To safeguard waterways for the next generation, Coliban Water is taking a prevention-led approach to managing source water.
Coliban Water is the first water corporation in Australia to adopt the Australian Water Association’s new Source Water Protection Statement.
The statement provides eleven risk prevention principles to support water corporations with catchment policy direction and ultimately better protect drinking water catchments:
- Drinking water source protection should not be compromised
- Multiple barriers are recognised as a protection for source waters and should be maintained
- Human health protection requires priority
- Complacency needs to be avoided
- The ‘precautionary principle’ should be applied
- Appropriate investment and risk-based decision making should be followed
- Know your catchment
- Communication with the community is vital
- The transdisciplinary and adaptive nature of source water protection should be acknowledged and practiced
- Achieving source water protection through partnerships and by leading the way
- Indigenous Australian participation in source protection is vital
Coliban Water Managing Director, Damian Wells, said drinking water supply catchments and waterways, by their very nature, are complex and dynamic systems.
“Across Australia, we are seeing our catchments increasingly at risk from a growth and development, increased recreational demand, extreme climatic events and emerging contaminants,” Mr Wells said.
“These new principles seek to set a future direction for preventative risk management while building out resilience across waterways. It was an easy decision to adopt these considerations for source water protection.
“We’re proud to take a stand, as we know the health of these catchments is in the long-term interests of our communities, our environment and our people.”
From catchment to consumer
Under the new statement, water corporations should maintain the supply of water at the highest practical quality by considering all steps in the water supply chain, from catchment to consumer.
“We are 100 per cent committed to this. Our region is home to 35 reservoirs and water storage basins, including Upper Coliban, Malmsbury and Lauriston,” Mr Wells said.
“We are proactive in this area, with the new principles already embedded in our day-to-day work and a key component of our safe drinking water risk management planning.”
In practice, this means a prevention-led approach that includes a vast list of regular catchment maintenance; including pest and weed management, land management –which is intertwined with waterway health – and protecting our waterways from stock – as this can cause erosion or water quality changes.
“We also monitor long-term risks such as climate change and development encroachment within a catchment,” Mr Wells said.
“The team has worked closely within our region and it has increased our business knowledge of where the vulnerabilities are and how to mitigate those early.
“These measures result in a healthier waterway and improved environmental outcomes, as well as the water being easier to treat when it reaches our water treatment plants,” Mr Wells said.
On the ground
Coliban Water Reservoir, Rural and Catchment Coordinator, Kylie McLennan, has spent more than a decade improving and maintaining the region’s waterways.
Ms McLennan said long-term, sustainable land-management strategies were improving the quality of water that flowed from Upper Coliban, Malmsbury and Lauriston reservoirs down the 70km Coliban Main Channel to Bendigo – and stock exclusion control was essentially the first step in protecting the water.
“Water that flows into the reservoirs is filtered through natural vegetation. If we have got our land management right, then it’s a win for the environment and ultimately a reduction in water treatment costs at the other end,” Ms McLennan said.
“This is helping our catchments to flourish. As a land management professional, there is a need to always follow up each year when undertaking pest plant management.”
Ms McLennan said this consistent approach was key to enacting change.
“We’ve prioritised certain areas and specific vegetation. It’s good to take on new areas infested with pest plants but the first priority has been tackling the follow up works in same areas from the year before.
“Then you can take a bite out of the next bit, and the next bit, and so on. We also partner with Traditional Owner groups to undertake land management projects that benefit the environment and our visitors.
“That’s how we’ve approached it and it’s taken years to make progress on the hundreds of hectares of land which surround these reservoirs.”
“We want to keep our drinking water sources as clean as possible. We are passionate about it; we have mitigations in place and we take it seriously.”
A healthy Coliban catchment
The partnership and passion that has come with land management helped form A Healthy Coliban Catchment Program, a program dedicated to protecting key water catchments.
