| Conference MC: Sophie Hull |
Tuesday 23 July 2024
|
| 2.00pm |
Conference registration opens, Veolia Arena – Recreation Area
☕️ Trade exhibition opens, with arrival Tea and Coffee |
| 2.30pm-4.30pm |
Local Water Utility Workshop (NSW Water Directorate)
Running a water utility can be risky business. Water is not only essential to life, it's critical for economic development, public health, green liveable spaces and the environment. Councils' water utility decisions are often long-term and need to be made with a number of principles in mind. This session will review current challenges with council local water utilities, how you will know if your local water utility is going well, and how good strategic planning is the prevention and much better than the cure. |
| 5.30pm–7.30pm |
Welcome Reception
Goulburn Performing Arts Centre (GPAC)
Premier Partner message
Atom Consulting |
Cr Darriea Turley AM
President
Local Government NSW
Cr Peter Walker
Mayor
Goulburn Mulwaree Council
|
Wednesday 24 July 2024
|
| 8.15am–9.00am |
Conference registration opens, Veolia Arena – Recreation Area
☕️ Trade exhibition opens, with arrival Tea and Coffee |
| 9.00am–9.10am |
Conference opens
Introduction and overview of the day |
MC, Sophie Hull |
| 9.10am–9.15am |
Welcome to Country
Meeting place
|
Jennie Gordon
Ngunnawal woman in Goulburn Mulwaree (Gundungurra and Ngunnawal Country)
|
| 9.15am–9.25am |
Welcome to Goulburn Mulwaree |
Cr Peter Walker
Mayor
Goulburn Mulwaree Council |
| 9.25am–9.35am |
Opening Address |
Cr Darriea Turley AM
President
Local Government NSW |
| 9.35am–9.40am |
Federal Minister’s Address (pre-recorded message) |
Tanya Plibersek MP
Minister for the Environment and Water |
| 9.40am–10.10am |
DCCEEW’s oversight and support functions and activities to address the key challenges in the LWU sector
DCCEEW’s Local Water Utility Branch (LWUB) is working with the LWU sector to address current and future challenges. This session will provide an overview of the Department’s key oversight and support functions under the Regulatory and Assurance Framework, and detail strategic activities to date including: Policy and Sector reviews, Work Approvals processes, Strategic Planning assurance, and regulatory support in the regions. This session will also give insight into the work being done by skills and training team to support the water industry. |
Jane Shepherd
Acting Director Local Water Utilities
Department Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) |
| 10.10am–10.40am |
Works Approvals Process Update Section 60 and Section 292
(joint presentation)
This presentation will explain Works Approvals for LWUs as set under the Regulatory and Assurance Framework. DCCEEW will detail the process for preparing and submitting a Works Approval application, including best practices to effectively demonstrate meeting the five assessment criteria and current/future areas of work. NSW Health will talk about the role of microbial health-based targets and risk assessments in informing designs and Works Approval applications.
|
Nicholas Sutton
Manager Regulatory Assessments
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Sandy Leask
Senior Policy Advisor, Water Unit
NSW Health
|
| 10.40am–10.45am |
Overview of TRILITY |
| 35 minutes |
☕️ Morning Tea partnered by TRILITY |
| 11.20am–11.40am |
NSW Minister’s Address |
Rose Jackson MLC
NSW Minister for Water |
| 11.40am–11.45am |
Overview of GHD |
| 11.45am–11.50am |
Delegates move to chosen Stream |
Concurrent conference streams (Select one of the two streams)
|
STREAM 1 – Sustainable Water Resource Management
STREAM PARTNER – Taggle
Location – To be advised
|
| 11.50am–11.55am |
Stream Introduction and Overview – David Peters, CEO, Taggle |
| 11.55am–12.20pm |
Water loss management – A regional hub approach
The Regional Leakage Reduction Program is part of DCCEEW’s efforts to support a resilient NSW water sector. A key part of the program was the establishment of a Regional Water Loss Management Hub set up with the Central NSW Joint Organisation and its member councils.
