Australian Smart Infrastructure Awards
On 27 March 2013, the Australian Smart Infrastructure Award was presented by the Secretary of the Department of Infrastructure and Transport, on behalf the Hon Anthony Albanese MP, Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, at the National Infrastructure Awards 2013, hosted by Infrastructure Partnerships Australia.
The National Infrastructure Awards is a gathering of the nation's public and private sector leaders to celebrate and reward the success of Australia's infrastructure sector over the last year.
The Australian Smart Infrastructure Project Award (Project Award) recognises excellence in the design, delivery and use of smart infrastructure across Infrastructure Australia's national priority areas—a national broadband network, a national energy market, competitive international gateways, a national rail freight network, transforming our cities, providing essential indigenous services and adaptable and secure water supplies.
The Project Award was sponsored by the Department of Infrastructure and Transport.
The winner of the Project Award was IBM's Townsville Smart Water Pilot, an innovative water management initiative.
Townsville City Council is working with IBM and Taggle Systems to trial a smart water system to drive positive behavioural change through empowering and engaging its citizens with smart technology. The IBM solution collects and analyses smart water meter data across 300 households and provides personalised and actionable insights via web browsers so households can better understand their water consumption patterns in near real time, compare and contrast it with others in the community, be alerted of potential anomalies in usage (eg. leaks) and take action, and be informed about the impact of any changes they make. The trial has the potential to demonstrate that significant water consumption reductions across the city are possible and this should lead to significant flow-on savings to the Council through the deferral of capital investment, reduced operational costs of water treatment and a reduction of discharge quantities to receiving waters.
The Australian Government is committed to partnering with our state, territory and local government counterparts, as well as the research sector and industry to deliver sustainable, efficient and safe infrastructure for the future.
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From left to right—Mike Mrdak, Secretary, Department of Infrastructure and Transport, Cr Vern Veitch, Deputy Mayor of Townsville, Catherine Caruana-McManus, IBM and Mark Birrell, IPA Chairman