Australians enjoy a good drink…

… and that includes healthy, sparkling clean and tasty tap water. To give us this essential product involves dedicated people like our water operators. They maintain and work around catchments, reservoirs, treatment plants, tanks and distribution networks — all the way to your property connection.

Congratulations to all the finalists in WIOA’s ‘Best Tasting Tap Water Competition’ and good luck to the Mt Kynoch team at the international event.

We should also acknowledge all suppliers, service providers and industry peers who support our water operators with market-leading technologies, systems and products to safeguard production of high-quality drinking water. Filtration, disinfection, control and monitoring are vital tools for operators to manage their daily task.

Evoqua Water Technologies brands include Memcor and Wallace & Tiernan to perform membrane ultrafiltration and all of the analysis and control requirements for disinfection. The Memcor systems manufacturing plant, including global R&D, is located in Windsor, NSW. The plant provides local jobs for over 150 people to produce complete membrane systems for global supply, made in Australia.

TasWater’s Regional Towns Water Supply Program to upgrade drinking water supplies for communities will include Memcor skid-mounted pressurised membrane modules, VAF self-cleaning pre-filters, Barrier-S UV systems and Wallace & Tiernan control packages.

Our southern region distributor, Hydramet, and their parent company, TRILITY, will complete construction for eight townships, with Stornoway adding another five systems by August 2018.

It comes as no surprise that many of our products and systems can be found at these Utilities and Councils competing for the best tasting tap water. Demonstrating that our combined local Australian competence shared between water operators and their business partners is world class and ensures that our population has continued access to clean healthy water — the essence of life.

In parallel, we must take care of our environment, and responsible wastewater management is only possible through skilled wastewater treatment operators, diligent process steps and utilisation of various technologies from sewage collection to re-use or safe discharge.

Again, Australia is well positioned to not just manage our own country but to further export our combined know-how and expertise across the world. Evoqua’s Memcor Membrane Bio-Reactor is the backbone of many plants, in addition to aerators, clarifiers, biogas harvesting and other key technologies.

We have over 100-year heritage of innovation and industry firsts, market-leading expertise and unmatched customer service. Our cost-effective and reliable treatment systems and services ensure uninterrupted quantity and quality of water, enable regulatory and environmental compliance, increase efficiency through water re-use, and prepare customers for next-generation demands.

With more than 200,000 installations across the world, we serve the water needs of hundreds of millions of people, as well as tens of thousands of businesses across the globe.

On the 3rd of November, Evoqua (aqua) became a publicly listed company on the New York Stock Exchange with our CEO, Mr Ron Keating, ringing the bell.

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WIOA (Water Industry Operators Association of Australia) has for the past few years organised the ‘Best Tasting Tap Water Competition’.

Each state winner will compete for the national bragging rights with the eventual winner going to represent Australia at the international event held in the USA. Goulburn Valley Water’s Marysville plant was the 2015 Australian champion and even won the silver medal at the global competition.

TasWater’s Barrington water treatment plant scooped the 2016 prize and this year’s honours went to Queensland, with Toowoomba Regional Council collecting the shield for water supplied from their Mt Kynoch plant. The other finalists included Icon Water — Mt Stromlo (ACT/NSW), SAWater — Morgan (SA), TasWater — Lake Fenton (Tas) and Goulburn Valley Water — Merrijig (Vic).

www.wioa.org.au/awards/national-awards/australia's-best-tap-water

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Image caption: Close-up of a module showing individual hollow fibre membranes potted together.