Wastewater management
| Related information | |
|---|---|
 | Environmental policy |
| | Dept of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities website - National water quality management strategy |
Our commitment to the community
We manage wastewater overflows in accordance with the National Water Quality Management Strategy (NWQMS) Guideline for sewerage systems - sewerage system overflows - 2004 (Paper 15).
We manage our wastewater systems and respond to overflows by:
- providing appropriate services, resources and infrastructure to meet our stated objectives;
- identifying, assessing and managing health and environmental risks;
- developing and implementing environmental improvement programmes with measurable targets;
- regularly reviewing and auditing our environmental systems and performance;
- developing and maintaining appropriate incident response plans and minimising any adverse health and environmental consequences of any accidents; and
- promoting efficient use of resources and minimisation of waste.
Through our Environmental Management System (EMS), which is certified to international standard ISO 14001 and independently audited to ensure compliance, we plan, design, build, operate and maintain our wastewater systems to meet our health and environmental objectives and continue to strive towards our aspirational target of zero overflows.
Our performance is measured and reported through the National Water Commission (NWC). In the NWC National Performance Report (2007-2008), for sewer main breaks and chokes per 100km of main, Perth's wastewater system was rated third in Australia compared to other utilities with more than 100,000 connected properties.
Wastewater overflows to the environment are reported to the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) and other regulatory bodies, including the Department of Health, the Swan River Trust and relevant local government authorities.
