In this issue

New Chair introduction

WIOA September Conference

Committee election results

Conference Reports – Greg Smith, Greg Gordon

IDIOTS Award

Results of all winners of all categories

WIOA visitors’ South Island Tour

2013 AGM - Outgoing Chair and EO reports

Greetings and salutations fellow members!

It is with a fair amount of trepidation that I write

to you today as your new Chairperson of WIOG.

You will, by now, be fully aware that Martyn

Simpson has o" cially hung his Chairman’s jacket

on the back of his chair! After # ve glorious years of

leadership he has decided to pass on the baton.

Martyn still has a passion and commitment to

WIOG which is evident in his re-election to the

committee. So, no rest yet Marty.

I don’t know if any of you ever looked at Martyn’s

feet, but there are some pretty big shoes down

there. I am not even going to try to # ll them, but

with the support of the committee I hope you

won’t even notice the transition. We will, as ever,

try to bring you a year full of workshops, forums,

training opportunities and networking – all

culminating with another exciting conference to

look forward to in 2014.

I should take this opportunity to introduce myself

to those who don’t know me.

Chairman’s message

Issue : 19 May 2013

Mike Monaghan is my name; I am a current WIOG

committee member. I was seconded onto the

committee at the 2008 Hamilton conference. I

am also a WIOG founding member, from the 2006

Palmerston North conference.

I am the Senior Treatment Plant supervisor at

Palmerston North City Council and am responsible

for the Water and Wastewater operation teams.

I began my working life with North West Water

in the UK – I am a time served Electrical Field

service engineer. North West water became United

Utilities in the early 90’s and I saw the light and

jumped over to Operations, becoming a process

controller for the # rst bulk sludge dewatering /

$ uidised bed incineration plant in the UK. At the

time I left we were processing 6000 m3/day of

digested sludge for 7million customers.

June 2013 Issue 20 — Page One

www.wiog.org.nz

Issue 20 — Page

2003 brought about a massive change for me.

My family and I watched “Lord of the Rings” and

decided we would come and # nd Frodo!!

I’m joking of course, we had been to New Zealand

on holiday, and we were charmed by the people

and the place. It seemed like an amazing country

to bring up a young family, so we left Blighty and

made a new home here in Aotearoa.

My # rst impressions were spot on. The people I

have met in this industry since I began working in

New Zealand never cease to amaze me. Generous,

honest, hardworking individuals.

As your new chairman I will continue to guide our

committee with these values in mind.

I look forward to the challenges ahead and I

look forward to getting to know you all a bit

better. Please feel free to contact me or any other

committee member with any news, stories or

feedback.

Best regards

Mike

Issue 20 — Page Two

continued from Page One

WIOA Conference

4-5 September 2013

A number of WIOG members will be travelling

to Bendigo, Victoria, in September to attend the

Victorian WIOA conference and to visit a number

of Water and Wastewater facilities.

If you are interested in joining the trip and would

like more information please contact

John Clemens ph 027 431 0442

email info@wiog.org.nz

or

Mike Monaghan ph 027 227 2716

email mike.monaghan@pncc.govt.nz

2013 Conference reports

Recently four operators from the Timaru District

Council (TDC) attended the WIOG conference held in

Invercargill.

John Clemens (Water Plant Manager) for TDC and

WIOG Executive O" cer along with his committee

organised this year’s very informative and successful

conference.

The conference was opened this year by Frana Cardno,

Mayor Southland District Council. The Keynote

speaker Tim Shadbolt, Mayor Invercargill City Council,

entertained the conference with some of the lighter

moments of his life and time in Council. Need I say he

had the conference in laughter for the time he spoke.

This conference attendee felt he could have entertained

us all for hours.

Like all conferences there are papers presented –

highlights for me were the papers presented by Damian

Lawsen ( Alpha Pipelines) on the Tuhoe People’s new

water supply install dealing with subjects as diverse

as dealing with individual iwi and their requirements,

through to the Tuhoe people wishing to install the

infrastructure themselves and having to be trained to

industry standards to allow this to happen.

The winning Paper was presented by Chris Dawson

(Invercargill City Council) on 125 years of Water

Supply in Invercargill. Chris started his paper from the

origins of the supply when water was sourced from

what was swampy ground, through to the in$ uence

the railway had on the supply as the main user in its

infancy, through to the present day treatment plant at

Branxholme servicing the City of Invercargill.

