Program focus areas

Gum trees by the banks of the Nimmie-Caira.

The department has proposed five high-level focus areas for the Town Water Risk Reduction Program. We intend to refine these based on input from the water sector, and then establish a process for ongoing collaboration to design more detailed solutions. The proposed focus areas for the program are:

Improve the regulatory framework

We will partner with the sector to develop and implement an improved regulatory framework for Local Water Utility strategic planning, pricing and major asset approvals.

Encourage greater collaboration

We will ensure better linkages between strategic water management planning layers (e.g. Integrated Water Cycle Management, Regional Water Strategies etc).

Facilitate greater state government support

We will explore how the capabilities and scale of State-Owned Corporations (SOCs) and the Department could be better leveraged to address Local Water Utility challenges.

Review of skills shortages

We will partner with key stakeholders and co-regulators to design and conduct a review to identify any critical skills shortages in the sector, and develop options to address these.

Investigate alternative funding models

We will work with the sector to explore the pros and cons of alternative funding models, including a needs-based Community Service Obligation (CSO) funding model.