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Day One, Monday 25 August
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8.30am | Registration and welcome coffee
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9am | Opening remarks and welcome address from the Chair
Paul Perkins, Chair, The Barton Group
Paul Perkins, Chair, The Barton Group
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| NATIONAL WATER INITIATIVE |
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9.10am | Keynote address:
The National Water Initiative – progress in implementation
and key areas for further reform
• How is implementation of the NWI progressing?
• What are the key areas of the NWI that need further effort?
• Opportunities for reform beyond the NWI
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9.40am | Keynote address:
The role of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, during
the worst drought on record, and into the future
• Impact of unprecedented river operations
• Maximising water availability and water trade
• Working with jurisdictions to plan for the future
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10.10am | Towards urban water reform – issues and options
• Diagnosing the main problems and challenges facing water availability and management in Australia’s major urban centres
• Canvassing options which can help inform urban water reform over the next decade
• Broadening the debate on urban water policy
• Informing policy makers and the community about the potential advantages and disadvantages of a range of possible reforms
• Outlining key implementation issues
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| URBAN WATER REFORM |
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10.40am | Morning tea
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11.10am | Urban water reform – the South East Queensland (SEQ)
model
- Establishing the SEQ Water Grid
- Looking at the market structure
- Understanding the role of the Grid Manager
- Future developments
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| | Mr Peter Dann, Executive Director, Water Reform, Queensland Water Commission
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| WATER GOVERNANCE |
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11.40am | Panel discussion:
Water governance – reforms and future directions
• Governance challenges for urban water management
• Issues and implications
• Institutional options and future directions
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| | Mr Peter Dann, Executive Director, Water Reform, Queensland Water Commission
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12.20pm | Networking lunch
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| THE BUSINESS OF WATER |
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1.20pm | Developing a commercial approach to urban water supply
• Balancing major increases in capital expenditure with water pricing
• Organisational resourcing to cope with the boom in
infrastructure
• Integrating water recycling into the water supply-demand balance
• Barwon Water’s experiences with alternate procurement strategies
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1.50pm | Panel discussion: Increasing private sector investment and participation in the water sector
• Developing a national third party access regime
• Recognising the improved cost efficiencies delivered by the private sector
• Encouraging the advancement of technologies
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| | Mr Jim Gaha, Executive General Manager of Water, Transfield Services Limited
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2.30pm | Speed Networking
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3pm | Afternoon tea
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| DEMAND MANAGEMENT AND SERVICE DELIVERY |
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3.30pm | Changing tariff structures and water use ramifications
• Corporatisation of Manukau Water
• Water and wastewater tariff structures
• Transparency, behaviour change and issues
• Demand management and rewards/penalties
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4pm | Customer centric water delivery
• Ensuring customer service is a corporate responsibility
• Driving SA Water’s high levels of customer satisfaction through clear service objectives
• Knowing our customers, their needs and expectations
• How does SA Water benefit from improved service delivery?
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4.30pm | Panel discussion:
Reviewing rebate and conservation projects
• Evaluating effectiveness of rebate and conservation schemes
• Are they working and at what cost?
• Assessing varying restriction levels across the country
• Discussing the potential for permanent water restrictions
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5.10pm | Chairman’s closing remarks and networking drinks
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Day Two, Tuesday 26 August Morning session
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8.30am | Welcome coffee
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9am | Opening remarks and welcome address from the Chair
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9.10am | Global responses to water shortages
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9.25am | Networking Break Sponsor
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| | Mr John Kelly, Director, Enterprise & Government, Ericsson Australia Pty Ltd
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Stream 1 – Rural
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| WATER TRADING AND ALLOCATION |
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9.30am | The national water trading market... past, present, future
• Looking at the national water market – an overview
• Detailing the issues for the water market
• Assessing the regulation of the brokerage industry
• Recognising climate change impacts
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10am | Overcoming barriers to interstate trade
• Interstate trading – the facts
• Learning by doing – looking at recent developments
• Simplifying administrative procedures
• The exchange model v a tagged system – an assessment
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| | Mr Rob O'Neil, Acting Director, Water Planning and Interstate Programs, NSW Department of Water and Energy
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10.30am | Morning tea
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11am | Murray Irrigation and the Murray Wetlands Working Group
– an intimate relationship
• Challenges in utilising water from channel systems
• Seeking willing participants and assessing sites
• Initiatives during dry times and keeping momentum
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11.30am | Panel Discussion:
Buying water for the environment – who pays?
