Hunter H2O Holdings Pty Ltd

Hunter H2O has a proven track record internationally in capability/capacity development from its work in the United States in the 1990s on commercial asset and utility management development through to its current work in Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Myanmar on Water Operator Partnerships. In its capability development activities, the company can draw on high level technical, management and operations expertise relating to the running of water and wastewater utilities. Hunter H2O is a fully Australian owned company that bought the consultancy assets of Hunter Water Australia at the end of 2014 in a management buy-out. There are about 100 staff in the company and it has some of the largest groups in Australasia in water and wastewater process engineering, SCADA/telemetry and engineering design of water and wastewater infrastructure. It also has a water management consultancy that provides services in utility management, regulatory reviews, asset management, water allocation and risk management. The company also serves overseas clients mainly in Pacific and South East Asia. An international reputation has been built up over many years in the capacity development activities that have been undertaken with water and wastewater utilities in developing countries. Our focus is on long-term cooperative relationships, innovation, quality outcomes and being commercially successful. Hunter H2O is on the engineering services panels and has long term agreements with major urban utilities whilst still focusing on its long term clients in many of Australia?s regional cities and towns. The company is continuing to grow and is located in Newcastle, Tamworth, Parramatta, Brisbane, Adelaide and Suva.

Organisational Capability

• Capacity development of water and wastewater utilities
• Process engineering of water and wastewater treatment plants
• SCADA and telemetry for water and wastewater facilities
• Engineering design of water and wastewater infrastructure
• Planning, investigations and project reviews
• Project management and delivery
• Corrosion and condition assessment engineering
• Utility management and regulatory review consultancy
• Water resources management and allocation
• Water resource and network modelling

Projects

Water PNG water Operator Partnership
Water PNG water operator partnership – successful capability development in the areas of non-revenue water, operational improvements, planning and general support. The initial focus was on the second largest city of Lae and this was extended to Mt Hagen, Madang and Wewak. The personnel safety risks involved needed careful management. The recent success of reducing non-revenue water in Mt Hagen from above 50% to close to 30% is one of the hidden success stories of the Pacific.
Water Authority of Fiji Water Operator Partnership
Water Authority of Fiji water operator partnership – very successful capability development of the staff and tackling some of the more difficult social issues of improving gender equity of engineering staff. The Authority now does its own network modelling, has an international system of capital management and business case preparation and has improved in about a dozen other aspects of its business practices. This water operator partnership ranks as one of the best in the world and has been written up by the Global Water Operator Partnership of UNESCO/UN Habitat as a case study for others to emulate.
Yangon City Development Committee Water Operator Partnership
Yangon City Development Committee, Myanmar water operator partnership – this partnership is still underway and has been highly successful in development of staff skills in wastewater treatment and laboratory testing skills. A short film has been made by the Asian Development Bank of the training activities. The development of long term relationships in Asia is the key to success and this has been successfully achieved in Yangon.
Modernization of PWWA project management
Hunter H2o continues to successfully project manage the modernization of the Pacific Water and Wastewater Association covering water utilities in 22 Pacific countries and states.