How South Burnett Regional Council (SBRC) is Turning Community Engagement into Better Water Outcomes
Client: South Burnett Regional Council (SBRC)
Partners: Tremendi | Water Process Design | Innovate Wisely™
Focus: Drinking Water Quality Strategy - Stakeholder Engagement in Infrastructure Planning
When South Burnett Regional Council (SBRC) embarked on a Drinking Water Quality Options Strategy to improve water quality across its eight drinking water schemes, it could have focused purely on infrastructure.
But instead, it took a more visionary path - one that recognised stakeholder engagement as critical to delivering operational efficiency, successful innovation, and outcomes.
When asked on commencement what the project success would look like, SBRC Manager, Water and Wastewater Adam Branch, said “not just another consultant report that sits on the shelf”.
The deeper understanding was already there – that delivering clean, safe drinking water isn’t just about technical filtration. It is an issue of trust, engagement governance, and a community.
That’s why SCC member Tremendi, was asked to collaborate with technical lead Water Process Design and innovation success partner Innovate Wisely™, to shape a stakeholder engagement strategy that would both inform and complement, technical water engineering recommendations.
As SBRC Principal Water and Wastewater Engineer put it during one of the engagement workshops –the challenges of water management are unseen and out of mind and sight of most residents - and for the project to be successful, we need to make the invisible, visible.
The South Burnett Drinking Water Quality Options Strategy will be presented soon, to full council, along with a Community and Stakeholder Engagement Strategy. This will help ensure that, this time, effective stakeholder engagement, alignment of vision and KPIs, and community education support critical innovations to succeed.
