NQ Water has been admitted as a member to the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA).

WSAAís primary goals are to facilitate cooperation to improve the water industry's productivity and performance and also ensure the regulatory environment adequately serves the interest of the community.

It has 22 member organisations, which collectively supply 13 million Australians with water services.

NQ Water Manager of Engineering Services, Rob Saunders, said that WSAA membership comprises all the major water authorities in Australia.

"Membership offers many benefits to NQ Water including the ability to keep abreast of state-of-the-art practices and emerging issues within the water industry," Mr Saunders said.

"It will also better assist NQ Water in sharing knowledge and benchmarking operations with other leading water authorities."

NQ Water is a wholesaler of treated water to the twin cities of Townsville and Thuringowa, which have a combined population of more than 130,000 people.

It also has two industrial customers. They are Sun Metals, owned by Korea Zinc and the Yabulu (Nickel and Cobalt) Refinery owned by BHP-Billiton.

NQ Water has an annual production of around 45,000 Mls and manages $300 million in assets including dams, water treatment plants and water distribution systems.

The NQ Water Board Chairman is Ian Hamilton who has held the position since 1988. Mr Hamilton is a civil engineer by profession and is past-Chairman of the national civil engineering company, Cardno MBK.

The Chief Executive Officer is Ken Diehm. Mr Diehm is an accountant with extensive experience in local government and has worked as a consultant on the implementation of National Competition Policy reforms for a number of commercialised government business activities throughout the state.

The Townsville-Thuringowa area is one of the most dynamic in Australia and acts as a service and supply point for both the base metals and precious metals exploration and mining industries in northwestern Queensland.

It is also becoming a noted resources processing center with copper, zinc and nickel facilities supplying world markets.

There is a corresponding residential expansion and Thuringowa consistently records annual growth rates among the highest in the country.

NQ Water is facing some challenging times. It must plan for both a possible doubling in industrial demand and a 40 percent increase in population, which has been conservatively forecast for the medium future.

More information:
Media Liaison Robert Dark
Mobile: 0417 623 156

© 2004 NQ Water