News

Fourth Annual Water Symposium

" Water for the Future has four key priorities: tackling climate change, using water wisely, supporting healthy rivers and securing our water supplies."

Senator the Hon. Penny Wong, Minister for Climate Change and Water

February Updates on Northern Territory Water Planning

Water allocation planning in the Territory has commenced relatively recently in comparison with other states, with plans declared for Alice Springs and Ti Tree in Central Australia. Thus far, water allocation plans in the Territory have been primarily for groundwater resources.

IT Tools: Water Resources Observation Network

In September 2008, CSIRO's Water for a Healthy Country Flagship and the Bureau of Meteorology established a water information research and development alliance, the largest water information research project in the southern hemisphere.

Weekly Water News - 13th February

South-east drought aid decision a 'hit in the guts'. Lower south-east South Australia is one of only three regions in Australia that will not be able to reapply for Exceptional Circumstances (EC) drought grants.

February Updates on Queensland Water Planning

At present, a number of water planning processes are being undertaken in Queensland, including Water Resource Plans (WRPs), Resource Operations Plans (ROPs) and reviews. More information on Queensland water planning is available here.

"Water for What?" Productive and Environmental Values for Water

Water Planning Tools researcher Carla Mooney was involved in a research project which sought to develop a better understanding of the values people hold for water and of the way they influence responses to changes in water allocations.

Engagement Tools: MARVIN

One of the identified issues for collaborative water planning in Australia is improving the quality of community engagement, particularly in relation to the effective communication of the science that water plans are based upon.

Creating Water Sensitive Cities

The National Urban Water Governance Program (NUWGP) at Monash University has recently completed a 3 year research project investigating the institutional barriers to sustainable urban water management. Part of the research focused on the governance factors required to transition to what the project referred to as Water Sensitive Cities in Australia. The research by Associate Professor Rebekah Brown and her team highlights the lack of suitable institutional capacity as the most significant issue preventing such a transition.

Young and McColl on Water Sheparding

In the latest Droplet, Mike Young and Jim McColl consider what type of alternative water allocation and management regime could be implemented for unregulated water supply systems. Unregulated systems (or what in Queensland are called unsupplemented systems) are those in which the water supply is not regulated (or supplemented) by water storage infrastructure, such as large dams or weirs, that can release or store water as required.

Inquiry into Adapting Farming to Climate Change

The House of Representatives Primary Industries and Resources Committee has commenced a new inquiry into the role of government in assisting Australian farmers to adapt to the impacts of climate change.