SEQ Water reform

Major change has been underway in the South East Queensland (SEQ) water industry in recent years, including the construction of major new water assets by the Queensland Government.

These assets, which form part of the SEQ Water Grid, include dams, a desalination plant, extra groundwater sources and the Western Corridor Recycled Water Scheme. Regional inter-connector pipelines have also been built to allow water from new and existing water sources to be moved around the Grid.

The establishment of the SEQ Water Grid in 2008 was part of an industry model to re-align the management of water and streamline SEQ's previous complex water supply arrangements.

The institutional arrangements, initiated by the Queensland Water Commission (QWC) and approved by the Queensland Government, re-aligned the ownership and control of water assets, thereby making the State accountable for water supply security and delivery.

The aim of the reforms was to:

• provide security of supply—to all of SEQ's population, now and into the future
• develop consistent service standards—addressing the variability in service standards throughout the SEQ region
• enhance technical expertise—bringing together staff expertise in developing and providing the region's future water supply and sewerage services
• optimise network planning—creating the opportunity to plan future infrastructure networks across the whole of the SEQ region.

Read more:

• the reform announcement 
• frequently asked questions (PDF, 139K)* 
• background to reforms
• implementation of reforms.

Reform stage 1 – 2008

Implemented in 2008, the first stage of institutional reforms reduced the number of organisations involved in managing SEQ's water supply through the formation of state-owned bulk water entities. These include:

• a bulk supply authority (Seqwater) — catches, stores and treats water by managing catchments, storages and water treatment plants. Supplies water to SEQ Water Grid Manager.
• a bulk transport authority (LinkWater) — manages, operates and maintains SEQ's potable bulk water pipelines. Moves water from dams and other sources through bulk pipeline networks.
• a manufactured water authority (WaterSecure, merged with Seqwater July 2011)—supplies desalinated water to the Water Grid and supplies purified recycled water to power stations and other customers.
• the SEQ Water Grid Manager — operates the SEQ Water Grid and oversees the flow of water around the Grid. Purchases the services to store, treat and transport bulk water to sell water to the distributor-retailers.

The SEQ Water Grid Manager is the statutory authority that was created to manage the SEQ Water Grid. The Grid Manager ensures adequate water supplies are maintained throughout the SEQ region and optimises the efficiency of the grid.

It achieves this by buying water supply, treatment and transport services from Seqwater and LinkWater and selling the water to water service providers from which it is then supplied to customers. To ensure the effective and cost-efficient operation of the SEQ Water Grid, the Grid Manager issues grid instructions to grid participants in accordance with the water security objectives set by the Queensland Government.

Reform stage 2 – 2010

The second stage of reform in July 2010 established three distributor-retailers, which reduced the number of organisations involved in managing and distributing water.

 The distributor-retailers are:

• Queensland Urban Utilities—servicing Brisbane, Ipswich, Scenic Rim, Somerset and Lockyer Valley 
• Allconnex Water—servicing Gold Coast, Logan and Redlands 
• Unitywater—servicing Sunshine Coast and Moreton Bay.

Reform update – 2011

As part of an announcement made by the Government in April 2011, SEQ councils were given a once-only decision to withdraw from their distributor retailer (Allconnex, Queensland Urban Utilities or Unitywater) and return to operating their water and sewerage business within council.

Councils choosing to withdraw from distributor-retailers are required to make the change by 1 July 2012. The Queensland Government will progress legislation to give effect to a council deciding to withdraw.

In December 2010, the Queensland Government announced WaterSecure and Seqwater would be merged to form one bulk supply authority. These entities merged 1 July 2011 and the bulk supply authority trades as Seqwater.

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