State and local government partnership delivering dependable water services for regional NSW
In a huge win for country NSW, phase 2 of the state government’s $32.8 million Town Water Risk Reduction Program has been extended to June 2025, locking in vital tools to ensure at-risk communities can continue to rely on clean and dependable water services.
Since 2021, the program has partnered with more than 90 regional councils and local water utilities (LWUs) and supported them to tackle the most severe risks to town water.
The program:
- Supports LWUs during emergencies like droughts, bushfires and floods, ensuring they can continue to deliver safe and secure town water
- Addresses critical skill shortages and boosts training and employment opportunities in the sector for school leavers, Aboriginal students and existing water operators, in partnership with Training Services NSW
- Helps LWUs optimise the performance of high-risk water treatment infrastructure, in partnership with NSW Health
- Enables LWUs to improve dam safety and address water quality issues, in partnership with WaterNSW
The program extension means even more time to deliver these essential support services, and the opportunity to add additional initiatives to the mix, at no extra cost.
These include:
- Extending on-site water treatment plant support, which will help LWUs invest in more skilled operators, develop new staff support tools and improve their operations
- Leveraging tools to increase training and employment opportunities in the sector
- Responding to the findings of the parliamentary inquiry into protecting LWUs from privatisation, which will inform new ways to support the industry
The time extension also allows us to continue to collaborate with councils and partner agencies, include more high-risk LWUs in the program, and identify and address more potential risks to town water.
The additional six months will allow us to deliver critical work which will inform the program’s potential future beyond 2025.
NSW DCCEEW Executive Director of Operations Resilience, Ashraf El-Sherbini, said:
“The Town Water Risk Reduction Program has already kicked major goals, enabling councils and local water utilities to plan and deliver robust, world-class water and sewerage services across our state.”
“Under the program, we’ve already rolled out $1.5 million worth of grants to 10 regional councils, allowing them to upgrade their water treatment plant infrastructure and boost drinking water quality.”
“We’ve also delivered a series of incident and emergency response workshops to provide essential training to water operators to prepare for natural disasters.”
“Extending the program to June 2025 is fantastic news. It means we can continue supporting the state’s most at-risk communities, and we can deliver even more tools to get the job done.”
“Everyone in NSW deserves clean, quality drinking water, which is why we’re charging ahead with this crucial work.”
