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Water and Sewer Quarterly Performance Report: January -March 2024

Welcome to Central Coast Council’s Water and Sewer Quarterly Reporting page

In line with our customer’s preferences, this new Quarterly Report shows our results for each month and covers performance areas our community were most interested in. Addressing these results is a key focus for Council, noting that it may take time before benefits and desired results are achieved. These results will be published each quarter.

An additional Annual Performance Report will be published towards the end of the year, that shows annual figures, along with 4 years historical data, allowing our customers to track trends in our overall performance.

This initial report is providing information on Water and Sewer’s performance over the three months spanning January to March 2024. For this report, this will be referred to as “the reporting period”.

Actual monthly data may be subject to change in future reports if data corrections need to be conducted after the published date. This promotes better analysis and accuracy of the reported data.

Responding to urgent issues reported by our customers

Council’s response to urgent issues reported by customers has remained relatively consistent over the reporting period, sitting near or over 80%. Factors that impact response times can include smaller staff resourcing over the Christmas / New Year period, available staff resourcing due to major jobs, staff fatigue management and weather variables.

Council is constantly reviewing the terms of urgent work and factors that make up the response time. Recently, staff resourcing and equipment needs have been increased which is anticipated to show as an incremental change in response times, once training is completed and teams are on the ground.

Over the next few months, customers will have the opportunity to provide feedback on their experience with Council dealing with their issues reported via phone calls. Council regularly engages with our community on their values and focus for the water and sewer business.

Responding to non-urgent issues reported by our customers

Council’s response to non-urgent issues reported by our customers within 5 days has remained consistent over the reporting period. Urgent issues are prioritised first and non-urgent are assessed based on what the issue is, staff availability, required work and weather. February saw an increase in response times and correlating this to other performance measures. Recently staff resourcing and equipment have increased which is anticipated to show as an incremental change in response times once training is completed and teams are on the ground.

Council will continue to review this to improve customer experience. Over the next few months customers will have the opportunity to provide feedback on their experience with Council dealing with their issues reported via phone calls. Council regularly engages with our community on their values and focus for the water and sewer business.

Number of properties affected by unplanned water interruptions

Overall for this quarter, the number of properties affected by unplanned water interruptions has reduced. In January, there was a higher number than usual of third parties damaging water assets. This can include contractors, other utilities or private businesses working in and around our assets.

Changes made to reduce affected properties include:

  • Use of alternate water network maintenance practices that have reduced those unplanned interruption types.
  • Scaling up of the water main renewal program to reduce water main break related interruptions.

These changes will be monitored over the coming months. As part of the longer-term continuous improvement program, an additional water service replacement initiative to complement the water main renewals will be introduced in 2024/2025. Council expects the benefits of these changes to be seen over the longer term.

Average duration of unplanned interruptions to water supply

In general, Council’s average duration of unplanned interruptions shows some minor variations over the reporting period. Duration of water outages can change based on the type of water supply issue. Larger water main breaks for example can take longer to fix.

Programs are being introduced to reduce the occurrence of unplanned interruptions through changing our operational planning practices to reduce the unplanned element within our water network maintenance teams, along with alternative works methods and increasing customer engagement prior to these works. Longer-term we are expanding the water main replacement program to reduce the number of water main breaks.

Water quality complaints

Water quality complaints are consistent for most of this quarter; however, a spike can be seen in February. These complaints related to several water main breaks in specific areas which created water quality issues. Along with the issues created by a main break, changes in how we get water to your homes and businesses through the water pipe network, can result in unsettled particles being disturbed from within the water pipelines, this can also create discoloured water.

Overall, the number of water quality complaints has continued to improve apart from the July 2023 and February 2024 months, driven from the focus of reducing dead-end water mains usually in cul-de-sacs and undertaking scheduled flushing maintenance in our suburbs.

Number of water pressure complaints

Currently Council has experienced a small number of complaints on water pressure over the quarter. Currently, the Central Coast region has 168,000 connections to our water supply. When comparing the relatively low number of complaints to the number of connections this equates to less than 1% of connections experiencing issues. Council continues to monitor complaints and track these monthly to ensure any issues are addressed quickly. Council is implementing a pressure booster trial at Kariong to address a known low-pressure area.

