And so it’s goodbye to 2015! While the year may have passed quickly there has been a lot achieved through the Board, Board Committees and Networks at WSAA and I thank the WSAA staff and our members for another great year. I’m very proud of the WSAA staff who continue to do their best to plan and coordinate ‘value-filled’ programs, but who are also very frequently travelling away from their families to run workshops and participate in meetings.
A special shout out to our Board Committees and Networks. Everyone has busy day jobs, but to experience the passion, leading edge thinking and projects that are undertaken by our volunteers from the membership adds immeasurable value to the collegiacy and ‘impact’ of WSAA. Without you we can’t be the respected voice we strive hard to achieve. For all of your efforts: thank you!
I thought now would be a good time to congratulate members for the many awards they won throughout the year. I’m sure I may have missed one or two (please let me know) but a few awards stood out as members were recognised outside of the water industry or at an international level.
- Queensland Urban Utilities – named in BRW’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies List for 2015
- Yarra-Valley Water and IBM Australia – Australian Smart Infrastructure Award for the Maximo Asset Management Project and SPSS Analytics Pilot
- Sydney Water – Award for Excellence in Integrated Stormwater Design at the International Water Sensitive Urban Design Conference for the Cooks River Naturalisation Project
- Steve Gibson, Queensland Urban Utilities - International Project Management Achievement Award, IPMA World Conference
- Top 100 Most Influential Engineers - Peter Dennis (Seqwater), Sue Murphy (Water Corporation) and Kevin Young (Sydney Water)
- UnityWater – UN World Environment Day Award (Best Specific Environment Initiative) for the upgrade to Maleny Sewage Treatment Plant and associated wetlands
- SA Water - Best Mobile Serious Game at I/ITSEC (world modelling, simulation and training conference) for their Project Desal app.
Congratulations! Already we have a busy agenda for 2016 but in the meantime have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the whole WSAA team!
16 Dec 2015
