Greg Oliver Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management Aneurin Hughes Cardno A New Era of Assessment and Engagement: Achieving Safe Drinking Water in Queensland Water Safety Conference 2010

A New Era of Assessment and Engagement: Achieving Safe Drinking Water in Queensland Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Background - Queensland Regulatory Framework for Drinking Water Quality Factors Contributing to Drinking Water Quality Assessment Process Findings Strategies to Address the Challenges

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Background - Queensland Pop – 4.4 million Growth – 2.6% pa (varies across State – (minus 4% to +5% pa) Large land area 67% of population in south east Queensland < 2% of population in western regions

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia 77 drinking water service providers SE Qld – 6 Outside SE Qld – 71 (mainly local governments) 353 schemes Percentage of Queensland’s population Serviced by number of Water Service Providers 84.3 %18 large providers (>25,000 connections) 14.2 %26 medium providers (1000 – 25,000 connections) 1.5 %33 small providers (<1000 connections) including 15 Indigenous councils Challenges Large number of entities responsible for drinking water quality and supply Widely dispersed across large geographical area Varied capacity Administration of water supply and quality management at different levels of government

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Toowoomba region's water supply at critical level E. coli found in Longreach water supply Water is a hot topic…

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Drinking Water Regulatory Framework Water Supply Safety and Reliability Act (2008) Stage 1 Jan 2009 ―Providers must report incidents ―Supply quarterly monitoring results to department ―Continues until providers have an approved Drinking Water Quality Management Plan (DWQMP) Stage 2 ―Providers must have an approved DWQMP (elements 2-6) – 1July for large, later for others

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Factors Contributing to Drinking Water Quality

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Drinking Water Scheme Assessment Program Some providers (generally small to medium) were experiencing difficulties in meeting new legislative requirements Assessment program implemented across a sample of providers to better understand challenges and issues facing a sample of small and medium drinking water service providers in managing the quality of drinking water Assessment scope 36 of 61 small/ medium providers 119 of 353 schemes

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Drinking Water Scheme Assessment Program Planning Survey sheets –Provider level –Scheme leve l Comprehensive assessment manual developed All assessors undertook a 2 day training program Assessment included ―Meeting with providers ―Short visit to a sample of schemes and facilities Focussed on ―Provider management practices ―Infrastructure condition ―Scheme performance, operation and associated water quality risks ―Constraints that limit performance Analysis of assessment results and other data Compile into report Feedback to providers

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Findings Skills capabilities and resources Providers endeavour to provide reasonable standard of service Short-term focus Limited opportunities for strategic management - data analysis, analyse performance and plan < 50% have adequately trained staff, difficult to attract/ retain staff Making efforts to train staff Interest in support services, particularly monitoring support prior to undertaking water quality risk assessments

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Constraints to Service Delivery (2009 Survey) Ageing infrastructure Insufficient revenue Workforce skills

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Water Sources and Treatment Quality - challenges need robust downstream barriers Treatment generally adequate –some inappropriate for source

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Systems and Processes Operational practices and supporting systems –Generally informal –Over-reliance on tacit knowledge –Documented operational practices – unavailable or not used

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Infrastructure 1 Unsafe Neglected V high risk 4 Minor issues Good practices Low risk 5 Well maintained Ex practices V low risk 3 Moderate Acceptable Med risk 2 Deterioration Poor practices High risk

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Facility Evaluation – Reservoirs (1 - poor/high risk to 5 – good/low risk)

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Drinking Water Quality Provider perception – high to very high standard 88 % indicated few complaints Customer priorities – quantity, reliability, quality – unwilling to pay Monitoring programs improve with size Analysis of data submitted – general compliance with ADWG – compliance with parameters not monitored? Increased likelihood of E.Coli with smaller providers Incident reporting improves with size Very early stages of developing water quality management processes

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Management of Drinking Water Quality Surveyed providers - average compliance with elements 2 -6 of ADWG DWQ Framework addressed in DWQMP 1. Very limited knowledge, understanding of documentation 2. Need for process understood, limited documentation 3. Process development has commenced 4. Process development and documentation substantially completed 5. Process and documentation fully developed and verified

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Drinking Water Quality – microbiological

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Financial

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Partnership Approach Local Governments and Water Service Providers

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Strategies to Address the Challenges Implementation of more streamlined and effective regulation Continuing and expanding the assessment program Implementation of appropriate pricing principles Enhancing workforce skills Evaluating the operational scale of providers Partnership approach with Local Government Association of Queensland Qldwater Local government service providers

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Strategies to Address the Challenges Implementation of more streamlined and effective regulation Rationalise the regulatory burden on service providers and DERM Clear performance objectives and reporting Roles –Accountability remains with service providers –State: audits and reports (transparency) Three options –Regulated business plan –Regulated performance standards –Combination of above

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Strategies to Address the Challenges Continuing and expanding the assessment program High level risk assessment of all schemes outside SE Qld Identify and prioritise risks –Water source reliability –Drinking water quality –Water & wastewater infrastructure performance, capacity & reliability Will work in partnership with providers to address high risk schemes through a development of Priority Action Plans

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Strategies to Address the Challenges Implementation of appropriate pricing principles Lack of sufficient revenue – significant constraint Reviewing options to improve infrastructure investment by implementing National Water Initiative pricing principles Pricing model developed for use by small/medium providers Pricing principles adopted in building 10 year budgets and charges

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Strategies to Address the Challenges Enhancing workforce skills National Water Skills Strategy qldwater (with LGAQ) are coordinating and leading the development of a state-wide water industry Skills Formation Strategy – supported by DERM DERM collaborating to provide technical support for training institutions to reflect the needs of water service providers e.g. –water quality and monitoring –asset maintenance –long-term water supply planning Investigating the development of minimum mandatory certification requirements for operators

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Strategies to Address the Challenges Evaluating the operational scale of providers Only 2 States in Australia where urban water provided through local governments Opportunities for gaining economies of scale LGs encouraged to seek alternative water service management arrangements Some options –Voluntary binding alliances –LG owned water corporations –Commercialised water businesses within local governments –Staff & skill sharing –Regional groupings of local governments contracting to third parties

Water Safety Conference November , Kuching, Malaysia Conclusion Standard of drinking water services variable Dependent on a wide range of factors – finances, capacity, documentation, people, infrastructure Department has entered into a formal partnership with local government peak representative and technical organisations Significant improvement opportunities identified Will be implemented through close collaborative approach