Weeks after the Alliance of Western Councils pursued the idea of a local training centre for water technicians, the NSW Government has announced 900 fee-free vocational training placements for the skill. 

The staff are in charge of managing water and sewerage systems, avoiding taps running dry, toilets not flushing, or water services being disrupted.

Over the next four years, there is expected to be a deficit of 1,476 qualified water technicians. 

Chair of the Orana Water Utilities Alliance in Western NSW Doug Moorby welcomed the potential addition of staff. 

“We desperately need to upskill more people in water operations. Everyone is always scratching for skilled staff, there are currently vacancies across the board that we are struggling to fill which is why we need more training,” Mr Moorby said.

"Orana councils already support each other by providing operators when there are shortages.”

In the last month, a Narromine operator was used to support Cobar, and a technician from Brewarrina came across to help out in Walgett. 

The 900 placements cover a range of programs, including: Certificate III traineeships; Certificate IV placements; school-based traineeships; choice of elective subjects as a single unit of study; Aboriginal placements; pre-employment skills programs and trade pathways for experienced workers. 

Chair of the Alliance of Western Councils Craig Davies said that they will still pursue the proposed $900,000 training centre in Trangie. 

“We can do exactly that sort of thing in training relatively cheaper than you can do it in Sydney or one of the major centres,” Cr Davies said.

“It allows people from the interior of NSW to access this training without having to go to Sydney…it just makes sense that people are trained in the regions if they work in the regions because that’s the sort of work they’ll be doing when they get home.”

In NSW, there are currently two registered training organisations (RTOs) to provide water operating training.