Proceedings

The most significant issue facing the Australian water industry is the management of biosolids. Public perceptions have the potential to control the directions more than technical rationale. If the water industry loses public confidence in our management processes the industry faces a $billion issue. A Biosolids Communications Working Group was established in June 2004 with the goal of developing a national communications framework and toolkit for the sustainable use of biosolids. This paper presents the strategy and the toolkit to assist the water industry with community perceptions and communications, based on the principle that each water authority should manage its own public engagement process, as the drivers for each authority and local factors will vary from authority to authority. However, an industry-wide template, with common supporting materials, provides guidelines to ensure consistency of approach and consistency of messages from the water industry.

KEY WORDS Australia, Biosolids, Communications, Communications Strategy, Land Application, Public Engagement, Public Perceptions.