The Australian water industry is an active participant in research that aims to improve water quality but there are often barriers to disseminating and implementing research findings and results. This project referred to technical research which developed methods, including in vitro cell culture, to check the safety of recycled water (WaterRA Project 2002). The original research included delivery of a series of workshops to disseminate findings. This project followed up by administering an online survey in which 29 of the workshop participants gave feedback about ongoing adoption and implementation of Project 2002 activities. They reported a perception of regulatory and industry barriers to the broad acceptance and implementation of in vitro methods. It was concluded that the combination of workshops and online survey was an effective way to evaluate the progress (or otherwise) of technology transfer.

Although a cluster of customer complaints can identify specific water quality issues such as a dirty water event, it is more difficult to understand the extent of general customer satisfaction with water quality and taste. The Final Report for this project includes four printable water quality Factsheets for the general public which explain tastes and odours, fluoridation, and disinfection. The Report also includes the protocols and texts for two customer engagement techniques: Blind Taste Testing and Systematic Taste Testing; as well as a comprehensive customer survey instrument to assess perceptions of drinking water quality. These can be downloaded to electronic mobile devices and used to direct face to face customer engagement with the tastes and odours of different types of potable water. The scoresheet links to a rating spreadsheet that collates results and generates graphical representations of customer acceptance of water sample taste. These tools have been used to assess customer satisfaction with water quality at large events including National Water Quality week or Utility information days.