Sustainability management

To balance financial, environmental, social and cultural outcomes we have adapted the United Nations Brundtland Commission definition of sustainability for our organisation:

"Balancing financial health, environmental sustainability, cultural vitality and social responsibility to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability for future generations to meet their own needs." 

Our Sustainability Principles

We have adopted a set of three simple sustainability principles that we operate by:  Respect resources; Enrich our neighbourhood and; Care for tomorrow:

What you want from us 

We undertook a Sustainability Materiality Assessment where we engaged with our customers and stakeholders to find out which elements of sustainability are  most valued. These include:

• Water conservation and security
• Drinking water quality
• Environmental compliance
• Carbon footprint
• Natural environment
• Sewage treatment and reuse
• River water quality and health
• Energy use
• Sustainable design 

We used this knowledge of stakeholder values to shape the content within our Sustainability Report.

In 2017, we committed to contributing towards the United Nation’s Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs). 

In 2019, we published our Sustainability Snapshot. 

Sustainability awards

We work hard to be innovative when it comes to sustainability and our efforts have resulted in a number of awards and certifications including:

• Australian Water Association (AWA) ACT Water Awards 2022 – Infrastructure Innovation Award for Adaptive planning to enhance Canberra’s preparedness for future droughts. 
• In 2021, our colleague Dr. Joel Edwards was awarded the AWA ACT Young Water Professional of the Year. 
• Banksia Awards - Gold (overall) and Large Business Awards 2020 for No Opportunity Wasted resource recovery program. 
• In 2019, our colleague Portia Condell was awarded the AWA Young Water Professional of the Year award 
• AWA ACT Water Awards 2017 - Research Innovation Award for Icon Water’s Fish Monitoring and Research program. 
• Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA) 2015 - High commended for Organisational Leadership in Infrastructure Sustainability. 
• Overall winner – Sustainable Solutions in Public Works 2014 Australasia. 
• Sustainable Infrastructure category winner – Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia 2014. 
• Keep Australia Beautiful ACT Sustainable Cities 2014 – Community Action Partnerships and Culture award winner. 
• Program Innovation category winner for the Fish Management Program to protect threatened fish – Australian Water Association National Award 2013
• International Environmental Excellence Award – International Erosion Control Association 2013
• Keep Australia Beautiful ACT Sustainable cities 2013 – commendation for our community and schools engagement to protect our drinking water catchments
• ACT Landcare Award 2013 for partnerships for the source water protection program