Driving efficiency and compliance in wastewater management

This project supports councils to improve CWMS compliance, reduce administrative duplication, and strengthen maintenance oversight. It helps achieve sector-wide efficiencies through coordinated procurement and shared digital capability.

Who this is for

What's being delivered

• Business case to propose statewide roll out of digital platform for councils to manage pretreatment devices.
• Implementation plan for councils which includes an implementation model and roadmap.

About the project

LGA manages 175 Community Wastewater Management Systems (CWMSs) across 50 councils.

Effective oversight and maintenance of pretreatment devices that connect to these systems are crucial to CWMS performance and public and environmental health. This includes pretreatment devices such as septic tanks and trade waste arrestors.

However, current council device maintenance record-keeping practices are fragmented and inconsistent. This limits councils’ ability to manage compliance efficiently.

Environmental Health Australia (EHA) appointed Healthy Environs Pty Ltd (Healthy Environs) in June 2025 to prepare a business case. The business case was to propose a statewide rollout of a digital platform for the management of wastewater pretreatment devices by councils.

Relevant policy and advocacy priorities

Two of four LGA policy and advocacy priorities (as voted on at the 2025 LGA Annual General Meeting) are relevant to this project:

• a coordinated sector-wide approach to sustainable procurement
• equitable funding for CWMS networks through extending community service obligation payments to water industry entities other than SA Water.

Outcomes

During the project, cost–benefits, risks and strategic value of a statewide rollout were systematically analysed through:

• extensive engagement with key stakeholders
• investigation of platform capability
• examination of existing centralised models for procurement of IT platforms.

Analysis showed that justification for the proposal was clear and also identified another high-value extension opportunity. This was related to managing compliance and maintenance of wastewater pretreatment devices in the de-centralised context.

Healthy Environs also prepared an implementation plan by considering other existing models for funding, governance and ongoing support and management. The plan includes an implementation model and roadmap. For councils that elect to buy-in, the plan will bring all of the typical efficiency and other benefits of centralised coordination and cooperation.

Statewide adoption of a common and validated digital platform offers enhanced outcomes for businesses, compliance, and public and environmental health.

Final project report

View the Driving Efficiency and Compliance in Wastewater Management Final Report (PDF 3.2 MB).

Project funding

This project was funded through the Community Wastewater Innovation Fund.

This scheme allocates funding to projects to support innovation within the CWMS sector. Successful applicants are decided through an annual grant round.