What will change
For Tasmanian homes and businesses, there has been relatively little change since the new water and sewerage corporations began operations on 1 July 2009.
Up until 30 June 2009, water and sewerage continued to be managed by local councils and the three bulk water authorities.
From 1 July 2009, the employees and assets of the bulk water authorities and water and sewerage assets of all Tasmanian councils transferred into one of the new water corporations.
There are three new regional corporations - one each for the north, north-west and south. In addition, some employees and assets have transfered into a statewide common service corporation which will offer facilities to the corporations such as billing, a call centre, information technology and payroll services.
Some of the changes include:
- a separate water and sewerage bill (as many Tasmanians pay for their water and sewerage through their council rates)
- a different phone number to report faults, query bills or make enquiries
- while the same people are likely to be servicing their area, they will be employed by one of the new corporations.