• Working with other stakeholders to achieve specific
environmental outcomes
• Climate change and environmental water
• Free economy versus regulation, where markets fail |
| | Mr John Riddiford, Chief Executive Officer, North East Catchment Management Authority Mr Rob O'Neil, Acting Director, Water Planning and Interstate Programs, NSW Department of Water and Energy
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| IRRIGATION |
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12pm | Practical outcomes and learnings from Total Channel
Control (TCC) at Coleambally
• Implementing TCC at Coleambally – Winter 2003
• Cooperating with the supplier to make system work
• Recognising staff commitment leading to positive results
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| | Mr Austin Evans, Senior Operations Engineer, Coleambally Irrigation Cooperative
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12.15pm | Panel Discussion
Developing more accurate metering and monitoring and
improving river and storage operations
• Introducing mandatory national metering standards
• Remote control, higher flow rates and more accurate water application – the costs and benefits
• Reducing evaporation loss and bypassing to save water
• Discussing the process of deciding which projects will get funding and how much Irrigation Trust
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| | Mr Austin Evans, Senior Operations Engineer, Coleambally Irrigation Cooperative
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12.50pm | Networking lunch
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1.40pm | Assessing manageable risks to water availability
• Groundwater sustainability
• Farm dams, Forestry, Water trade |
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2.10pm | Drivers for measurable changes to the way water is used
on-farm
• Quantifying baseline water use as a first step to
demonstrating changed practices
• Assessing various influences on how water is used on-farm
• What will a best practice irrigation farm look like in 2015 and 2030 and what are the important drivers to achieve this?
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2.20pm | Panel Discussion
Improving delivery system and on-farm irrigation efficiency
• Managing irrigators expectations
• Raising the benchmark distribution delivery efficiency
• Working towards savings of up to 1500 GL per year through improved piping, channel lining and system automation
• Addressing the challenges associated with delivering bulk water in natural river and creek systems
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| | Mr Richard McLoughlin, Assistant Secretary, National Irrigation Efficiency, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
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3.20pm | Afternoon tea
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Stream 2 - Urban
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| RISK AND ASSET MANAGEMENT |
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9.30am | Delivering Australia’s first total Automatic Meter Reading
(AMR) and combined leakage management systems
• How AMR reduces leakage
• Implications for economic leakage levels
• Setting new international benchmarks
• Combining AMR with leakage management
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10am | Yarra Valley Water’s progress in supporting Ecologically
Sustainable Development (ESD)
• A water industry scorecard on ESD
• Defining our ESD priorities, theoretical lessons learnt
• Putting the learning into practice – YVW case studies
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10.30am | Morning tea
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| WATER TREATMENT AND QUALITY |
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11am | The Western Corridor Recycled Project – closing the
loop with purified recycled water
• Risk management approach and water quality monitoring
• Reviewing the project’s Recycled Water Management Plan
• Looking at operational data for the project
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11.30am | Recycled water at Gippsland Water
• The Gippsland Water Factory – the first of its kind in Australia
• Implementing ground-breaking technology
• Delivering a range of benefits to industry and the community
• Reviewing progress of the project and the delivery timeframe |
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12pm | Panel Discussion:
Water re-use and recycling
• Social attitudes to water recycling in Australia
• Water use – what’s the rebound after the drought breaks?
• Tracing contaminants in recycled water
• How can stormwater make a significant contribution to the urban water cycle?Moderator: Ted Gardner, Principal Scientist, Department of
Natural Resources and Water, Queensland
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| | Mr Ted Gardner, Principal Scientist, Qld Department of Natural Resources and Water
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12.50pm | Networking lunch
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1.40pm | From detention to retention – stormwater harvesting
at Fairfield City Council
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• Developing flood mitigation involving stormwater harvesting
• Providing opportunities to retain and reuse stormwater
• The Bonnyrigg Park project
• Illustrating unique varied approaches to stormwater harvesting
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2.10pm | Managing the risk of algal blooms
• An overview of the Warragamba Algae incident
• What are the risks and what do we know about them?