Chris is an operator at the plant! He told us he was a

reluctant presenter. But it goes to show that even if

you have doubts in presenting a paper to the same

level as some of the other presenters you can achieve

excellence by using your enthusiasm for the water

industry and knowledge gained in the industry to go on

and get the best presentation award at the conference.

There were workshops to undertake, where this

attendee learnt how to dismantle and reassemble a

sewer pump and see how one manufacturer inserts

a rubber sealing ring into a pipe as part of the

manufacturing process.

We appreciate the following complimentary reports sent

to us after our Invercargill conference, which saw some

206 delegate registrations and around 170 at each dinner.

Issue 20 — Page Issue 20 — Page Three

continued from Page Two

The evenings where full on and both evenings were

taken up by Conference Dinners (not too sure if meals

were big enough for Wicus). The dinners were a chance

to meet new people with likeminded interests in the

industry. The entertainment for one of the evenings

was provided during the dinner courses by one of our

own (TDC) Mike Schaab, playing his alter ego Gethro!

Gethro had an Irish accent and told a story by means

of many a hilarious joke which had all that attended in

stiches of laughter. I must say I laughed so much I cried

with happiness. Very Very well done Mike! You have a

special talent both on stage and in the industry.

I must say a big thank you to ABB for providing

sponsorship of the Blu% oysters and beers .Spike and

myself made sure we were strategically placed to

sample these delicacies.

To sum up I, for one, found this conference to be very

informative and there was a lot to learn. This forum is a

great way to network with like minds.

I would recommend that all people involved in this

industry would get something out of attending a

similar conference.

Thank you for the opportunity

Greg Smith

Drainage Network Technician

The 7th annual WIOG Conference has just concluded in

Invercargill. Appropriately titled People First, it certainly

was a Conference for the people, by the people. It even

had the “Wow” factor in places. Southlanders have

always been renowned for their hospitality and they

didn’t disappoint. The Ascot Park venue was perfect

and the sta% matched this with impeccable service and

friendliness. Being a little isolated from the Invercargill

CBD (and other distractions), meant most delegates

stayed close by and this all culminated in a very

friendly, convivial atmosphere throughout the entire

conference.

And the conviviality was beautifully initialised by Mayor

Shadbolt’s Keynote Address. Light hearted and funny,

he even managed to bring in the water theme on many

occasions throughout his speech - which went way

over time – but “Wow”, who cared? The good natured

theme followed into many papers presented on the

# rst day with one very special and unique paper on the

History of Invercargill water, which was described by

one visiting Aussie as the most unique and enthralling

Operator paper ever presented at any conference. Wow!

Well done Chris Dawson from Branxholme WTP.

Between papers sessions, there was ample time

for viewing the suppliers stands, which # tted very

well into the venue space and yet provided a cosy

atmosphere. And that led to a fantastic turnout for the

operators games, with probably the biggest number

of teams seen since the early Twizel days. The Grundfos

Challenge in particular always drew a large audience

and each day the times got shorter.

One particularsponsor will long be remembered,

especially by oyster lovers, when the # rst evening

was kicked o% with a South Sea tasting of southern

delicacies and of course, a drop of Speight’s. But one

must not forget all the other sponsors without whom

this conference would simply be una% ordable for

employers to send their sta% to – so a big thank you for

the huge subsidy our sponsors allow us to o% er to our

most valuable delegate – the operator.

During these social occasions, it was fantastic to stand

back and observe so many operators from around New

Zealand mingling and chatting with each other.

Again, the compactness of the whole event was

demonstrated when we all assembled for dinner in

the same room we had listened to papers in that day.

And between courses we were entertained by one

of our very own a founding members. For two sets

of twenty minutes Jethro (a.k.a. Mike Schaab, Timaru

DC Water Operator) had his audience enthralled and

aching at the sides with his life stories and experiences.

Wow! And following dinner we had some very nice

background piano music from Hazel Clemens – that

was until the Aussies descended upon her - and the

guitars and spoons appeared – and then the Kiwis

joined in - and much fun had by all.

