Read about the latest news, events and research from VicWater, and your colleagues around the Victorian water sector.
VicWater Update - August 2025
Incorporating IWN
At VicWater we are always looking for ways to bring our members and other stakeholders together to build trusted relationships and a sense of shared ownership and purpose. Last month we had two opportunities to put this into practice.
In partnership with Water Research Australia (WaterRA), on 22 July we hosted a horizon planning workshop on drought, with a diverse range of participants from water corporations, government agencies, universities and research institutions. The workshop was successful in identifying a number of research opportunities to support proactive and collaborative planning to mitigate the economic, social, and environmental impacts of drought. We’re looking forward to working with WaterRA on potential new projects arising from the workshop.
On 28 July we hosted the Intelligent Water Networks (IWN) Members Conference at the State Library Victoria. IWN continues to go from strength to strength, with 54 active projects across eight focused program areas, supported by 140 volunteers from 16 Victorian water corporations, DEECA and TasWater. The conference was a wonderful opportunity to hear about the many ways in which IWN is supporting innovation and collaboration in our sector. We are grateful for sponsorship from local start ups and global companies who are keen to contribute their knowledge and expertise to help solve problems and deliver better outcomes for our businesses and customers.
We were pleased that Minister Gayle Tierney was able to attend the IWN Members Conference to launch the 2025 round of the Water Minister’s Climate Innovation Challenge (WMCIC), with increased funding of $280,000. This initiative has already funded a number of cutting-edge projects to address climate change impacts in the water sector, and I encourage you to visit the WMCIC website for more details. Applications are now open through to 18 September.
The Hon. Gayle Tierney MP, Minister for Water at the 2025 IWN Members Conference
The VicWater team now turns to our next major event, the VicWater Annual Conference on 9-11 September. This year we’re delighted to be hosting guest speakers from Singapore, the UK and the US, who will bring international insights and perspectives to our conference theme ‘Future Ready: Innovation, Optimism and Opportunity’. As always, we’ve carefully curated the conference program to include a mix of presentations and panel discussions on topical issues, as well as regular features like the Regulators Panel and Economic Update from TCV, and plenty of networking opportunities at the welcome drinks and dinner.
Registrations are open until 29 August – don’t miss out!
The Project Oversight Committee sub-group that was developing the draft operating model and budget for year one of the special purpose vehicle (SPV) has completed its task. These documents are now ready to be provided to the special purpose vehicle (SPV) once it is formed.
Work has been progressing on finalising both the role description for a Program Manager and a scope of work to engage a consultant to assist with approaching the carbon market.
Last week we held our annual IWN Members Conference on the theme of Future-Ready: Resilience through Innovation at the State Library of Victoria.
175 Conference delegates from across our membership were treated to an opening address from the Minister for Water AND the launch of the 2025 Water Minister’s Climate Innovation Challenge, keynote talks by Sami Makelainen on the AI revolution, Michael Licenblat on building resilience, panel sessions from our IWN programs, and Executive panel to discuss Leading Innovation and Building Resilience. We also launched the new In-Stream program supported by Salesforce, ncs, aws and Isle Utilities – a 12-month program of co-creation to solve some of our sector’s biggest challenges. More on that later in this newsletter.
We also had 80 people at the Conference Dinner with a fireside chat with Lara Olsen who reflected on her time as Managing Director of South East Water.
Each year at the VicWater Annual Conference, the Women in Water Director’s Network hold an event which is open to all delegates and focuses on diversity and inclusion. This year we are very excited to have Hayley Monks, Managing Director of Echo Managed Services, to speak at this event. Not only is she a successful leader with 20 years’ experience in utilities operations, credit management and customer service leadership, she is the co-founder of the Women in Utilities Network (WUN) in the UK.
Innovative technologies provide opportunities to enhance the customer experience in the water sector through smarter interactions, data-driven insights, more streamlined processes and real-time monitoring.
How do we ensure we make the best use of new technologies to understand and meet customer needs and expectations in this rapidly evolving climate?
This session explores the balance between innovation and human needs as a key to maintaining customer satisfaction and trust in the water sector.
Don't miss this session, with an tailored selection of subject matter experts, facilitated by our very own Tara Daniel, to take place on Thursday 11 September at 10:25am.
Click the button below to find out more about the conference and to register.
The 2025 Water Minister’s Climate Innovation Challenge is Now Open!
We are pleased to announce that the 2025 Water Minister’s Climate Innovation Challenge is now open for submissions. The 2025 Challenge was officially launched by the Hon Gayle Tierney MP, Minister for Water, at the Intelligent Water Networks Members Conference. This year, $280,000 in funding is available.
Submissions are open until 28 September 2025.
For further information and to apply, click below.
Deakin University Director Sustainability Zoe Paisley, Barwon Water Managing Director Shaun Cumming, Member for Geelong Christine Couzens, Barwon Water Chair Jo Plummer and Deakin’s Senior Director Resilience and Cyber Security Martin Bayly.
Growing Geelong’s recycled water network
A university campus will be irrigated with 100 million litres of recycled water each year, under an extension of Geelong’s recycled water network.
Works are underway on the $5.6 million project, which will extend a recycled water pipeline from the Armstrong Creek growth area to Deakin University’s Waurn Ponds campus.
Member for Geelong Christine Couzens, representing the Minister for Water Gayle Tierney, joined Barwon Water and Deakin University leaders to mark the start of construction.
Students planting tree shrubs provided under the More Trees for a Cooler Greener West program in the school garden.
More trees for more schools in 2025
Greater Western Water (GWW) has delivered 3,552 trees to 89 schools in partnership with the Victorian Government, through the More Trees for a Cooler Greener West program, just in time for National Trees for Schools Day.
This week sees school communities all over Melbourne’s west getting together to plant the tube stock delivered to them as part of the Trees for Schools program.
The program provides local primary and secondary schools tube stock of native trees, along with stakes and guards to help them establish and grow. It aims to increase tree canopy cover and create more green spaces across Melbourne’s west.
New basin under construction to secure water supply
Construction is underway on a new 50-megalitre treated water basin at Gippsland Water’s Clarkes Road site.
Gippsland Water recently awarded an $8.3M contract for the construction of the new basin in Traralgon. The basin will help to secure the future water supply for the Traralgon water network after its completion. Managing director Sarah Cumming said the upgrade was critical to enable the ongoing provision of reliable and safe drinking water for the growing town.
“We recognised a need to make a series of big infrastructure upgrades to the water supply network that services Traralgon, which includes constructing a 50ML treated water basin at Clarkes Road,” Ms Cumming said.
Keeping your money safe online: 5 tips from Vision Super
In April 2025, several of Australia’s leading super funds were subject to a cyber security attack which saw members’ accounts being compromised. Vision Super was not targeted, but it’s a good opportunity to remind our members to remain vigilant online.
Initial investigations suggest that the affected funds did not have multi-factor authentication (MFA) in place to protect all member accounts. By contrast, Vision Superhas MFA enabled for all member accounts, including those recently transferred from Active Super.
You can never be too careful though. Scammers and fraudsters are always looking for ways to steal personal and financial information. So below are our top 5 tips to protecting yourself and your money.
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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