TasWater launches $4 million program to reduce water loss across its network: Annual report

It’s been revealed 30 per cent of water owned by Tasmania’s water and sewage utility is “unaccounted for”. Now the company is launching a multimillion-dollar program to identify leaks and theft. Details.

Upgraded Bryn Estyn Water Treatment Plant at Plenty, clarifier. Picture: Chris Kidd

TasWater has launched a multimillion-dollar, hi-tech crackdown on leaks and theft across its network after it was revealed that 30 per cent of its drinking water was “unaccounted for”.

Under a two-year, $4 million investment program, the water and sewage utility has installed 112 “district metered areas”, used to measure water losses in “near real time”.

According to TasWater’s 2022-23 annual report, released on Tuesday, the company is also using artificial intelligence to identify leaks, water theft, unmetered usage and unknown connections.

TasWater chief financial officer Kane Ingham said the company “know we can do better with respect to water losses on our network.”

TasWater chief financial officer Kane Ingham. Picture: Peter Mathew

“During the year, we identified 1.1 billion litres of water losses across our network that we were able to remedy and fix,” he said.

“And we’re now embarking on continuing that initiative in the next 12 months, which will install an additional 115 metered areas, which will be pivotal in achieving our targets for 2025.”

TasWater is aiming to reduce water losses to 13 per cent by the end of this financial year.

Early findings from the program have shown that the company is “starting to make inroads” into reducing water loss, the annual report stated.

In June, the Tasmanian Economic Regulator, Joe Dimasi, raised concerns about water loss, saying that a “very high percentage of treated water … is not supplied to TasWater’s customers”.

TasWater’s annual report showed that it achieved an underlying net profit of $31.2 million in 2022-23, down slightly from the $31.9 million it delivered in the previous year. The business paid a total of $24 million in dividends to the state’s 29 local councils, which are its shareholders, along with the state government.

TasWater, which was established in 2013, will spend $1.5 billion on infrastructure and growing the business in the next five years, matching what it spent in its first decade of operation and effectively doubling its rate of investment.

Upgraded Bryn Estyn Water Treatment Plant at Plenty, biological activated carbon filters. Picture: Chris Kidd

It has recently completed a $243 million upgrade to the Bryn Estyn Water Treatment Plant at Plenty, the biggest ever capital project in the company’s history.

TasWater has kept water and sewage charge increases at 3.5 per cent over the past two years, which is below inflation and represents a cost decrease in real dollars. It has capped price increases at 3.5 per cent again for the next two years.

“This is important, given we understand the financial stress that a lot of our customers are currently facing,” Mr Ingham said.

The average residential bill for TasWater customers in 2022-23 was $1314, compared to the national average of $1328.

For the fifth year in a row, the company achieved full microbiological compliance with the Australian Drinking Water Quality Guidelines.