3 August 2006

The Water Loss Management Program Awareness and Education Guidelines were released yesterday and sent to 105 all Local Water Utilities (LWUs) in NSW.  The primary aim of these Guidelines is to explain the process of Water Loss Determination, assist LWUs to develop their own water loss management programs and to assess their water losses.

The Guidelines were prepared by water loss expert, Allan Lambert, of ILMSS Ltd UK, engaged through Wide Bay Water, Queensland, for the Water Directorate. Funding to prepare and distribute the Guidelines was provided by the Water Directorate and the Australian Government through the Water Smart Australia programme.

The purpose of the Guidelines is to assist participating LWUs in delivering the Water Loss Management Program (WLMP).   The WLMP for NSW Regional Water Utilities is a joint initiative of the Water Directorate and the Local Government and Shires Associations of New South Wales. The Program has been successful in securing funding of $7.387 million in 2006 from the Australian Government’s Water Smart Australia programme that will be used to assist up to 33 LWUs implement water loss and leakage reduction projects.

Apart from sponsoring ongoing works to reduce water losses, the WLMP also involves assisting LWUs to identify leakage and water loss in their systems and providing advice on low cost rectification solutions.

The Guidelines are designed to provide a quick overview of an LWU's existing leakage management performance. To avoid duplication, almost all the data required has already been collected and submitted to the Department of Energy, Utilities and Sustainability (DEUS) by each LWU and appears in the annual DEUS Water Supply and Sewerage Benchmarking Report. Accompanying these Guidelines is a CD Rom which contains the Water Loss Management Program Workbook.

Copies of the Guidelines are available free of charge from the Water Directorate.

For more information contact: