QUEENSLAND WATER SERVICE

PROVIDER
Performance Report
2019-2020
 Table of Contents

Summary …………………………………………………………………………………..… 3 Water Security Series ………………………..…………………………………….……. 9

Purpose of this Performance Report ………………………..………………… 3 Key findings

Overview of Townsville Water’s ……………………………………………………………………..…………. 9

Operations and Services …………..………………………………………………… 4 RESULTS FOR WATER SECURITY SERIES

……………………………..………… 10
WATER SUPPLY ……………..………………………………………………….………….... 4
SEWERAGE SERVICES …………………………………………………………. Finance Series ……………………………………………………………………………… 10
……………. 5
Key findings
Explanation of Key Performance
…………………………………………………………………………….… 11
Indicator Groups ……………………………………………………………………….… 6
RESULTS FOR WATER SECURITY SERIES
‘1’ series – general ………………………………………… 12
……………………………………………………………………. 6

‘2’ series – water security .…………………..……………………………………. 6

Customer Series …………………………………………………………………………… 13
‘3’ series – finance
Key findings
……………………………………………………………….……. 6
…………………………………………………………………………….… 13
‘4’ series – customer
PRICING
…………………………………………………………………. 6
………………………………………………………………………….…..… 13
General Series ………………………………………………………..…………………… 7
SERVICE INTERRUPTION
Key finding …………………………………………………….……… 13
………………………………………………………………………………… 7
RESPONSE TIMES
POTABLE
Queensland Water Service Provider Performance ReportWATER SUPPLY ….
2019-2020 …………………………………………………………….…….… 13
 Summary

Townsville Water is committed to consistently providing drinking water and sewerage services that meet customer, legislative and regulatory requirements.
Townsville Water monitors its performance and reports annually to the Queensland Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy on a number of key performance indicators
nominated by the Department.

This Performance Report outlines Townsville Water’s performance during the 2019/2020 financial year in four Key Performance Indicator Groups:
General, Water Security, Customers, and Finance.

During the financial year, Townsville Water faced several challenges to the provision of its drinking water and sewerage services.
Following 2017/2018 drought conditions the 2018/2019 1/500 year flood event occurred having a significant impact to the Townsville community.

In order to preserve the water supply, water conservation measures have remained in place since March 2019. These conservations will continue to remain in place with until the
completion of the Haughton Pipeline Duplication.

Purpose of this Performance Report

As a drinking water and sewerage service provider under the Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008, Townsville Water are required to prepare this annual report on its performance
against a number of key performance indicators nominated by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy.

Townsville Water is committed to transparency and accountability of its performance, and it will publish this Performance Report on council’s website, to promote free and easy access by
Townsville Water’s customers and the community, and to meet legislative requirements.
The Queensland Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy will use the information supplied within this Performance Report to compare the performance of water service
providers across the State of Queensland.

Townsville Water is committed to providing safe, high quality drinking water and manages its supply of drinking water in accordance with the
Australian Drinking Water Guidelines and its approved Drinking Water Quality Management Plan.

Queensland Water Service Provider Performance Report 2019-2020

Water Supply
Townsville Water services a population of approximately 190,000 residents by way of three drinking Townsville Water
water schemes - Townsville Drinking Water Scheme, Paluma Township Drinking Water Scheme and Giru/ is a significant business activity of the
Cungulla Drinking Water Scheme. To deliver its water services, Townsville Water operates and maintains 2 Townsville City Council, providing water
dams, 2 weirs, 4 water treatment plants, 27 water pumping stations, 41 reservoirs (water storage
facilities) and over 2,600 km of water distribution mains.
and wastewater services to the Townsville
community. It supplies potable water and
The Townsville Drinking Water Scheme is the predominant scheme, supplying approximately 98% of all treats wastewater and supplies recycled
water connections in the Townsville region. The major water source for the Townsville Drinking Water water for irrigation purposes only.
Scheme is the Ross River Dam which delivers water to the Douglas Water Treatment Plant. With a
maximum capacity of approximately 233,000 megalitres, the Ross River Dam supplies about 85% of
Townsville’s water. A smaller dam with a capacity of 11,000 megalitres; Paluma Dam, also services the
Townsville Drinking Water Scheme by providing water to Northern Water Treatment Plant for distribution
to the northern areas of the Townsville City Municipality. During extended drought periods, if the water
level in the Ross River Dam is low, supplementary water supply is sourced from the Burdekin Dam via the
Haughton Irrigation Channel, Haughton Pipeline and pumping station under an agreement with Sunwater.
To supply the Giru/Cungulla Drinking Water Scheme, water is taken from the Haughton River and
delivered to a small treatment plant at Giru before distribution to Cungulla residents and sale to the
Burdekin Shire Council for Giru residents.

