AWA and WSAA Partnership Agreement to provide greater benefits for all members

This week at the Australian Water Association’s (AWA) record breaking Ozwater’21 in Adelaide, AWA and Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) officially signed a new five-year Partnership Agreement to provide more value for members.

Over the last several decades, AWA and WSAA have had a strong relationship to deliver industry insights, benchmarking, and networking opportunities for the water sector. AWA’s CEO, Corinne Cheeseman and Adam Lovell, Executive Director at WSAA, have continued to foster this relationship over the past year, which is being strengthened with a new Partnership Agreement.

There are several focus areas that your Associations have agreed to which will enhance collaboration, including:

• Indigenous engagement - Joint activities to raise engagement with First Nations people and improve cultural water management practices, including the expansion of the Talking Water video series.
• Customer experience - With a new Customer Experience Award this year, highlighting the importance of customer-centric culture for our sector.
• Training and development - To build future capability and improve performance across the sector, starting with an industry training needs analysis to identify what our workforce needs both now and into the future.
• Safety and wellbeing – An opportunity for our industry to take a leadership role in this space and develop a broader industry wide commitment. This will maximise industry participation and engagement and ensure there is increased involvement of delivery partners.
• Diversity and inclusion - Both Associations are very active in improving diversity and inclusion, so this will be an opportunity for a more coordinated and collaborative approach, particularly with LGBTIQ+ inclusion and Pride in Water.

Carmel Krogh, President of AWA said “We have come a long way as a sector in these focus areas, but we still have a long way to go. This Partnership Agreement will ensure a coordinated effort and achieve industry best practice, so we can create better outcomes for our workforce and communities”.

Roch Cheroux, Chair of WSAA said “Leveraging the Associations strong foundations will help improve the water sector’s performance and provide enhanced products and services for our customers”.

“What a better place to sign this Agreement than at Ozwater’21, our largest Ozwater in Adelaide and the biggest face-to-face water conference in the world for 2021. Continuing to provide more value for our members is our key focus. This Agreement positions us to join forces to inspire and drive a sustainable water future together” Cheeseman said.

“As a part of this Agreement, we look forward to presenting the Water Industry Safety Excellence Award and Customer Experience Award as part of AWA National Water Awards presented at this year’s Ozwater Gala Dinner. We have a lot to celebrate as an industry, but also an exciting future with more benefits to support our members” Lovell said.