Water from the Casino Water Treatment Plant in NSW has taken out the top prize in WIOA Ixom’s Best Tasting Tap Water in Australia competition.
The Casino Water Treatment Plant is run by the Richmond Valley Council, beating the other State competition winners from around the country to win the coveted award.
Casino’s water will now go up against the global competition in the International Best Tasting Tap Water Competition in West Virginia in 2021.
The Water Industry Operators Association of Australia (WIOA) recognised many operational employees for demonstrating excellence in their field in 2021.
Awards included:
WIOA supported Spicae to conduct a series of webinar sessions focussed on the Australian Water Reform Journey for the New Zealand 3 Water Reform Program.
WIOA with the support of award sponsor TRILITY, created a new Team of the Year Award.
Congratulations to Robran Cock who became the 41st Member to be Inducted as a Delegate of the Inextricably Obstructed Tap Society. The Award recognises members for their commitment to the vision and philosophies of WIOA and their active promotion of the Association.
Robran has been a regular MC at conference dinners, taste tests, and other events. He has been a great help at conferences and events assisting with the setup, pack up and anything else that needs doing and has actively promoted WIOA through his roles.
IDIOTS is a term of endearment for IWOA members as the award recognises the services of individuals to the Association. The IDIOTS award is presented to an individual in recognition of their commitment to the vision and philosophies of the Association and the active promotion of WIOA through distinguished service to the Association.
The outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Australia created highly uncertain circumstances for households, businesses and governments.
Prior to COVID-19, concepts such as “lockdowns,” “mask mandates” and “social distancing” were unknown to most of us. Today they are part of our everyday language as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact all aspects of our lives.
COVID-19 caused the postponement of major conferences and exhibitions in NSW and Victoria having a major impact on the association..
WIOA is a finalist in the Associations Forum – 2021 Association Awards that recognise excellence and accomplishment by associations. We submitted our first ever entry into these awards for the Best Tasting Tap Water campaign that has been a great success in 2022, highlighted by the Gold medal win at the international competition.
The Association External Campaign of the Year Award (previously Association Achievement of the Year Award) is presented to an association that has made an outstanding achievement through an external campaign that has resulted in significant improvement for the association’s mission, sector or members.
The national Drinking Water Operator Certification Framework originally adopted name “Certification” as it most accurately reflected the needs of the water industry at the time.
Over time, there has been confusion over the term as it relates to Certificates awarded as a qualification on completion of Vocational Education and Training.
Individuals hold a qualification, for example a Certificate II or III, but that does not mean they are “Certified”.
To remove this confusion the Drinking Water Operator Certification Framework and the WIOA Water Operators Scheme will change from certification to registration.
Certified Operators will be automatically recognized as “Registered Professional Operators”.
The administration system Acuario provides an easy-to-use interface for the administration of the scheme. Demonstrations of Acuario can be made on request.
If you are interested in becoming a Registered Professional Operator, contact WIOA.
George Wall from Water Industry Operators Association of Australia (WIOA) continued in the role as chair of the Water Industry Reference Committee on for the Australian Industry Standards.
The Water Industry Reference Committee has been assigned responsibility for the NWP National Water Training Package which provides the only nationally recognised Vocational Education and Training (VET) qualifications for occupations involved in water industry operations (generalist, treatment, networks, source, irrigation, hydrographic survey, trade waste), treatment (drinking water, wastewater) and irrigation.
WIOA completed the development of an Information and Communication Technology (ICT), web based solution, to assist in the administration and overall management of the national certification scheme.
The final solution was tested with the assistance of some water utilities in early 2020.