The event is complete. Presentations are available for participants and qldwater members by clicking on the hyperlinks against each speaker in the presentations. 

The 2018 qldwater Annual Forum takes place over two days 5 and 6 September 2018.   The focus of the forum is on creating an environment with regulators and other decision makers which enables innovation, encouraging members to trial new ideas and deliver the most efficient and cost-effective outcomes for customers.  A full program outline is available under the program tab with some highligthts listed below.

If you haven’t been to our annual forum or innovation forum before, here’s what you can hope to expect from this one:

 In General

A chance to network with 80-100 water industry professionals, typically including 30+ councils/ utilities.

5 September

A great opportunity to visit some key Commonwealth Games sites and hear about the technical as well as the strategic, including the legacy the Games has left for the city and its water and sewerage services.  The focus is on the Gold Coast and our kind host, the City of Gold Coast and a range of innovative activities, and finishes with a dinner.

6 September

• A keynote from the Productivity Commission discussing the recommendations of the National Water Reform – Inquiry Report 2017 followed by a panel discussion on Strategic Sector-Wide Investment – examining what needs to change to deliver sustainable levels of service and respond to both existing challenges and those expressed by the Commission.
• Data transforming the Water Sector – the Queensland industry has driven its own voluntary benchmarking for some time and competition by comparison is arguably seen as essential to our future.  It’s time to discuss what the next stage of evolution of our voluntary benchmarking should be.
• Catchment resilience in a changing environment – an examination of the future stewardship of wastewater treatment considering key drivers like Reef policy, with the Department of Environment and Science.
• Next gen water – a look at one collaborative approach to build uptake of smart water initiatives.
• Resource recovery and renewables – several thought-provoking speakers examining the future of resource recovery and reuse – including energy production, recycled water and biosolids.
• Understanding and exceeding customer expectations – a case study looking at the work of the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities and Townsville’s plans to move to a water sensitive future.
• Small, remote and nimble – looking at futures for regional and remote communities through the lens of the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy’s sustainability work.

This event is not your typical conference.  There is no call for papers – the sessions are sourced based on the work of our Technical Reference Group and the issues that group has identified as being of strategic importance for our industry.  We work hard to develop a program which engages both our industry and key regulatory agencies to proactively address our challenges.

It will be relaxed, informative and thought-provoking and the Gold Coast in September is a great place to be.  We look forward to seeing you there.

QWRCIP Scholarships

Applications for QWRCIP Scholarships are open.  The opportunity was available for employees of qldwater members with fewer than 10,000 connections and two participants have been accepted for the inaugral Scholarships.

The participants will travel to Brisbane for the week of 4 – 8 September and take part in:      

More information on future Scholarships can be requested by emailing enquiry@qldwater.com.au.