Agenda

CONFERENCE DAY ONE | Wednesday October 28, 2009

DAY ONE | DAY TWO

8.30 Conference registration

9.00 IIR welcome

9.05 Opening remarks from the chair

REGIONAL WATER POLICY

9.10 KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Insight into the South Australian Government's 'Water for Good' program

The Hon. Karlene Maywald, Minister for the River Murray, South Australian Government

9.40 CASE STUDY: National Water Commission perspectives on rural water and water reform
Laurie Arthur, Commissioner, National Water Commission

10.20 Fixing the River Murray - what still needs to be done
Prof. Mike Young, Executive Director and Research Chair, Water Economics and Management, The Environment Institute, The University of Adelaide

11.00 Morning refreshments

11.30 Discussing inconsistencies in regional water policy

• Why the buyback is necessary
• Impacts of irrigation modernisation
• How to optimise buyback
• How not to optimise buyback
• Other inter-sectoral considerations

Lin Crase, Professor of Applied Economics, Executive Director, La Trobe University

NEW TECHNOLOGY

12.10 High resolution radar digital elevation models over Australia

• In 2008 and 2009 Apogee and Intermap are collecting High Resolution DEM’s over the Murray Darling Basin using aircraft fitted with a Next Generation Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar system (IFSAR)
• Unlike other sensors IFSAR penetrates cloud and works at night and through haze and smoke
• The IFSAR data is ideal for Flood Mapping, Sea-Level Change monitoring, Vegetation Mapping, Fire Management, Engineering Work, and many more applications
• All the data is adjusted relative to the effects of gravity (geoid) which can influence the vertical reference datum of the DEM’s
• Within local areas the vertical digital surface model can be as small as 10-15 cm

John Douglas, Managing Director, Apogee International

12.50 Lunch for speakers and delegates

THE RIVER MURRAY

2.00 CASE STUDY: The Murray Darling Basin Association

Perspective on issues and challenges currently faced for rural water, with emphasis on the River Murray

David Green, Commissioner, Murray Darling Basin Association

2.40 The Murray Darling Basin North & South - is this really one system?
Andrew Gregson, CEO, NSW Irrigators Council

3.20 Afternoon tea

3.50 Making markets work for the environment

• What 'overallocation' means for the environment
• Fixing it from the bottom up
• Integrating water buybacks with infrastructure investment
• Risk - who pays for future changes?

Dr. Arlene Buchan, Healthy Rivers Campaign Co-ordinator, Australian Conservation Foundation

THE FARMING PERSPECTIVE

4.30 CASE STUDY: National Farmers' Federation

• The National Farmers' Federation (NFF) is the embodiment of Australian farmers’ need to speak with one united voice
• Ensuring modern farming is not only viable and sustainable, but continues its vital and growing contribution to the nation
• Embracing environmentally-sustainable production techniques to deliver viable and eco-friendly farming...

Deb Kerr, NRM Resources Manager, National Farmers' Federation

5.10 Further discussion points & closing remarks from the chair

5.20 End of conference day one and networking drinks

CONFERENCE DAY TWO | Thursday October 29, 2009

DAY ONE | DAY TWO

8:30 Morning coffee

9.05 Opening remarks from the chair

OPERATIONAL CASE STUDIES

9.10 CASE STUDY: Strategic performance reporting for a regional water corporation

• Challenges faced by Western Water
• The Balanced Scorecard Strategic Performance tool
• Key Strategic Objectives
• Strategic Performance measuring and reporting

Les McLean, General Manager Commercial Services, Western Water

9.50 Case Study : GWM Water

The Lake Bolac Sewerage system - aligning technical solutions and services standards into investment decisions and pricing policies

Mark Williams, Executive Manager Business Performance and Risk, GWM Water

10.30 Morning refreshments

11.00 The Australian Water Market - issues and trends

What is Waterfind?
Water Market:

• Characteristics and Purpose
• Current Observations
• Reflections on 2008-09
• Into the Future

Tom Rooney, CEO, Waterfind

11.40 CASE STUDY: The Australian Water Markets Report 2008-09 findings

• Key features in the Australian water market for the 2008- 09 financial year
• Measures of performance and efficiency
• Market constraints

Jessie Goldsmith, Senior Analyst, Allen Consulting Group

12.30 Lunch for speakers and delegates

TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION

1.30 Case Study: The Innovation Dividend

• Case Studies of how collaboration in research is changing water management
• Models for building collaboration between research organisations and government/industry
• Some new technology platforms that will change the water industry

Dr Paul Dalby, Director, Water Industry Alliance

2.10 Case Study: Triple Bottom Line Assessment methodology used in the South Australian Governments’ Water for Good Plan

• High Level theoretical study conducted to identify those types of supply options likely to be the most economic and sustainable in meeting the growing water needs of Greater Adelaide to 2050
• This is the first analysis in Australia based on a triple bottom line assessment at a strategic water policy level
• The WorleyParsons EcoNomicsTM Assessment was selected as the methodology for considering the financial, social and environmental implications of various hypothetical options
• The methodology also allows comprehensive sensitivity analysis to examine the environmental, social and economic viability of each option, over a wide range of possible future conditions

Sean Ebert, General Manager Power, Infrastructure & Environment - SA, WorleyParsons

2.50 Afternoon tea

3.20 Technical Case Study : Data Fusion using Multispectral and SAR data sets
Dr Carl Menges, Product & Services Manager, Apogee International

4.00 PANEL DISCUSSION: Regional water leaders discuss water pricing challenges

Issues to be covered in this panel include:

• Recent changes in legislation and regulation
• Addressing community water pricing concerns
• Water savings and efficiency
• Paying for large scale water infrastructure projects

In a Parkinson style format, the chairman will ask a series of questions to each guest. Delegates will then have the opportunity to ask questions of their own from the floor

4.40 Close of conference

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