Educational materials for Councillors

Councillor awareness and training

Councillors, as key decision-makers, play a vital role in ensuring essential services of safe and secure water supply and sewerage to their communities now and into the future.

Feedback from local governments led to the development of a range of materials to raise awareness of the risks in water management and the roles and responsibilities for councillors and other decision makers in regional NSW water utilities.

These materials were developed under the Town Water Risk Reduction Program in 2021 and have been updated following the 2024 NSW local government elections.

The materials include the Water Industry Handbook – Executive Version for Councillors , the accompanying Water Industry Handbook – Full version (expected in February 2025), an induction webinar for newly elected councillors “Town Water Services: a Councillor’s responsibility” (expected in February 2025) and six case studies.

Councillor induction webinar

New and experienced councillors are encouraged to watch the forthcoming webinar, on Thursday 20 February 2025 at 4pm – 6pm as part of the Office of Local Government’s Hit the Ground Running. This webinar focuses on the importance of water services to regional communities, the role and responsibilities of councillors, and the regulatory requirements regarding local water utilities.

Video series

Role and responsibilities of councillors in regional NSW local water utilities

Mayors and councillors from regional NSW Council-owned local water utilities share their experiences and insights on the importance of water management.

Visit the video series

Water Industry Handbook for decision-makers

The handbook is a resource for decision makers operating in a regional Council-owned local water utility.

There are two version of the handbook:

• the Executive Version, targeted for Councillors and containing key, high-level messages and questions for support Councillors understanding and engaging with their LWU business, and
• the Full Version, which expands on the key-messages from the Executive Version and provides further in-depth information on the LWU business (expected February 2025)

The handbooks are designed to support councillors, water managers, and decision makers understand the services of their local water utility. The handbooks focus on the roles and responsibilities of Councillors and councils for the provision of water supply and sewerage services and explain the regulatory frameworks that apply to the provision of these services, in particular the Regulatory and Assurance Framework for Local Water Utilities.