Day two and more excellent papers, presented at times

by some extremely exuberant presenters. Fantastic

to see operators who have put a great deal and time

and e% ort into papers and into subjects they are really

passionate about. More Wow.

And in the breaks it was just an amazing site to see

the place packed with delegates and the whole venue

simply “buzzing”.

And as we wound down through our AGM, which re-

elected in the incumbent committee in a closely run

race with two new nominees, we looked forward to our

Awards Dinner.

MC’ed and entertained by ‘Fred Dagg’, the evening

was kicked o% with the outgoing Chairman, Martyn

Issue 20 — Page Issue 20 — Page Four

continued from Page Three

Simpson becoming an Inducted Delegate into the

very prestigious Inextricably Obstructed Tap Society

(I.D.I.O.T.). This was followed by more awards for many

thoroughly deserving recipients, a # ne dinner and Fred

Dagg managing to get a great many normally reserved

and conservative members of our group to dress up as

dogs and perform on stage!

In closing, the comments that are abounding at

present, is that this was probably the best conference

WIOG has had. This is in no small part due to the

commitment of our Executive O" cer, your Committee,

admin people, the people of Southland, Ascot Park and

you, the delegates. Wow. Thank you.

Greg Gordon

Filtec/ WIOG Committee

I.D.I.O.T.S.

Martyn Simpson joins the IDIOTS.

The Conference Dinner in Invercargill was a most appropriate occasion

on which to honour the long and dedicated service that Martyn has

given to WIOG and the water industry.

In keeping with previous award ceremonies, Martyn was presented

with suitable accessories that re! ect his other pastime of diving, and

was required to wear them during his presentation and during the

evening.

Congratulations Martyn!!

The IDIOTS award recognises the

services of individuals to the Group.

This award has been gifted to us by

WIOA.

This service award is to be given

to an individual in recognition of

their commitment to the vision and

philosophies of the Group and the

active promotion of the Group.

The award is designed to

complement the existing Life

Membership which is the Group’s

most prestigious award that is given

for distinguished service to the Group

over many years.

Every award needs to have a

symbol, so that awardees are easily

recognisable. For this award the

symbol is a twisted tap, in fact an

inextricably obstructed tap.

The individuals are selected by fellow

IDIOTS and awarded at the WIOG

annual conference:

Inducted as Delegates of the Inextricably Obstructed Tap Society

in

T

ID

an

Election of Committee

At this years AGM nine members stood for

committee positions. The results were very close,

and the incumbent committee was re-elected.

Your committee for the next two years is:

Mike Monaghan – Chairperson

Martyn Simpson

Stu Craib

Murray Clayton

Nigel Hesford

Greg Gordon

Damian Lawson

John Clemens – Executive O" cer

2013 AGM

Issue 20 — Page Issue 20 — Page Five

Conference Award Winners

continued from Page Four

2012 Operator of the Year

Peter Davies

Kaimai Valley Services/Matamata-Piako District Council

2012 Young Operator of the Year

Matthew Harris

Western Bay of Plenty District Council

(pictured on left, being awarded his prize by sponsor Dave Hall,Hall Machinery)

2012 Mentor of the Year

Stuart Urquhart

Water Care Services Ltd

Operations Awards (note: Operations Awards are for the # nancial year just ended and are awarded at our May conference the next

# nancial year)

Issue 20 — Page Issue 20 — Page Six

Conference Award Winners

continued from Page Five

2013 Best Operations Paper

Chris Dawson

Invercargill City Council

(Chris pictured centre, being awarded his prize by Merck Millipore sponsors

Tracy Masson, left and Shane Jordan-Hill, right )

2013 Best Supplier Paper

Hugh Ratsey

Opus ETC

2013 Sonny Katae Award for Suppliers’Competition

ORICA ORCA’S….

Stuart Urquhart, Nick Evans, Watercare

and

Jared Crawford, Damon Kane, Fulton Hogan

(unfortnately the team disappeared before they could be photographed)

Conference Awards

Issue 20 — Page

Our tour commenced in Auckland where the 16 participants from Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria met

with WIOG committee person in Damian Lawson at Auckland domestic Airport and $ ew to Dunedin where Stu

Craib and Gunner our bus driver awaited for us.

Our journey today was from Dunedin to Cromwell, calling into the

Alexandra wastewater plant, followed by a visit to the Clyde dam wall and

viewing the beautiful scenery along the way to Cromwell.

