Annual Report 2004/2005 Lower Murray Water Annual Report 2004/05 Lower Murray Water Lower Murray Water “Make Every Drop Count” Mildura (Head Office) Irymple (Area Office) Swan Hill (Area Office) Robinvale (Area Office) Kerang (Area Office) 741-759 Fourteenth Street 2115 - 2117 Fifteenth Street 73 Beveridge Street 37 Moore Street 56 Wellington Street PO Box 1438 PO Box 1438 PO Box 1447 PO Box 600 PO Box 547 Mildura, 3502 Mildura, 3502 Swan Hill, 3585 Robinvale, 3549 Kerang, 3579 Telephone: (03) 5051 3400 Telephone: (03) 5051 3400 Telephone: (03) 5036 2150 Telephone: (03) 5026 1300 Telephone: (03) 5450 3960 Facsimile: (03) 5051 3480 Facsimile: (03) 5021 9778 Facsimile: (03) 5036 2180 Facsimile: (03) 5026 1106 Facsimile: (03) 5450 3967 Web: lmw.vic.gov.au Email: [email protected] L.M.W. ANN REPORT CVR OUTPUT 7/10/05 9:25 AM Page 2 Our Establishment Lower Murray Urban and Rural Water Authority was created under the provisions of the Contents Water Act 1989 via Order in Council effective 1st July 2004. It assumed the whole of Our Profile 1 the property, rights, liabilities, obligations, powers and functions under the Water Act 1989 The Chair's Overview 2 of the Lower Murray Region Water Authority and Sunraysia Rural Water Authority. The Chief Executive Officer’s Review 3 The Authority reports to the Minister for Water, The Hon. John Thwaites MP. Our Board 4 Our Organisational Chart 7 Our Objectives 8 Our Works 10 Our Services Our Customers 18 In accordance with the Water Act 1989, Our Commitment to our Region 20 Lower Murray Water provides: Our Environment 24 • urban water and wastewater services to 14 townships Our People 28 and approximately 60,000 customers along the Murray • drainage design in new agricultural developments to River in Victoria from Kerang to Mildura; ensure conformity with salinity management plan Our Financial Management 30 development guidelines; Our Service Delivery 32 • wastewater collection, treatment and effluent disposal Performance Indicators services to 11 towns via 10 treatment plants; • support for the design, implementation, operation and maintenance of works initiated by the Mallee Catchment Our Transfer of Water Rights, 33 • river quality water services to 305 stock, 850 garden Management Authority; Licences and Sales Water, and 1,350 irrigation customers in the three pumped Irrigation Water Usage and irrigation districts of Merbein, Red Cliffs and Robinvale, • management of the private diversion licences of 1,059 Licence Entitlements the Millewa rural district and some areas of the water users along the Murray River in Victoria between Reportable Information 36 Nyah West and the South Australian border; and waterworks districts of Carwarp and Yelta; Disclosure Index 37 • management of the region’s rural bulk water entitlement • the assessment and approval of permanent and Financials 39 of 347,337 ML; temporary water trade applications. Our Performance Reporting 2004/05 68 • for the collection and disposal of subsurface drainage As well as security of supply, public health, water quality water from the three pumped irrigation districts, and environmental responsibilities, Lower Murray Water Cover: The Murray River at Red Cliffs, Victoria Nangiloc, Robinvale diverters and Boundary Bend; recognises the crucial economic role of water from a regional and state context. Our Region Mildura NSW SA Murray River Lindsay Point VIC Merbein Mildura Irymple Bendigo Red Cliffs NSW Werrimull Ballarat Melbourne Nangiloc Robinvale Extent of Lower Murray Water Boundary Bend Area SA Wemen Ouyen Piangil Nyah Nyah West Woorinen Legend Murray River Vic Swan Hill Lake Boga Urban Water Services Murrabit Urban Wastewater Services Koondrook Kerang Rural Irrigation Services Rural Drainage Services Rural Stock Supply N Private Diverters Sunrise over the storage lagoon at Lower Murray Water Mildura Wastewater Treatment Plant Annual Report 2004/2005 Performance Summary Our Profile Sprinkler irrigation for horticulture Our Vision Our Goals Vital Resource: Vital Service 1. Quality Services Delivery: To provide high quality drinking water, wastewater, irrigation, drainage Managing our water resources responsibly to promote the economic and and water recycling services to our customers. social advancement of our region, whilst protecting our environment. 2. Positive Customer and Stakeholder Relationships: Our Core Business To maintain positive relationships and communications with rural and urban customers, government and other stakeholders. Our core business is to meet the present and future needs of our customers and community by providing reliable and secure 3. Building a Prosperous Region: water services. To contribute to the economic, social and cultural development of the region and ensure the security of the community’s collective Our Region water resource. Lower Murray Water’s area of operation extends from Kerang to the South 4. Sustainability of Our Environment: Australian border taking in the municipalities of Mildura, Swan Hill and To plan and manage all our operations in an environmentally Gannawarra. The Authority provides the region with urban water and responsible and sustainable manner. wastewater services, treatment and effluent disposal services, river 5. Motivated and Empowered People: quality water to stock, garden and irrigation customers, along with the To maintain a quality, appropriately skilled and committed workforce. collection and disposal of subsurface irrigation drainage water. 