Central Highlands Water, Coliban Water, Goulburn Valley Water, Goulburn Murray Water, Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water, Lower Murray Water, and North East Water have officially established a collaborative framework to address future water security challenges.
In a landmark move to proactively plan for and address northern Victoria’s water challenges of the future, seven regional water corporations have united to officially launch the Northern Urban Water (NUW) Accord.
Spanning almost two-thirds of Victoria and serving nearly 750,000 residents, the NUW Accord brings together Central Highlands Water, Coliban Water, Goulburn Valley Water, Goulburn Murray Water, Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water, Lower Murray Water, and North East Water.
The NUW Accord embeds a shared commitment to planning and collaborating for greater impact to achieve lasting benefits for the communities and environments of northern Victoria.
Coliban Water Managing Director, Damian Wells, said the Accord reflects a proactive approach to water management in the face of increasing climate variability and growing demand for water.
“We know the future will present significant and common challenges to maintaining high-quality water services across northern Victoria,” Mr Wells said.
“Dry conditions are currently impacting large parts of the state, not long after devastating floods. These extremes highlight the urgent need for a new way forward – one that’s collaborative, bold and region-wide.”
The Accord builds on a legacy of successful regional collaboration, such as last year’s agreement by northern water corporations to strengthen emergency resilience in the face of increasing natural disasters.
History demonstrates the value of water corporations collaborating across boundaries on ambitious solutions to challenges and opportunities. Infrastructure such as the Goldfields Super pipeline, conceived and delivered to manage the Millennium Drought, has become critical to maintaining water security for some of Victoria’s largest regional centres.
Similarly, the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline has transformed water reliability across western Victoria and extended the reach of the Victorian Water Grid, enabling connections from the Grampians catchment into areas serviced by Coliban Water and Wannon Water.
“Building on these legacies, we need to adopt a long-term, region-wide and visionary mindset to identify the next generation of projects that will shape our region, coupled with the boldness to deliver them ahead of, rather than during, a crisis,” Mr Wells said.
“We believe better solutions will come from working together, thinking across boundaries, and combining our efforts when confronting resourcing, delivery and operating challenges.”
Victorian Minister for Water, Gayle Tierney, welcomed the launch.
“These water corporations understand how vital it is that we continue to fund projects that build water security in our regional communities,” Ms Tierney said.
“By working closely together, we’ll ensure that communities across northern Victoria have a resilient, reliable water supply – no matter the climate or future challenges.”
From the Mallee plains to the Australian Alps, and the River Murray to the Great Dividing Range, these corporations are bound by a shared dependence on inland water sources and a united commitment to delivering safe, reliable, and affordable water services to every community they serve.
