31 May 2003

EVENTS IN MAY 2003
The Water Directorate is a voluntary association of councils and county councils that operate water and/or sewer businesses in regional NSW. Our monthly newsletter seeks to inform member councils and all sectors of the NSW Local Government Water Industry of the developments that have taken place regarding technical issues and networking during May 2003 and of coming events. This newsletter is sent to General Managers and to Water and Sewer Managers in 121 regional councils in NSW and also to approximately 100 contacts in government departments, councils and private industry across Australia. We hope you enjoy this newsletter.

INCORPORATION OF THE WATER DIRECTORATE
On behalf of the Executive Committee, I thank the member councils that voted in favour of amending the Statement of Objects and Rules thereby allowing the Water Directorate to transfer its assets from the unincorporated to the incorporated Water Directorate. It was pleasing that at least 83 member councils or 81% of the current membership voted by the deadline thus exceeding the 75% requirement for amending the Statement of Objects and Rules. The Water Directorate will now proceed to take out insurances etc to effectively operate as an incorporated association from 1 July 2003.

GUIDELINES FOR REUSE OF SLUDGE AND RETURN WASTEWATER FROM WTPs
This document is undergoing final editing and will be printed and distributed to member councils in June 2003.The Executive Committee believes this will be a very valuable management tool which includes a review of management practices for sludge reuse/disposal and wastewater reuse/disposal throughout Australia and overseas. Also considered are the different chemical and physical compositions of sludge and wastewater from treatment processes using various coagulants and/or conditioners as well as the reuse potential of sludge from various treatment processes.

GUIDELINES FOR PRESSURE SEWERAGE SYSTEMS
Following the recent open days, Wagga Wagga City Council plans to further share the wealth of information gained since producing the Wagga Wagga Protocols in September 2002. The document will be updated in the coming months and the Water Directorate will distribute the guidelines to member councils. To ensure that the next edition of the document is as complete as possible, member councils should provide any comments to me on 02 8267 3010 or garymi@bigpond.com Please take this opportunity to contribute to a document that could possibly be the basis of a national standard or code in the future.

MEU PERFORMANCE COMPARISON REPORT
The next Performance Comparison Report which was previously produced by the DLWC will now be produced by the Ministry of Energy and Utilities (MEU). The next report for the 2001/2002 period is due to be published around the end of the financial year and will contain data from NSW Health's Drinking Water Monitoring Program. This is the first year that NSW Health data will be used in addition to councils' self-reported data.

NSW HEALTH DRINKING WATER MONITORING PROGRAM SURVEY
Member councils are advised that NSW Health is undertaking a survey of its Drinking Water Monitoring Program (DWMP). The survey has been sent out and responses are due by June 18 2003. This is an excellent opportunity for councils to send feedback to NSW Health regarding the DWMP and the Drinking Water Database. Feedback will be used to improve the Program and the Database. If other Water Directorate member councils are interested in completing a survey, please contact Megan Watson on 02 9816 0248.

THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT WEEKLY
The Local Government Weekly provides councils with information on a range of issues and topics which affect them. The latest issues are available on the Associations website http://www.lgov.org.au/site/weekly.html each Friday (Word/ PDF), or Monday (HTML) or next working day if Monday is a public holiday. The Local Government Weekly can now be emailed directly to you every week. The mailing list can be joined through the website. For more information regarding water issues in the Local Government Weekly please contact Stephanie Smith, Policy Officer, Environment Team, Strategic Services, Local Government Association of NSW and Shires Association of NSW, on 02 9242 4070 or email: Stephanie.Smith@lgov.org.au

TAMS VERSION 2.0 RELEASED
The Department of Commerce has announced the release of Version 2.0 of the Total Asset Management System (TAMS“) integrated computer software application. Since its introduction in 1995, TAMS has gained widespread acceptance amongst NSW local governments and water utilities as the preferred tool for managing assets of all types, including; water and sewerage, stormwater drainage, roads, property and building, plant and equipment, stormwater drainage and flood mitigation.

While the asset register function allows the user to account for all assets, with TAMS you can also plan and budget for asset renewal, manage asset maintenance, measure performance against established targets, and satisfy asset accounting and reporting requirements. Version 2.0 of TAMS offers all of the functionality of previous versions with a suite of new features, including; an enhanced Water & Sewerage module with operations and condition rating functions; a new dynamic 2-way MapInfo GIS interface; expanded screen formats with added user customisation capabilities, and; the ability to link to and/or store a wider range of files and file formats.

Through their TAMS Club membership scheme, the Department of Commerce provides a range of support services to assist TAMS users. These services include; members only section of the website; email and telephone support lines; on-site and refresher training services; and data capture and transfer. For more information about the new version of TAMS and how it can assist you to achieve your asset management goals, log onto the TAMS website (http://www.tams.nsw.gov.au) or call the TAMS hotline on 02 9372 7888.

WATER SAVINGS PROJECT - SUBMISSIONS INVITED
The Commonwealth Government has established a Water Savings Project to gather new and innovative ideas on ways to save water in rural and regional Australia. The Hon Warren Truss MP has called for "ideas (that) may include plans for renewing infrastructure, improving existing technologies, recycling and re-use options, institutional changes, as well as new management systems and practices." Please note that submissions close on 13 June 2003. Further information available at www.affa.gov.au/watersavings or call 1800 026 222.

BEACHWATCH PARTNERSHIP PILOT PROGRAM
NSW EPA reports that 15 coastal councils participated in pilot recreational water quality monitoring and reporting programs between 1 October 2002 and 30 April 2003. The pilot programs are the second key phase of the Beachwatch Partnership Pilot Program, a $1.2 million program funded as part of the NSW Government’s Coastal Protection Package. The overall aim of this work is to increase the consistency and quality of recreational water quality monitoring and reporting undertaken by local councils and other water resource managers along the NSW coast. Water Directorate member councils participating in the pilot program include Ballina and Pristine Waters (joint program), Coffs Harbour, Bellingen, Shoalhaven and Eurobodalla.
The council progress reports show that all programs have progressed well, and in accordance with their program proposals in spite of the drought conditions during much of the program. Results to date show that recreational water quality is excellent at most pilot program sampling locations. Of the 200 swimming sites sampled only 17 have been shown to experience poor water quality at some stage in the sampling program. A social survey was undertaken before the pilot monitoring commenced and a second social survey will be undertaken in May 2003 at the completion of the pilot programs. The object of the survey is to measure shifts in community awareness of recreational water quality issues. A training program is currently being designed to ensure that scientifically rigorous and credible monitoring can be conducted by all coastal local councils in the future.

DROUGHT MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES
The Water Directorate’s Policy Sub-committee is currently considering proposing more uniform water restriction levels as a component of its Drought Management Guidelines. The Premiers Department and the MEU will be consulted regarding a recent North Coast regional uniform restriction initiative.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
For further information about membership or any water related issue, please contact me on 02 8267 3010, or garymi@bigpond.com or visit the website at http://wd.ipwea.org.au. The remaining meeting dates for 2003 are 3 July, 4 September and 6 November. Member councils are always welcome to forward issues to me or to your local representative for debate and discussion by the Executive Committee.

Gary Mitchell
Executive Officer

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