To supply the Giru/Cungulla Drinking Water Scheme, water is taken from the Haughton River and
delivered to a small treatment plant at Giru before distribution to Cungulla residents and sale to the
Burdekin Shire Council for Giru residents. To supply the Paluma Township Drinking Water Scheme, water
is taken from an unnamed rainforest creek to supply the small Paluma Township population.
Incidentally, Townsville Water supplies a small amount of nonpotable water each year. Other than the
Paluma Township Drinking Water Scheme, the nonpotable scheme only services a small population. This
is either supplied nonpotable water from bulk pipelines before the water reaches a treatment plant, or
this receives water that has been through a treatment process where the supply has been classified as a
supply of nonpotable water on the basis of chlorine decay in the pipeline. In this case, the water no
longer meets the quality requirements to be considered as potable water and is only supplied for
purposes other than drinking water.

Queensland Water Service Provider Performance Report 2019-2020

 Sewerage Services
Townsville Water collects and treats wastewater from across the Townsville
Region, servicing a population of approximately 75,000. Sewage is collected
and transported via approximately 1,360 kilometers of sewer main and over
180 sewage pumping stations to 6 wastewater treatment plants on the
mainland and Magnetic Island for treatment.

At most wastewater treatment plants, Townsville Water undertakes

additional treatment processes to produce recycled water, which is used for
irrigation purposes either onsite at wastewater treatment plants or for use
as irrigation for open space areas or sporting fields.

Townsville Water has Quality and Environmental Management Systems in

place to ensure public health and safety, environmental sustainability, and
compliance with legislative and regulatory requirements. Townsville Water
holds Environmental Licences for each of its sewage treatment plants and
other aspects of its sewage collection system.

Queensland Water Service Provider Performance Report 2019-2020

Mount St John Sewage
 Explanation of Key Performance
Indicator Groups

‘1’ series – general

The first series of Key Performance Indicators collect data on general service delivery
in Queensland, including information on infrastructure for providing water or
sewerage services, volumes of water sourced per reporting period by service
providers, numbers of properties serviced, and volumes of water supplied to
properties.

‘2’ series – water security

The second series of Key Performance Indicators collects data on water security and
how service providers ensure short- and long-term water supply to customers. Given
the climatic variability in Queensland, service providers must commit to long-term
planning to ensure the ongoing continuity of their supplies to customers. These Key
Performance Indicators provide valuable information regarding water demand, water
restrictions and water security, both now and into the future.

‘3’ series – finance

The third series of Key Performance Indicators provides data on service provider
financial sustainability for water and sewerage services.

‘4’ series – customer

The fourth series of Key Performance Indicators provides data on water and
sewerage charging and customer standards, including indicators relating to billing,
mains breaks, incident response times, interruptions and customer complaints

Queensland Water Service Provider Performance Report 2019-2020 Douglas Water

 General Series
Key findings

POTABLE WATER SUPPLY

In 2019/2020, Townsville Water, treated and supplied more water than in the prior financial year. This is a result of the dam reaching capacity during the flooding event in
2018/2019 and water restrictions being reduced to Water Conservation levels in March 2019, increasing water usage by 23% .

Townsville Water produced over 52,000 mega litres of safe high-quality potable water from its treatment plants and processes during the financial year. It supplied over 29,000
mega litres for residential purposes to over 81,000 residential customer connections, and over 12,000 mega litres for commercial, municipal and industrial purposes to nearly
(5000 last year) non-residential customer connections.

The highest demand for water that Townsville Water experienced in Quarter 4 within the 2019/2020 financial year was 182 megalitres.
Which is slightly higher than last years 164 megalitres.

