Picture this: you’re a few months into your first graduate role, and instead of being handed a pile of admin tasks, you’re asked to design a walking track that thousands of people will one day use. That’s exactly what happened to a group of Unitywater graduates in 2024.
South East Queensland Is Growing Fast, and Water Infrastructure Has to Keep Up
New suburbs are popping up across South East Queensland at a pace that’s hard to keep up with. Places like Kinma Valley in Morayfield are going from paddocks to fully functioning communities, complete with homes, schools, shops, and parks, seemingly overnight.
All those new residents need water. Reliable, treated, ready-to-go drinking water, whenever they turn on the tap.
That’s where Unitywater comes in. As the region grows, so does the need for infrastructure to support it, and one of the most critical pieces of that puzzle is a new reservoir being built in the area. Reservoirs store treated water and are typically built on elevated ground so water can flow to homes and businesses using gravity. Less energy, better pressure, smarter design.
Deciding when and where to build one isn’t a simple call. It involves population forecasts, climate data, water demand modelling, and planning for major facilities like hospitals that need a 24/7 water supply. Pulling it all together takes a whole range of careers working in sync, from engineers and environmental scientists to town planners, data analysts, community engagement teams, construction crews, and project managers.
The Graduate Challenge: Turn an Idea Into Something Real
Every year, Unitywater runs an Innovation Challenge where graduates get to pick a real project idea from across the business and deliver it. Not present it. Not model it. Deliver it.
In 2024, one graduate team chose to develop an interactive walking track around the new reservoir, sitting under Unitywater’s “Value Every Drop” theme. The idea ticked every box: visible, lasting, meaningful, and useful for the community.
The team brought together graduates from IT, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Engineering, and Environmental Engineering. Different backgrounds, different ways of thinking, one shared goal.
Working across departments and coordinating with multiple stakeholders, they developed a concept design that balanced asset safety, sustainability, legislation, and community needs, all while ensuring it integrated with the broader reservoir project already underway.
The standout moment? Working with Traditional Owners to name the track Kung Galba Walk, meaning “clear water walk.” A name that captures exactly what the place is about, and the collaboration behind it gave the project a significance that goes well beyond the infrastructure itself.
The finished concept includes a lookout making the most of the natural hilltop views, interactive family-friendly signage with QR codes, and sustainability features like repurposing cleared trees into mulch, seating, and a sculpture by a local artist. The kind of details that turn a piece of infrastructure into a place people want to visit.
So, Where Do You Fit Into All This?
If you’re in Years 10 to 12 and any part of this has caught your attention, it’s worth knowing there’s no single path into the water industry.
For those leaning towards university, degrees in engineering, environmental science, data analysis, and related fields all open doors into roles that shape how communities are built and sustained. Subjects like Maths Methods, Physics, Chemistry, Digital Technologies, Geography, and Design are solid foundations because they build exactly the kind of thinking these careers demand.
But university isn’t the only way in. Unitywater also offers apprenticeships and traineeships in electrical work, mechanical fitting, and water industry operations (in their treatment plant operations and civil maintenance teams). If you’d rather learn by doing and get straight into the workforce, those pathways are just as valuable.
The water industry needs engineers and scientists, but it also needs creative thinkers, strong communicators, and people who care about the communities they serve. The Kung Galba Walk project is a good example of that. A graduate program, a community need, and a team of people from completely different disciplines who made something worth being proud of.
Want to find out more about graduate pathways and careers at Unitywater? Head here to explore what’s on offer.
