Water Resources Management in Australa
The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia, drafted at the close of the 19th century,
clearly intended that natural resource policy, including that relating to water and water
quality, would remain a responsibility of the States.
Indeed, one section of the Constitution specifically restricts the role of the Commonwealth
in relation to water.
The Commonwealth shall not, by any law or regulation of trade or commerce, abridge the
right of a State or of the residents therein to the reasonable use of the waters of rivers
for conservation or irrigation.
However, the Commonwealth Government has the capacity to indirectly influence any area
of public policy in Australia and has done so with water by developing national policies
through agreement with the State and Teritory Governments.
Three major initiatives have been developed recently:
# The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Water Reform Agenda
# National Competition Policy driven reform in the water industry at the national level
# The National Water Quality Management Strategy is also a national initiative aimed at
developing guidelines to assist regulation of public health and the environment.
Commercialisation and corporatisation of many Australian urban water businesses has led to
management responsibilities being vested in commercial boards, in contrast to earlier
arrangements where services were provided directly by an arm of government.
Now the role of board members is to provide significant commercial skill and focus, as well
as to buffer the organisation from extraneous political involvement.
Competition for inputs to the water industry in Australia is well developed.
Another recent development in the water industry in Australia has been the growing
involvement of large international water companies.
Water Supply Authorities
In Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania, local government has long had a key role
in the provision of water services. This remains the case. In the other states and
territories, various other arrangements have evolved.
In Sydney, a catchment authority (Sydney Catchment Authority) has been established to
work with the government-owned corporation that formerly had total responsibility for
the cityâs water supply (Sydney Water Corporation) but remains responsible for water
distribution and wastewater services. Sydney Water Corporation services a population of
four million.
In Melbourne, three government-owned companies (City West Water Ltd., South East Water Ltd.,
and Yarra Valley Water Ltd.) are the retailers and the wholesaler is a government-owned
corporation (Melbourne Water Corporation). The wholesaler also controls the catchment for
most of its supply.
In Adelaide, a privately owned water company (United Water International Pty. Ltd.)
provides water services under an agreement with the government authority
(South Australian Water Corporation). The Water Corporation is a government-owned
corporation that provides urban water services in Perth, and in most of Western Australia.
In Canberra, and the ACT generally, a public-private multi-utility partnership now
provides services (ActewAGL).
A government-owned multi-utility (Power and Water Authority) provides services to
the larger and less remote communities in the Northern Territory, including Alice Springs
and Darwin.
Brisbane is an example of local government in a major Australian city providing water
services (Brisbane City Council). Bulk water is supplied to Brisbane and neighbouring
councils by South East Queensland Water Corporation.
Water Reform through Coag
In 1994, all State and Territory governments agreed that the management and regulation of
Australia’s water needed significant changes. They agreed on a package of reforms
including changes to water prices, allocations, environmental and water quality, and trading.
The reforms promote good water management practices and ensure the development of
strategies to promote water uses that make good business sense, are good for the
environment and ultimately ensure the long term sustainability of the resource.
Given the importance of this package to the environment and the economy, the Council of
Australian Governments (CoAG) decided in 1995 that implementation of the reforms would
be included under the umbrella of National Competition Policy.
In agreeing to the reforms, the governments formally acknowledged, for the first time,
that Australian rivers, catchments and aquifers do not stop at State boundaries and that
development activity in one State can have impact thousands of kilometres away in other
States.
The key elements of the package are:
# all water pricing is to be based on the principles of full cost recovery and transparency
of cross-subsidies;
# any future new investment in irrigation schemes, or extensions to existing schemes,
are to be undertaken only after appraisal indicates it is economically viable and
ecologically sustainable;
# States and Territory Governments, through relevant agencies, are to implement
comprehensive systems of water allocations or entitlements, which are to be backed
by the separation of water property rights from land and include clear specification of
entitlements in terms of ownership, volume, reliability, transferability and,
if appropriate, quality;
# the formal determination of water allocations or entitlements, including allocations
for the environment as a legitimate user of water;
# trading, including cross border sales, of water allocations and entitlements within
the social or physical and ecological constraints of catchments;
# an integrated catchment management approach to water resource management be adopted;
# the separation, as far as possible, of resource management and regulatory roles of
government from water service provision;
# greater responsibility at the local level for the management of water resources;
# greater public education about water use and consultation in the implementation of
water reforms; and
# appropriate research into water use efficiency technologies and related areas.
Water quality is being addressed through the development of a National Water Quality
Management Strategy which encourages all responsible parties, including government
and the community, to contribute to better water quality management.
The strategy is based on policies and principles that apply nationwide and will include
guidelines and other documents which focus on a part of the water cycle or a particular
activity within the cycle (eg rural land uses and water quality).
All water resource systems require appropriate flows to maintain their health and
productivity and to provide water of reasonable quality for our homes, farms, and
industries.
Environmental flows are critical for maintaining health of fresh, saline, and brackish
waters on which ecosystems and industries such as agriculture, fisheries, and tourism depend.
National Competition Council Involvement
In addition to the original agreements, a tripartite meeting was held on 14 January 1999 to
consider issues surrounding the implementation of the water reform framework and the
timeframe for implementation. The meeting involved representatives from all jurisdictions,
the Committee on Regulatory Reform, the High Level Steering Group on Water and representatives
from the Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC) and the
National Competition Council.
The Council is required to assess and report to the Treasurer on the progress of all
States and Territories in implementing the water reforms.and can delay payments to the State
if the reforms are not considered adequate or appropriate.
Cathment Management
Another significant challenge in water management comes from our system of federalism
where states and territories largely have the responsibility for water and catchment
management. Each state and territory has different approaches to management, to defining
environmental needs, and on deciding what is the acceptable health of an aquatic system.
The COAG Water Reform Framework aims to improve water management and to ensure that the
extraction of water is sustainable.
Successful examples of whole-of-catchment management include the management of the
Lake Eyre Basin, part of Australia's arid zone that supports some unique ecosystems.
The community decided that upstream-downstream tensions had to be managed effectively,
and they established catchment committees that crossed state borders.
The community and state agencies have been working together to manage river systems such
as the Diamantina River and Cooper Creek (South Australia) in a more integrated way
than has been achieved in the Murray-Darling Basin.
The Murray-Darling Basin covers most of inland south-eastern Australia. It includes
much of the country's best farm land and nearly two million people.
Outside the Basin another million people are heavily dependent on its water.
Australia's water resources are now better understood from integrated assessments
undertaken by the NLWRA, SoE reporting programs, and state and territory water
management agencies.