6. Efficient Financial and Asset Management: Lower Murray Water recognises that our overall well-being and livelihood To manage the Authority’s assets and financial resources responsibly. is directly linked to the agricultural, tourism and support industries which form our economic backbone. 7. Responsible Corporate Governance: To manage our business affairs in a manner consistent with the best How we manage our water resources recognises the intrinsic interrelation standards of corporate governance. between this resource and the social and economic fabric of our region. Lower Murray Water Annual Report 2004/2005 1 OurChairandCEO The Chair’s Overview It is with pleasure that I report on the first twelve months of operation of the new Lower Murray Urban and Rural Water Authority. The initial challenge faced by the new Board in “getting its feet under the table” was an appraisal and prioritisation of the many and varied issues facing the merged Authority. By hastening slowly with this process we were able to assemble an appropriate management team who then participated in the development of a five year strategic plan during the later half of this first term. The body of this report is framed around progress against this plan. While eager to generate early achievements the Board has been prudent in building a solid platform for the new Authority upon which we can both strategically plan and deliver. The Authority was required to undertake an asset revaluation in 2004/05 and engaged independent valuers to undertake this work. The result is that the Authority’s infrastructure assets increased by 68% with fixed assets now $440M. As a consequence there is a $6M increase in depreciation, which has impacted and resulted in an accounting pre-tax operating loss of $2.6M for 2004/05. Pleasingly we have seen significant recurrent cost removal from the new entity. This will offset the merger set up costs in the early years and will be enjoyed into the future. Further efficiency gains are anticipated. Customer Committees have been established for both our rural and urban customer groups. These committees have and will continue to provide valuable advice to the Board on customer issues. We have not been standing still on the infrastructure front with substantial progress being made on the construction of the new 20 ML per day Mildura West Water Treatment Plant, which is the first stage of an eventual 80 ML per day plant. Additionally, we have engaged consultants to prepare a Master Plan for renewal of our irrigation districts’ infrastructure. My fellow Directors and I are cognisant of the many changes and initiatives emanating from the Victorian Government’s White Paper ‘Securing our Water Future Together’; the Murray Darling Basin Left to right - CEO - Ron Leamon Commission’s ‘The Living Murray’ and the Federal Government’s National Water Initiative. We wish and Chair, Michael Tilley to acknowledge our Government’s foresight in actioning the merger of our antecedent Authorities on 1 July 2004. Our combined skillsets better place this Authority to provide leadership in water management across our region on a holistic basis. The new Authority gives us a core mass to be able to deal with the complex regulatory environment of today’s industry including jurisdictional coverage by the Essential Services Commission. I believe our business is well placed to address both the growing needs of our region and the costly and complex task of asset maintenance and renewal. I sincerely thank the many people who have contributed to our first year of success and I look forward to the continued prosperity of the Authority and our region. MICHAEL D TILLEY CHAIR Lower Murray Water 2 Annual Report 2004/2005 Chairman & CEO Chairman & CEO The CEO’S Review We have achieved a lot in 12 months but are now confronting several issues that will set the tone of our business for some time to come. The first twelve months of our new business has been a period of These include the negotiation of a single new enterprise Agreement and considerable change generating many managerial challenges. Staff have the introduction of Essential Services Commission jurisdiction. understandably been under additional stress but have coped well in continuing to deliver our services to customers. I would like to express my thanks to the Board of Directors, to my Management Team, support staff and all employees for the With our new staff structure now in place there is growing recognition genuine commitment to the new Authority and the obvious desire to that former rural and urban business needs are complex requiring highly see it succeed.