ANNUAL REPORT 2020 COLIBAN WATER SERVICE REGION DIAGRAM Cohuna murray river Leitchville Macorna Gunbower Pyramid Hill Echuca Boort Mitiamo Mysia Lockington Jarklin Wychitella Borung Rochester Korong Vale Dingee Serpentine Wedderburn Elmore Raywood avoca river Inglewood Bridgewater Sebastian Goornong campaspe river Marong Bendigo Tarnagulla Bealiba loddon river Axedale Laanecoorie lake eppalock Dunolly Heathcote Maldon Harcourt Tooborac legend Castlemaine Campbells Creek Chewton water supply systems Elphinstone Newstead Fryerstown Taradale campaspe Guildford coliban Malmsbury goulburn malmsbury Kyneton lauriston groundwater upper coliban Tylden loddon murray wimmera Trentham north 08,000 16,000 32,000 sewer metres water scale – 1:650,000 non potable water (untreated) recycled water Disclaimer: This illustration is provided as a guide only. Coliban Water reserves the right to alter information at any time. © v5 210914 Coliban Water. INTRODUCTION ABOUT THIS REPORT CONTENTS This Annual Report describes the programs, initiatives and actions Coliban Water Service Region Diagram Inside front cover we undertook between 1 July 2019 and 30 June 2020. Coliban Water Rural System Diagram Inside back cover It reports on our progress in implementing our 2019/20 Introduction 1 Corporate Plan. Chairperson and Managing Director’s Report 3 VISION Our Strategic Vision 4 Water to Live, Grow and Enjoy. Customers and Community Engagement 6 Water Security 10 PURPOSE Capital Projects 16 We deliver water services for community needs now and into Water Quality and Reliability 18 the future. Wastewater System 24 OUR PROFILE People and Development 27 Coliban Region Water Authority was established on 1 July 1992 Environment and Sustainability 30 under the Water Act 1989 (Vic) (the Act) as a Regional Urban Water Social Sustainability 36 Authority. The Authority became the Coliban Region Water Social Procurement 38 Corporation on 1 July 2007 and operates as Coliban Water. Our shareholder is the Victorian Government. Our responsible Minister Governance and Risk 42 for the period of 1 July 2019 until 30 June 2020 was The Hon. Lisa Statutory Performance 49 Neville MP, Minister for Water. Performance Report 53 SERVICES Independent Auditor’s Report 57 We provide urban water and wastewater services in accordance Disclosure Index 59 with the provisions of Part 8 – Water supply and Part 9 – Financial Performance Summary 61 Sewerage, of the Water Act 1989 (Vic). Rural customers are supplied under Part 4 Division 2 Section 51 of the Act. Financial Overview 62 Our services include: Understanding the Financial Statements 64 > Water harvesting Financial Statements 65 > Water storage Notes to the Financial Statements 71 > Water treatment Independent Auditor’s Report 122 > Water distribution > Urban wastewater collection > Treatment, re-use and disposal, including trade waste > Water purchase > Recycled water > Rural water supply ABORIGINAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Coliban Water proudly acknowledges our region’s Aboriginal community and their rich culture and pays respect to their Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge Aboriginal people as Australia’s first peoples and as the Traditional Owners and custodians of the land and water on which we rely. We recognise and value the ongoing contribution of Aboriginal people and communities to Victorian life and how this enriches us. We embrace the spirit of reconciliation, working towards the equality of outcomes and ensuring an equal voice. COLIBAN WATER | ANNUAL REPORT | 2019–2020 PAGE | 1 ASSET SNAPSHOT THE ASSETS WE MANAGE TO DELIVER OUR SERVICES INCLUDE: 504 KILOMETRES OF NET BOOK VALUE OF RURAL CHANNELS INFRASTRUCTURE ASSETS, $1.57 AND PIPELINES 2014 PROPERTY, PLANT AND BILLION KILOMETRES OF RAW WATER RESERVOIRS EQUIPMENT OF SEWER MAINS 34 AND SERVICE BASINS 2378 KILOMETRES OF WATER MAINS (POTABLE AND NON-POTABLE) WATER WASTEWATER PUMP 180 PUMP STATIONS 70 STATIONS 147 KILOMETRES OF WATER WATER DISTRIBUTION RECLAMATION PLANTS WATER ONE RECYCLED PIPELINES AND PLUS TWO OPERATED BY ETE TREATMENT CHANNEL SYSTEM COLIBAN PTY LTD (ECHUCA AND PLANTS WATER FACTORY ROCHESTER) AS A BOOT1 PARTNER 16 INCLUDES 48 KILOMETRES 14 PLUS THREE OPERATED 57 OF JOINT OWNED AND BY VEOLIA WATER KILOMETRES OF OPERATED PIPELINE (BENDIGO, CASTLEMAINE RECYCLED WATER WITH CENTRAL AND KYNETON) AS A INFRASTRUCTURE HIGHLANDS WATER BOOT1 PARTNER (1) BOOT – Build Own Operate Transfer. These assets are owned by our BOOT partners. OUR RESPONSE TO CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) As an essential service, we acted swiftly, safely and responsibly to > making alterations to our office spaces including sanitiser help prevent the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). We set up an stations, perspex guards, floor markings