Through a water loss management maturity audit, the hub identifies management and infrastructure gaps in water loss. Subsequently, initiatives spanning pressure management, metering, leak detection, training, and data enhancement are implemented. Key insights include prioritising embedment for sustained improvement and fostering cross-boundary collaboration between state and local government. |
Jethro Laidlaw
Manager Water Efficiency
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Andrew Francis
Director Infrastructure and Major Projects
Parkes Shire Council
|
| 12.20pm–12.45pm |
How metering compliance improves water security: insights from the NSW regulator
This presentation will provide an overview of how non-urban metering compliance supports drought resilience, reduces town water risk and improves future water security.
Focused on local water utilities, it highlights metering compliance for local water utilities, featuring a case study on compliance pathways in NSW. It provides an overview of current council compliance, regulatory requirements, and showcases councils as community leaders in ensuring equitable access to water sources.
|
Pat Yeates
Manager, Education
Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR)
|
| 12.45pm–1.10pm |
Mid Coast Council’s Energy Transition
Mid Coast Council has embarked on a journey to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across all its operations and transition to 100% renewable energy by 2040. Under Council’s climate change strategy, key focus areas include increasing on-site generation, purchasing renewable energy and reducing energy demand.
Recently Council has invested $265,000 in solar PV systems across five sites over the past two years exemplifying its commitment to a sustainable energy transition. |
Robert Scott
Director Infrastructure and Engineering Services
Mid Coast Council |
STREAM 2 – Disaster management and resilience
STREAM PARTNER – Available
Location – To be advised
|
| 11.50am–11.55am |
Stream Introduction |
| 11.55am–12.20pm |
Progressing Stormwater Harvesting in Orange
Stormwater Harvesting for non-direct potable use proved a critical raw water source for Orange during the Millennium drought and then again in the 2017-19 drought. Orange plans to progress to the next stage and enhance harvesting volumes through construction of the East Orange Harvesting Wetland.
This presentation will describe what is next for Orange City Council and the water quality and quantity success factors that are enabling a future for stormwater. |
Jonathan Francis
Water Treatment Manager
Wayne Beatty
Manager – Water and Sewer
Orange City Council |
| 12.20pm–12.45pm |
Foreshadowing Climate Change Challenges - Gravity and Pressure Sewer flows during (currently) "rare" rainfall events
Predicted climate change impacts include increased rainfall intensity and sea level rise, the latter reducing the stormwater drainage in estuarine areas. In March 2022, Clarence Valley Council on the NSW Far North Coast experienced rainfall events exceeding 1% Average Exceedance Probability (AEP), coinciding with river flooding.
This presentation examines the council’s sewerage networks' performance during March 2022, comparing wet and dry weather flows. With climate change, March 2022's system performance may become more “common”. |
Greg Mashiah
Manager Technical Service
Clarence Valley Council
|
| 12.45pm–1.10pm |
Fire and Water: Addressing water quality challenges in Brogo-Bermagui
While it seemed the heat, smoke and ever-present threat of bushfires would never go away, a change in the weather was brewing. The Brogo-Bermagui catchment area went from being threatened by sweeping bushfires where water levels at the Brogo Dam dropped below 10%, to when the heavens opened and water levels rose over 90% in 24 hours, taking the Brogo Dam to capacity. |
Stephen Marshall
Manager, Water and Sewer Services
Bega Valley Shire Council
Wouter VanderMerve
Water and Wastewater Treatment Specialist
|
| 1.10pm–2.00pm |
🥪 Lunch partnered by GHD |
| 2.00pm–5.00pm |
Site Visit – partnered by Beca HunterH2O
Goulburn Mulwaree Council will showcase its infrastructure, old and new, including Goulburn Historic Waterworks Museum, Wastewater Treatment Plant, and Water Treatment Plant.
|
| 6.30pm–10.30pm |
🍽️ Conference Dinner – Goulburn Race Club
Proudly partnered by NSW Water Directorate
🏆 Presentation of the Sam Samra Award 2024
Entertainment and guest speaker to be announced.
|
| 9.05am–9.20am |
NSW Shadow Minister’s Address |
Steph Cooke, MP
Shadow Minister for Water, and Crown Lands
|
| 9.20am-9.50am |
Goulburn Mulwaree Council Panel
Three-person panel from Goulburn Mulwaree Council to provide an overview of the works that Goulburn has done around water security in the past and lead into how Goulburn is managing this as well as any external pressures or developments that council are facing.
