As the year comes to an end, the department's local water utilities branch would like to express gratitude for your work to ensure safe and secure drinking water for communities across NSW.

We take pride in what we have achieved together this year. Here’s a summary of our accomplishments in 2023.

•    Completed 328 inspections of water, wastewater and fluoridation plants, providing recommendation reports.
•    Received 23 applications for Section 60 approval to construct water and wastewater treatment works.
•    Received 106 applications for concurrence to trade waste approvals across regional NSW.
•    Worked with 50 local government areas, supporting the preparation of water and wastewater strategic plans.
•    Offered technical design advice for 43 new water, wastewater and recycled water treatment plants.
•    Provided specialist technical advice to solve operational problems at 21 water and wastewater treatment plants. 
•    Delivered training to 312 new employees in water, wastewater treatment plant operations and trade waste.
•    Held 3 incident and emergency workshops to support staff to better prepare for emergencies such as floods, droughts and bushfires.
•    Hosted a careers showcase day in Tamworth to raise awareness of water operations careers.

We look forward to continuing this important work together in 2024.  

Jane Shepherd 
Director Local Water Utilities
Department of Planning and Environment

Starting on 1 January 2024, the Department of Planning and Environment will become the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

Despite the new department name, the same people and teams you have come to know and connect with will remain, and the important work we do together will continue. 

In November, we held incident and emergency workshops to train staff, including local water utilities and council managers, to better prepare for emergencies such as floods, droughts and bushfires. 

The goal of the training was to ensure water and sewerage services are protected during emergencies. It aimed to support councils and local water utilities in conducting emergency training exercises with their staff to better prepare for real incidents. This will ensure communities can rely on safe and secure drinking water during emergency events. Over 30 councils and local water utilities across regional NSW attended the workshops held in Orange, Queanbeyan, and Coffs Harbour. Participants worked in groups to develop scenarios and emergency training exercises.

The workshops are part of Phase 2 of the Town Water Risk Reduction Program, which is investing up to $32.8 million to support local governments tackle the most severe town water risks. 

Read more about the Town Water Risk Reduction Program on the website. 

Local water utilities that took part in our Active Leak Detection Project can provide feedback about how the project has impacted their local water utility. 

Since the project began in 2022, leak detectors have surveyed 12,300 km of water mains across 54 regional councils, identifying 7,800 ML/year of network leaks with 5,300 ML/year fixed to date. 

Feedback from participating local water utilities may help secure funding for future phases of this important project. 

To provide feedback, complete this online form by Monday 29 January 2024 at 5 pm (AEDT).  

The NSW Government recently released the Coastal Floodplain Drainage Options Report. In early 2024, the department will seek feedback from the public through a consultation process. Dates of the consultation will be announced in the new year. 

The report outlines 6 options to improve the rules for managing coastal agricultural drainage works in NSW by: 
•    addressing the complexity, time and costs involved with the approvals process
•    reducing the impact on downstream water quality, aquatic ecosystems, communities and industries. 

The report was developed by the Coastal Floodplain Drainage Project’s interagency working group. The group is led by the department’s Water Group, with representatives from the Planning, Crown Lands, and Environment and Heritage divisions, and the Department of Primary Industries – Fisheries. 

The report’s focus is NSW coastal floodplains with extensive agricultural drainage systems, including the Tweed, Richmond, Clarence, Macleay, Hastings, Manning and Shoalhaven rivers.  

To read the report and find out more about the project, visit the Coastal Floodplain Drainage Project page. 

The Water Group lead the implementation of a wide range of strategies including the NSW Water Strategy, NSW Groundwater Strategy, 9 regional water strategies, and 2 metropolitan strategies.

To make it easy for you to stay up to date on the department’s progress, the reports are now available in one location on the website, where the Water Group will report annually on key achievements and challenges from the water strategies being implemented.

The water strategies are being implemented by delivery partners including NSW government agencies, state-owned corporations, local government and independent authorities. Our focus to date is on projects that build capacity across the water sector so that we can better respond to emerging issues. 

Read more about what has been achieved in each region in the 2022-23 Annual progress report.
 

We oversee the delivery of water and sewerage services by local water utilities, as well as the management of water service risks. Visit the local water utilities website for more information.