|
Tasmanian Advisory Committee
WIOA is an Incorporated Association and invites Membership from any persons responsible for carrying out the whole, or part operation and maintenance of any facet of the Water Industry. Members may be derived from the Private or Public Sector.
A group of 15 WIOA members and guests participated in a tour of water treatment facilities at Swansea, Coles Bay and Bicheno on Tasmanias East Coast on Wednesday 11 July 2012.
 Southern Water Area Tour - Swansea, Coles Bay & Bicheno (WTP's) conducted 11 July 2012
Photos of the 2012 Advisory Committee tour of Cambell Town WTP under construction
Formation of the Tasmanian Advisory Committee
Although a few operational people from Tasmania were members of the Water Industry Operators Association of Australia (WIOA) prior the formation of Ben Lomond, Southern and Cradle Mountain Water, there were not enough members for WIOA to have a strong presence in Tasmania and the Association’s activities were confined to the mainland.
Not long after the formation of the three businesses, WIOA’s CEO, George Wall met with the Executive Operations Managers of each of the three businesses and they all agreed to support their own staff being involved in a Tasmanian based WIOA network. The aim is to work with WIOA to provide tailored services, events and opportunities for development of operational staff at each Tasmanian water business.
To kick things off, each water business nominated three staff members to be on the WIOA Tasmanian Advisory Committee and the inaugural meeting was held in Hobart in July 2010. The Committee meets three times each year to discuss operational issues and determine areas where all three businesses can collaborate and share knowledge, procedures and resources. We also discuss things like our training needs and plan events and seminars to fill skills gaps, and we map out opportunities to allow operational people to meet, inspect other plants and share their knowledge on operational issues.
The Committee has been very active and has organised three Distribution System seminars - two in Launceston and one in Hobart. We have also held a site tour and inspection at the St Helens wastewater plant and others are planned for this later year with more details below. We have also encouraged and supported a number of operational people to supply articles and information to various WIOA publications giving them a Tassie flavour.
As part of the commitment to the network, each business agreed to take up the “Utility Corporate Membership” option with WIOA and paid the membership fees for any operational staff wanting to join up. This is still the case, so if you haven’t completed a form yet, contact one of the Committee people and join up. There are a number of benefits attached to this membership including receiving regular publications such as the WaterWorks Journal, the Operator newsletters and a monthly e-news.
If you have any ideas on how you think WIOA and its network can be of assistance to anyone in the Tasmanian water industry, please let any of the Committee Members know and they’ll discuss these ideas at future meetings.
Damien Lavelle
Inaugural WIOA Tasmanian Advisory Committee Chair
Last updated on
30-Apr-2013
|
