The council took home top accolades at the Local Government NSW (LGNSW) Water Management Conference awards in Dubbo recently.

Councillor John Campbell and water services manager, Kevin Sheridan, accepted the awards for Most Improved Small Sewerage Provider (less than 5000 connections) and the inaugural overall winner of the 2017 Sam Samra Award for Most Improved Water and Sewerage Service Provider.

Sam Samra was a NSW Government public servant who worked in the water industry for 50 years before he retired in July 2016. Mr Samra was killed in a tragic accident just two weeks later.

“It’s an honour to be recognised, especially with the inaugural Sam Samra Award,” Mr Sheridan said.

“Sam was passionate about the local government water industry and worked tirelessly to improve water and sewer businesses with the introduction of best practice water management and bench-marking councils’ performances with annual reporting.

“To be acknowledged on this scale is a huge credit to our entire team and the council as a whole. There was a lot of work from different departments to achieve the final result.”

The winners were selected following an investigation by a panel of Department of Primary Industries water staff who evaluated 10 years of data from annual performance reports, returns and compliance with best practice management requirements.

“The Sam Samra Awards are seen as very prestigious in the water and sewer industry,” council’s acting director of infrastructure services, Edward Paas, said.

“The recognition of Kevin and his team being selected for two of these awards across all councils in NSW reflects well on over 10 years of diligent effort and best practice in delivering and improving the services for the community of Gunnedah.”