2015-03-31 Planning & Organisation Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                        31 MARCH 2015


Strategic Land Use Planning
2                        UNITYWATER'S NETSERV PLAN AND DEMAND MODELLING AND TRACKING TOOL
DOCUMENT INFORM AT ION




Author                           Principal Strategic Planner, Rowena Skinner
                                 Planning & Infrastructure Department

Index                            ECM\Subject\Infrastructure Planning (Regional/State)
                                 ECM\Customer\Unitywater

Attachments                      Nil


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report provides information on the Demand Modeller and Tracking Tool (DMaTT) developed
by UnityWater to inform the Water Netserv Plan with respect to forecast demographic and
planning changes.

UnityWater is seeking Councils endorsement of these projections to be included in the Netserv
Plan as being consistent with Councils own planning assumptions.

RECOMMENDATION
That Council note the report by the Principal Strategic Planner to the Planning & Organisation
Committee meeting dated 31 March 2015 and endorse the planning assumptions contained
within the Water Netserv Plan as generated through the development and continual improvement
of UnityWater’s Demand Modelling and Tracking Tool.


REPORT

1.                       Background

The South-East Queensland Water (Distribution and Retail Restructuring) Act 2009 legislates
that all South East Queensland water service providers must have a Water Netserv Plan. This
document is intended to provide strategic planning forecasts for future water supply and
sewerage services for the next 20 or 30 years, including any infrastructure delivery needed for
growth in the particular region.

Under section 99BR of the SEQ Water (Distribution and Retail Restructuring) Act 2009, Part A of
UnityWater’s Netserv Plan must be endorsed by each participating council “as being consistent
with the planning assumptions for its local government area”. Planning assumptions are
generally those relating to population and employment growth as well as the type, scale, location
and timing of development.

There has been criticism of current manual forecasting methods with noticeable deviation
between UnityWater’s forecasts and those of the three Councils within whose local government
areas they operate. UnityWater has developed a demand modeller and tracking tool (DMaTT) in
an attempt to develop and implement an automated demand modelling, forecasting and tracking
tool that provides robust, consistent, transparent and repeatable demand projections.




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