Town Water Risk Reduction Program 

NEWSLETTER ISSUE #20 | DECEMBER 2022

Welcome to the December edition of the Town Water Risk Reduction Program newsletter. 

Funding for Phase 2 of the Town Water Risk Reduction Program announced this week

This week the Minister for Lands and Water launched Phase 2 of the Town Water Risk Reduction Program in Griffith.

The NSW Government is investing $32.8 million into a suite of new initiatives to provide greater support for Local Councils and Local Water Utilities. Phase 2 of the Program will:

• Provide continued operational support to water utilities during emergency events including floods, droughts and bushfires.
• Address critical skills shortages and boost water operations training and employment opportunities in regional NSW for school leavers, Aboriginal and First Nations students and existing water operators.
• Deliver a new program in partnership with NSW Health to help optimise the performance of high-risk water treatment infrastructure using innovative technology so that more regional towns have reliable, resilient and safe water services.
• Enable local water utilities to accelerate responses to audits to improve local dam safety and address water quality risks, leveraging the systems and expertise of WaterNSW.

Phase 2 of the Town Water Risk Reduction Program will roll out across the state over the next two years.

For more information on the announcement, visit: News and articles.

To view the Skills and Training Action Plan, visit: Improve access to skills and training.

End of year program wrap-up

Over the last two years, we have been working with you to roll out phase 1 of the Town Water Risk Reduction Program to address the risks and challenges of NSW local water utilities.

State and local government together, have applied innovation and collaboration to reset the relationship between our water organisations and refocus our efforts on our joint commitment to improve water service quality to people, no matter where they live. 

In partnership with over 80 local water utilities as well as peak stakeholders, the program:

• delivered stronger support to councillors as decision-makers of local water utilities
• co-designed a new regulatory and assurance framework which was implemented for utilities
• rectified critical gaps in the national water skills market
• implemented new initiatives to support improved dam safety and water quality. 

Thank you to everyone who has worked in partnership with the department on the Town Water Risk Reduction Program so far, we look forward to working with you to deliver Phase 2 of the Program.

Closing soon - give your feedback on the department’s regulation and support of local water utilities

The 6-monthly regulator perception survey helps us to understand your views on how the department regulates, supports and works in partnership with local water utilities, and to identify areas for improvement. The survey is open until 31 December 2022, so now is your chance to give feedback.

We appreciate you taking the time to complete the survey and value your feedback – all responses are anonymous. The survey will take around 5-7 minutes to complete and we will share the responses on our website in early 2023. 

Webinars reach over 120 stakeholders

Thank you to everyone that registered and attended our Local Water Utilities webinars held on Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 December 2022. We had over 120 attendees log in to hear from both the DPE Water and NSW Health teams across the two days.

We hope that everyone that attended found the sessions informative and had the opportunity to ask any questions or raise any concerns. The team are committed to delivering more webinars and face-to-face sessions in 2023, to ensure we continue to strengthen our relationships.

For those unable to attend the webinars, a recording of both sessions are available:  Monday 12 December session and Tuesday 13 December session

Further information and feedback

Visit the Town Water Risk Reduction Program website for more detailed information.

Have your say 

For more information or enquires please email the team at regional.town.water@dpie.nsw.gov.au

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