The Raising National Water Standards Program
This $200 million program offers support for projects that are improving Australia's national capacity to measure, monitor and manage our water resources.
Funds from the Raising National Water Standards Program are directed at activities across three strategic investment areas:
- advancing the implementation of the National Water Initiative
- improving integrated water management across Australia
- improving knowledge and understanding of our water resources.
To guide investment in high priority activities to improve water management and advance national water reform, the Commission developed two investment pathways for the Raising National Water Standards Program: a strategic commissioning pathway and a competitive call pathway.
In 2007, an $82 million National Groundwater Action Plan was initiated by the Commission under the Raising National Water Standards Program to fund projects to progress the groundwater reforms agreed to under the National Water Initiative.
Approved projects
More than 100 Raising National Water Standards projects have been funded under the following themes:
- Water accounting
- Emerging water markets
- Water planning and management
- Knowledge and capacity building
- Irrigation and other rural water
- Water-dependent ecosystems
- Integrated urban water management
- Groundwater
- Northern rivers
- National assessment of water resources
- Northern Australia water futures assessment
Find out more about the National Groundwater Action Plan.