The 20-year program, now in its sixth year, is a joint effort with the North Central Catchment Management Authority and DJAARA (the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation). The program aims to boost habitat connectivity, sustainable land use practices, and build cultural and lifestyle value across the region.
DJAARA’s Aboriginal Waterway Assessments inform decisions about the work needed to restore catchment health. Dja Dja Wurrung Group Chief Executive Officer, Rodney Carter, said Djaara involvement in decision making is critical to improving the health of waterways and catchments.
“Healthy Country and healthy water is of utmost importance for Djaara (Dja Dja Wurrung People). We have inherited thousands of years of Ancestral knowledge about water on Dja Dja Wurrung Country,” Mr Carter said.
“We’re applying those traditional sciences and traditional ways of knowing through our partnership with Coliban Water and the North Central CMA.
“We share our knowledge to help heal our water systems for the benefit of all.”
To date, the program has seen 51km of fencing installed along waterways, 412ha of weed control, 134ha of land revegetation and 84 off-stream watering systems.
“This level of environmental stewardship aligns with our own Environment and Sustainability Policy Statement, and our strategy ‘dhelk gatjin, dhelk balak’, which means ‘healthy water, healthy people’ in Dja Dja Wurrung language,” Mr Wells said.
“Continued collaboration with our partners and communities will help us remain focused.”
A Healthy Coliban Catchment is funded by the Victorian Government’s Our Catchments, Our Communities program, Coliban Water, and the North Central CMA. It is part of a $248 million investment by the Victorian Government over four years (2020–2024) to improve the health of waterways and catchments across regional Victoria.
Leading the way
Effective management of water catchments requires governments, water utilities, land management agencies, landholders and other custodians to work together.
While A Healthy Coliban Catchment has strengthened regional partnerships, general community education will also be key.
“Starting these conversations with our communities about the importance of source water protection will help positively influence behaviours,” Mr Wells said.
Ms McLennan said being a good neighbour and building strong relationships with property owners, community groups and customers could also improve understanding.
“What we do benefits hundreds of thousands of people, it’s important to get that message out to everyone, including our neighbours that surround the storages. We educate people as best we can because it’s for the greater good,” Ms McLennan said.
Connection to Country
The management of water and land is an essential part of Coliban Water’s strategy: ‘dhelk gatjin, dhelk balak – healthy water, healthy people’.
“We are living up to our strategy, which includes ensuring we restore the health of our water, land and biodiversity through partnerships, nature-based solutions and infrastructure as guided by Traditional Owner knowledge,” Mr Wells said.
One of the goals in the strategy is to follow Traditional Owners’ lead. It aligns with and takes direction from the Djaara Gatjin Strategy Dhelkunyangu Gatjin, meaning ‘working together to heal water’ in Dja Dja Wurrung language.
“We are committed to leaving our environment in a better place than when we found it and building a sustainable business for the future.”
In July 2024, Dja Dja Wurrung and Yorta Yorta man Trent Nelson was appointed as an Independent Aboriginal Delegate to Coliban Water’s Board of Directors.
Mr Wells said Mr Nelson’s appointment would ensure that Aboriginal values and knowledge are central to future water management strategies.
“This position provides a great opportunity for an Aboriginal voice at Coliban Water,” Mr Wells said.
“Trent will also be able to advocate for culturally sensitive and sustainable water practices and support the delivery of Traditional Owner aspirations back onto Country via a true partnership approach.”
Taking the next steps
A combination of boots on the ground, future planning and investment in infrastructure will help Coliban Water continually improve its waterway management.
“Caring for our land and reservoirs will benefit future generations. It impacts everything we do,” Mr Wells said.
“Our prevention-led approach is creating a strong foundation for source water protection.”
“We’ll keep moving in the right direction and build resilience in the water supply chain.”
To learn more about A Healthy Coliban Catchment, visit connect.coliban.com.au/healthy-coliban-catchment
Featured image: Lauriston Reservoir near Kyneton. Image: Coliban Water
