Every day, you'll find our water team out and about constructing, operating or maintaining water projects across Australia and New Zealand.
What you might not see however, are the team that works behind the scenes.
One of these people, who typifies the excellence that help make water infrastructure work for our communities, is Janis Bourke.
Janis is the site administrator for our team working on the Gippsland Water contract.
Based in Traralgon, Janis is one of our most important assets behind the scenes ensuring the operations run smoothly. This includes administration, payroll and procurement and everything else that needs to be done to help support the delivery of services to our client Gippsland Water.
Working successfully in a tight knit team
Just as importantly, Janis is part of the social glue that makes the tight knit team tick. You will find her leading fundraising initiatives, team events and the annual challenges between Ventia and Gippsland Water, where they compete in events including cricket and soccer matches. Janis said:
We have a great crew, I really adore them, they're all so supportive.
"I absolutely love what I do. A lot of people might not get excited about it, but I really enjoy it and the crew are phenomenal."
The 'crew' Janis refers to, of which she is a key part, is the Ventia water team in Gippsland. They are responsible for providing as-required 24-hour mechanical, electrical and instrumentation services for the water and wastewater systems relied upon by 41 towns across the Gippsland region. They also deliver a range of asset renewals, minor capital works, professional and administrative services.
Supporting local suppliers
One of the things that Janis enjoys as much as working with the Venita crew, is dealing with all the local suppliers - which in a region like the Latrobe Valley that is going through a lot of industrial change, is really important.
"We always tend to engage local as much as we can," Janis said.
We've got some great relationships with our suppliers that we've built on over many years.
"We get a lot of callouts and have to undertake emergency works, so a lot of the time we need materials straight away and that's where having a local supplier that we've got a great relationship with is critical."
Those local connections became even more important during the floods that occurred in Traralgon in June this year.
"The crew were amazing during the floods and our client was very appreciative," Janis said.
"We responded to a lot of callouts during that time, a lot of hours were put in to help the community during a hard time."
Janis herself was impacted, with floodwaters surrounding her house, causing damage to her car and the outside of her house. Despite being stuck at home and surrounded by water, Janis continued to do what she could to keep the operations running. She also received a lot of support thanks to the tight knit community.
"The crew were amazing. Some of them came to help during the floods and some of the suppliers who we have great relationships with helped me out also," Janis said.
"I was so appreciative."
Read more about our Gippsland Water contract here
National Water Week 2021
The #NWW2021 theme is Caring for water and Country, celebrating the vital and cultural role that water plays in our lives. Recognising the importance water plays in our lives, Caring for water and Country aims to deepen our understanding of Australian First Nations people's knowledge in protecting and sustaining our water and lands for over 65,000 years.
This week we share some stories about our people and projects across the water industry.