SEWAGE COLLECTION AND TREATMENT

In 2019/2020, Townsville Water collected and treated approximately 17,000 mega litres of sewage from Townsville properties. Approximately 15,000 mega litres of sewage was
collected from residential, non-residential and non-trade waste sources. It is estimated based upon water consumption, that approximately 2,220 megalitres of wastewater were
collected from approximately 3000 trade waste customers.

The majority of sewage was treated at Townsville Water’s two largest treatment plants, Cleveland Bay Purification Plant and Mount Saint John Treatment Plant. After treating
approximately 17,000 mega litres of sewage across all plants, around 16,000 mega litres of treated effluent was disposed of, predominately to ocean or local waterways. Prior to
disposal, wastewater is treated to a high standard in accordance with environmental licence conditions.

In 2019/2020, Townsville Water produced over 1,300 mega litres of recycled water, with the majority being reused for irrigation purposes either onsite at wastewater treatment
plants or supplied for use as irrigation for open space areas or sporting fields.

Queensland Water Service Provider Performance Report 2019-2020

 RESULTS FOR GENERAL SERIES
SWIM KPI INDICATOR TITLE TOWNSVILLE TOWNSVILLE CLEVELAND CONDON HORSESHOE MAGNETIC MOUNT TOWNSVILLE TOWNSVILLE COMMENTS
CODE CODE POTABLE NON POTABLE BAY REUSE REUSE BAY REUSE ISLAND ST JOHN SEWERAGE WSP-WIDE
REUSE REUSE
AS2 QG 1 .1 Length water mains 2,638 km 4,326 km 4 km 3 km 3 km 1 km 5 km 2,658 km

AS5 QG 1 .2 Length sewerage mains and

channels 1,364 km 1,364 km

AS4 QG 1 .3 Number sewage treatment 6 sewage

6 sewage
plants treatment
treatment plants
plants
AS1 QG 1 .4a Number water treatment plants: 4 Water
providing full treatment 4 water
treatment
treatment plants
plants

AS47 QG 1 .4b Capacity of water treatment 277 ML per

plants 277 ML per day
day

WA201 QG 1 .5 Maximum daily demand

239 ML 239 ML

WA74 QG 1 .6 Volume potable water Water restrictions have eased to Water Conservation
produced/supplied into water 5,2417 ML 52,417 ML Measures. Due to this water usage has risen throughout
supply system Townsville.
AS48 QG 1 .7 Total drinking water storage
volume 263 ML 263 ML

WA1 QG 1 .8 Volume water sourced: surface

water 54,666 ML 54,666 ML

WA2 QG 1 .9a Volume water sourced: No No

groundwater No groundwater
groundwater groundwater
sourced
sourced sourced

WA45 QG 1 .9b Volume water sourced:

1,120 ML 1,120 ML
imported
WA61 QG 1.10 Volume water sourced:
desalination marine water No marine No marine No marine water
water sourced water sourced sourced

WA26 QG 1.11 Volume recycled sewage

supplied: all 617 ML 719 ML 693 ML 1,383 ML

WA7 QG 1.12 Volume water sourced

55,786 ML 617 ML 719 ML 693 ML 57,169 ML

CS2 QG 1.13 Connected residential properties: 81,394

water 81,378 ML 1.6 connections
connections

CS3 QG 1.14 Connected non-residential 4,903 4,903

properties: water connections connections

CS6 QG 1.15 Connected residential properties: 71,453 71,453

sewerage connections connections

CS7 QG 1 .16 Connected non-residential 3,560

properties: sewerage 3,560 connections
connections

Queensland Water Service Provider Performance Report 2019-2020

 RESULTS FOR GENERAL
SERIES
Swim KPI code Indicator Title Townsville Townsville Non Cleveland Condon Horseshoe Bay Magnetic Mount St Townsville Townsville WSP- Comments
code Potable Potable Bay Reuse Reuse Reuse Island John Sewerage WIDE
Reuse Reuse
WA32 QG 1 .17a Volume of potable water
29,535 ML 29,535 ML
supplied - residential
WA91 QG 1 .17b Volume of non-potable water
10 ML 10 ML
supplied - residential
WA34 QG 1 .18a Volume of potable water
supplied - commercial, 12,682 ML 12,682 ML
municipal and industrial

