After a year that will be remembered for some of the biggest flooding in living memory, Coliban Water will continue its focus in 2023 on recovery and rebuild plans for water and sewer infrastructure.
Managing Director Damian Wells said supporting customers, whilst maintaining core services, remained the organisation’s focus.
“Our core business is to provide safe drinking water and sewer services for our communities, for both public health and environmental protection.
“The 2022 flood event impacted so many of our communities. I’ve witnessed incredible acts of kindness and community groups rallying to support one another.
“I’m also proud of the enormous efforts of the Coliban Water team to restore essential services as quickly as possible for flood-affected communities,” he said.
A range of Coliban Water assets were damaged during the floods. Sewer pump stations were submerged, electrical assets damaged, and parts of the rural channel network eroded or collapsed. In some towns, flood walls, which were installed at water treatment plants after the 2011 floods, were put to the test.
Emergency earth works were carried out to protect infrastructure around many critical water services.
“We're focused now on the principle of ‘Build Back Better’ to ensure climate resilience and better outcomes for our communities,” Mr Wells said.
“This is an exciting opportunity to invest in our infrastructure as we rebuild to save money and ensure service continuity in the long run.”
Despite flood waters receding, the current poor quality of the raw water in rivers, streams and channels is posing an issue for Coliban Water in parts of the region this summer.
“With warmer temperatures, elevated levels of organic content and other contaminants in the raw water mean our water treatment plants are currently working harder and taking longer than usual to process and treat drinking water.
“We ask customers to be patient as we work through these issues. To stay informed about what’s happening in your town visit our website at www.coliban.com.au. Information about water quality, our flood recovery and rebuild can be found at www.connect.coliban.com.au.
We’re here to help
“Bill relief has been provided to ease the burden for flood-impacted customers, and we know the communities of Rochester and Echuca have been particularly hard hit.
“A bill credit has been automatically applied for eligible accounts,” Mr Wells said.
“We offer a range of ongoing payment support to assist customers with their bills, including concessions, flexible payment options, financial counselling and a community rebate program.”
During the year, Coliban Water assisted customers with more than 12,000 payment plans and more than 1,300 hardship payments.
Hearing from our customers and communities
Every five years Coliban Water submits information about pricing and services to the Essential Services Commission, and so the finalisation of its Pricing Submission was a major focus in 2022.
“This involved extensive consultation with our customers and communities,” Mr Wells said.
“We heard from customers that some things are not negotiable when it comes to essential water and sewerage services.
“You want to know we're delivering water and sewerage services you can trust, particularly when they’re impacted by floods, droughts and a changing climate. You want us to be easy to deal with. You think we have a responsibility to enhance the environment. You want smooth prices that are fair for everyone. And you want us to help make our region a better place to live.
“We’ve heard this feedback and we have shaped our plans and pricing for the next five years to deliver on these priorities,” he said.
In terms of customer interactions, during the past year Coliban Water received more than 52,000 phone calls from customers. We received approximately 10,000 online forms from the community.
“We continued our program of Community Pop Ups, interacting with customers from 119 schools, 26 individual communities, and at a large number of events and community groups.
“Our Community Pop Ups provide customers with an opportunity to speak with us about their water and sewerage services. We love getting out into the community and speaking one-on-one with customers,” Mr Wells said.
Our rural network
Coliban Water’s 2022-23 rural season started later than usual last year (19 December) after the high spring rainfall and recent flood events.
During the 2021-22 season, more than 3,000 megalitres of water (equivalent to 1,200 Olympic size swimming pools of water) was delivered via our rural network to more than 900 licence holders.
This included 2,171 megalitres delivered through the channel network and 940 megalitres to customers on our channel systems.
Upgrading our assets and infrastructure
A number of key construction projects made significant progress during 2022 and will be due for completion early this year.
Construction began last July on the Kyneton Recycled Water Irrigation Scheme, a 14-kilometre pipeline designed to boost agricultural production in our region.
“This is the final stage of our $17 million Kyneton Solutions Project. This pipeline is a smart use of recycled water and demonstrates our commitment to sustainability in the long term,” Mr Wells said.
The five-kilometre Epsom-Huntly Pipeline began in construction last May, which will connect and boost water pressure in the network for these growing Bendigo suburbs.
In Echuca, a $9 million upgrade of Echuca Water Treatment Plant has restarted after delays. This was due to flooding, which restricted access to the works. When complete, the upgrade will improve capacity, storage and disinfection at the plant.
Looking ahead to 2023 and beyond
Mr Wells said this year would see a continuation of planning and delivery for an ambitious investment program.
“We will continue to invest in our people, assets and systems to provide value for our customers and allow communities to prosper.
“I am proud of the work we have done in 2022 and I know we have laid the foundations to successfully serve our communities during 2023 and beyond,” Mr Wells said.
Last updated on 10 Jan 2023