Encourage greater collaboration

About collaboration in Water Utilities

This focus area intends to encourage greater collaboration between local water utilities in regional NSW by:

Connecting utilities facing similar issues so they can share insights and learnings and facilitate knowledge capture across the sector providing clearer guidance on potential opportunities and incentives for utilities to explore regional collaboration
Investigating and implementing further options to encourage a greater focus on joint and regional solutions in utility strategic planning and facilitate improved resource sharing between utilities
Developing and implementing mechanisms to ensure regional water strategies and utility strategic service planning inform each other and effectively align their modelling, risk and options analyses where these relate to town water supplies.

We engaged extensively to better understand successful existing collaborative approaches and opportunities for utilities to participate in collaboration. This included a series of face-to-face meetings and workshops in mid-2021 with key stakeholders (including various Joint Organisations of Councils and the NSW Water Directorate), and an online workshop in August 2021 with over 70 participants from across the sector.

Pilots

We have established a range of pilots to evaluate and test collaborative approaches to reduce risks in key areas identified in through the engagement process, including:

Councils/local water utilities involved	Scope
Namoi Joint Organisation Gunnedah Shire Council Gwydir Shire Council Liverpool Plains Shire Council Tamworth Regional Council Walcha Council and Warrumbungle Shire Council	Trade waste audit and development of shared service business case for the consideration of participating councils.
Kempsey Shire, Mid-Coast, Nambucca Shire and Port Macquarie Hastings Councils	Reduce asset management risks through a shared asset management gap analysis and capacity building process.
Orana Water Utilities Alliance Bogan Shire Council Bourke Shire Council Brewarrina Shire Council Cobar Shire Council Coonamble Shire Council Gilgandra Shire Council Mid-Western Regional Council Narromine Shire Council Walgett Shire Council Warren Shire Council Warrumbungle Shire Council	Skills and training pilot to: Reduce water quality, environment and operational risks Mapping competencies and skills for operators across the urban water cycle Develop training needs analysis for each utility in Alliance to identify training gaps and attracting training providers Develop template for other utilities to self-determine training needs.
Canberra Region Joint Organisation Bega Valley Shire Council Eurobodalla Shire Council Goulburn Mulwaree Regional Council Hilltops Council Queanbeyan Palerang Regional Snowy Monaro Regional Council Snowy Valleys Council Upper Lachlan Shire Council Wingecarribee Shire Council Yass Valley Council	Established a Water Utilities Working Group, with an opt-in model.
Bourke and Cobar Shire Councils	Test remote communication technology as a way of supporting local water utility operations. TWRRP has funded an external contractor to provide this support on a trial basis.

The pilots will be evaluated later in 2022 and will inform future opportunities and incentives developed by the department for utilities to explore regional collaboration. We will also make further guidance on regional collaboration available by the end of 2022.

Map showing location of the regional pilots.

View higher resolution of map showing location of regional pilots.