Water for the environment and water reform
Striking a balance between the consumptive use of water and environmental health is a key element of the National Water Initiative, which calls for:
- environmental and other public benefit outcomes for water systems to be identified with as much specificity as possible in water plans
- management practices and institutional arrangements to be put in place to achieve environmental outcomes
- accountable environmental water managers to be established and equipped with necessary authority and resources to provide sufficient water at the right times and places to achieve identified outcomes, including across state/territory boundaries where relevant
- cost-effective measures to provide water for environmental outcomes
- recovery of water for the environment in over-allocated surface and groundwater systems.
Progress
In the 2007 Biennial Assessment of progress against the National Water Initiative, the National Water Commission noted that all states have moved to make statutory provision for water to meet environmental and public benefit outcomes within water plans. (See also 2009 Biennial Assessment.)
However, the Commission considers that the recovery of water for the environment in over-allocated systems is lagging and there is still much work to be done in this area.