On Sunday a leisurely trip to Queenstown, calling into the bungy centre

where Darren Sharman showed the courage to take the plunge in front of

plenty of supporters. We stopped o% at the beautiful town of Arrowtown

for lunch and some time to spend viewing the old buildings (great pies).

After leaving here several members choose to try their nerve on the

Shotover and then a relaxing night in Queenstown.

The next day, Monday, took to the road to the Lumsden WTP and TeAnau WTP to get an idea of what our New

Zealand counterparts deal with on a day to day basis, like supplying water

to di% erent groups – something we don’t have worry about in Australia.

Then dinner and relaxing in front of an open # re at Manapouri Motor Inn.

A very cold night with snow falling, this was the # rst time several members

of the Australian group had seen snow – a wonderful experience.

Tuesday morning an organised trip to the Manapouri power station was

fantastic travelling to site across the lake in a boat with snow pelting down.

It was an unbelievable event.

Arriving in Invercargill everyone prepared themselves for Chairperson

Marytn’s dinner. It was great catching up with our Kiwi mates and discussing

our trip so far enjoyed by all members of the team.

Wednesday morning and o% to the conference, excellent programs and plenty of delegates all set for a fantastic

conference. Keynote address was a memorable moment and topped o% by a great Industry Suppliers dinner and

entertainment by one of your own - well done Mike.

Thursday was also another great day on the program and the Conference

dinner and awards were memorable moments for us. The entertainment

and MC was brilliant. All members of the WIOG committee and Executive

O" cer John Clemens can be congratulated on organising and running

an excellent conference.

Friday saw us departing Invercargill after visits to the water and

wastewater treatment plants, and then travelling to the small hamlet

of Kaka Point – this turned out to be a great night. The Aussies took

over the pub and by the reports from the Publican he wanted us to stay

another day, but unfortunately Dunedin was calling and along the way

visited the Milton WTP and Dunedin wastewater plant, all members of

the team were very impressed with the Dunedin plant – well-kept and managed to cap o% our tour of the South

Island.

To # nish the night most of the group went to the Rugby and enjoyed the local culture.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our Kiwi friends who showed us that Kiwi hospitality and

friendship over the ten days we were in your country.

Issue 20 — Page Seven

continued from Page Six

WIOA South Island Tour

Aussies having fun at Shotover

Aussies looking back to Queenstown

Aussies at play

Issue 20 — Page Issue 20 — Page Eight

continued from Page Seven

To the Chairperson Martyn Simpson and the WIOG committee thank you

for giving us the opportunity to visit your great country and keep our

close association with WIOG going thank you for your hospitality.

Can we wish the new Chairperson Mike Monaghan and his committee

all the best for the coming year and we look forward to the on-going

cooperation between WIOA and WIOG.

Ryan McGowan and John HarrisWIOA

Aaron showing us over Lumsden WTP

Invercargill Water Plant visit by Conference

delegates

Steve talking us through wastewater

plant at Alexandra

2013 AGM

Outgoing Chairman’s report to AGM

WIOG has been going well enough since my last AGM

report for me to say we have got to the running stage.

As always, the committee is looking at things we can do

better. While encouraging growth there is the ongoing

challenge of administering the organisation optimally

and spreading the workload within the committee so

that no-one burns out. Things will always change and

evolve and the trick is to keep up with it while ensuring

the success and stability of WIOG.

When John and I were communicating with our WIOG

accountant, Paulette O’Reilly, recently for end of

year # nancials she mentioned and I quote “In all, the

organisation is looking good and in a strong position. It

has good people working on it and committed people

who will just take the organisation from strength to

strength”

As mentioned in my Chairman’s Address WIOG is

fortunate we have another excellent Executive O" cer

to ensure on-going success and stability. I am very

pleased to say John has proved to be a professional,

dedicated and passionate Executive O" cer and has the

vital personality of remaining calm and objective in

times of stress and pressure. I promised John my total

support for his # rst year and it was the main reason

I stayed on as Chairman for one last year. John has

received similar support from the rest of the committee

and mentoring support from the previous EO, Dave

Neru, over in Melbourne. Dave is still a passionate

supporter of WIOG and he was saddened to send us

his heartfelt apologies that he couldn’t attend this

conference due to his work priorities.

