Unavoidable water scarcity ‘a myth’

National Water Initiative lacks urgency & clear direction

In March 2006, one year since conducting its first review of infrastructure policy, the Business Council of Australia (BCA) said it had doubts over the ability of the National Water Initiative to solve the water crisis and deliver infrastructure reform, though it also said that reforming rural and urban water infrastructure could add between $6 billion and $8 billion a year to the economy.

The BCA found of all areas reviewed like energy and transport, only water policy did not see significant progress. It said the NWI is missing targets, like the creation of a national water trading market and finding more barriers than solutions.

• NB A PWF reader has today told us that the National Rural Women’s Coalition, after consulting with hundres of women through surveys and focus groups, has identified lack of access to transport – and fuel prices – as most pressing issues. They are trying to come up with some practical solutions which they’ll then put to Federal and State Governments…. “not much of this is new, our problem is trying to get the ear of government, to do something about it,”says Executive Officer Jenny Hutchison.

The BCA’s Maria Tarrant said in March that her organisation was giving the Council of Australian Governments until the end of the year to reinvigorate the National Water Initiative and further develop water trading.

In September 2006 Maria Tarrant is calling for leadership and longterm planning. The new BCA report warns that unless serious changes to water policy are made, the economy will suffer. The report says:

• the economy is losing $9 billion a year because poor planning has left it without an adequate strategy for future water supply sources;
• water trading should be immediately introduced, the price of water should better reflect its value and all sources of water should be considered;
• “Our water supply problems are man-made due to poor planning and management that is turning a sufficient supply of water at the source to scarcity for end users,” says the council’s chief executive, Katie Lahey;
• “Unavoidable water scarcity is one of Australia’s greatest myths … It is true that water is scarce in parts of the country and rainfall is declining but it is our water system, not the amount of water available for potential use, that is the real problem;”
• state governments are criticised for relying on water restrictions instead of investigating alternative sources of water such as desalination or large-scale recycling;
• “Australians would not tolerate being asked to continually burn candles at night to avoid widespread blackouts, so we should not accept a water supply system that requires 80 per cent of Australians to endure ever harsher water restrictions,” says Katie Lahey;
• Private companies should be used to open up new water sources rather than relying on the existing water utilities, many of which are struggling with ageing infrastructure;
• Pricing also needs to be reexamined, possibly a national review to investigate the possibility for a more consistent, national approach to the cost of water;
• There should be more efficient use of water for farming, particularly in irrigated agriculture, and the introduction of a water trading market would allow water to be bought by people who need it most.

The parliamentary secretary with responsibility for water, Malcolm Turnbull, says: “It makes no more sense to have long-term rationing of water in our large coastal cities than it does to have long-term rationing of electricity. We can, whether through recycling or desalination, make as much water as we need.

“We have to rank the various sources of additional water on an economic cost basis and recognise that some methods of saving or creating water will be much more expensive than others.”

The Opposition’s water spokesman, Anthony Albanese, welcomed the council’s report.

“Part of the solution has to be an increase in water recycling and our national target of 30 per cent by 2015 is an initiative that the Federal Government should follow if it’s serious,” he said.

The Sydney Morning Herald says the real shortage is in brains not in water – what do you think?