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.

In the article " Shepherding Water: Unregulated water allocation and management", they ask:

In unregulated systems and when the flow is episodic, how can trading be facilitated? If one wanted to reduce the take of water from one part of the system or "shepherd" water to the end of the system, what administrative arrangements would need to be in place? What is the best way to deal with the effects of shifts to a drier climatic regime and/or preference for environmental outcomes?

Read the discussion paper here.