WaterStart welcomes Seqwater as the latest addition to its membership. 

Seqwater is the Queensland Bulk Water Supply Authority, providing safe, reliable and affordable drinking water supply for 3.2 million people across South East Queensland. 

The bulk water authority’s assets stretch across the geographically diverse terrain from Gympie to the New South Wales border, and west to the base of the Toowoomba ranges with over 600km of pipeline.

Seqwater has a robust plan to safeguard water sources to meet the future needs of South East Queensland in a changing climate. A resilient water supply is delivered through 1.6 Million Ha of catchment and Australia’s first Water Grid including 26 dams, 36 conventional water treatment plants, 3 purified recycled water treatment plants and 1 desalination plant.

The planning of future infrastructure must be done alongside augmenting existing infrastructure needed today, presenting short and long-term challenges.

“I am excited to work with the fantastic team at Seqwater to recruit cutting-edge technology to their essential services,” said Nathan Allen, WaterStart Executive Director. “Innovation is a critical undertaking at Seqwater whose asset management plans stretch over thirty years into the future. Technology is constantly changing, and we will help them to harness the most effective applications today.”

“We are discussing new solutions using enhanced predictive analytics and automated asset monitoring that will help Seqwater sustain the SEQ community and region with its water security program. WaterStart focuses on operational innovation that will provide immediate benefits to Seqwater’s water efficiency and management of their extensive supply network.”

Seqwater’s Chief Executive Officer, Neil Brennan, said the WaterStart partnership offered the opportunity to work with its retail customers in South East Queensland to identify common challenges and potential solutions, not only for SEQ but water providers across Queensland.

“One of the big attractions of working with WaterStart is the opportunity to leverage of technology solutions which have already been piloted, proven and implemented by WaterStart and its members in the United States,’’ Mr Brennan said.

Mr Brennan said Seqwater was responsible for SEQ’s long-term water supply and meeting the challenges associated with that obligation.

“Innovation is the key to working smarter, operating our water supply more efficiently and meeting the challenges of climate change and population growth as we plan for our region’s future,’’ he said.

“Across the water sector there are a range of similar issues and challenges we all face. Our aim is to ensure that the outcomes of technology pilots and solutions identified are shared across Queensland, particularly in the smaller regional communities that may not have the resources to participate directly.

“The innovation we identify and implement, we want to be able to share for the betterment of the water sector across Queensland. The WaterStart platform will allow us to do just that.’’