Water planning - a paper developed by Professor Peter Cullen
A paper developed by Professor Peter Cullen following the National Water Commission's feature session on water planning at the 2006 International River Symposium
October 2006
This paper by Professor Peter Cullen examines water planning and its role as the foundation of the National Water Initiative.
Improved regional water planning is the foundation of the National Water Initiative (NWI), which states "water planning is an important mechanism to assist governments and the community to determine water management and allocation decisions to meet productive, environmental and social objectives." This paper outlines the factors to be considered in effective water planning.
The paper:
- examines the water planning framework and the need for regional planning, clear objectives, connected plans and community engagement
- examines supply side assessments including the need to understand water sources, identify environmental assets, assess physical connectedness, estimate the sustainable yield and assess likely climatic change
- identifies the assessment of present and future demands as requiring identification of present entitlements and actual use, population projections, assessments of current per capita water use, and future water demand trajectories
- outlines factors for assessing the options
- outlines factors in making choices
- outlines factors to be considered in implementation.
