Water infrastructure in Tumut Shire, Australia

Indicator: Water infrastructure

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What the results tell us for Tumut

Tumut Shire Council has no formal data on the age or life expectancy of the water supply or the sewerage systems, but has determined that both are in satisfactory condition. The Council has in place a routine maintenance program for the reticulated water supply system and plans to install chemical dosing to reduce phosphorus levels and upgrades for sludge handling and mixing facilities.

The condition of the stormwater system is poor and Council does not know the remaining life expectancy of the system. The Council has not yet identified what upgrades of this system will be required in the short to medium term. There is no greywater recycling system in the Shire.

Just under 40% of the Shire is sewered. (Of an estimated total number of 10 006 properties within the Shire, 3679 were connected to the sewerage system at the end of the reporting period). The number of properties connected to the stormwater system was unknown.

Table 1. Age, life expectancy and condition of Water Infrastructure as at 30 June 1999
Water asset	Average age (years)	Average life expectancy (years)	Average condition of water infrastructure (good/satisfactory/poor)	Specific parts of the infrastructure that will need to be upgraded within the next 4 years
Reticulated water supply (including dams, reservoirs and pipelines)	No data	No data	Satisfactory	Routine maintenance
Sewerage system (including treatment plants and pipelines)	No data	No data	satisfactory	Installed chemical dosing for phosphorus reduction, upgraded sludge handling & mixing facilities, landscaping works. Repairs to sewers, manholes, connections, investigation of infiltration, tree root affected, and blockage prone areas.
Stormwater system (including treatment plants, pollutant traps, open drains and pipelines)	30	30	Poor	Unknown
Greywater and other recycling systems	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

N/A - Not Available

About the data

Title	Assets annual report
Custodian	Tumut Shire Council
Jurisdiction	NSW
Abstract	infrastructure condition
Search Word(s)	Assets- infrastructure
Geographic Extent Name(s)	Tumut Shire
OR
Geographic Extent Polygon(s)	n/a
Beginning date	unknown
Ending date	current
Progress	In progress
Maintenance and update frequency	when needed - yearly report
Stored Data Format	Digital Microsoft Excel and Access
Available format types	Digital Microsoft Excel and Access
Access constraints:	only available through the Shire offices
Lineage:	n/a
Positional accuracy:	n/a
Attribute accuracy:	90%
Logical consistency:	n/a
Completeness	n/a
Contact organisation:	Tumut Shire Council
Contact position:	Assets Planner
Mail address 1:	76 Capper Street
Suburb or Place or Locality	Tumut
State or Locality 2	NSW
Country:	Australia
Postcode:	2720
Telephone:	69470522
Facsimile:	69473999
E-mail address:	dvanags@tumut.nsw.gov.au
Metadata Date	03-Feb-00
Additional Metadata

Description: What does 'water infrastructure' measure?

Which data are collected?

age, life expectancy and condition of types of water infrastructure
proportion of properties connected to stormwater and sewage systems

Why do we report this indicator?

Our need for safe drinking water has lead most towns and cities to build treatment works, pipes and reservoirs (called infrastructure) to treat and distribute water. Many settlements also have some infrastructure to remove waste water and storm water for safe treatment and disposal.

The condition and life-expectancy of all this water infrastructure is an indicator of the extent to which the community has been prepared to invest in its own quality of life. It also indicates how prepare the community is to actively reduce the adverse impacts of human settlement on the natural environment, particularly streams.

The types of water infrastructure that should be addressed include:

reticulated water supply (including dams and reservoirs
sewage system (including treatment plants)
stormwater system (including treatment plants and pollutant traps)

Grey water and other recycling systems should also be included.

The status of this indicator reflects the investment made in water infrastructure in past years. Ongoing investment would be expected to reduce current maintenance costs, and that increases the range of options for implementing more sustainable systems. It can also allow us to maintain or even improve the quality of reticulated water flowing into and out of human settlements.

Where the condition of infrastructure has declined as a result of minimal maintenance over its lifetime, costs of repair, replacement and upgrading to more environmentally friendly systems could be prohibitive.