to encourage Incident Management Team (IMT) on 12 March 2020 to lead our physical distancing, room capacity reductions and health and COVID-19 response and preparedness activities; this incident safety signage. team remains in place at the time of this report. For customers, we: Key actions in our response to COVID-19 included: > extended our hardship provisions > ceasing non-essential travel for staff > offered financial counselling > introducing pandemic leave for staff > communicated to our communities, digitally and in print, > moving our workforce to work from home; on average, about details of available services and that we were here to help 80 per cent of our staff are working from home with only 5 per > moved customer engagement sessions online cent working from their regular office or site > used our digital channels to communicate the government’s > mobilising a Business Recovery Team on 8 April 2020 to messaging and keep our communities up to date with any consider and plan how we can safely return staff to the new restrictions to activities on our reservoirs or general service normal when restrictions ease whilst ensuring continued and information. enhanced customer and community outcomes For suppliers and contractors, we: > ensuring all staff who work in our community have appropriate PPE including facemasks and hand sanitiser > implemented paying contactor and supplier invoices in less than 10 business days to ensure cashflow. > closed our front counter and reservoirs to public in line with restrictions We have persisted throughout this pandemic to work hard to > introducing staff support and wellbeing checks support our customers and our communities who rely on us to provide essential water and wastewater services. > introducing a Work Status System to track which locations staff are working from PAGE | 2 COLIBAN WATER | ANNUAL REPORT | 2019–2020 CHAIRPERSON AND MANAGING DIRECTOR’S REPORT On behalf of Coliban Water, we are pleased to share our Annual Report A total of $27.6 million was invested through our capital works for the 2019/20 financial year. This report describes our business program across our region to improve services to our customers, performance throughout the year including our audited financial upgrade recreational facilities and improve safety and environmental statements and statutory disclosures. performance. Some of our main achievements were the construction of We would like to firstly acknowledge that since the dawn of time, approximately 10 kilometres of sewer network in Heathcote to connect Aboriginal people have been custodians of the catchments that nourish over 200 properties as well as the upgrade of the Heathcote Water and underpin central Victorian communities. Coliban Water is strongly Treatment Plant to improve water quality. committed to reconciliation and continuing to strengthen our relationships We commenced delivery of a $15-17 million investment in upgrades at with the Traditional Owners of our region. We continue to actively the Kyneton Water Reclamation Plant in partnership with Hardwick connect, establish and build relationships that support Traditional Meatworks that aims to serve the region until 2040. Phase 1 of the Owner aspirations. We continue to work closely with the Dja Dja Wurrung project delivered a series of improved treatment processes including Clans Aboriginal Corporation to deliver projects in partnership. This year lagoons as well as tanks for the storage of class B recycled water to be a new shelter, known as a Mayam, was designed by Djandak (the used for irrigation in local agriculture. We delivered Phase 1 on time and commercial arm of Dja Dja Wurrung) and constructed at the Upper within budget in March 2020. We are well advanced and on track to Coliban Reservoir near Kyneton. The project also included installation deliver Phase 2 in December 2020. These capital works were also of seating, paths and landscaping adjacent to the spillway and complemented with the completion of the huge investment of $1.8 interpretive signage. We see this project as a fantastic opportunity to million in river health improvement works. This included 12 kilometres support Dja Dja Wurrung in connecting with visitors to water storages of fencing and 15 hectares of revegetation in the Campaspe River with and continuing to build knowledge about the region’s Traditional Owners. works completed on our behalf by North Central Catchment We welcomed Damian Wells as our new Managing Director in August Management Authority with whom we also partner in the Healthy Coliban 2019 and thanked Neville Pearce who acted in the role following the Catchments project to deliver fantastic environmental outcomes. departure of Jeff Rigby until Damian’s commencement in October 2019. We also continue along the path toward achieving zero