our sustainability scorecard

From improving our treatment plant and infrastructure to educating students, businesses and residents about water conservation, the City West Water team has been busy delivering these initiatives. For a summary of how we’ve performed across the environmental, economic and social parts of our business, refer to the scorecard below.

To find out more about each Sustainability Indicator, simply click on the link and you’ll be taken to the relevant section.

= achieved = in progress = not achieved

Sustainability Indicator	Commitment	How we’ve performed
Sustainability Covenant with EPA Victoria	To achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions from operations under City West Water's control.	Our target of zero net greenhouse gas emissions was achieved through energy efficiency, use of renewable energy, abatements created through our showerhead exchange program and offsets purchased.
Enforcement action for public health, environmental and occupational health & safety breaches	To have no enforcement action taken for breaches of relevant laws.	No enforcement action was commenced against City West Water, and we received no fines or other penalties for breaches of public health, environmental or Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) laws. We maintain extensive compliance and risk management systems that aim to ensure we meet our public health, environmental and health and safety responsibilities.
Management System Certification	To retain certification of our four key management systems.	We were successful in retaining certification of all four management systems during the year. SAI Global certified our systems as meeting the applicable standards and conducted audits of all these systems during the year.
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)	To reduce the concentration of TDS (salt) discharged into our sewers, by our industrial customers, by 20% or 49 tonnes per day by 2009-10.	We continued to achieve a significant reduction in the concentration of salts (tonnes per day) discharged into our sewers by our industrial customers. As such, we are on track to meet the target by the due date or earlier.
Non-residential drinking water use	To reduce the amount of drinking water used by our non-residential customers and contribute to the Victorian Government’s 30% reduction in total water use by 2015.	The 2006-07 year has seen the lowest ever water sales by City West Water. All customer segments including non-residential customers have contributed to the excellent performance in this area which will go towards meeting the Government’s target.
Water consumption per person	To ensure that our customers’ water consumption meets the Victorian Government’s 30% water consumption per person reduction target by 2015.	A decrease in the water consumption per person figure since 2005-06 puts us on track to meet the Victorian Government‘s target.
Unaccounted-for water	To reduce unaccounted-for water to 10% by 2007-08.	The continual downward trend in reducing unaccounted-for water (during 2006-07) was especially pleasing given Melbourne’s drought and the high level of water main bursts we experienced during the hot summer months. The water savings we achieved through our proactive leak detection strategy contributed significantly to the decrease. The trial of the SAHARA leak detection system (specifically designed for large water mains) was a proven success with an estimated 250 megalitres saved.
Total recycling and reuse of water	To supply 1242 megalitres of recycled water and contribute to the Victorian Government’s 30% water recycling target by 2015.	We delivered 101.2 megalitres of Class A recycled water for 2006-07 from the Western Treatment Plant. 13.3 megalitres went to MacKillop College, a Catholic Regional College in Werribee, and 87.9 megalitres went to standpipe customers. The majority of this recycled water was used for dust suppression, or vegetation and park irrigation.
Altona Treatment Plant licence compliance	To comply with the licence conditions set by EPA Victoria for operating our sewage treatment plant at Altona.	The new plant was commissioned from 31 August-29 December 2006, with the new EPA licence requirement taking effect from 30 December 2006. The overall licence compliance has improved with the commissioning of the new treatment plant.
Water main breaks per 100km	Maintain water mains to meet performance standards for breaks per 100 kilometers.	Against a 2006-07 target of 96 water main breaks per 100 kilometres, we delivered a result of 85.7.
Sewer main blockages per 100km	To reduce the number of reticulation sewer blockages per 100 kilometres.	In 2006-07, we experienced 26.0 blockages per 100 kilometres of sewer mains, which is better than our target of 33.0 per 100 kilometres. Our sewer cleaning and lining programs for the last three years have improved our sewer blockage performance.
Sewage spills in dry weather	To maintain our sewerage system network to minimise spills and perform efficiently under normal conditions.	We experienced 680 sewer spills (in dry weather) for the 2006-07 period. Such spills were, in most cases, caused by blockages within the sewerage system. Many blockages were caused by inappropriate use of the sewer, such as the disposal of fats, oils and greases.
Return on assets	To maximise our return on assets invested to ensure the financial stability of our business.	The company’s return on assets was impacted by a decrease in profit before tax and an increase in our asset base compared with last year. This has resulted in a smaller return. The profit was impacted by factors including: Water restrictions together with water conservation efforts by customers resulting in lower sales Lower gifted assets from development activities Increased expenditure associated with the continuing drought and increased treatment plant costs Higher finance charges and depreciation costs.
