QLD Water Regional Alliance Program

The LGAQ and Queensland Water Directorate (qldwater) have partnered with the Queensland State Government (Department of Energy and Water Supply (DEWS) to develop the Queensland Water Regional Alliance Program (QWRAP). The objective of this project is to investigate opportunities for collaboration between regional water service providers. The Whitsunday Region is one of four pilot regions for the Q-WRAP program.

Representatives of the three councils have formed the WIM Water Alliance which meets on a quarterly basis. A regional forum is held annually to extend knowledge of an involvement in the Alliance beyond the immediate Alliance membership.

Key activities for 2016-17 were:

• Risk Profile workshop held November 2016.  Agreement was reached on a common Risk Framework as a regional approach.  A range of actions and opportunities were identified that will be progressed through the WIM Water Alliance. Likelihood and consequences definition and a risk matrix were produced.  Key risks were identified in three groups 
  • Network/Operations, 
  • Treatment and 
  • Planning/renewals.                   
• Regional Forum was held in Cannonvale in November 2016 with 24 attendees.  
  
• Completion of an ISO 55000 readiness project which provided a comparison of the "ISO Readiness" assessments undertaken for the three water entities and developed a  road map for a more collaborative approach to developing the water services asset management capability across the region.
  
• Environmental Offsets Workshop held May 2017 to explore opportunities and barriers to the adoption of nutrient offsets policy within the region.