WA92 QG 1 .18b Volume of non-potable water

supplied - commercial, 0 ML
municipal and industrial

WA36 QG 1 .19 Volume of non-revenue water 10,079 ML 10,199 ML

WF1 QG 1 .20 Total Full-Time Equivalent 290 full time
water and sewerage equivalent
services employees employees

Water Security Series

Key findings

Providing water security to Townsville is a priority of the Townsville City Council. The level of Townsville’s main water source, the Ross River Dam reached capacity during the 2019/2020
financial year with unprecedented rainfall during January and February of 2019. As a result in March 2019 The Townsville city Council moved from water restrictions to water conservation
measures, these measures remained in place for 2019/2020 financial year.

Prior to this in August 2016 water restrictions increased to Level 3 with the Ross Dam level falling below 20%.
When significant rainfall fell during February/March 2018 water restrictions were eased back to Level 2, allowing residents more freedom in using water.
Restrictions remained in place ensuring sustainable supply in the Ross River Dam until the Horton Pipeline Duplication is completed.
Townsville Water is committed to managing its water supply infrastructure on a long term basis, to ensure a secure water supply for the community into the future.
Townsville Water is currently in the process of building the recommended additional 1,800mm diameter steel pipeline with additional pumps from the Haughton
Pump Station to the Ross River Dam, and to increase the capacity of the existing Sunwater pump station and gravity channel from Clare to the Haughton Pump
Station by 234ML/day. Construction work on the Haughton Pipeline Duplication is estimated to be completed in 2021.

Queensland Water Service Provider Performance Report 2019-2020

 RESULTS FOR WATER SECURITY SERIES
SWIM CODE KPI CODE INDICATOR TITLE TOWNSVILLE POTABLE TOWNSVILLE NON POTABLE TOWNSVILLE WSP-WIDE COMMENTS
QG 2 .1
WS3 Available contingency supplies Yes Yes

QG 2 .2
WS11 Water restriction duration: PWCM 365 365

QG 2 .3
WS12 Water restriction duration: Level 1 0 0 0

QG 2 .4
WS13 Water restriction duration: Level 2 0 0 0

QG 2 .5
WS14 Water restriction duration: Level 3 0 0 0

QG 2 .6
WS15 Water restriction duration: Level 4 0 0 0
QG 2 .7
WS16 Water restriction duration: Level 5 0 0 0

QG 2 .9
Has asset management planning been undertaken in the last 10
WS17 Yes Yes
years?

Has drought management planning been undertaken in the last 10

WS18 Yes Yes
years?

Yes
Has water demand forecasts been developed or reviewed in the
WS19 Yes
last 5 years?

Has assessment of key capacity constraints of water infrastructure

WS20 Yes Yes
been undertaken in last 10 years?

Has the timing for potential future supply augmentation been

WS21 Yes Yes
assessed in the last 10 years?

WS22 Months water supply remaining as at 30 June (KPI level) 6 6

WS23 Confidence water demand will be met: next 18 months High High

WS24 Confidence water demand will be met: next 5 years High High

Queensland Water Service Provider Performance Report 2019-2020

 Finance Series
Key findings
Revenue from water and wastewater operations equated to just over $211 million for the 2019/2020 financial year, this is mostly derived from the retail supply of water to Townsville
residents and businesses, with a small amount of revenue from the sale of potable water to the Burdekin Shire Council. Revenue from wastewater operations, which equated to just over
$93million, is mostly derived from the supply of wastewater services to residential and non-residential customers in the Townsville local government area.

In the 2019/2020 financial year Townsville Water’s total operational costs were $171million, including depreciation and loan interest. For the water supply aspect of the business, the
operational costs were approximately $87 million and, for the sewerage aspect of the business, the operational costs were approximately $66million.

Annual water pipes and services replacement programs, as well as water treatment plant renewals, and sewer pipe relining and manhole rehabilitation programs, were ongoing to
ensure the quality and reliability of water and sewerage services.
In order to provide services, Townsville Water operates and maintains an asset base which including dams, weirs, treatment plants, reservoirs, pumping stations, chlorinators, and water
and sewerage distribution mains.

