishing a different way of setting up the IWN weekly update meetings that will continue to be inclusive of all members who want to attend. Once we have established this new set up, we will share it through our newsletter and will respond to everyone who have emailed us about the issue.
We held an IWN Leaders Forum in June, bringing together the IWN Program and Stream leads in a strategic conversation to review and refine IWN’s program structure, plan the next 12 months of program activities and discuss program resourcing.
Click below to read the full update, or see direct links to this month's updates below.
One of the programs that I look after is WaterAble, which is a network for people with disability (and neurodiverse individuals) and their allies in the water sector. In 2023, WaterAble became a program of VicWater, and since then, it has continued to evolve.
Earlier this year a new Charter for WaterAble was approved by WaterAble members, and it has been a consolidating period for the Committee to understand what a sustainable and successful WaterAble looks like into the future. We also saw several new members join the volunteer led Committee, and they have taken the time to consolidate and develop their vision for the future (which personally, I think is incredibly exciting).
We are excited to introduce an all new format for the IWN Conference Dinner!
This year’s Conference Dinner is open to ALL conference attendees, providing the opportunity to keep the conversations going after the day's program, boosting collaboration and networking for the sector.
We also pleased to announce that Lara Olsen, Managing Director, South East Water will be our dinner speaker, to be interviewed by Jo Lim, CEO, VicWater in an exclusive fireside chat.
Dinner Details
Date:Monday 28 July
Networking Drinks and Dinner:5:30pm - 8:30pm Venue:State Library Victoria
Inclusions: Networking drinks, a 2-course meal and an exclusive fireside chat
We’re taking ‘better together’ to the next level in this interactive session led by circular advocate Jodie Bricout at the 2025 Annual Conference.
At its core, circular economy is about designing out waste from systems. Wastes materials yes – but also wasted carbon, wasted infrastructure, wasted potential.
Once we’ve taken stock on how far industry and government have shifted on the circular economy since we last tacked this topic three years ago, we will be working at our tables on where our industry should focus next.
Jodie Bricout
Jodie is the Design Director Circular Economy at Aurecon. Jodie is a globally recognised sustainability and circular economy leader with more than two decades of professional experience working with industry, research and policymakers in Australia, Dubai and France.
Request for Nominations – WIOA Victorian Advisory Committee Nominations
Request for Nominations – WIOA Victorian Advisory Committee Nominations close Friday 11th July 2025.
WIOA State / Territory Advisory Committee members consist of dedicated industry volunteers. The WIOA State Advisory Committees play a crucial role in enabling members to actively shape the direction of WIOA within their state, and foster deeper engagement with your association.
There are current vacancies on the WIOA Victorian Advisory Committee and WIOA are looking for additional committee members to form part of Team WIOA.
WIOA are looking for active and motivated Advisory Committee Members to help shape the WIOA activities within Victoria.
Barwon Water Managing Director Shaun Cumming and Barwon Water Chair Jo Plummer at the launch of the Viva Energy Hub hydrogen refuelling station project.
Barwon Water hits the road with next generation vehicle
Barwon Water has taken the keys to Victoria’s first hydrogen-powered prime mover, as part of a wider plan to cut its operational emissions and strengthen the region’s circular economy.
The vehicle forms parts of the wider Viva Energy Hub hydrogen refuelling station project in Geelong, which was officially launched on 17 June.
Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles, Minister for Energy Lily D’Ambrosio, and Barwon Water Managing Director Shaun Cumming attended the launch of the $61.2 million project, which has created Australia’s first publicly accessible commercial hydrogen refuelling station.
Caption: Chair of North East Water, Stephen Brown, Victorian Minister for Emergency Services, Vicki Ward and Managing Director of North East Water, Jo Murdoch officially opening the new flood protection levee at the Wodonga Raw Water Offtake
New flood levee helps protect Wodonga’s water supply
North East Water has completed a major flood protection project that strengthens the security of Wodonga’s water supply in the face of extreme weather events.
A new $2.2M flood levee has been constructed around the raw water offtake on Wodonga Creek that supplies water to the Wodonga Water Treatment Plant – the city’s sole source of drinking water.
The levee builds on North East Water’s significant upgrade to Wodonga’s raw water offtake completed in 2024, where $7.9 million was invested to enhance the city’s drinking water infrastructure. Together, these improvements strengthen the city’s resilience in the face of a changing climate and cater for housing growth over the next 40 years.
SRW has achieved net zero emissions for the 2024/25 financial year
Southern Rural Water are proud to have achieved net zero emissions for the 2024/25 financial year. A major milestone in their ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability and climate action.
This outcome is the result of several years of strategic planning, investment, and practical on-the-ground work to reduce their emissions footprint.
Net zero carbon emissions mean balancing the amount of greenhouse gases produced with those removed from the atmosphere. Starting from a baseline of 1,559 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, they brought their emissions down to zero. This was made possible through a combination of initiatives including: improving energy efficiency, expanding solar energy use, the roll out of zero-emissions vehicles, and offsetting any remaining emissions with certified carbon credits.
Greater Western Water’s grants to support 28 community groups to thrive
Greater Western Water’s (GWW) Thriving Communities Grants and Sponsorship program is supporting 28 community groups to help make community projects, events and activities happen in 2025/26.
After receiving a record number of applications this year compared with any other year, GWW has awarded approximately $180,000 in grants and sponsorships to local groups across its service region.
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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