Who must register

The following entities must register as service providers before supplying water and/or sewerage services:

• local governments
• water authorities
• entities that own one or more elements of infrastructure for supplying a water and/or sewerage service and intend to charge for the service(s)
• entities prescribed in a regulation made under the Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008 – refer to Schedule 1 of the Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Regulation 2021.

Exemptions

There are some exclusions regarding registration. This applies if the infrastructure is used only:

• for mining purposes
• by your guests or employees (e.g. a resort)
• by the occupants of lots (if the owner is a body corporate for a registered community titles scheme).

Entities that own infrastructure supplying only recycled water do not need to register under this requirement. However, recycled water schemes must be registered under section 196AA of the Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008.

How to register

To apply, complete the application for new registration as a service provider (PDF, 432KB) and email to drinkingwater.reporting@rdmw.qld.gov.au.

You must own the infrastructure at the time of application. You cannot apply on the basis of providing planning documents or approvals for supplying water or sewerage services.

Reviewing registration details

Within 30 business days after 30 June each year, all service providers must complete a review of their registration details.

Service providers must then give the regulator notice of the review in the approved form (regardless of whether a change to your details has been made or not) by completing the Notice of change or review of service provider registration details (PDF, 832KB) and emailing this form to drinkingwater.reporting@rdmw.qld.gov.au.

Forms must be submitted within 10 business days after the review of your registration details is complete.

Amending or cancelling your registration

Complete the relevant form and email to drinkingwater.reporting@rdmw.qld.gov.au:

• Notice of change or review of service provider registration details (PDF, 832KB)
• Notice of intention to transfer registration to another entity (PDF, 407KB)
• Application to cancel registration (PDF, 401KB)
• Notice of intention to stop operating (PDF, 193KB).

Registered service provider list

View the list of registered water supply and sewerage service providers.

Also consider...

• Find out about drinking water.
• Read about water service provider performance reporting.

As a service provider, you must publish regulatory documents about the water and sewerage services provided to your customers.

Service provider documents

You must publish these documents online as soon as feasible:

• customer service standards
• drinking water service annual reports
• performance reports
• recycled water management plan annual reports
• any guidelines for preparing a water efficiency management plan
• any water and sewerage service area maps.

Declared water and sewerage service areas

Local governments are required to declare their retail water and/or sewerage service areas and then publish the declaration and maps showing these service areas on their website. A local government may also be required to declare and publish the maps of other water and/or sewerage service providers, within its area, such as distributor-retailers and privately owned entities.

The service area maps must be reviewed and if required, updated by the registered service provider at least annually.

The maps must show the limit of the service area and the location of the service provider's infrastructure.

Rate notices guidelines

Service providers outside South East Queensland must comply with the Guideline for issuing a residential water rate notice outside South East Queensland (PDF, 1.6MB). This guideline specifies what needs to be detailed on a rates notice for water services.

Email UrbanWaterSupply@rdmw.qld.gov.au to request a copy of superseded guidelines if required for reference.

Queensland's Urban water explorer

Queensland's Urban water explorer is an interactive digital tool that allows providers and customers to explore, visualise and compare data provided by urban water and sewerage service providers.

View the Urban water explorer

It includes information about service delivery, water supply security, demand management, customer service and other key areas, allowing transparency across the water sector.

• For customers, it provides insights into service provider performance and challenges as well as building understanding on how urban water is managed in Queensland.
• For service providers, it enables them to monitor and compare their performance with other providers, helping to identify what is working well, areas for improvement and budget priorities.

The data provided in the explorer is updated annually based on performance reports submitted by water service providers to the Queensland Government.

Each service provider delivers services to suit its customers, location, size, climate and regulatory requirements, and therefore may not be directly comparable as 'like for like'.

Despite the diversity, it is important to recognise the role water and sewerage services play in supporting our economy, lifestyle and environmental values. Queensland’s Urban water explorer is a way to help improve the visibility of this industry.

Water and sewerage service provider data can also be accessed via our Open Data portal.

More information for registered providers

• View Queensland's Urban water explorer
• Read the list of Registered water supply and sewerage service providers.
• Read the List of registered recycled water schemes.

Service providers have a responsibility to understand and manage risk relating to drinking water safety, and water supply security and continuity. Drinking water quality management plans provide a framework to manage risk to drinking water quality and customer safety.

Information about each service provider's water supply and security is publicly available to view and compare via Queensland's Urban Water Explorer.

Water service providers can manage water supply security through appropriate planning and maintenance, and sometimes also demand management, operational changes and infrastructure augmentation.

The Department of Local Government, Water and Volunteers can take action if it believes that there is an unacceptable risk to water security or continuity of the supply of a water service. This can include undertaking an investigation or requiring an improvement plan.