SWIM CODE KPI CODE INDICATOR TITLE TOWNSVILLE WSP-WIDE

FN14 QG 3 .1 Total water supply capital expenditure $25,866.82

FN15 QG 3 .2 Total sewerage capital expenditure $33,744.53
FN26 QG 3 .3 Capital works grants – water $0.00
FN27 QG 3 .4 Capital works grants - sewerage $0.00
FN9 QG 3 .5 Nominal written-down replacement cost of fixed water supply assets $915,499.00
FN10 QG 3 .6 Nominal written-down replacement costs of fixed sewerage assets $748,407.00
FN74 QG 3 .7 Current replacement costs of fixed water supply assets $1,687,009.00
FN75 QG 3 .8 Current replacement costs of fixed sewerage assets $1,160,041.00
FN1 QG 3 .9 Total revenue - water $118,384.28
FN2 QG 3 .10 Total revenue - sewerage $93,539.19
FN11 QG 3 .11 Operating cost - water $781 per connection
FN12 QG 3 .12 Operating cost - sewerage $687 per connection
FN76 QG 3 .13 Annual maintenance costs water $63,399.00
FN77 QG 3 .14 Annual maintenance costs sewerage $48,017.00
FN78 QG 3 .15 Current cost depreciation - water $24,032.53
FN79 QG 3 .16 Current cost depreciation - sewerage $20,827.34
FN80 QG 3 .17 Previous 5 year average annual renewals expenditure - water $16,586.00
FN81 QG 3 .18 Previous 5 year average annual renewals expenditure - sewerage $8,070.00
FN82 QG 3 .19 Forecast 5 year average annual renewals expenditure - water $27,218.00
FN83 QG 3 .20 Forecast 5 year average annual renewals expenditure - sewerage $16,913.00
Queensland Water Service Provider Performance Report 2019-2020
 Customer Series
Key findings
PRICING
The price of utility and other charges of Townsville Water are set annually by council. Townsville Water utilises a Full Cost Pricing Model which provides guidance on the prices that
Townsville Water should charge for its products and services in order to cover its capital and operational costs as well as a return on its investments which is delivered back to the council.
For its residential water services, Townsville Water offers a choice between 2 options for water billing: the Standard Plan water billing option, and the Water Watchers water billing
option. The Standard Plan billing option allows for the use of an allocation of water for a fixed charge, with an excess water charge applied for every kilolitre of water that is used over
and above the allocation amount. With the Water Watchers option, a fixed service connection fee applies and, in addition to the service connection fee, customers pay for their actual
water usage per kilolitre of water used.
In 2019/2020, the majority of customers in Townsville chose the Standard Plan water billing option. The residential bill for water under the Standard Plan is $784 per year, which includes
a water allocation of 772kL.

SERVICE INTERRUPTION
Townsville Water owns and maintains over 2,658kms of water distribution mains in order to supply water to the Townsville community. Mains breaks can be experienced due to aging
infrastructure, expanding and shrinking of soils, water pressure, or damage. During the 2019/2020 financial year, Townsville Water experienced 54 breaks per 100 km of breaks per
100km of mains.
Townsville Water must interrupt water services at short notice at times in order to carry out work on its mains. This means that customers may experience a loss of water supply on
occasion. In 2019/2020, there were approximately 1,852 properties affected by unplanned interruptions to the water supply during the year. This equates to around 21 properties
experiencing interruptions to supply for every 1,000 properties.
Townsville owns and maintains over 1364kms of sewer mains to collect and transport sewage to treatment plants for treatment. During the 2019/2020 financial year, there were 54
breaks and chokes per 100 km of sewer main, with only 747 breaks and chokes in total. This number has gone up to previous years as this has now taken into account all sewer pump
stations.

RESPONSE TIMES
Townsville Water has committed to responding to water and sewerage incidents, including water leaks, breaks and chokes, within 4 hours of advice of the incident being reported. This
represents the time that it takes staff of Townsville Water to attend on site to assess, or begin working on the issue, but may not include the time that it takes to actually restore the
service or fix the issue. For water incidents,
93% of incidents during 2019/2020 were responded to within the targeted 4 hour time frame. For sewerage incidents, 87% of incidents during 2019/2020 were responded to within the
targeted 4-hour time frame.