This is a good opportunity for the leadership team to talk about its resilience in terms of water security and show all the work that Goulburn completed after the Millennium drought. |
Cr Peter Walker
Mayor
Scott Martin
Director of Planning and Environment
Marina Hollands
Director of Utilities
Goulburn Mulwaree Council |
| 9.50am–10.20am |
Planning for Future Drought with rainfall independent water supplies
NSW water supplies are largely replenished going into 2024, creating an opportunity for future drought planning. The 2018/19 drought revealed widespread vulnerabilities, nearly exhausting water in small communities and prompting larger cities to seek long-term solutions. These vulnerabilities persist and will resurface in future droughts.
Early development of rainfall-independent water supplies can mitigate impacts. This presentation outlines opportunities and challenges in establishing such supplies to enhance resilience in NSW towns and cities. |
Professor Stuart Khan
Professor and Head of School, Civil Engineering
University of Sydney |
| 10.20am–10.50am |
Pathways to Resilience: An all-hazards approach to strategic risk management and regional resilience
Planning for future and resilient infrastructure must adopt an adaptive approach to unlock a sustainable regional future. With the changing regulatory landscape and climatic trends, legacy infrastructure is increasingly required to operate beyond its design envelope. Experience and case studies show that climate change, along with extreme weather events, exacerbates issues when multiple hazards coincide in rapid succession. Adaptive capacity and resilience frameworks are necessary enhancing the flexibility and adaptability of critical infrastructure. Strategic resilience and adaptive capacity are essential for unlocking a sustainable regional future and ensuring appropriate investment and acceptable customer service levels. |
Dr Annalisa Contos
Principal, Atom Consulting
Patrick Schnelle
Lead of Strategy and Resilience, Atom Consulting |
| 10.50am–10.55am |
NSW Public Works overview |
| 10.55am–11.25am |
☕️ Morning Tea partnered by NSW Public Works |
| 11.30am–12.05am |
DCCEEW Update on support and capacity building activities under Town Water Risk Reduction Program 2
This presentation will provide an overview of achieved, current, and forthcoming activities for the Advanced Operational Support Program (progress on operations support and incident and emergency response and CSO with WaterNSW (covering activities on dams safety risk review and source water quality monitoring). |
Glenn George
Manager Advanced Operational Support
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Fiona Loadsman
Water Quality Risk and Strategy Manager
WaterNSW
David Busuttil
Dam Safety Risk Specialist
WaterNSW
|
| 12.05am–12.35pm |
Biosolids challenges and opportunities for regional NSW
Biosolids' land use is likely ending due to PFAS contamination. Presently, thermal treatment is the sole method for PFAS destruction in biosolids, but traditional plants face operational challenges. RMIT's pilot of a fluidised bed heat recovery pyrolysis process with South East Water addresses these issues and will solve four big problems including PFAS destruction, 20% reduction in treatment plant scope 1 emissions, circular economy contribution with biochar and lower capital and operating cost.
The presentation outlines the technology, business case, and implementation roadmap for this biosolids-to-biochar process. |
Eamon Casey
Technical Director
Iota Services
|
| 12.35pm–1.15pm |
Regional NSW local water utilities improving water literacy, water awareness and water efficiency through collaboration
For eight years, The Water Conservancy collaborated with local water utilities in NSW to promote water conservation. The Walter Smart and Friends program educated primary school students in the Central Coast and Dubbo. Over 5000 households statewide enhanced water literacy through Water Night, leading to more efficient water use. Businesses benefited from water efficiency assessments, driving savings.
This presentation, alongside local water utility representatives, showcases achievements in fostering efficient water usage through examples and case studies. |
Chris Philpot
Chief Executive Officer
The Water Conservancy
Karin Van der Heijde
Water Sustainability Officer
Rous County Council
Andrew Francis
Director Infrastructure and Major Projects
Parkes Shire Council
Debbie Mooney
Acting Water and Sewer Client Services Coordinator
Dubbo Regional Council
Dylan Magrin
Water Education manager
Central Coast Council |
| 5 minutes |
MC, wrap up and close of conference |
| 1 Hour |
🥪 Lunch |