FROM
THE
PRESIDENT
OUR INDUSTRY MATURES In my time as a water industry practitioner I have seen things change, first imperceptibly, then gradually and now almost precipitously. Management literature abo und s with descript ions o f t h e inevitability, pace and acceleration of change, but its impact on our own lives is always much mo re te lli ng t h an the academic analyses. My own organisation has just joined a large, multinational business, so profound change is suddenly very real for me. Having taken this quantum leap, I can now reflect on the way the Australian water .industry has matured in some respects. Although I hav e always worked for a private consulting fi rm, Barry Norman the water indust1y used to be dominated by public institutions: a mixture of large state agencies and smaller local authorities or water authorities. Time was when the heads of state water authorities held Premiers in their thrall . An apoc1yphal sto1ies about a Premier waiting, hat in hand, while the great water authority chief finished reading his newspaper, feet on desk, created marvellous myths about the old days. The truth is, of course, that the old water utilities were huge, cumbersome organisations, employing thousands oflabourers to build dams, pipelines and treatment plants. Consultants supplemented in-house teams, and equ ipment suppliers provided the proprietary gear that made things work, but the public sector called the shots and did much of the work. Cost was not a problem and designs could be luxuriously engineered to wonderfully high standards. By the 80s, though, things were beginning to change, water authorities slipped down the scale and state premiers began to call the shots. Engineers were replaced by economists and accountants and, worse still, there was talk of contracting o ut more work to the private sector. In 1989 the English water companies were privatised by Margaret Thatcher in one fell swoop, placing ten, new, aggressive players in the field of water around the world. They added their efforts to those of the two, longestablished French private water companies in pursuit of work. A fu1ious debate erupted over the merits of public versus private and 2
WATER FEBRUARY 2002
the spectre of privatising Australian water utilities loomed. The pendulum never stands still, though, and one serious attempt to p1ivatise a water utility (in the ACT) failed, effectively closing the door on that phase of evolution. Even in England, the feroc ious regulatory climate, coupled with the diminishing returns from cost cutting have given t h e water compa ni es pause there is talk of a return to at least partial public owne rsh ip. In this climate, the debate about public vs private has become mo r e balanced - p eople acknowledge that there is no real gulf between them and that the two strands should co- exist. This evolution has been reflected in the contracts let around Australia. First, a few large, complicated BOO(T) contracts, let to international players only, with grumbling am ong Australian firms, who were caught unawares. Then, many designbuild projects, and the more interesting alliance contract (Sydney's Northside Tunnel, Perth's Woodman Point plant) and now, not the largest, the Bega Valley Sewerage project in NSW. In a departure from previous practice, where ve1y central decisions were taken about the nature of contracts, Bega Valley Shire Council produced a community discussion paper about the nature of the contract proposed and posted it on the Web for comment. Sadly, this drew unfair criticism from an idealogue, who branded the process as 'privatisation by stealth'. This is doubly unfair, since the move represented the most democratic approach yet seen in Australia fo r a large water- infrastructure contract. It seems to me that we have now arrived at a situation where the public and private sectors are working together more effectively, calling on their respective strengths, collaborating across institutional and national bounda1ies and, most interesting, consulting their stakeholders abou t the nature of contractual arrangements. This is a refreshing sign of maturity and I hope the industry will continue to evolve in that direction. Barry Norman
Aquaphemera In the September edition of Watershed, Professor Peter Cullen of the CRC for Freshwater Ecology outlines ten simple strategies to improve our rivers: 1. Efficiency D ividends - return 3% of aJI water used for environmental flows; 2. C lawback o f Water in Overallocated Rivers - where more than 1/3 of the median flow is extracted; 3 . Burden of Proof - on those who w ish to extract water, studies for 5 years at least w here required; 4. M onitoring of River H ealth audits, SoE's, etc; 5. Protection of Undamaged Rivers; 6. Protecting Important Wetlands; 7. Better Technical Advice to Governments - exp ert bodies and conrnrnnity; 8. Putting the Bits Together integrated catchment management; 9. R egional Science - fo r local issues and to deliver to local communities; and 10. Large Scale Catchment Research. These ten strategies encapsulate a range of actions which can provide the short term improvements to our rivers which are long overdue, as well as the long tenn activities which will improve our knowledge of our rivers and our ability to manage them more effectively. Following the above is an article on cold water pollution - releasing cold water from the bottom of reservoirs which in some cases can take up to several h undred kilometres in the river to return to normal river temperature. Cold water pollution can have significant effects on the river's ecology and native species in particular. Many dams have variable offtakes, but are not usually used for convenience sake . This is a great opportu ni ty in many cases to provide a major improvement to our rivers with very little effort or cost. A very sobering presentation was made by ANU PhD student Stuart Denis at the ACT branch meeting in November on environmental oestrogens. Not only was it enlightening regarding the extent of oestrogens in so much of o ur daily lives, but the possible impact they may have on our health and the woefully inadequate research effort in this area only reinforced the need for adherence to Professor Cullen 's 10 strategies. Ross Knee