Appropriate water supply risk

Adequate and reliable water supplies are essential for communities' health, safety and wellbeing. Water supply risk relates to the reliability of a water service and the ability to deliver safe water to the customer.

Service providers should seek to provide sufficient, safe and reliable water to support the wellbeing of their communities (with the use of demand management and contingency water supplies as needed).

To support the wellbeing of the community, sufficient supplies should be maintained to minimise significant detrimental impacts to the economy, liveability and livelihoods of a community associated with water supply issues.

Where it is not prudent or efficient to continuously maintain sufficient supplies to support the wellbeing of a community, a provider should aim for the highest practical and affordable supply, having an appropriately low probability of not being able to meet essential water demands. Essential water demands are those relating to drinking, basic hygiene, and maintaining essential services (such as hospitals and electricity generation).

A provider should ensure that there are appropriate plans in place so that drinking water can always be maintained (resorting to bottled water in the most extreme circumstances).

Expectations of managing risk

To understand and manage risk to water supply security and continuity, a water service provider should:

• carry out asset management planning to set the overall strategy for assets and appropriately maintain and renew assets
• carry out water supply planning, including
  • assessing supply reliability
  • forecasting demand
  • identifying key infrastructure constraints
  • assessing timing for potential future water supply augmentation
• have a drought management plan that outlines how the impacts of potential drought will be managed.

We have documented what we consider to be the minimum standard for a water service provider to undertake the activities above. These standards are outlined in 3 guides:

• Drought management plans and water restriction: guideline for development (PDF, 2.1MB)
• Water supply planning: guideline for water service providers (PDF, 1.1MB)
• Asset management planning: guideline for water service providers (PDF, 908KB)

Water supply planning can also be supported by:

• establishing level of service objectives for long-term water supply security
• managing water demand through a range of measures such as
  • encouraging waterwise behaviours in the community
  • developing a demand management program, which may include water restrictions (read Drought management plans and water restrictions: guideline for development (PDF, 2.1MB) for more information)
  • water efficiency management plans.

It's important that as a service provider, you have a clear understanding of your water supply system and the risks to supply security and continuity.

We have partnered with some providers to undertake water security assessments for regional urban areas.

You can also carry out your own assessments using similar methodologies and tools to those used for urban water security assessments, without needing hydrologic modelling, using the Community water security guideline for assessments (PDF, 1.9MB).

Managing non-potable water supplies

There are instances when it is not feasible to supply water that is suitable for drinking purposes. Where a water supply is not suitable for drinking purposes, the water service provider should still take steps to ensure public health is protected when providing a non-potable water supply and advise customers and users of public facilities that the water is not suitable for drinking purposes.

Further guidance on managing non-potable water supplies is available in the non-potable water supplies guideline (PDF, 260KB).

Also consider…

• Read about contingency and emergency water supply options.
• Learn more about water supply responsibility.
• Read about managing water demand.
• View Queensland's Urban Water Explorer.

Customer service standards describe how you as a service provider will deliver water and sewerage services to your customers. The standards address activities such as:

• billing
• continuity of services
• complaint management.

Customer service standards are developed in consultation with your customers and act to protect customers who do not have an individual contract with their service provider.

As a service provider, you are required to develop and publish on your website, customer service standards that set target levels of service for key performance indicators (KPIs). Newly registered service providers must prepare a customer service standard within 6 months of registration.

You must review your customer service standards every five years. Include details of any review in your drinking water service annual report. If changes are made as part of the review, you must publish the updated version of the standards within six months of the review.

What's included

As a service provider, you must set target levels of service for the following:

• total water main breaks
• total sewerage main breaks and chokes
• incidence of unplanned interruptions
• water quality complaints
• total water and sewerage complaints
• average response time for incidents.

Further information on KPIs are detailed in a report requirement notice issued to service providers.

Customer service standards must also include details about how you will interact with customers, the process for service connections, billing, metering, accounting, customer consultation, complaints and dispute resolution.

Read the Preparing a customer service standard (PDF 311KB) for further assistance.

Exemptions

Service providers may be exempt from preparing customer service standards if:

• a contract of service with all customers is in place
• the service provider is regulated under the South-East Queensland Water (Distribution and Retail Restructuring) Act 2009 and has obligations under the South East Queensland customer water and wastewater code (PDF, 727KB).

How do customers get a copy?

Your customers can access a copy of your customer service standards on your website or contact you directly for a copy.

All service providers are required to make their customer service standards available for inspection and purchase, during business hours, at the service provider’s office or other appropriate place.

If your customers have any concerns, they can phone 13 QGOV (13 74 68).

There are 5 council-owned water businesses that deliver water and sewerage services to South East Queensland (SEQ) residents and commercial businesses and they are subject to a number of customer protection provisions.