• Looking at the operational response, including contingency planning, resourcing and financial consequences |
| | Mr Graham Begg, Asset Performance Group Manager - Bulk Water Division, Sydney Catchment Authority
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| REGULATION AND PRICING |
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2.20pm | Regulators panel discussion
• Looking at regulation in a short term scarcity environment
• Discussing flexible approaches that protect customers whilst meeting the needs of the industry
• Differences in incentive regulation for government owned businesses |
| | Mr Sean Crees, Director, Regulation (Water), Essential Services Commission of Victoria
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3.20pm | Afternoon tea
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Day Two, Tuesday 26 August Afternoon session
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| URBAN AND RURAL COOPERATION – A FUTURE DIRECTION FOR
THE AUSTRALIAN WATER INDUSTRY |
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3.50pm | Quantifying risk, environmental impacts and community
costs of infrastructure
• Role of sustainability assessment frameworks in making infrastructure decisions
• Selecting quantitative methods for decision making
• Using life cycle assessment, community cost assessment, and risk-cost analysis to depict that decentralised options were the best in this instance
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4.20pm | Panel discussion
A future-proofed Murray Darling Basin – addressing overallocation
• Making the current entitlement and allocation regime robust
• Implementing the resultant change in a just and fair manner
• Retiring non-viable areas – achievements and challenges
• Removing barriers to interstate trade
• Providing a fixed share of available water to irrigators and the environment
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| | Dr Alistair Watson, Freelance Economist, Australian Agricultural & Resource Economics Society Mr Scott Spencer, Director General, Qld Department of Natural Resources and Water Mr Rob O'Neil, Acting Director, Water Planning and Interstate Programs, NSW Department of Water and Energy
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5pm | Chairman’s closing remarks and close of day two
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Day Three, Wednesday 27 August
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8.30am | Registration and welcome coffee
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8.50am | Opening remarks and welcome address from chair
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| SUPPLY AND DEMAND IN MAJOR URBAN CENTRES |
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9am | Changing your business structure to achieve maximum
performance
• What are the key drivers of Dunedin City Council’s water business and how can structure help to focus on what is important?
• What structure is best to deliver capital, asset management, data collection and quality?
• What is the most appropriate model to deliver quality water production, network management and customer quality? |
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9.30am | Developing water markets for greater efficiency Victoria
• Considering economic costs and restrictions
• Reviewing urban water policy directions
• Understanding the need for urban water markets/pricing
• Looking at forms/approaches to diversify urban markets
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| | Mr David Downie, General Manager, Office of Water, Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria
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10am | Panel discussion:
Addressing supply and demand in major urban centres –
issues and challenges
• Managing price increases and customer expectations
• Drought proofing large water users
• New approaches to urban water supply options
• Reviewing water efficiency schemes for new buildings |
| | Mr David Downie, General Manager, Office of Water, Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria Cr Robert Bell, Vice President, Local Government and Shires Association of NSW
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10.40am | Morning tea
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11.10am | Case study:
The Northern Victoria Infrastructure Renewal Project – food bowl modernisation
• Modernising the nation’s food bowl through improved irrigation in northern Victoria
• Sharing savings with urban users
• A three way win – benefiting irrigators, the environment and urban users
• Facilitating a south-east Australian water market
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| | Mr Peter Harris, Secretary, Vic Department of Sustainability and Environment
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| REGIONAL SUPPLY AND DEMAND |
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11.40am | Strategic performance reporting for a regional urban water
corporation
• Using the Balanced Scorecard as a strategic tool to align key strategies and drive performance
• Recognising Western Water as leading water recycling (in % terms) for major water businesses
• Developing best practice greenhouse strategy for a water corporation
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| | Mr Les McLean, General Manager, Commercial Services, Western Water
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12.10pm | Village scale integrated water supply, wastewater
treatment and water recycling – developing a new model
for regional WA
• A vision for more sustainable water systems and infrastructure in developing new settlements in the Margaret River region
• Closed cycle model for water supply, treatment and recycling
• Negotiating the regulatory maze |
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12.40pm | Networking lunch
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1.40pm | The Goldfields Superpipe – responding to drought and
rising demand
• Securing Ballarat and the district’s future water supplies
• Looking at planning, approvals and design
• Buying and selling water entitlements and opportunities to trade excess water back into the market
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2.10pm | Panel discussion:
Factors influencing regional urban supply
• Demand management in times of drought
• Looking at water recycling in regional areas
• Accounting for GHG emissions and assessing the impact of climate change |
| | Mr Les McLean, General Manager, Commercial Services, Western Water
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2.40pm | Panel discussion:
Implications of capacity utilisation and emissions trading
on desalination financing and pricing arrangements
• Recognising the risk that capacity utilisation could be low
• Reflecting this risk in the per unit cost of a desalination plant
• Ensuring the price of water reflects the cost of desalination
• What effect will the carbon cap have on the cost of water from desalination plants?
• How many beer fridges do we need to balance the “bottled electricity” from desalination plants? |
| | Mr Ted Gardner, Principal Scientist, Qld Department of Natural Resources and Water Mr Sean Crees, Director, Regulation (Water), Essential Services Commission of Victoria
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3.20pm | Chairman’s closing remarks and close of conference
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Ken Matthews
Peter Dann