Seqwater, South East Queensland’s government-owned statutory authority for bulk water supply, is undertaking its largest capital investment program to date. The focus is on enhancing dam safety, ensuring a reliable water supply to meet the demands of the growing population, and sustaining critical infrastructure for the future.
Emma Thomas, CEO of Seqwater, brings over 30 years of experience across industries such as aviation, transport, infrastructure, and local government. This diverse background has shaped her leadership at Seqwater, where she oversees the water security of South East Queensland, a region facing growing demands amid climate variability and population expansion. We had the opportunity to speak with Emma about how Seqwater is addressing these challenges, from long-term infrastructure planning to adapting to climate change and adopting new technologies to enhance efficiency and resilience in water service delivery.
You bring more than 30 years of experience across aviation, transport, infrastructure and local government. How has this background shaped your leadership at Seqwater, and which skills from other sectors are most relevant to today’s water challenges?
Working across aviation, transport, infrastructure and local government has given me the opportunity to learn from so many talented people. People with deep technical credibility, those who built strong and inclusive cultures, and those who were truly passionate about customer-focused service delivery. I’ve taken something from each of them, and that experience has supported the way I lead today.
It’s a privilege to contribute to this work, and I’m committed to ensuring South East Queenslanders have water security for generations to come
Early in my career as an engineer in the Royal Air Force, I learned the value of subject matter expertise, operational discipline, and engaging closely with specialists to build informed solutions. This is the foundation I still stand on today.
Long-term water planning requires detailed modelling; we take great care in ensuring our investments deliver value for our customers
Working in transport strengthened my focus on customer centricity. This experience sharpened my focus on how operational decisions can impact the people who depend on our service. Serving our community remains a key priority and is crucial to our work in securing South East Queensland’s water future.
Seqwater operates at the intersection of an essential service and complex infrastructure delivery. My cross-sector experience has helped shape how I approach these challenges. It’s a privilege to contribute to this work, and I’m committed to ensuring South East Queenslanders have water security for generations to come.
How do you manage long-term infrastructure planning amid uncertainty, such as population growth and climate variability?
Long-term water planning requires detailed modelling, and we take great care in ensuring our investments support demand and deliver value for our customers, especially with South East Queensland’s population expected to grow from 3.8 million today to more than 6 million by 2046.
A key part of this work is strengthening the SEQ Water Grid to ensure it continues to meet growth and climate variability. Proposed projects like the Northern Pipeline Interconnector-3, which would enhance our ability to move water between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, will give us greater capacity to support northern communities during periods of demand or drought. We’re also progressing plans to connect Wyaralong Dam to the Grid, along with other off-grid projects, to give growing communities enhanced water supply reliability.
Helping households and the community understand how their everyday water choices shape long-term security is important for sustainability
While ensuring we have the right infrastructure is critical and we’re investing in our largest ever capital works program, education is also important. There is a whole generation of people who didn’t live through, or may not have been old enough, to understand the Millennium Drought. Helping households and the community understand how their everyday water choices shape long-term security is also important for sustainability.
Climate change is reducing the reliability of traditional water yields. How is Seqwater building resilience to more frequent droughts and floods, both in infrastructure and day-to-day operations?
We are no strangers to extreme weather in South East Queensland – from droughts and heatwaves to floods and even a cyclone last year – we’ve seen it all. With more frequent weather events, resilience must also increasingly be built into our infrastructure to ensure it continues to stand the test of time.
An example of this is our Dam Improvement Program, where we’re investing in our major water infrastructure assets to ensure they meet modern regulatory requirements and continue to operate safely and reliably for future generations.
These upgrades are essential for protecting communities downstream, ensuring reliable water storage and maintaining flood mitigation benefits. Since 2008, Seqwater has delivered 13 upgrades, including Leslie Harrison Dam at Capalaba, Sideling Creek Dam north of Brisbane and Ewen Maddock Dam on the Sunshine Coast.
Maintaining a diversified, expanded mix of bulk water sources is key to safeguarding our most precious resource for generations to come
The next tranche of upgrades is well underway. Staged strengthening works are occurring at North Pine Dam to provide enhanced safety benefits and prepare the dam for its major upgrade in the future. Early and enabling works are also underway on Somerset Dam as part of the first stage of its Dam Improvement Project.