Water main breaks

The number of water main pipeline breaks have remained relatively consistent for January and February and dropped over March. Breaks in the water main pipelines occur due to ground movement and change in conditions, aging infrastructure, weather events and temperature changes and third-party damage.

Council is working to better capture third-party damage to underground assets which contribute to the overall number of breaks and increasing the leaking detection program including the use of both water and sewer leak detection dogs. It is anticipated with more ground movement in the coming winter months, there will again be a seasonal increase in the number of water main breaks over the next few months.

Longer-term, Council is expanding the water main replacement and water service replacement programs and increasing surveillance on critical water mains associated with the Mardi Water Treatment Plant upgrade.

Water sampling results

Over the quarter all water sampling results were compliant.

Drinking water quality testing is undertaken by the NSW Health Forensic & Analytical Science Service laboratories. Water samples are collected from sites across the region by Council. These sites are representative of drinking water supplied to our customers. The table below summarises the number of individual tests undertaken for the microbiology and chemistry water quality programs, along with details of any test results not compliant with Australian Drinking Water health-based guideline limits for the January-March 2024 quarter.

Council has strong water quality parameters and critical control points in our treatment process to ensure we meet the needs of the community and deliver quality drinking water under the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG).

Microbiology Jul-Sep 23 Oct-Dec 23 Jan-Mar 24 Apr-Jun 24
No. tests performed146313651368 
No. results not compliant with ADWG health guidelines000 
ChemistryJul-Sep 23 Oct-Dec 23 Jan-Mar 24 Apr-Jun 24
No. tests performed224192192 
No. results not compliant with ADWG health guidelines000 

Water extracted from our storages

The Central Coast water supply has a shared connection to Hunter Water Corporation’s water supply through the Central Coast / Hunter Water transfer. The amount of water extracted from our storages is dependent on the customers’ demand for water and transfers between Hunter Water and the Central Coast Council to manage long-term storages and maintain suitable water quality. Water extracted from our dams over the quarter was fairly consistent with a dip in water extracted in February.

Demand for water in our community usually peaks during the spring/summer months. This would mean Council would extract more water then and balance extraction with demand. During the summer months, extractions were lower as Council was receiving water from Hunter Water. Summer demand on the Central Coast was also lower than the long-term average due to coastal showers reducing outdoor water demand.

Water produced for the Central Coast Community

The Central Coast water supply has a shared connection to Hunter Water Corporation’s water supply through the Central Coast / Hunter Water transfer. The water produced is dependent on the demands of our community.

Demand for water in our community usually peaks during the spring/summer months. This would mean Council would look at production and transfers to ensure we meet the need. During January community demands may have been higher. February saw a slight reduction in production. This could be due to coastal showers reducing outdoor water demand.

Over the longer-term Council’s Water Security Plan looks at the demands the community need along with where our water supply comes from. This is an area that is important to ensure the region has a sustainable water supply.

Number of days that beaches/lagoons aren’t swimmable (due to breaks or discharges)

Over the quarter each month has a number of days that beaches/lagoons were deemed un-swimmable. February had several issues. Sewer discharges occur for several reasons including failure of sewage pipelines, due to age or damage; blockages caused by tree roots growing into the pipe or inappropriate materials being flushed through the system such as fats and oils, wipes and cloth. The other factor that impacts the numbers of days includes high volumes of flow due to illegal stormwater connections to sewer; and inflow from floodwater.

Whilst no storm events were recorded during the quarter, the region did receive some rain. The February 2024 high number of closures was due to two incidents in Canton Beach occurring close to each other which extended the total days of closures. There was also an incident near Kincumber Creek which is a creek known to have poor background water quality. These were isolated incidents that only impacted the two locations.

Council monitors our beaches and lagoons through the NSW Beachwatch Program.

Volume of biosolids reused

Biosolids are mainly a mix of water and organic materials that are a by-product of the sewage treatment process. Most wastewater comes from household kitchens, laundries and bathrooms. The volume shown represents all biosolids entering Buttonderry Waste Management Facility and biosolids from Woy Woy and Kincumber Sewage Treatment Plants which are applied to land. Some of these biosolids are delivered to a network of farms for land application carried out under strict biosolids guidelines. The other portion is composted to produce stable composts and soil conditioners.

