About

ABOUT QWRAP

The Queensland Water Regional Alliances Program (QWRAP) is Government funded program to drive collaboration on water and sewerage services in regional Queensland.

The program is a collaboration among the Queensland Water Directorate (qldwater), Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) and the Queensland Government, through the Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water (DRDMW) and over 60 participating regional councils.

Queensland Government is the main sponsor of the program providing $2 million funding each year.

Participating local government service providers provide both in-kind and financial contributions for the projects initiated by their regions. Participating local governments, as a regional group, apply for bidpool funding to deliver initiatives that respond to challenges they face of remoteness and or size. Projects focus on building capacity, capability, systems and processes. QWRAP does not provide funding for capital works.

Eligible Projects

  • WORKFORCE

    training, attraction programs

    WORKFORCE

    training, attraction programs

  • PROCUREMENT

    standardised procurement specifications

    PROCUREMENT

    standardised procurement specifications

  • INNOVATION PILOTS

    artificial intelligence, CCTV, SCADA common room

    INNOVATION PILOTS

    artificial intelligence, CCTV, SCADA common room

  • PROCESS

    standardised D & C, Asset Management

    PROCESS

    standardised D & C, Asset Management

Our History

  • 2011

    • Infrastructure Australia Review recommends sweeping changes to the Queensland and NSW Local Government water sectors.
    • National Water Commission Review recommends reform of Queensland’s regional local government services.
    • Productivity Commission review calls for the restructuring of the Queensland regional sector. “There is a strong case for undertaking aggregation of small water and wastewater utilities in regional areas of New South Wales and Queensland. The precise approach — including identification of affected councils and the preferred grouping of councils — should be assessed and determined by relevant State Governments, in consultation with Local Governments and affected communities”.
    • LGAQ and qldwater responded to the recommendations by proposing an industry-led rather than top-down review of potential collaborative arrangements and in late July 2011, LGAQ and qldwater commenced the Queensland Water Regional Alliance Program (QWRAP) with funding support from the Queensland Government.
    • The Central Western Queensland Remote Area Planning and Development (RAPAD) Board acted to jointly improve urban water services in the region, forming the Outback Regional Water Group.

  • 2012

    • Far North Queensland Region of Councils (ROC) signs up to QWRAP.
    • Wide Bay Burnett Region of Councils joins QWRAP as the third region named the Wide Bay Burnett Water and Wastewater Advisory Committee (now called the Wide Bay Burnett Urban Water Alliance)

  • 2013

    • A National Infrastructure Plan calls for “regional delivery models, formal infrastructure agreements between bodies, and consolidation of local governments, especially in New South Wales and Queensland”. It also suggests that “most of Australia’s water assets are publicly owned including $50 billion to $60 billion of water infrastructure suitable to be transferred to the private sector”.

  • 2014

    • The three Whitsunday ROC councils, namely Whitsunday, Mackay and Isaac Regional Councils, forms the WIM Alliance.
    • The National Water Commission releases a follow-on review reiterating that “urban water reform needs to be accelerated”.

  • 2015

    • The Downs and Surat Basin Water Group forms a new QWRAP region.

  • 2016

    • The Australian Infrastructure Plan recommends that “State and territory governments should undertake an independent audit of the performance, financial viability and capacity constraints of local councils to identify areas of highest risk. In New South Wales and Queensland, these audits should inform pathways to more sustainable models” and that “Governments should define a pathway to transfer state-owned metropolitan water utility businesses to private ownership to deliver more cost-effective, customer-responsive services.”

  • 2018

    • The Productivity Commission, in their first triennial review of the National Water Initiative, recommended that “The Governments of New South Wales and Queensland should consider the merits of aggregation of regional water utilities, case-by-case […] where the expected benefits of horizontal aggregation do not outweigh the costs, governments should consider the case for establishing regional alliances”.

  • 2019

    • North West Queensland ROC, Central Queensland, North Queensland ROC and South West Regional Economic Development regions sign up.

  • 2020

    • The National Urban Water Reform Committee reaffirms the need for reform to “improve delivery of services and operation of utilities in regional areas. While this was often raised with regard to New South Wales and Queensland, there was interest from (and challenges in) a range of other jurisdictions”.

  • 2021

    • The Productivity Commission releases a draft of the second triennial review of the NWI in February, arguing for a balanced approach to regional water reform: “A renewed National Water Initiative should contain agreed principles for governance of regional and remote water services where local governments retain ownership of utilities”.

  • 2022

    • In June 2022 the Queensland Government announces that the $2 million per annum funding will become a permanent allocation in the budget. This creates a significant opportunity for the regions to plan longer term collaborations, building on the program’s past success in achieving efficiencies through collaboration at a regional scale.

  • 2023

    • Central Queensland ROC joins QWRAP.

  • 2024

    • The program currently has nine regions and conversations are underway to welcome the tenth and final QWRAP region, covering all of Queensland outside of the SEQ region.

Research

QWRAP research has focussed on a series of issues with the aim of informing council deliberation about regional collaboration and the importance of reform of the urban water industry. A common element has been the analysis of the costs, benefits, risks and opportunities associated with regionalisation of Queensland water and sewerage services.

Learn more

Annual reports

The QWRAP Annual Reports highlight the steady growth of the program, from three pilot regions to nine in 2024, covering most of Queensland outside the SEQ region.

Read our reports

QWRAP Governance

QWRAP is overseen by three partners – the Queensland Government, Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) and Queensland Water Directorate (qldwater).
Decisions regarding QWRAP activities are determined by the Executive level representatives across the three organisations.

Vision Mission Statement
Program Structure

Research

Improving Nitrogen Detection Technology

DIN has been rated as the most harmful contaminant reaching the Great Barrier Reef but what is it and where does it come from?
Read more

Northern Queensland Research on Contaminants

A group of councils in northern Queensland has banded together with James Cook University to research how to manage contaminants of emerging concern that can get flushed down our sewers.
Read more

Smoothing out the Infrastructure Cliff

With more than half of Queensland’s water and sewerage assets being underground, two research reports undertaken for the Queensland Water Regional Alliances Program (QWRAP) have shed light on the state of in-ground assets and provided a comparison of costs for replacement versus repair to avoid what has been dubbed the state’s “Infrastructure Cliff”.
Read more

© Qld Water 2024 | Site by NWO

Contact Us

QWRAP is a partnership between the Queensland Government, Queensland Water Directorate (qldwater), LGAQ and regional councils.