YARRA VALLEY ANNUAL 20 9 REPORT 1 WATER 20 YARRA VALLEY WATER 2 ANNUAL REPORT 2019-20 OUR PURPOSE TO SUPPORT THE HEALTH AND WELLBEING OF OUR CUSTOMERS, AND CREATE A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR COMMUNITIES AND THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF TRADITIONAL OWNERS Yarra Valley Water proudly acknowledges Australia’s first peoples and the people of the Kulin Nations as the original custodians of the land and water on which we rely and operate. We pay our deepest respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge the continued cultural, social and spiritual connections that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have with the lands and waters, and recognise and value that the Traditional Owner groups have cared for and protected them for thousands of generations. We also recognise and value the continuing rich cultures and contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities to the Victorian community. Cover image, PeopleImages, istock photo, uploaded 2019. Photos in this report may have been taken prior to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. YARRA VALLEY WATER ANNUAL REPORT 2019-20 3 OUR ASSETS 10,163 9,943 602 KM OF WATER MAINS KM OF SEWER MAINS KM OF RECYCLED WATER MAINS 44 65 3 WATER SERVICE WATER PUMPING CLASS A RECYCLED RESERVOIRS STATIONS WATER PLANTS 137 104 10 WATER PRESSURE SEWAGE PUMPING SEWAGE TREATMENT REDUCING STATIONS STATIONS PLANTS BILLION IN WASTE TO ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITY $5.3 AND OTHER ASSETS 1 KEY STATISTICS 2M 781,288 58,228 POPULATION SERVED RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES BUSINESS CUSTOMERS YARRA VALLEY WATER 4 ANNUAL REPORT 2019-20 Merri Creek, Brunswick. Image taken March, 2018. YARRA VALLEY WATER ANNUAL REPORT 2019-20 5 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 6 About us 8 1 A message from the Chair and the Managing Director 10 Our strategic context 12 2019-20 HIGHLIGHTS 16 Key initiatives 18 2 Overview of 2019-20 performance 38 DELIVERING VALUE 42 3 OUR LEADERSHIP 44 OUR PEOPLE AND CULTURE 56 LIVEABILITY OUTCOMES 64 Resilient and liveable cities and towns 65 Customer and community outcomes 70 Water for Aboriginal cultural, spiritual and economic values 73 ENVIRONMENTAL OUTCOMES 76 Climate adaptation 76 Bulk entitlements report 78 Greenhouse gas emissions and net energy consumption 80 Other statutory obligations 82 OUR PERFORMANCE 84 4 FINANCIAL REPORT 90 5 DISCLOSURE INDEX 146 YARRA VALLEY WATER 6 ANNUAL REPORT 2019-20 INTRODUCTION Ceres Nursery, Brunswick. Image taken March, 2017. YARRA VALLEY WATER ANNUAL REPORT 2019-20 7 1 INTRODUCTION Ceres Nursery, Brunswick. Image taken March, 2017. 1 YARRA VALLEY WATER 8 ANNUAL REPORT 2019-20 INTRODUCTION ABOUT US Yarra Valley Water delivers essential water and sanitation services to two million people. We are one of Australia’s largest water utilities with more than 30 per cent of Victoria’s population relying on us 24/7. We manage $5.3 billion worth of We have a globally recognised culture and a highly assets across more than 4000 square engaged workforce. In 2019-20 our staff maintained their focus on our purpose: to provide exemplary water kilometres. Our service area covers most and sanitation services that contribute to the health and of Melbourne’s northern and eastern wellbeing of current and future generations. We’ve now suburbs, stretching from Wallan in the completed our 2020 Strategy and are preparing to launch north to Warburton in the east. our 2030 Strategy to steer us through the next decade. We are a statutory corporation, incorporated under We’re future-focused and continually work to anticipate the Water Act 1989, and our activities are overseen by the changing needs of our customers and stay ahead an independent Board of Directors appointed by the of evolving community expectations. We’re shifting to a Victorian Government. regenerative approach in our work to actively contribute to the improvement of the environment we rely on. Our obligations regarding the performance of our functions and the exercise of our statutory powers are We buy bulk water from Melbourne Water which we defined in the Statement of Obligations, issued by the supply to customers. We also take their sewage away. Minister for Water in accordance with Section 4I (2) of Most is sent to Melbourne Water’s Eastern or Western the Water Industry Act 1994. We are required to monitor treatment plants. The rest is treated at our 10 regional compliance with the obligations set out in the statement, treatment plants, several of which produce recycled water report on non-compliance and take remedial action in for use in homes and public spaces. Recycled water is relation to non-compliance. a key initiative to help save precious drinking water and maintain a secure water supply – and we continue to focus During the 2019-20 financial year, we were accountable on expanding its use in the community. to the Minister for Water, the Hon Lisa Neville MP. The Essential Services Commission (ESC) is