Project Description
This Australia Awards Short Course took a systems approach to water utility reform and performance improvement starting from water resources through to water supply and wastewater services. Twenty-seven participants from across Indonesia travelled to Australia for two weeks as part of the short course, providing information on the opportunities and tools used to improve water utility while understanding the relevant political, governance, policy and regulatory environment.
Project Personnel and Beneficiaries
The participant’s came from organisations and government agencies including: Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Public Works and Housing, Palembang City Government, Water.org, Perpamsi Water Utility Association and many more from across Indonesia.
Outcomes to Date
The participants had the opportunity to learn from Australia’s experience by attending academic presentations and institutional visits in Brisbane and Sydney including Seqwater, Lockyer Valley Regional Council, Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water (DRDMW), Queensland Government, Unity Water, Urban Utilities, Queensland Competition Authority and Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney to name a few.
These presentations allowed participants to build and strengthen their knowledge in water sector transformation and reform, investment and financing, as well as planning for climate change impacts and addressing gender equality, disability and social inclusion.
Participants worked to complete an Award Project on completion of the course to implement their learnings from the program.
Project Significance
SDGs contributed to by this program included: 3 Good Health and Well-Being, 5 Gender Equality, 6 Clean Water and Sanitation, 13 Climate Action, 14 Life below Water and Partnership for the goals.
The course encompassed governance and ownership models, regulation (particularly of tariffs and pricing), planning of infrastructure including financing, asset management, water safety planning, water security planning including water resource assessment and allocation, utility digitisation and workforce development, GEDSI. A range of scales and models for circular economy approaches were explored including precinct scale wastewater recycling and stormwater harvesting, large scale water recycling, sewage gasification and biochar production. Finally, water related disaster response and resilience planning was also covered.