History of WQRA

Water Quality Research Australia Limited (WQRA) was incorporated in 2007 as the successor  organisation to the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Quality and Treatment (CRCWQT), which ran for 13 years and included many of the significant players in the Australian water community.

The CRCWQT ceased in July 2008 after two rounds of funding from the Commonwealth Goverbnment. It was formed under the Government's Cooperative Research Centres Program. 

During its tenure, the CRCWQT had a significant impact on the Industry bringing together industry and researchers to address priority issues in a collaborative and constructive way. At the conclusion of the CRCWQT, more than 80 Research Reports had been completed. One of the key outcomes of the CRCWQT was the translation of research outputs into the development of the Water Quality Management Framework, which was incorporated into the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.
As the CRCWQT approached the end of its second funding cycle, the Governing Boards of the CRC and Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) worked together to establish a successor to the CRCWQT. The formation of WQRA was an initiative of a significant representative group of Australia’s water industry participants, water research centres and related organisations that saw the need for an independent organisation that could deliver a responsive research agenda to meet the needs of water supply managers in a time of accelerated change. WQRA was launched in late 2008 and has been incorporated as a not-for-profit, member funded organisation with a representative Board of Directors led by an independent Chair.

The establishment of WQRA marks the successful transition from a CRC model to an industry funded company. The formation of WQRA also provides evidence of the commitment of the water industry and its research partners to continue to address the needs of the Australian water industry through its facilitation of excellence and collaboration in national water quality R&D projects.

Transition from CRCWQT

In the transition from CRCWQT to WQRA a small number of projects and post-graduate students that were either in progress or just commencing at the time when the CRCWQT ceased. These projects migrated into the WQRA Drinking Water Program
and Wastewater/Recycled Water Programs and are reported on under the relevant programs. In addition, WQRA has overseen the publication of the final reports of more than thirty CRCWQT projects.