Message from the Treasurer, Rachelle Adamowicz |
Welcome to the 7th Edition of The Outlet. Victoria has been in the enviable position of living through a beautiful and relatively normal summer. Mine was filled with beach, bushwalks, music, comedy and spending time with my family and friends. Of course, there is no way of escaping it, every newspaper (and newsletter article!) reminds us that much of the world is not as fortunate, with the pandemic aggressively sweeping through many parts of the globe. It is a good time to remember that many of us, our friends, family, colleagues, and acquaintances are not as lucky. We need to acknowledge this and continue to be kind and compassionate to one another.
However, we are clearly still affected. Many of you would have attended the 2021 Stormwater National Conference, which was for the first time in history, delivered virtually. It was an excellent event with over 300 attendees and as usual, the industry shared their wealth of knowledge, learnings, and experience. It was clear that over the past year, the industry has been anything but quiet. We have already started talking about Stormwater Victoria’s conference in 2022, which as usual is earmarked to take place in an exciting regional centre. Have you started thinking about your abstract?
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Leadership Tip
'Ask for feedback to grow as a leader'
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We Need Your Feedback on the Current SQIDEP
Over some months, Stormwater Victoria has been consulting with stakeholders on the Stormwater Quality Improvement Device Evaluation Protocol (SQIDEP), an independent evaluation process for verifying performance of stormwater quality devices and technologies prepared by Stormwater Australia. We listened to positions, preferences and requirements with respect to the implementation of the protocol from stakeholders. It is now time for us to hear from our members.
A short survey link will be sent out by GEMS (on behalf of Stormwater Victoria committee) in an email to all Stormwater Victoria members. Depending on your membership type, it is possible that one email be sent out to only one representative of your organisation. You can respond individually or on behalf of your organisation. All survey responses will remain anonymous; and the survey will remain open for a period of 4 weeks.
- Survey launching date: Wednesday, 7 July
- Survey Closure date: Tuesday, 3 August
After closure of the quick (~ 5-10min) SQIDEP protocol survey, Stormwater Victoria will formulate a position paper over a four-week period to formally respond to Stormwater Australia and work towards achieving a fair, robust and transparent industry protocol.
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Victorian Professional Engineers Registration Starts 1 July 2021 |
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Registration will only be mandatory for professional engineers who practise in, or who want to apply for registration to practise in, the building industry. In addition to being registered, your registration must also be endorsed to allow you to provide professional engineering services in the building industry for five areas of engineering including civil engineering. For all professional engineers in the ‘civil engineering’ area of practice, mandatory registration must be completed by 1 October 2022.
Several crossover areas exist including environmental engineering where “activities may relate to the design of physical infrastructure such as, roads, bridges, sewerage, water and wastewater treatment infrastructure, to support sustainable buildings and precincts.” An environmental engineer must be registered in the area of civil engineering to provide professional engineering services in Victoria.
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The General Environment Duty (GED) also Starts 1 July 2021
The General Environmental Duty (GED) is at the centre of the Environment Protection Act 2017. It applies to all Victorians to reduce the risk of harm to human health, the environment; from pollution or waste potentially associated to businesses activities.
For businesses already managing their environmental risks, the GED generally means little to no change to how they operate. Most businesses already follow good management practices. This will make complying with the GED easier. The GED just makes it clear your responsibility is to reduce risk to the environment, including pollution of natural waterways; discharge of polluted stormwater runoff to a downstream environment, etc.
EPA will support businesses to meet their obligations and help those in high-risk industries maintain their environmental performance. Stormwater Victoria encourages organisations and businesses to engage with one another to identify how to improve protection of the environment and meet their obligations individually and collectively for a safer environment shared by the community and ecosystems.
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Stormwater Victoria Acknowledges the Success of the 6th National Conference on Urban Water Management, STORMWATER 2021, hosted in April 2021
The conference was hosted virtually over a four-day period with a record number of attendees from all states. Stormwater Victoria thanks all Victorian members who presented and attended the conference. This was the first time Stormwater Australia went virtual with the conference and had more delegates attending the conference than the past three national conferences.
The virtual conference offered a cost-effective model with extensive flexibility for the delegates to attend with no travelling required and provided an opportunity to reach a wider audience, which would not be possible otherwise. All the delegates who registered for the conference can access the presentations through the conference portal until 30 July 2021. So, there is still time for you to access the resources.
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Second Chance to Attend Clearwater Designing Constructed Waterways Training in July
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If you missed out on a place in the May training, you have the opportunity to attend the second session on Thursday 29th July. The training will draw on the guiding principles and deemed to comply design criteria from the Melbourne Water Constructed Waterway Design Manual. Intended for design engineers, land development industry representatives and professionals reviewing waterway designs, the ¾ day online training session will include interactive break out discussion groups, case studies and design drawings.
Some comments from attendees of the May training;
- “Very useful information to put into practice and an excellent condensed explanation of the guidelines."
- “Great insight into how other disciplines approach constructed waterways”
- “Excellent presenters. All my questions were answered”
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WSUD asset management requirements for new development – legislation, development and compliance
Host: Stormwater QLD
Date: Wednesday, 9 June 2021
Time: 1.00 - 1.45 pm
Location: Online
Speaker: Dr Andrew Thomas, Vice President - Stormwater NSW and Daniel Rider, Blacktown City Council
Webinar: Modelling when Calibration Data is Scarce
Host: Australian Water School
Date: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Time: 1.00 pm
Location: Online
Speaker: Bill Syme, BMT
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General Constructed Waterway Design Training
Host: Clearwater
Date: Thursday, 29 July 2021
Time: 1.00 pm - 3.30 pm
Location: Online
Speaker: Jonathon McLean and Jenny Butcher, Alluvium
Stormwater Victoria Annual General Meeting
Host: Stormwater Victoria
Date: Late August 2021
Time: 1.00 pm - 3.00 pm
Location: Online - Zoom
Speaker: TBC
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If you are interested in contributing an article, upcoming industry event or news item to The Outlet e-newsletter, please send an email to president@stormwatervictoria.com.au. |
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Stormwater Victoria Major Sponsor: |
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