Profit after tax	To achieve our budgeted profits after tax while ensuring that we meet our regulatory requirements.	Income tax expense has decreased as a result of reductions to the value of our budgeted tax adjustments, providing a favourable result in our profit after tax.
Dividends paid to our shareholder	To maximise the investment of our only shareholder, the Victorian State Government, by paying dividends.	The dividend to be paid is set as part of the annual budgeting process. The calculation is 65% of profit before tax, less tax payable. A final 2006-07 financial year dividend of $24.5 million is payable to the Government in October 2007, which is the budgeted amount.
Debtors over 90 days	To maximise our 90 day debt to industry standards so that we rely less on borrowing.	A number of factors contributed to the greater than anticipated outstanding debt at 30 June 2007. Delay in billing following the implementation of a complete upgrade of our new customer information (billing) system during the year together with continuing difficulty in collection in a number of our districts contributed to the results. Target for greater than 90 days debt at 30 June 2008 is expected to be $750k.
Education strategy	To educate students and the wider community about water conservation, water recycling and our wider services to increase awareness of the key issues and contribute to meeting water consumption per person reduction targets.	School and student participation in Water – Learn it! Live it! and other City West Water education programs has remained strong during 2006-07. As a result of the Water – Learn it! Live it! program, we have seen a positive shift in student knowledge and attitudes towards water conservation. Our evaluation of this program involves students from Year 3-9 and teachers completing a pre and post unit assessment. Participants are required to answer questions measuring their knowledge, behaviours and attitudes in relation to water conservation.
Social strategy	To provide social initiatives and programs that enrich our community and deliver business benefit.	This was the first full financial year of our proactive, formal social program. We established our team and while our actual spend was less than last year, we continued with most social program commitments, including sponsorships of community and festival events and our community speaking program.
Financially assisting our customers	To provide financial support to our customers through personalised service and tailored assistance programs.	We helped 139 customers who were in need of financial assistance via our hardship scheme. This is the highest number of customers for five years.
Response to our customers	To deliver a standard of service, as set by the Essential Services Commission, to our customers when they contact us.	With record levels of customer enquiries, 2006-07 was a very challenging period for our customer service team. Consequently, we fell slightly short of some targets set by the Essential Services Commission.
Compliance with drinking water quality standards	To meet the Victorian standard that not less than 98% of tests show the absence of E.coli.	The standard (98% E.coli absence) was achieved with a performance of 100% E. coli absence. This was accomplished through careful management of bulk supply quality, targeted disinfection regime and sanitary work practices.
Unplanned water supply interruptions (as at 30 June 2007)	To provide a service standard of no more than 250 customers experiencing more than five unplanned water supply interruptions in a 12-month period.	Although 85 customers experienced more than five unplanned water supply interruptions (as at 30 June 2007), this figure is well below the target of 250.
Average duration of unplanned water supply interruptions	To restore water supply interruptions within 106 minutes.	The performance target was not achieved due to a change in practice which was implemented in January 2007 to minimise water loss. The change was introduced in response to the drought and the increased need to reduce water loss. When responding to burst water mains, the water is now turned off immediately, unless there is a threat to public health or significant community or business disruption.
Sewer interruptions/blockages in a 12-month period (as at 30 June 2007)	To ensure that none of our customers experience more than three sewer blockages in a 12-month period.	As at 30 June 2007, no City West Water customers were experiencing more than three sewer blockages.
Average time to rectify a sewer blockage	To rectify sewer blockages within 140 minutes.	During 2006-2007 the average time to rectify sewer blockages was 107 minutes against a target of 140 minutes.
Employee engagement	To foster a workplace environment that engages and satisfies our employees.	We set a 3% improvement target and achieved 11% improvement in our employee engagement score in the June 2007 survey. The biggest improvements were in our commitment to our employees, feedback, recognition, leadership from general managers and communication about plans and progress.
Professional development for our employees	To ensure that all of our employees undertake professional development that meets their individual needs and the requirements of our business.	Training expenditure was more than double the target, principally due to the delivery of the industry leading Technical Development Program (TDP) for engineers.
Employee turnover	To retain quality employees.	Resignation of permanent positions was 2% above the target. Approximately two-thirds of resignations were people in professional and associate professional roles. Primary reasons for leaving were to pursue career advancement and alternative careers or relocation.
Lost time injury frequency rate	To have zero injuries in our workplace.	Over the last 12 months City West Water experienced two workplace injuries which resulted in a Lost Time Injury (LTI). Although this was an increase on last year, the total number of incidents and injuries reported over this period has actually decreased from the previous 12 months.