Background
30 August 2024
Project Update
We have now finalised a standardised Aerated Wastewater Treatment System (AWTS) service report template that – for the first time in South Australia – provides clear direction for service agents as well as regulators on what service agents should report to councils for each quarterly service.
The current version of the standardised service report template is available on the EHA website here. We hope that councils will reference it on their respective websites and promote it to property owners and service agents. We also hope that service agents will trial the template and decide to adopt it.
As a result of feedback on the draft Service Report Template during the engagement period we made some changes to the final version including the removal of six questions and the clarification of an additional six questions.
For detailed engagement outcomes see below.
Feedback relating to further inclusions was not included in the final version as we needed to balance the suggestions with common feedback that the form was already too complex.
In twelve months the project team will review the report template after both service agents and council regulators have had an opportunity to road test the final report.
We will now continue to progress to phase two of the project, to provide an online lodgment solution for service reporting. Please note with the transition to online lodgment we anticipate the document format and capability (e.g. with respect to uploading photos) will inevitably change.
At this stage we aim to have online lodgment available by late 2026 and we will continue to keep you updated through this page.
We welcome all stakeholders to get involved in phase 2 of this project.
To stay informed and aware of opportunities with future project stages click on the + Follow button at the top of the page.
Engagement Background
We sought to develop an understanding of the issues, barriers and complexities facing councils and industry, in relation to their oversight of Aerated Wastewater Treatment System (AWTS) servicing. Our key goal of engagement with authorities, Local Government Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) and AWTS Service Agents is to produce a standardised AWTS service report template.
We developed, in collaboration with the authorities responsible for regulation and service agents, a draft service report template.
The template easily allowed for service agents to customise with their own details including logo and company details.
It could be filled in on a desktop as well as handheld device enabling it to easily be completed in the field.
It could also be printed and completed by hand.
We shared the final draft for feedback. The draft template was available to download from the Documents section on this page. The final template was made available once engagement period closed.
We hoped service agents would test the draft service report template and provide us any understanding on how well the templates worked/did not work for them.
We additionally sought feedback from authorities responsible for regulation Local Government Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) on how well the template worked/did not work for them.
This is a collaborative project involving Local Government and State Government. You can see more information here. The project is funded by the Local Government Research and Development Scheme and auspiced by Environmental Health Australia (SA) Inc to deliver improvements to Aerated Wastewater Treatment System (AWTS) service reporting processes for councils (regulators) as well as industry (AWTS service providers).
This project has been supported by the Local Government Research and Development Scheme administered by the Local Government Association of SA
