The VicWater Annual Conference 2025 arrived at a defining moment for Victoria’s water sector. Across three days in Melbourne, the event drew leaders, regulators, innovators and international voices into one space to confront the challenges shaping the industry’s future. Anchored by the theme “Future-Ready: Innovation, Optimism and Opportunity”, the conference captured the spirit of a sector determined to adapt and thrive.
Victoria’s water corporations are navigating rising demand, shifting community expectations, and the realities of a drying climate. The choices made today will influence not only how the state manages its resources but also how it supports liveable cities, resilient communities and thriving ecosystems. Against this backdrop, the conference did more than take stock. It asked participants to imagine the future of water services, and to embrace the tools, partnerships and ideas that will turn innovation into enduring opportunity.
Global and local visions
A defining feature of the VicWater Annual Conference has always been its ability to bring global thinkers together with local leaders, and this year’s keynotes delivered that mix with impact.
Will Sarni, internationally recognised for his work on water strategy and innovation, opened with a challenge to think beyond incremental change.
“The next wave of water innovation is not about doing the same things more efficiently,” Sarni said.
“It’s about re-imagining the systems that deliver water and the partnerships that sustain them.”
His call to embrace bold experimentation and new investment models resonated strongly with delegates seeking ways to accelerate transformation in Victoria’s water sector.
Where Sarni cast a global lens, Lucinda Hartley grounded the conversation in the realities of people and place.
Drawing on her background in urban design and technology, Hartley asked participants to consider what kind of future citizen Victoria’s water services must be designed for.
She reminded the room that infrastructure is ultimately about human experience, not just pipes and treatment plants.
“Our cities are human spaces first,” Hartley said. “If we design only for efficiency, we miss the chance to design for connection, equity and resilience.”
Together, the two keynotes set the tone for the conference: optimistic, forward-looking and unapologetically ambitious. They framed water not just as an essential service but as the backbone of liveability, innovation and economic opportunity. Their words also opened the conversation to the practical questions that would follow, beginning with how the sector could translate vision into action through its commitment to the Treaty.
Treaty and self-determination at the heart of water
If the keynote speakers framed water as a foundation for liveability and opportunity, the Treaty session reminded the sector that true resilience must also be cultural and relational. Embedding Self-Determination and Treaty Readiness in the Victorian Water Sector was one of the most anticipated discussions of the conference, bringing together voices from the Essential Services Commission, Greater Western Water, Barwon Water, South East Water and the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria.
The conversation carried added weight because, only a day earlier, the Victorian Government and the First Peoples’ Assembly had finalised negotiations on Australia’s first statewide Treaty. Premier Jacinta Allan and Assembly Co-Chairs Ngarra Murray and Rueben Berg announced the agreement as a milestone in a decade-long process, marking a shift to a new relationship between the state and Traditional Owners. The timing meant delegates walked into the Treaty session not with theory, but with the reality of imminent legislative change.
Rueben Berg reminded the room water is not just a service but a cultural life source, interwoven with stories, rights and obligations stretching back tens of thousands of years. “Treaty is not a single outcome,” Berg said. “It is an ongoing process of recognising authority, respecting knowledge and sharing responsibility.”
His words underscored the opportunity for water corporations to lead by embedding Traditional Owner voices in planning and governance, rather than treating them as afterthoughts.
Jo Lim, VicWater’s CEO, later reflected that delegates felt “a little daunted, but also energised by the chance to be part of transformative change.”
That duality captured the essence of Treaty readiness: the excitement of renewal combined with the hard work of realigning regulatory frameworks, decision-making processes and financial models to ensure lasting collaboration.
The announcement of the Treaty Bill reinforced that the pace of change is quickening, sharpening awareness that readiness depends not just on technology or infrastructure but on how inclusively and equitably water is governed.
Building for growth and resilience
If Treaty discussions placed cultural authority at the centre of Victoria’s water future, the Growth and Infrastructure panel turned attention to the practical foundations that will shape how the state manages rapid urban expansion and economic uncertainty.
Facilitated by Margaret Riley from KBR, the panel featured Lisa Kinross of the Civil Contractors Federation, Tim Mileham from the Department of Transport and Planning, and Neville Pearce of East Gippsland Water.
Together, they mapped the pressing need to align infrastructure delivery with population growth, housing targets and climate pressures.
The conversation was sharpened by the earlier economic outlook delivered by Phin Zeibell of the Treasury Corporation of Victoria.
Zeibell highlighted the fiscal and demographic pressures influencing public investment, noting that housing demand is rising at the same time as interest rate conditions and cost-of-living pressures constrain government budgets.
For water corporations, the implication was clear: growth must be met with smarter, more efficient approaches rather than simply larger ones.
This theme connected back to the Regulators Panel, where Rebecca Billings of the Essential Services Commission and Joss Crawford of the EPA discussed how compliance frameworks are evolving.
Delegates heard that regulatory certainty is critical for investment, but flexibility will be equally important as utilities adapt to new environmental realities.