So, as you all know, I am stepping down as Chairman

now that John is going so well with his WIOG

responsibilities. It has been a full-on journey and I have

learnt a lot along the way which has helped me in my

WaterIT role and my personal life. It has been a huge

honour and privilege and even though it’s required

lots of hard work and commitment it has never been

negative or a chore. I am so proud to be part of the

team that has got WIOG to where it is today. I wish to

remain on the committee depending if I get voted back

on. I am still as passionate as ever for WIOG.

The current committee of Stu Craib, Murray Clayton,

Mike Monaghan, Nigel Hesford, Greg Gordon and

Damian Lawsen are also willing to stand for another

year.

Issue 20 — Page Issue 20 — Page Nine

continued from Page Eight

Election of o" cers is required this year because the

committee term is for two years and it was not done

last year. We have a couple of new committee member

nominations so John will talk you through the voting

process.

Greg Gordon is our Membership O" cer. As I mentioned

in my address he has reported we currently have 400

members on our books. He has been working through

this list to make sure they are all # nancial and just as

importantly he has their correct contact details.

Since last year’s conference we have introduced new

administration systems to help with membership

renewal and applications and on-line banking to

help with John’s responsibilities. These systems are

the on-line accounting system called XERO and the

Westpac Business On-line Banking. The on-line banking

has been marvellous but it’s fair to say that XERO has

been at times frustrating for Greg and John for several

reasons. They have been working with our accountant

to make it run more smoothly and get it to do what will

be of most help. They are getting there so I guess it’s

just a matter of # ne-tuning.

It is vitally important for the continuing survival

of WIOG that we get as many # nancial members

as possible. Greg has also been working on better

membership invoicing systems to make this process

run as smoothly as possible. This not only includes

XERO but more interfacing with Local Authority and

Company administration coordinators to provide

e" cient group membership communications.

Key Relationships:

Much the same as last year but for new members they

are:

• Water Industry Training.

• WaterIT has recently signed a Memorandum of

Understanding with Government Skills Australia so

GSA will inherently become a key relationship for

WIOG.

• Water Industry Operators Association of Australia,

WIOA

• Opus Environmental Training Centre

• WaterNZ

Events:

Since our last Conference WIOG Committee members

have organised three successful one-day regional

workshops and two Waikato forum meetings.

The # rst regional workshop was organised by Mike

Monaghan and held at Paraparaumu on 6–7 June last

year. It was a one day customised seminar repeated on

the next day called ‘Grundfos Pump School’ supported

by Grundfos and Kapiti Coast District Council.

The second regional workshop was the WIOG

Ashburton one day workshop organised by John

Clemens, Greg Gordon and myself and held in

Ashburton, 24 October last year. It included a Pipe

Installation presentation, a Performance of Pipes during

Earthquakes presentation, a Trenchless Technologies

presentation and a site visit to the Ashburton District

Council Ocean Farm Wastewater Treatment Plant and

wetlands system run by Ashburton Contracting Limited.

The workshop was supported by Iplex Pipelines,

CityCare, Ashburton District Council and Ashburton

Contracting Ltd, Orica Chemicals and Filtec.

The third regional workshop was the WIOG Lower South

Island one day workshop organised by Stu Craib, Greg

Gordon and myself and held in Stirling, 25 October

last year. It included a Pipe Installation presentation, a

Performance of Pipes during Earthquakes presentation,

a PID for Dummies presentation and a site visit of the

Fonterra Stirling Cheese Factory Water and Wastewater

Treatment plants. The workshop was supported by Iplex

Pipelines, Filtec, Clutha District Council and Fonterra.

Two Waikato Water and Wastewater Treatment

Operators Forum Meetings were held last year. The

# rst one, on 12 March last year, included tours of the

Waitomo District Council’s Piopio Water and Wastewater

Treatment Plants.

The second one, on 29 November last year, included a

tour of the Kaimai Valley Services run Morrinsville Water

Treatment Plant and a Taste & Odour Caused by Algae

presentation by NIWA.

The forums are facilitated by Opus ETC with support

from WIOG and WaterIT. Nigel Hesford represented

WIOG and WaterIT and Murray Clayton represented

WIOG.