COMPLAINTS
Townsville Water received 0 formal complaints about water quality during the financial year. There was 50 formal complaints made in relation to water service and reliability, sewerage
service and reliability, water restrictions, pricing, billing and accounts, and behaviour of staff. This equates to less than 0.58 complaints per 1,000 properties receiving water services.

Queensland Water Service Provider Performance Report 2019-2020

 RESULTS FOR CUSTOMER SERIES
SWIM KPI CODE INDICATOR TITLE TOWNSVILLE TOWNSVILLE CLEVELAND CONDON HORSESHOE MAGNETIC MOUNT ST TOWNSVILLE TOWNSVILLE WSP- COMMENTS
CODE POTABLE NON POTABLE BAY REUSE REUSE BAY REUSE ISLAND JOHN REUSE SEWERAGE WIDE
REUSE
PR3 QG 4.1 Fixed charge – water Not
Not Relevant Not Relevant Not Relevant Not Relevant
There is no fixed Relevant
$784 per year to this to this to this to this $784.00
charge to this
scheme scheme scheme scheme
scheme
PR5 Qg 4.1a Fixed charge – water description Not
Not Relevant Not Relevant Not Relevant Not Relevant Per property,
Per dwelling, lot, There is no fixed Relevant
to this to this to this to this home, unit, flat lot
home unit or flat charge to this
scheme scheme scheme scheme or dwelling
scheme
PR31 QG 4.2 Fixed charge – sewerage
$806 per year $806 per year

QG 4 .2a
PR40 Fixed charge – sewerage Per
property, Per property,
home, unit, home, unit, flat lot
flat lot or or dwelling
dwelling
PR47 QG 4 .3 Annual bill based on 200 kl/annum
$1,590.00

PR48 QG 4 .4 Typical residential bill

$1,590.00

AS8 QG 4 .5 Total water main breaks 28.1 per 100 km 28.1 per 100 km
0 0 0 0 0
water main water main
AS39 QG 4 .6 Total sewerage main breaks and This field is including all Sewer
chokes per 100 km 54.8 54.8 per 100 km Pump Chokes which were not
sewer main included previously

CS17 QG 4 .7 Incidence of unplanned interruptions

21 per 1000 21 per 1000
- water
connections connections

CS66 QG 4 .8 Percentage of water incident (bursts

and leaks) responded to within the
94% 93%
average response time detailed in
customer service standards
CS65 QG 4 .9 Percentage of sewerage incidents
(including main breaks and chokes)
responded to within the average 87.5% 87%
response time detailed in customer
service targets

CS9 QG 4 .10 Water quality complaints

0 per 1000
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
connections

CS13 QG 4 .11 Total water and sewerage complaints

0.47 per 1000 0.13 per 100 0.58 per 1000
connections connections connections

Queensland Water Service Provider Performance Report 2019-2020

 Conclusion
During 2019/2020 Townsville Water continued to apply effective control and
governance of assets to realise value through managing risk and opportunity
which helped achieve the desired balance of cost, risk, and performance.
This assisted the business to appropriately prioritise how to allocate time, money
and material by focusing on the most critical problems and providing the
framework for continuous improvement, meeting organisational objectives and
regulatory compliance. The focus on continuous improvement increases overall
asset effectiveness while lowering life cycle costs.
In 2019/20 Townsville Water also implemented new water conservation
measures. These measures allow the Townsville community to help ensure the
city’s water security strategy is met. This also allows residents to utilise the odds
and evens water system which is designed to minimise the impact on the city's
water network. Council understands how important our water is and is striving
to preserve this precious resource whilst providing the essential service to the
community. Additionally, the $10 million Water Smart package was
implemented providing renters, homeowners and body
corporates in Townsville with vouchers and rebates for water-
saving products and efficient watering systems. The package
opened in July 2019 and was fully subscribed by November 2019
with more than 22,000 properties registering. This program is to
continue over the first half of the 2020/21 financial year.
In 2019/2020 Townsville Water also reviewed the Customer
Service Standards currently in place and found that Townsville
Water maintains Customer Service Standards in accordance with
the requirements of the Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act
2008. Townsville Water’s Customer Service Standards articulates
measurable goals which Townsville Water aims to achieve, and
which are reported on annually to the Water Supply Regulator.

Queensland Water Service Provider Performance Report 2019-2020