Panellists stressed that the challenges ahead cannot be met by any one organisation in isolation. Skills shortages in the construction and water industries demand collective action, as does embedding circular economy practices into procurement and delivery.
Lisa Kinross spoke candidly about the importance of strengthening training pathways to build the workforce required for long-term growth, echoing concerns raised by VicWater Chair Therese Tierney earlier in the conference.
By the end of the session, it was clear that growth and infrastructure are about more than pipes, plants and treatment systems. They depend on aligning forecasts, regulatory signals, industry capacity and community expectations. That understanding set the stage for the focus on future supply, where purified recycled water was presented as one of the most tangible answers.
Purified recycled water and the path to acceptance
Conversations about infrastructure inevitably return to the question of supply.
How can Victoria ensure water security in a drying climate, while meeting the demands of a growing population and safeguarding environmental flows?
At the VicWater Annual Conference, this challenge came into sharp focus through a session on purified recycled water led by Steve Capewell, Managing Director of Goulburn Valley Water.
Capewell drew on his prior experience at Water Corporation in Western Australia, where purified recycled water was not just a technical exercise but a long-term community conversation. He reminded delegates that even the most advanced treatment plants will not succeed without public confidence.
“Technology is the easy part,” Capewell said. “The hard part is building and sustaining trust over decades. Communities must know that recycled water is safe, and they must feel that they have been part of the journey to get there.”
That perspective resonated strongly with delegates who had just heard from regulators and economists about the scale of future demand. Purified recycled water was positioned not as an optional supplement but as a central pillar of long-term supply. The challenge now is ensuring that regulatory frameworks, health guidelines and investment models give utilities the confidence to act decisively.
The discussion underscored the need to learn from jurisdictions where purified recycled water has already moved from concept to reality.
Western Australia’s Groundwater Replenishment Scheme, Singapore’s NEWater program and projects in the United States all demonstrate that public acceptance is possible when utilities invest in transparency, education and engagement. Delegates recognised that Victoria has a chance to avoid early missteps by embedding these lessons from the outset.
Optimism found real substance here: purified recycled water is no longer a distant possibility but a practical solution that can be delivered if the sector works together. And as delegates considered how Victoria might embrace this option, they also looked outward to international examples that revealed both risks and opportunities.
International outlook and lessons for Victoria
If purified recycled water illustrated the scale of change required at home, the international sessions reminded delegates that Victoria’s challenges are not unique.
Around the world, water utilities are grappling with the same pressures of climate, growth and public trust, and many are experimenting with solutions that can inform Victoria’s path forward.
Hayley Monks, Managing Director of Echo Managed Services in the UK, offered one of the most candid assessments.
She described how the British water industry, still grappling with the legacy of privatisation, faces deep challenges of regulatory complexity, pollution incidents and public scepticism. “Customer trust is rock bottom,” Monks said, “and rebuilding it will take more than compliance. It will take openness, transparency and data that people can believe.”
For Victorian delegates, the warning was clear: community confidence is fragile, and trust must be treated as an asset as valuable as infrastructure itself.
From the UK, the focus shifted to Singapore, where Howie Sim of NCS unpacked the city-state’s national AI strategy.
His presentation highlighted the way digital technologies, particularly artificial intelligence and digital twins, are reshaping water operations.
By integrating data across networks and treatment plants, Singapore has been able to anticipate failures, optimise asset management and free up resources for long-term planning. Delegates were urged to consider how similar approaches could be applied in Victoria, especially as the state seeks to stretch every dollar of investment.
The international lens was further extended through a cybersecurity panel featuring voices from RSM, Maddocks, and Melbourne Water.
While not a traditional infrastructure issue, cybersecurity is increasingly seen as an essential part of resilience. Panellists warned that water utilities are attractive targets for state-backed actors and cybercriminals. They warned that trust in digital systems will be critical if technologies like AI are to be embraced.
These insights closed the loop of the conference: global lessons feeding back into local practice, and local ambitions shaping the questions that will define Victoria’s water leadership in the years ahead.
Future-ready and united
The VicWater Annual Conference 2025 demonstrated that Victoria’s water industry is not shying away from its greatest tests.
Across keynotes, panels and case studies, delegates heard that being future-ready is not about single solutions but about holding innovation, optimism and opportunity in balance. The event underscored that resilience is as much about cultural integrity and community trust as it is about infrastructure and technology.
The Treaty session placed First Peoples’ authority at the centre of governance, a reminder that water is more than a utility, it is a life source intertwined with culture and Country.
The Growth and Infrastructure panel revealed how economic outlooks, regulatory frameworks and workforce planning must align to deliver liveability. The conversation on purified recycled water showed that with transparency and engagement, once-controversial technologies can become mainstream solutions.
International perspectives from the UK and Singapore, coupled with warnings on cybersecurity, added urgency while offering pathways to act with confidence.
What linked these threads was a willingness to think boldly and act collaboratively.
Victoria’s water corporations, regulators and communities face profound pressures. The conference showed that by embracing innovation and shared responsibility, they can chart a course that is both ambitious and achievable.