2 May 2007

LAST CALL FOR IPWEA NSW ANNUAL CONFERENCE, 4 SEASONS HOTEL, THE ROCKS, 13–15 MAY

The Water Directorate Executive Committee looks forward to catching up with member council staff at the IPWEA NSW Annual Conference Excellence Awards and Water Stream paper presentations. We also look forward to finding out which council has been awarded the Water Directorate’s 2007 Innovation Award in Water Supply and Wastewater by the independent judges, Dave Abbott and Geoff Fowler.

Congratulations to all 6 nominated projects from 5 councils and the winner will be revealed at the Excellence Awards Dinner on Monday evening, 14 May. As these projects are team efforts, the Water Directorate commends councils for taking this opportunity to promote staff and achievements, as well as raising project awareness within the local government water industry. The Executive Committee believes that clever engineering solutions and clever people should be rewarded.

We also appreciate the efforts of the presenters of technical papers in the Water and Wastewater Stream on Tuesday, 15 May. The 3 papers explore different facets of the ubiquitous drought and are presented by Professor Andy Pitman on Recent advances in climate science and regional assessments of warming on NSW ; by Steve Palmer formerly from DEUS and now from the newly established DWE on Management of country town water supplies in times of Drought ; and by Greg McDonald from Dungog Shire Council on Tillegra Dam – Effects on a small community . Please come along and support this conference and enjoy the networking and informative activities. For more information contact Conference Organiser Caitlin Williams on 02 8267 3007.

LAST CALL ALSO FOR CivEnEx 2007, WESTERN SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL DRAGWAY, EASTERN CREEK, 16–17 MAY

CivEnEx Sydney is the official IPWEA - NSW Local Government and Public Works Engineers Field Days and follows directly on from the IPWEA NSW Conference on 16 and 17 May. Check out the latest in equipment and products for public works, property maintenance, open space management and construction. Check out the great new venue for the 52nd anniversary of the Local Government Engineers Field Days which is expected to fill more than last year’s 23,000 square meters of exhibit space. For more information please contact Event Manager Frank Sticka on 02 9716 7391 or on 0411 890 381 or see www.civenex.com and for information about buses being organised from regional NSW to CivEnEx , contact Wayne Cone at Maitland City Council on 02 4934-9609.

WATER LOSS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM UPDATE

In April a Water Loss Management Workshop was held in Narrandera and was well attended by approximately 20 people from 15 councils. A Water Loss presentation will be given at an IPWEA Group Meeting in Grenfell on 2 May. It is possible that further Water Loss Management Workshops will be held in Orange and Gunnedah in May/June. Some leak detection equipment has been purchased for use in projects commencing with Griffith City Council. For further information and application forms visit www.WaterLoss.lgsa.org.au or contact Mirko Sramek on 02 9242 4127 or on 0409 812 403.

e-safe 2007, ENERGY SAFETY AND FIELD EXPO, SYDNEY, ROSEHILL GARDENS EXHIBITION CENTRE, 13 & 14 JUNE

Thanks to the councils that have expressed interest in this overall event and in the inaugural Water Directorate Safety Competition. I apologise that we have not been able to provide an information kit with more details however event host Integral Energy has advised that these details will be forwarded to the Water Directorate in the first week of May. I will forward these details as soon as I receive them. The Executive Committee urges our 95 member councils to support this water safety initiative by entering teams in this safety competition and attending the seminars and workshops. The Water Directorate will endeavour to raise awareness and share water safety information and build on our involvement within the Electrical Safety Days at last year’s expo in Dubbo. Come and have some fun and compete against your colleagues and visit the huge safety expo. The weblink for the brochure is http://waterdirectorate.asn.au/news/SafetyDays07.htm

UPDATE ON NSW DROUGHT CONDITIONS

NSW drought conditions improved significantly with the DPI declaring that as at April, 78.8% of the area of NSW is officially drought affected. The area of NSW classified as marginal is 15.7% and the area classified as satisfactory is only 5.5%. This is the first time in 12 months that the NSW drought affected area has officially been under the range of 89 to 96%.

