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Our relationships

Goals related to stakeholder engagement and community relations

  • Develop enduring partnerships with retail water businesses, developers and other customers through open and transparent communication
  • Identify and meet customer service expectations
  • Build cooperation with all levels of government and regulators
  • Further develop programs to support corporate social responsibility
  • Preserve and promote our cultural heritage
  • Develop collaborative relationships with suppliers to gain support for our sustainability principles
  • Foster the exchange of knowledge with the community
  • Engage and inform the community to seek support for our projects and priorities

Key achievements

  • Continued to work closely with the retail water businesses to help improve the quality of water supplied to consumers
  • Developed services and relationships with key stakeholders in our extended areas
  • Continued to increase community participation through education, tours and community engagement programs such as Making Connections
  • Began engagement with the community and key stakeholders in relation to our Flood Management and Drainage Strategy
  • Completed the Melbourne Water Cultural Heritage Strategy to help us manage cultural issues and sites of significance.

Disappointments

  • We did not understand early enough the most effective media communication channels for rural communities about issues concerning the Sugarloaf Pipeline
  • We were unable to reduce the volume of cases allocated from the Energy and Water Ombudsman’s office, underlining the need for us to continue to focus on our customer service delivery.

Challenge

  • Continuing to build responsive, informative and inclusive relationships with our key stakeholders
  • Communicating the impacts and effects of operating in an environment characterised by low inflows and environmental issues associated with prolonged drought and potential climate change impacts
  • Managing and communicating issues associated with major water supply construction projects including the Sugarloaf Pipeline
  • Helping the community to understand the need for flood preparation and awareness in a time of drought
  • Continuing to build understanding of community impacts on river health, and initiatives that people can take to reduce stormwater pollution.