State of the Environment

2006

Indicator: IW-43 Implementation of National Water Initiative

Data

At its meeting on 29 August 2003, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to develop a National Water Initiative (NWI) to:

a. improve the security of water access entitlements, including by clear assignment of risks of reductions in future water availability and by returning overallocated systems to sustainable allocation levels;

b. ensure ecosystem health by implementing regimes to protect environmental assets at a whole-of-basin, aquifer or catchment scale;

c. ensure water is put to best use by encouraging the expansion of water markets and trading across and between districts and States (where water systems are physically shared), involving clear rules for trading, robust water accounting arrangements and pricing based on full cost recovery principles; and

d. encourage water conservation in our cities, including better use of stormwater and recycled water.

Member jurisdictions of the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), other than Queensland, agreed to provide new funding of $500 million over five years to address water overallocation in the MDB. This agreement is on the basis of a forty percent contribution from the Australian Government ($200 million) and sixty per cent by New South Wales ($115 million), Victoria ($115 million), South Australia ($65 million) and the Australian Capital Territory ($5 million).

A discussion paper on the National Water Initiative was released on 19 March 2004, to provide background for consultation meetings with invited key stakeholders between 30 March and 7 April 2004. The paper outlined the main areas likely to be addressed by the intergovernmental agreement for the NWI, and also addressed the development of the separate, but complementary, intergovernmental agreement aiming to address the overallocation of water within the Murray-Darling Basin.

Consultation meetings were held in all state capitals and Canberra between 31 March and 7 April 2004 and at the 25 June 2004 meeting of COAG, the NWI was agreed to and signed.

The Prime Minister announced the formation of an independent statutory National Water Commission on 22 October 2004. The Commission will assess progress in implementing the National Water Initiative and advise on the actions required to better realise the objectives of the Agreement.

Jurisdictions agreed to develop implementation plans by June 2005 and to have made substantial progress towards implementing the Agreement by 2010.

What the data mean

It is too early to measure progress of the National Water Initiative.

Issues for which this is an indicator and why

Inland Waters — Human response - policy and management - Management of surface and groundwaters 

Australia’s water resources are highly variable and often scarce. The National Water Initiative is a strategy that encourages the adoption of best-practice approaches to the management of water, to improve the productivity and efficiency of water use, while maintaining healthy river and groundwater systems. It address issues of overallocated systems and water trading. Implementation is central to the country’s economic, social and environmental progress.

Other indicators for this issue:

Inland Waters — Human response - policy and management - Environmental flows allocation and management 

Monitoring of their implementation of the National Water Initiative should provide critical indicators of the seriousness and effectiveness of environmental flows allocation and management.

Other indicators for this issue:

Further Information

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