The Lake Macdonald Dam Improvement Project is also well underway. The project will include constructing a temporary upstream cofferdam, a new spillway and reconstructing the existing earth embankments to enhance its ability to withstand extreme weather events in the future.
Other investments being planned for the SEQ Water Grid include a new pipeline in the Darling Downs and the expansion of the Gold Coast Desalination Plant to ensure we continue to enhance our climate-independent resources. Maintaining a diversified, expanded mix of bulk water sources is key to safeguarding our most precious resource for generations to come.
You have highlighted targeted investment, clear policy and collaboration as essential to water security. How is Seqwater strengthening collaboration across government, industry and communities in South East Queensland, and which partnerships matter most?
As South East Queensland’s bulk water authority, collaboration is central to how we plan and deliver long-term water security.
We work closely with the government and the region’s water service providers to ensure investment decisions are aligned, sustainable and meet regulatory expectations, while keeping our water safe and reliable.
We’re investing in SAMMI’s - Seqwater’s self-driving solar-powered water quality robots developed with the Queensland University of Technology
A major focus is strengthening our understanding of the communities we serve. Last year alone, we delivered more than 280 community engagement activities, from school programs to field days, stakeholder briefings and public information sessions. These interactions give us valuable insight into community priorities, local water knowledge, and emerging expectations, which help inform our planning.
Partnerships with industry, local councils and water service providers remain essential as we collectively prepare for future demand, climate variability and major infrastructure needs. No single organisation can solve these challenges alone, and we’re proud to be working alongside our key stakeholders to secure South East Queensland’s water future.
Seqwater is delivering its largest-ever capital works program. How do you prioritise and fund major investments while ensuring projects are delivered efficiently, and water remains affordable?
Seqwater is delivering its largest ever capital works program, and with that comes an enormous responsibility to invest wisely and deliver efficiently to ensure value for the communities we serve.
For us, prioritisation starts with clear planning. Our projects are assessed against long-term water security needs, asset condition, forecast demand, climate risk and the resilience of the broader SEQ Water Grid. This ensures we’re directing investment to the right projects at the right time.
Funding decisions are strengthened through our rigorous business case approach, where options are tested for cost, risk and value. This allows us to stage projects sensibly, align activity with available funding, and make sure we’re maximising our investments to deliver water security for our customers.
What new technologies or innovations is Seqwater adopting, such as digital monitoring, data analytics or advanced treatment, and how do they improve efficiency and resilience?
Seqwater is accelerating the use of technology to strengthen efficiency, safety and resilience. Alongside major infrastructure upgrades, we’re investing in real-time monitoring, data analytics and smarter asset management through our Operations Transformation Project.
Alongside major infrastructure upgrades, we’re investing in real-time monitoring, data analytics and smarter asset management
We’re adopting tools like non-contact stream gauging systems, such as the QC4 system, which uses AI and computer vision to monitor waterways in near real time, capture data in remote locations or in instances where it's unsafe to do so, and support faster decision making during flood events. These technologies help us respond more efficiently to changing conditions and strengthen operational resilience.
We’re also investing in more SAMMI’s - Seqwater’s self-driving solar-powered water quality robots developed in collaboration with the Queensland University of Technology.
Short for Seqwater’s Autonomous Motorised Monitoring Instrument, SAMMI conducts raw water quality sampling to help ensure the region’s drinking water meets the stringent standards set by the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.
Finally, what major trends do you see shaping Australia’s water sector over the next decade, and where do you see the biggest opportunities for improvement or innovation?
A focus over the next decade will be competition for talent. Queensland, in particular, has an exciting pipeline of infrastructure projects on the horizon over the next ten years, and attracting and retaining skilled people will be critical to delivering our capital works program.
We’re doing the work now to ensure we continue to have resilient and reliable infrastructure, critical to the livelihoods of future generations
At the same time, climate variability means long-term planning is more important than ever. We’re doing the work now to ensure we continue to have resilient and reliable infrastructure, which is critical to the livelihoods of future generations.
The greatest opportunities lie in investing wisely – both in our people and in infrastructure – to ensure we continue to deliver safe, affordable and resilient water services for a fast-growing region.
