As a visiting water utility official from Austin, Texas, I was excited with the tour Coffs Harbour, Australia officials gave me of their water and wastewater facilities, plus an intensive briefing on their policies and operations. Coffs Harbour has worked successfully to secure the community’s water supply and in recent years built both a new water and wastewater plant. The water comes from two rivers in the mountains above Coffs and thus the utility is able to rely heavily on gravity flow with resulting lower  energy usage. Both the water and wastewater plants are state of the art, with the water plant high above the town. Austin is taking a similar approach with its under construction water treatment plant. Although Austin is not mountainous, the new plant is located at a higher elevation than the City and will allow for increased gravity flow in the delivery of water -- decreasing our utility’s energy use.

Coffs officials also

provided detail on the stages of their water conservation program and showed their long standing reclaimed water program. Reclaimed customers include numerous sports fields, the local stadium, a race track, an animal shelter, and the Coffs’ Council Botanical Gardens -- the last a recent addition. Long time Coffs Harbour Water Executive Director Simon Thorn led the tour and we were joined by Coffs Manager of Water Treatment Adam Wilson. Thorn and Wilson also reviewed Coffs’ reclaimed water licensing and regulatory policies -- knowledge that will aid in the ongoing expansion of Austin’s reclaimed program -- a key water conservation strategy.

As part of Coffs Council’s hospitality and openness I was also able to visit with Mayor Keith Rhoades, Councilor Bill Palmer, and General Manager Steve McGrath. Mayor Rhoades serves as President of the Local Government Association of the state of New South Wales. Palmer is a long time leader in securing Coffs Council’s water supply and infrastructure. McGrath is a long time consultant to Australian local governments who recently assumed the helm as General Manager of Coffs Council.