WIOA

The Kiwi delegation team that attended the 2012

WIOA Victoria Conference in Bendigo on 5 - 6

September was myself (representing WIOG as Chair),

John Clemens (representing WIOG as EO) and Selwyn

Osborne (as prize for WIOG Operator of the Year). It

was another great event with the usual excellent paper

presentations and marvellous expo. Selwyn’s letter

about his marvellous experiences was included in the

2012 December issue of the Clari# er. I hope a bigger

New Zealand group can get to the 2013 conference.

Te Oranga Wai

The guide protocols for the Te Oranga Wai trophy or

them all. Lorraine Thompson has also assisted us with

administration, this has been a great help, thanks

Lorraine.

We have introduced a new accounts package this year

Xero. It has made the tracking of our # nances much

easier. It is a web based system, able to be accessed

by multiple users. All invoicing and payments are now

being processed via this new system. It has put # gures

into di% erent lines on our balance sheet and going

forward we will see more clarity and consistency.

During the year we have held a number of successful

workshops around the country, these have been well

attended by operations people across the country.

A lot of hard work goes into the workshops by our

committee. The workshops have been very informative

and well attended, and we have received good

feedback from them.

We had another fruitful trip across to the Bendigo

conference, hosted by WIOA. It gave me the

opportunity to learn a lot from our western neighbours

about administration within the industry. George

Wall and his team are great mentors for us. WIOA are

very supportive of our organisation, which is evident

by the number of delegates they have attending this

conference.

Our 2012 award winners have had a great year. This

is recognising people in our industry who make a

di% erence and in return get to encounter some new

experiences. These people will continue to stand out in

the industry, with their passion rubbing o% onto others.

Our web site is a work in progress, Stu has been

keeping it updated with news and information. We

plan to have a members’ interaction area in the future.

Members will be able to update their own details and

participate in online industry discussion. There has also

been a number of industry positions advertised over

the last year.

The welfare fund has reached out to a number of

members during the year. Members and their families

have received vouchers, $ owers and calls from fellow

members. I encourage you to keep us informed of

members that may appreciate a little unexpected gift.

Finally, I would like to remind all members, this is

your organisation. Any feedback is good feedback

and is welcome, as we – myself and your committee –

facilitate on your behalf.

John Clemens

Executive O! cer

Executive O! cer report to AGM

It has been a pleasure to be able to serve the Water

Industry Operations Group members as the Executive

O" cer this year. It would be wrong for me to say it has

been without its challenges, but at the same time I have

enjoyed it. Stepping into Dave’s shoes was never going

to be easy, as he set an excellent foundation for this

organisation.

The continued support from our suppliers and

members make the bringing together of this

conference and regional workshops possible – thank

you.

Support from the committee has been unconditional

without exception, I would like to personally thank

Issue 20 — Page Issue 20 — Page Ten

continued from Page Nine

entity was put to valuable use when on 10 October

last year myself, John Clemens and Damian Lawsen

were fortunate to attend the Te Oranga Wai Whakatau

ceremony at the beautiful DoC visitors centre at

Aorangi Mt Cook. This was to ‘welcome’ the Te Oranga

Wai entity to Ben Wood (Te Oranga Wai prize recipient)

from the local Kaumatua Te Wera King. The sponsor for

the Te Oranga Wai prize is Thermo Fisher Scienti# c and

Alison Young was able to get all the way down from

Auckland to also attend. Damian included a report on

this marvellous event in the 2012 December issue of

the Clari# er.

Unfortunately there was no Te Oranga Wai application

this year so the entity stays with DoC for another year.

I hope you’ve all had a look at its beauty as Andy was

kind enough to bring it down to the conference for

display. DoC is doing such a wonderful job with their

local community project and the prize money is being

spent on furthering this valuable initiative so Alison is

OK with that. It’s a real pleasure knowing the trophy is

residing in their beautiful visitor centre with full view of

Aorangi Mt Cook behind it. 240,000 New Zealand and

overseas tourists visit the centre each year.

Next year we need some Te Oranga Wai applications

and there must be heaps of worthy water industry/

community related projects out there. All the

application criteria is on the WIOG website.

That’s it from me so thank you.

Martyn Simpson

Chairman

Water Industry Operations Group of NZ

for more information www.

wiog.org.nz