Skip to main content
VicWater Annual Conference 2025
VicWater Annual Conference 2025
Times are shown in your local time zone GMT
Session 6
Session

Session

10:20 am

11 September 2025

The Ballroom

Session Program
Innovative technologies provide opportunities to enhance customer experience in the water sector through smarter interactions, data-driven insights, more streamlined processes and real-time monitoring.

How do we ensure we make the best use of new technologies to understand and meet customer needs and expectations in this rapidly evolving climate?

This session explores the balance between innovation and human needs as a key to maintaining customer satisfaction and trust in the water sector.

Facilitator Tara Daniel, Chief Operating Officer, VicWater

Panellists
  • Catherine Wolthuizen, EWOV Ombudsman
  • Danny Gorog, Founder and CEO, Snap Send Solve
  • Adele Rohde, Executive Manager Customer and Employee Experience, GWMWater
  • Sarah Cumming, Managing Director, Gippsland Water

Presented by Steve Capewell, Managing Director, Goulburn Valley Water

It has been estimated that more than 100 cities across the world will be using purified recycled water (PRW) as part of their drinking water supply over the next 25 years, with the number of people consuming it expected to double.  These recent findings from WSAA* come as a number of Australian cities and towns are currently exploring future water sources in the face of a growing population, variable rainfall brought about by a changing climate, and the comparative cost of other manufactured water sources such as desalination.

This presentation will share key learnings from the successful Beenyup groundwater replenishment project in Perth, particularly as they relate to understanding and influencing community and regulatory attitudes and perceptions of PRW.  With further insights from the current Sydney Water PRW trial, the discussion concludes with a set of contemporary ‘Must Have’ attributes for embarking on PRW projects in Australia in the near future.

Cyber security sessions often have a ‘doom and gloom’ focus on threats, vulnerabilities, risks and regulatory compliance. This panel discussion will approach the subject from a different angle, exploring how organisations can treat cyber security as a positive opportunity, through smarter use of technology, best practice governance, and new ways of thinking and working.

Facilitator  Craig Joyce, Director Cythera

Panellists
  • Kaustubh Vazalwar, Director, RSM
  • Michael Dowling, Chief Information Security Officer (Acting), Melbourne Water
  • Georgia Hunt, Special Counsel, Maddocks
Therese Tierney, VicWater Chair, and Jo Lim, VicWater CEO host the interactive wrap up session to assist in consolidating the key take-aways from the conference program, including reflections from the Emerging Leaders, who have attended the conference for the first time.
Conference sessions conclude for Day 2.