Drought offers a flood of jobs

2 July 2008

SHE was the kid who convinced her mum and dad to build a compost heap. She watched like a hawk to make sure her siblings used the recycle bin.

Erin Cini has now graduated to securing the future of south-east Queensland’s water supply for her generation and beyond.

She is one of more than 4100 people working at more than 45 sites across the region to build the water grid.

The environmental engineer, who was part of Australia’s brainstorming session at the 2020 summit recently, is working with KBR on a northern pipeline interconnector to move water between the Sunshine Coast and Caboolture.

Ms Cini, 25, said the drought emergency pipeline had a capacity to transport 65 million litres of drinking water a day to Caboolture which would alleviate pressure on Brisbane supplies.

“(A peer) once told me that water is a public health issue and it really is,” she said.

“It makes sense to me and I’m passionate about it. It’s the balance between water as an extremely precious resource from an environment perspective, sharing the resource with various organisms, and as an essential human need as drinking water and for hygiene.”

Ms Cini, who is the national representative of the Young Water Professionals, said she was honoured to be invited to the 2020 summit.

“I was very honoured as a young person (to be invited) because our voice had previously not been heard at that level,” she said.

“As a generation inheriting the decisions made at 2020 and in the next decade, it was important to have us involved. The idea I put up was capacity development; making sure we have young people coming through and involved in the water industry from the beginning so in the years to 2020 and to 2050, it’s my generation and those younger than me implementing these things.”

Ms Cini said she jumped at the opportunity to work on south-east Queensland’s water grid projects.

“There is lots of work ... all of Queensland, when it comes to the water industry and all infrastructure industries,” she said.

“This is my first big infrastructure project and I doubt it will be the last.”

Ms Cini said project ownership made the role rewarding and exciting.

“As a young person, (the fast track nature of the project) enables me to developmy skills quickly. You don’t get to work at such a level on these projects very often, it is an advantage of the skills shortage,” she said.

“I know I’m contributing positively to the south-east Queensland water crisis at the moment and in the future I’ll always be contributing to sustainability and securing Australia’s water supplies.

“The work will be going on forever, particularly as our population increases.”

Water grid construction is already passing 50% milestones on many projects. But there are more stages to come to battle the region’s drought, which means jobs.

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