Read more about the customer protection provisions:

• South-East Queensland Water (Distribution and Retail Restructuring) Act 2009
• South East Queensland customer water and wastewater code (PDF, 727KB).

Providers subject to the code

The SEQ service providers subject to the code are:

• Queensland Urban Utilities, servicing the local government areas of:
  • Brisbane City Council
  • Ipswich City Council
  • Lockyer Valley Regional Council
  • Scenic Rim Regional Council
  • Somerset Regional Council
• Unitywater, servicing the local government areas of:
  • Moreton Bay Regional Council
  • Noosa Shire Council
  • Sunshine Coast Council
• City of Gold Coast
• Logan City Council
• Redland City Council.

Customers covered by the code

The code applies to small customers of the 5 service providers and to relevant services as defined in the code.

Small customers are:

• residential home owners in the SEQ region receiving a water bill
• non-residential customers who use, or would use if connected, no more than 100 kilolitres of drinking water and/or reticulated recycled water per year.

Provisions of the code

The code sets out:

• rights and obligations of SEQ service providers and their customers in relation to the availability of water and sewerage services
• minimum standards for those services
• protection for customers and tenants with special needs for an uninterrupted supply of water
• protection for customers in financial hardship, including access to Centrepay, a bill paying facility for Centrelink clients.

The code also covers:

• complaints handling procedures
• mandatory information on water bills
• meter reading and testing
• concealed leaks policies and remissions
• when supply can be restricted for non-payment of an account
• accounts and payment options.

Dispute resolution services

The Energy and Water Ombudsman Queensland offers a dispute resolution service for residential and small businesses in SEQ who use less than 100 kilolitres of water a year.

If a customer has tried to resolve a dispute with you as their service provider, and the dispute is about non-compliance with the code, they can lodge a complaint with the Ombudsman.

Category 2 water authorities are established under the Water Act 2000 to carry out a range of local water activities.

View a list of water authorities and their contact details.

Category 2 authorities have obligations under the Water Act 2000, the Financial Accountability Act 2009, the Financial and Performance Management Standard 2019 and the Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008.

Category 2 authorities should also refer to other sections of this guide for information about the requirements they must meet as service providers.

Role of the board

The board of a category 2 water authority is responsible for the way in which it performs its functions and exercises its powers. It is the boards’ role to decide the objectives, strategies, and policies to be followed by the water authority and to ensure the water authority performs its functions in a proper, effective, and efficient way.

Board appointments

Category 2 water authorities must supply the names of suitable candidates to the Minister for Water at least 6 months before the end of a director's term or within 3 months after a director's office becomes vacant.

This requirement came into effect in May 2019 to ensure boards have the appropriate skills and gender balance.

Annual financial statements

A category 2 water authority must prepare annual financial statements that have been certified by the chair and secretary confirming the requirements for establishing and maintaining the water authorities resource management systems have been complied with.

Annual reports

Each category 2 water authority must prepare an annual report. This report must contain information on their performance.

You can find out more about the activities and plans of category 2 water authorities in their annual reports and strategic plans.

• Consolidated annual reports and financial statements for Category 2 water authorities
• Strategic plans – Category 2 water authorities (PDF, 4.94MB)

Dissolution or conversion to an alternative institutional structure

Boards of category 2 water authorities have discretion as to how their scheme operates. If they (or the ratepayers in their area) aren't satisfied that the authority's benefits justify its costs, they may seek to convert to an alternative institutional structure:

• Cooperative – autonomous, democratic association of persons who voluntarily join together and contribute capital to meet the needs of the cooperative.
• Corporation/company – a body corporate and separate legal entity from its shareholders that operates under federal corporation law and its own constitution.
• Trust – a relationship where a trustee (an individual or a company) carries on business for the benefit of other people (the beneficiaries).
• Closed water activity agreement (CWAA) – a written agreement entered into by all relevant registered owners of the land in the authority area about carrying out the water activities for the land.
• Local government – a written agreement entered into by the local government and water authority to transfer to the local government all or part of the authority's functions.

Before deciding on dissolution or conversion, consider arrangements for the continuation of water services, including how assets will be transferred and managed.

Consult with ratepayers and local government bodies and seek independent financial and legal advice on the implications of any new arrangements.

The Queensland Government, through the Department of Local Government, Water and Volunteers, will work closely with water authorities and local governments to manage the transfer or conversion to alternative arrangements.

Contact us

For more information about dissolving or converting, write to:

Department of Local Government, Water and Volunteers
Strategic Coordination and Economics
GPO Box 2247
BRISBANE QLD 4001
Email: StatutoryAuthorities@rdmw.qld.gov.au

Also consider…

• Read more about establishing a cooperative.
• Find out how to establish a corporation.
• Read about closed water activity agreements.