our economic We generate our own renewable energy from food waste regulator. The ESC’s role includes regulating prices, at our waste to energy plant in Wollert, which now service standards and market conduct across the operates at full capacity. We also create solar energy at Victorian water industry. our staff carpark in Mitcham and at three of our sewage treatment plants. We’re now planning new ways to generate more clean, green energy, including the establishment of a second waste to energy facility in Melbourne’s east to ensure we meet our target of generating 100 per cent of our own energy needs through renewable energy by 2025. YARRA VALLEY WATER ANNUAL REPORT 2019-20 9 1 INTRODUCTION Image taken March, 2018. YARRA VALLEY WATER 10 ANNUAL REPORT 2019-20 INTRODUCTION A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR AND THE MANAGING DIRECTOR We are pleased to present Yarra Valley Water’s Annual Report for the financial year ending 30 June 2020, in accordance with the Financial Management Act 1994. This year was shaped by the Another major focus for us this year has been powerfully unprecedented challenges of coronavirus completing our 2020 strategy while also switching gears to develop our strategic approach for the next decade. (COVID-19) and Australia’s catastrophic Our new 2030 Strategy will see us continue to transform bushfires. During this extraordinary around customers, help communities thrive and elevate period in history, we’ve worked harder our environmental focus, driven by an exceptional than ever to deliver on our customer organisational culture. Being safe and efficient and commitments and obligations. delivering on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals also underpin our future direction. Responding to coronavirus changed the way we work. We made good progress against 2019-20 performance We moved swiftly to manage the impacts and ensure the targets despite challenging and uncertain times. These continued supply of our essential water and sanitation targets are guided by the Statement of Obligations, services. This included protecting our people by moving policy directions set out in the State Government’s Water most offsite to work from home in early March and for Victoria policy and Letter of Expectations, our 2020 participating in an industry-wide response to support Strategy and Price Determination customer commitments. those who needed to continue working in the community. Priority areas in 2019-20 included developing strategies Our customers are at the centre of everything we do to manage the ongoing customer and financial risks and we also reacted quickly and compassionately to the associated with coronavirus, expanding our recycled sudden increase in people who were financially impacted water network, trialling digital meters, planning for our by coronavirus. We’re acutely aware of the ongoing second waste to energy facility to support our emissions hardship facing many of our customers - both residential reduction strategy and keeping bills flat. We’ve also and commercial - and we’re offering extra support and continued to focus on deepening our connection with flexibility to help them manage their bills. We also worked customers, undergoing digital transformation to improve to reassure the community that their water remains safe service response and overall customer experience. to drink and to raise awareness of damaging fatbergs caused by non-flushable products entering the sewer We’re proud to have developed our Stretch Reconciliation system during nationwide toilet paper shortages. Looking Action Plan this year as part of our ongoing journey ahead we will continue to carefully manage the impacts of towards reconciliation and creating a spiritually, socially coronavirus on our customers and our business, and have and emotionally safe workplace for Aboriginal and Torres robust plans in place to manage a gradual transition to new ways of working when the time is right. YARRA VALLEY WATER ANNUAL REPORT 2019-20 11 Strait Islander peoples. Our work this year also focused on We also aim to reduce service failures year on year so expanding partnerships and collaboration with Traditional customers enjoy uninterrupted supply. We have a target of Custodians to deliver water for Aboriginal cultural, less than 0.96 per cent of customers experiencing three or 1 spiritual and economic value. more unplanned water or sewerage service interruptions INTRODUCTION a year. This target is based on a rolling five-year average Other highlights for the year included: to minimise the impact of annual weather variations. This • $246M invested in water and sewerage infrastructure year, due to our service response work and favourable to improve services and support growth weather, 0.91 per cent of customers experienced three or more water and sewerage interruptions. This equates to • Launching community engagement to advance plans 0.98 per cent on a rolling five-year average, which is just for an underground recycled water facility to service shy of our annual target.