Welcome to the November edition of the Town Water Risk Reduction Program newsletter.
Give us your feedback about the department’s regulation and support of local water utilities
Last week we sent an invitation to complete a survey asking about your feedback and experience dealing with us.
This is the second 6-monthly survey and is designed to help us understand your high-level views about how the department regulates, supports and works in partnership with local water utilities and identify where we need to improve.
The survey is open until 31 December 2021 and should take 5–7 minutes of your time with all responses anonymous. We will share the results in January 2022, which will include a comparison with the baseline results from the inaugural survey in June 2021.
The results of our survey from June 2021 are available on our website.
Open data framework timetable release
We are committed to increasing water sector transparency by providing open access to relevant data, information products and data models to the community, the water sector and industry.
A timetable is available for the department’s journey to achieving an open data framework that will define how we enable public access to models and model outputs, including regional water strategy data that is relevant and useful for local water utility strategic planning.
The Program’s engagement with the local water utility sector identified improved co-regulator collaboration as a key priority.
Co-regulators from the department’s Water Utilities team, NSW Health, NSW Environment Protection Authority, Office of Local Government, Natural Resources Access Regulator, Dams Safety NSW, the department’s planning group, and the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal of NSW, are working together to improve how we work together and with local water utilities.
We are holding a series of co-regulator workshops to develop a commitment to each other and the local water utility sector. The commitment will agree on collaborative working approaches, including co-regulator shared principles, values and behaviours. This commitment will inform further work to improve arrangements between co-regulators.
Working groups are progressing
The Strategic Planning and Technical Assessment and Approvals working groups commenced in early November, comprising a cross-section of industry volunteers appointed through an EOI process. The key objective of the working groups is to collaborate with the department to design improvements to our regulatory approach, as set out in the Roadmap to an improved regulatory framework for local water utilities.
The working groups commenced with a series of combined briefings on Town Water Risk Reduction Program pilots and activities, regulatory practice, and the role of other key Government programs. Early work has focussed on developing a common understanding of the key elements of effective regulation and common terminology across the two groups.
In the coming weeks, the working groups will continue to clarify what success looks like, in relation to key regulatory objectives, outcomes and principles as well as regarding processes and how decisions will be made. We will publish an update on collaboration outcomes so far by the end of December 2021
Dams Safety Management Systems
All declared dam owners are now obliged to meet new requirements under the Dams Safety Act 2015 and Dams Safety Regulation 2019 in effect from Monday, 1 November 2021 after a 2-year transition period. These requirements include:
prepare an emergency plan that complies with the new requirements, and share it with Dams Safety NSW and the State Emergency Service
conduct emergency exercises with relevant staff and, where practical, agencies listed in the emergency plan.
The Town Water Risk Reduction Program has collaborated with the NSW Water Directorate and consulted with Dams Safety NSW to produce a new template Dams Safety Management System that is suitable for councils and will align with the new requirements, available from the Water Directorate’s website.
We are also scoping pilot projects to support local water utilities to improve dam safety outcomes.
Water operator training needs assessment for Orana Water Utilities Alliance
We are funding this pilot to support the 11 far west water utilities in the Orana Water Utilities Alliance (OWUA) to identify their training needs across their water business. Including catchment or source water provision, water and wastewater treatment and all networks. This will enable each utility to identify the specialist skills and training needed for the utility to reliably provide essential water services to their communities.
The outcomes of the pilot will enable the OWUA to easily identify a training pathway for the critical skills shortages in the Far West region and engage a registered training provider to tailor a program that addresses their specific needs.
As an outcome of this pilot project, resources such as generic professional role descriptions and training and skills required for supervisors, operators, and relief operators, will be made available to all water utilities in regional NSW to assist with workforce planning.
More information about our Skills and Training focus area is available on our website.
Water efficiency – leakage reduction program
Our colleagues in the department’s water efficiency team are turning their attention to address network leakage and water losses. The team are working in collaboration with the NSW Water Directorate and local water utilities to scope the best value program to enhance local water utility ability to identify leakage, and target and fix leaks.
A series of collaboration workshops will be held at the end of 2021 and in early 2022. If you would like to get involved, please register your interest by emailing water.efficiencyprogram@dpie.nsw.gov.au
Further information and feedback
Visit theTown Water Risk Reduction Programwebsite for more detailed information including a fact sheet that sets out the Program scope and proposed focus areas.
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