Hunter Water Corporation Operational Audit 2010/11 - IPART - NSW ...

2 Overview of audit findings and recommendations
Other grades of water (clause 3.7)
Three clauses were audited with Hunter Water achieving high to full compliance
grades. High compliance was awarded to the sub-clause (3.7.1) that requires Hunter
Water to supply other grades of water according to the Australian Guidelines for
Water Recycling (AGWR) or relevant guidelines specified by NSW Health, DECC
(now the Office of Environment and Heritage) and DWE (now NSW Office of Water).
The auditor reviewed Hunter Water’s document ‘Recycled Water Quality
Management Plan Current Recycled Water Schemes’. The auditor considered that
the document was high level and did not include key information including agreed
critical limits and monitoring programs to manage the quality of the recycled water,
within the report. The auditor also found that there was insufficient detail on the
timeframes to carry out the actions in the plan, and some milestones within the plan
had not been met. For these reasons the auditor felt that a high compliance grade
should be awarded.
In response to the issues the auditor recommended that:
For existing recycled water schemes Hunter Water should develop an agreed
timeframe with NSW Health for the implementation of the core of the AGWR
Framework, this should include validated critical limits and associated protocols
for existing recycled water schemes.
Develop an agreed timeframe with NSW Health for the development of
notification criteria and associated protocols for existing recycled water schemes.
We support the auditor’s recommendations, which we have summarised as follows:
4 Develop an agreed timetable with NSW Health for the full implementation of the
framework outlined in the Australian Guideline for Water Recycling, including
validation of critical limits and the development of notification criteria to NSW Health
for existing recycled water schemes (Recommendation 4, clause 3.6.3).
Infrastructure performance
Part 4 of the licence outlines the performance standards for water continuity, water
pressure and sewage overflows. It also includes obligations relating to service
quality and system performance indicators, and asset management. Under the
risk-based auditing framework, we consider this section of the licence to be one that
poses a high risk in terms of the likelihood and consequence of non-compliance.
This year’s audit included a more comprehensive audit of the infrastructure and
performance clauses of the licence than has been previously undertaken. Hunter
Water achieved full compliance with 8 out of the 9 audited sub-clauses associated
with infrastructure performance. High compliance was awarded for the remaining
clause. The reason for the award of a less than full compliance grade is discussed
below.
12 IPART Hunter Water Corporation Operational Audit 2010/11