INAUGURAL NSW WATER INDUSTRY OPERATORS CONFERENCE, DUBBO, 17- 19 JULY

As reported last month, the Water Industry Operators Association (WIOA) will hold its inaugural NSW Water Industry Operators Conference in Dubbo on 17 to 19 July. The Water Directorate is sponsoring and supporting this practical level conference in 2007 as a positive way to help improve operational efficiency and will present the Operator of the Year Award for NSW. Please support the conference by allowing staff attendance as delegates when the registration forms are sent out around mid May after the technical program has been set. The NSW WIO Conference also features a Trade Supply expo. For more information please contact George Wall Executive Officer on 03 58 216 744 or 0407 846 001 or www.wioa.org.au

DEC/EPA SEWERAGE TREATMENT SYSTEM LICENSING

Member councils are reminded that DEC/EPA Pollution Reduction Program (PRP) 100 requires the preparation of a Sewer Overflow Investigations Report by 30 June 07. Water Directorate representatives met with DEC staff in February seeking clarification of the following issues: Identification of the location of overflows and assessment of likelihood of overflow from these points; Assessment of the significance of impacts on the environment and public health resulting from these overflows; Evaluation and ranking of the resultant risk to the environment and public health from these overflows; Identification of management priorities and actions to reduce the risk of harm to the environment and public health . In April clarification was received in a four page letter from DEC which has been scanned and posted on the Water Directorate website for information at http://www.waterdirectorate.asn.au/news/PollutionReductionProgram100.htm

STEVE POSSELT & KAYAK4EARTH

I apologise for incorrectly reporting in the last newsletter that Steve’s epic kayak journey from Brisbane to Adelaide would commence on the 1st of May. However on the 27th of May after years of planning interrupted by a serious motorbike accident, Steve will set out on the Brisbane River in his self-modified kayak. Steve’s website confirms that Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman will officially send Steve off from the Brisbane City Hall at 12.45pm on Sunday 27th May 2007 . Steve’s journey will commence with a walk to the boat ramp at West End where a flotilla of kayaks will join Steve as he paddles up the Brisbane River to Ipswich . Just to reach the start of the Darling, Steve will have to drag his kayak overland to relaunch it in the Bremmer River, paddle to join the Condamine River, slog overland again up and over the Toowoomba Range into the head of the Darling catchment to relaunch the kayak. I look forward to giving a progress report on the first 5 days of this remarkable feat in the May newsletter as Steve paddles and drags his kayak up to 6,000km from Brisbane to Adelaide . More next month or in the meantime go to www.kayak4earth.com

NSW GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT RESHUFFLE

I reported last month that there are two new ministers of interest to the water industry and in fact they are the sixth and seventh water ministers respectively since the Water Directorate commenced in December 1998. Readers can go to a link to the Government Gazette on www.advertising.nswp.commerce.nsw.gov.au/Gazette/Gazette.htm and click on Special Supplement 47 to see more about the latest Govt Dept Reshuffle.

Of interest to the local government water industry is the abolition of DEUS and transfer of certain staff to the newly established Dept of Water & Energy (DWE) possibly under three ministers – the Minister for Climate Change, Environment & Water; the Minister for Energy; and the Minister for Utilities. Some staff from the Cabinet Office and Treasury will also go to DWE. Some DEUS staff will also transfer to the former DEC renamed Dept of Environment and Climate Change (DECC); and to the Office of Fair Trading. Also of interest to the water industry is the abolition of DNR and transfer of staff to DWE, DECC, Dept of Lands and DPI.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING DATES

Meeting dates in 2007 are 16 May, 5 July, 13September and 8 November. Member councils are reminded that they are welcome to forward water issues to me for referral to the Executive Committee meetings. For further information about membership or any water related issue, please contact me on 02 8267 3010 or gmitchell@waterdirectorate.asn.au

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