Established in June 2008, the Water Grid represents one of Australia’s largest investments in water infrastructure and is a world class asset in water management in both times of drought and deluge.
Through a network of climate resilient water sources, treatment facilities, new two-way pipes and existing pipelines, the Water Grid gives the South East Queensland region the ability to support water demands and water quality regardless of climate change and population growth.
Water Grid spokesperson Barry Dennien said the SEQ Water Grid is a smart grid. “A smart grid is more than just multiple supply sources, such as dams, groundwater, desalination and purified recycled water, connected across a region,” he said.
“It is also the state of the art technology that is used to collect and analyse the data that underpins all our decisions on how we operate the Grid. It is this same technology that allows us to provide open and transparent information to the community on the quality of South East Queensland’s bulk water supply.
“Another important component is how we manage community demand for water and small water supply schemes, such as stormwater harvesting and how we manage waterway health to ensure appropriate quality water management across the water cycle.
“As a result of all of these things, other countries looking at similar systems are extremely interested in what we are doing in South East Queensland.”
Over the past twelve months, several international delegations had visited South East Queensland specifically to learn about the region’s approach to water management and the role of the Water Grid.
There seems to be increasing international recognition that the way to ensure a sustainable drinking water supply is through infrastructure projects likes the Water Grid.
Professor Heechul Choi, from South Korea’s Gwanju Institute of Science and Technology remarked: “South Korea has developed several regional water projects during the past 20 years, however there is no system similar to the Water Grid in terms of integrating various water sources such as desalination and purified recycled water.
“As such, the Water Grid is a good example for South Korea as we plan and develop a water grid system,” Choi said.
Another delegation from GIST is planning to visit South East Queensland in November with a focus on how the Water Grid is managed and is looking for opportunities which could be used in South Korea to teach water engineering students how water grids are managed.
Later this year a delegation from the Public Utilities Board in Singapore is also planning to visit South East Queensland to learn from the Water Grid. These visits follow on from smart water grid forums held in Korea and Singapore in the past six months.
