Council shares water wisdom in WA

Townsville City Council has shared critical water insights with Cambodian and Western Australia water utilities experts during a recent industry trip to Busselton.

Council’s Drinking Water Quality Officer Trish Knavel said the visit to Busselton Water was designed to share knowledge with Cambodian water utilities about all aspects of water management, including specialist lecturing by Ms Knavel on managing algal blooms in drinking water sources.

The trip included hosting Cambodian water experts on their inbound tour to Australia to learn about water treatment and quality.

Ms Knavel’s day-to-day role at Council involves making sure Townsville’s drinking water quality meets the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines and is safe for consumption. This includes monitoring hundreds of water quality tests collected and analysed by Townsville Laboratory Services and liaising with water regulators.

She is also undertaking PhD research in a collaboration between Monash University and Townsville City Council, trialling ways to treat blue-green algal blooms in the Ross River Dam.

Ms Knavel said it was important for agencies to be able to cross-share crucial information on managing water as a precious resource.

“Blue-green algal blooms affecting drinking water supplies are an increasingly global issue. Management is tricky for every waterbody as each catchment is different,” she said.

“There is no silver bullet to rid ourselves of harmful algae, so utilities are required to use a multiple barrier approach to ensure effective treatment.”

She said being able to collaborate and share knowledge with other agencies allowed for better outcomes both nationally and internationally.

“Sharing knowledge across regions and countries helps utilities learn from each other’s successes and failures, accelerating improvements that no organisation could achieve alone,” she said.

“Council has been involved in a partnership with Cambodia to help strengthen the operational capacity, climate resilience and inclusivity of two Cambodian water utilities through tailored partnerships with Australian water experts.

“Cambodia’s water utilities are rapidly developing and face growing climate and capacity challenges, where Australian utilities have expertise to share in governance, inclusive practices and climate adaptation.

“All water utilities have similar risks - the difference is the knowledge and resources available to mitigate those risks, which is why this partnership is so incredibly important, so we can aid Cambodian utilities with our own knowledge and help them implement improvements to their own systems.”

Mayor Nick Dametto said it was fantastic to see Council staff going above and beyond in their professional fields.

“Trish and her team embody the spirit of mateship. The years-long partnership between Townsville and Cambodia to help improve their systems and knowledge reflects their commitment to delivering the best not only for Townsville, but for water outcomes globally,” Cr Dametto said.

“I’m glad to hear that the trip to Busselton was such a success and look forward to seeing Trish and her team at Townsville Water Services continue to deliver high quality water management for our city.”

In 2025 Townsville completed 6717 tests for blue-green algae through Townsville Laboratory Services.

For more information on water in Townsville, visit Council’s website