Publishing requirements for water service providers

As a service provider, you must publish regulatory documents about the water and sewerage services provided to your customers.

Service provider documents

You must publish these documents online as soon as feasible:

• customer service standards
• drinking water service annual reports
• performance reports
• recycled water management plan annual reports
• any guidelines for preparing a water efficiency management plan
• any water and sewerage service area maps.

Declared water and sewerage service areas

Local governments are required to declare their retail water and/or sewerage service areas and then publish the declaration and maps showing these service areas on their website. A local government may also be required to declare and publish the maps of other water and/or sewerage service providers, within its area, such as distributor-retailers and privately owned entities.

The service area maps must be reviewed and if required, updated by the registered service provider at least annually.

The maps must show the limit of the service area and the location of the service provider's infrastructure.

Rate notices guidelines

Service providers outside South East Queensland must comply with the Guideline for issuing a residential water rate notice outside South East Queensland (PDF, 1.6MB). This guideline specifies what needs to be detailed on a rates notice for water services.

Email UrbanWaterSupply@rdmw.qld.gov.au to request a copy of superseded guidelines if required for reference.

Queensland's Urban water explorer

Queensland's Urban water explorer is an interactive digital tool that allows providers and customers to explore, visualise and compare data provided by urban water and sewerage service providers.

View the Urban water explorer

It includes information about service delivery, water supply security, demand management, customer service and other key areas, allowing transparency across the water sector.

• For customers, it provides insights into service provider performance and challenges as well as building understanding on how urban water is managed in Queensland.
• For service providers, it enables them to monitor and compare their performance with other providers, helping to identify what is working well, areas for improvement and budget priorities.

The data provided in the explorer is updated annually based on performance reports submitted by water service providers to the Queensland Government.

Each service provider delivers services to suit its customers, location, size, climate and regulatory requirements, and therefore may not be directly comparable as 'like for like'.

Despite the diversity, it is important to recognise the role water and sewerage services play in supporting our economy, lifestyle and environmental values. Queensland’s Urban water explorer is a way to help improve the visibility of this industry.

Water and sewerage service provider data can also be accessed via our Open Data portal.

More information for registered providers

• View Queensland's Urban water explorer
• Read the list of Registered water supply and sewerage service providers.
• Read the List of registered recycled water schemes.