Number of Environmental Protection Licence (EPL) non-compliances

There were three non-compliances with Council’s Environmental Protection Licences (EPLs) across the quarter. Our sewage treatment plants work using a variety of treatment methods and biological processes to achieve a quality effluent that is released to the ocean at our ocean outfalls. The non-compliances related to:

  1. Key process equipment failures impacting the effluent discharge quality to our outfalls. Some processes take some time after the replacement of equipment, as well as some minor maintenance issues to return to normal levels.
  2. Improvements are continuing to be undertaken to enhance the operations of a sewage treatment plant that is operating above design capacity.

Council has completed replacements and maintenance to close out the non-compliances this quarter and as a result effluent discharge quality will continue to improve. Issues with the operations of the plant that has reached its design capacity will be considered through a major upgrade to the plant. Significant improvements in effluent discharge quality will not be realised until the completion of the upgrade and beyond. The upgrade is due for completion in 2027.

Sewage overflows

The number of sewage overflows reported are the combination of overflows from a range of sewerage network assets, including vacuum pot overflows, access hole overflows (caused by chokes), pump station overflows, etc which can occur in both dry weather or caused by wet weather events.

Results in this quarter change monthly. The large number of recorded sewage overflows in March was mainly due to tree root ingress into the sewer pipelines. Aging infrastructure across areas of the Central Coast combined with legacy asset materials and construction techniques (for example vitreous clay pipes) will continue to impact results sporadically. Tree roots create problems in pipelines historically through nature seeking sources of moisture and nutrients that is available within sewage.

Council is continuing to focus on increasing root removal, together with implementing various programs to target a reduction in overflows across the entire network which includes sewer main renewals and relining of larger sewer pressure pipeline and sewer maintenance access hole resealing programs. Council is also refurbishing many of the vacuum pot systems through our capital works programs.

Volume of sewage overflows

There are inconsistencies in results in this quarter due to weather events in February 2024 resulting in major failures within the sewage pipeline network.

These failures were investigated. As a result, operational and network control improvements were implemented to avoid repeat events.

A moderate incident occurred in March due to a network failure in one of our pipelines. This incident was investigated utilising leak-detection dogs from Sydney Water due to the location of the break being in dense bushland. This method improved our response and rectification time in a very difficult location.

Council continues to implement various programs to target a reduction in overflows across the entire sewage pipeline network. Some of these are aimed at finding issues quickly while others focus on long-term change. These include leak detection programs, sewer main renewals and relining, large sewer pressure pipeline renewals and sewer maintenance access hole resealing programs.

Number of sewage overflows reported to the environmental regulator

Council is required to report back to one of our regulators (the New South Wales Environmental Protection Authority) on sewage overflow events. Events reported are primarily those that enter waterways either directly through sewage overflows, or indirectly with sewage entering a stormwater system.

For this quarter, reported overflows have predominantly been minor in nature. February saw a spike in reported overflows with increases during sever weather events. Council undertakes water quality monitoring programs to ensure any impacts are tracked in the short and long-term and environmental factors are monitored.

Council is implementing a program aimed at further reducing overflows across the sewage network.

Sewer main breaks and chokes

The number of sewer main breaks and chokes recorded are the combination of sewer pressure main breaks and sewer chokes. Sewer chokes occur when something inside a pipe stops it from working properly.

The reported number of sewer main breaks and chokes have predominately been caused by the ingress of tree roots into the pipelines. Aging infrastructure across areas of the Central Coast combined with legacy asset materials and construction techniques (for example vitreous clay pipes) will continue to impact results sporadically. Tree roots create problems in pipelines historically through nature seeking sources of moisture and nutrients that is available within sewage.

Over the quarter a number of sewer rising main renewal projects progressed through the capital works program. These projects will take place over two years.

Council is continuing to focus on increasing root removal, together with implementing various programs to target a reduction in mains breaks and chokes across the entire network which includes sewer main renewals and relining of larger sewer pressure pipeline and sewer maintenance access hole resealing programs. An education program on what to flush and what not to flush has been introduced.

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