Introduction
Barwon Water was established in February 1994 and has expanded over the years and today provides services to over 275,000 people covering an area of about 8100 km2 (Barwon Regional Water Corporation 2010). Its headquarters are in Geelong Australia and covers Little River and Bellarine Peninsula regions in the east of Victoria to Colac which is in the west.
It also stretches from Meridith and Cressy regions in the north to Apollo Bay in the south-west coast (Barwon Regional Water Corporation 2010). It provides first-class water services and also provides services in sewerage and water recycling. Barwon Water has an asset base of more than $1billion which comprises of an array of water storages, water reservoirs, groundwater boreholes, reclamation plants, pumping stations, ten water-treatment plants as well as over 5700 km of pipes.
Mission
Barwon Water’s mission is to achieve high-performance in provision of its services by building partnerships with its customers, the community as well as its stakeholders and to ensure a sustainable future of the community by providing environmental leadership. Barwon Water aims to achieve value-added services through its core values which are innovation, respect, high-performance workforce, leadership as well as real relationships with the community.
Objectives
Among Barwon’s many objectives is to operate and maintain sustainable water and sewerage services which are of high quality and are also sustainable. It also aims to engage the community and stakeholders in its operations and to also ensure environmental sustainability in the community.
Management Structure
The management structure of the company is a hybrid system which comprises of eight directors who are appointed by the Minister for Water. It integrates social mission, market strategies and web-like scale and collaboration in its operations. The management team consists of the managing director and six general managers who coordinate several functional departments
Customers
Barwon Water’s residential customers are about 92% while its industrial or commercial customers are about 8% (Barwon Regional Water Corporation 2010). Its business customers consume about 35% of its water. Barwon Water Customer Charter outlines its commitment to its customers in ensuring guaranteed service levels as well as maintenance responsibilities. The company offers customer assistance services such as concessions on the customer water bills and assistance grants for customers experiencing financial hardships, free interpreter services and also has a committed Customer Liaison Coordinator which handles customers’ complaints effectively.
Employees
Barwon Water has approximately 400 staff in engineering, finance and accounting, marketing, information and communication, human resource and among other departments and also offers carrier development for its staff.
Water Quality
Barwon Water carries out laboratory tests on its water and undertakes comprehensive monitoring of its water processes from the water catchments to its customers’ taps. Barwon Water laboratory has been approved by the National Association of Testing Authorities. It monitors the water sources, the treated water as well as distributed water. It tests each water quality zone separately and also tests an array of water quality parameters. It ensures quality by complying with all the requirements of Safe Drinking Water Act and also adds fluorine to drinking water as is required by the National Health and Medical Research Council.
Community Services
Barwon Water also plays an active role in community development by offering sponsorships and education and also consults the community in its operations. It provides support to learning institutions, community groups, charity organizations and events as well as sporting clubs. It provides community education aimed at creating water conservation awareness and enabling the community understand the treatment processes for water and sewage. Barwon Water has also constituted environmental consultative committees which are mandated to consult widely with the community in its infrastructure projects.
Problems Experienced
Barwon Water experiences problems in trade waste management as well as in ensuring environmental sustainability.
Conclusion
Barwon Water has been very successful in its operations considering the size of population and region that it serves. The company is also very responsive to its customers as it effectively deals with the complaints raised by the customers and also offers grants and concessions to customers.
Reference List
Barwon Regional Water Corporation., 2010, Barwon Water: Building for the future. Web.