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News and activities of the Water Policy and Law Group in 2003

There are a number of downloadable documents in PDF on this page. You will require Adobe Acrobat to view these

December

• Human Rights ... water rights
  
  International Human Rights day community debate, 10 December 2003 at University of South Australia. See the Hawke Centre website
  
  This community debate was hosted by Greg Mackie and had three panelists, namely the Hon. John Hill MP Minister for the Environment and Conservation, Professor Jennifer McKay, and Mr Tom Trevorrow Manager NLPA Camp Coorong Race Relations and Cultural education Centre Meningie
  
  Questions
  
  The panellists were posed questions such as Does the River Murray represent a model that might be useful in the global management of competing demands? How do the water needs of the environment balance with those of peoples rights to water? and How do we regard water in Australia as a commodity or a human right?
  
  The panellists discussed and debated these issues for some 30 minutes, taking questions from the audience of nearly 200 people

• UniSA’s Institutional Page with AgEconSearch, University of Minnesota, USA
  
  The University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics, maintains online resources for agricultural and natural resources economists and other researchers on natural resources management, such as water, forestry, and fisheries etc. This is AgEconSearch which is a full text library of agricultural and applied economics scholarly literatures. They list research articles in the journals, namely Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Agricultural and Resource Economic Review, Western Economic Forum, and so on. Since all papers posted in AgEcon Search need to be part of a series affiliated with an agricultural economics/applied economics department, or a paper from a conference or working paper series, Divu and A/Prof. Martin Shanahan of the School of International Business, the University of South Australia, have succeeded in creating an institutional page with the AgEconSearch, University of Minnesota, USA. This was made possible by the School of Management, University of South Australia by giving permission to University of Minnesota, Waite Library to include UniSA’s name. Now, any academician and researcher in the UniSA can publish with them. The Water Policy and Law Group’s working paper series will be published in the Journals listed by University of Minnesota.

November

• City dwellers might be surprised to learn that they are involved in the business of IRRIGATION but this was the message when the new CRC for Irrigation Futures was launched by Ian Causley, MHR on 31 October in Sydney. Prof. McKay is part of  the Senior Management team of the CRC and Joint  Program 1 Policy and  Planning for change.  Prof Gus Geurson is a part of that program. Program 2  System Sustainability – rural and urban and Program 3 Practice and technology has David Pezzaniti and Guna Hewa as members and an integrative educational higher degree and short course educational program. There are three zones urban, tropical and  winter rainfall.
  
  The mission and vision of the CRC is to promote transformational change in the irrigation industry and benchmark its performance against a range of triple bottom line indicators.
  
  SMG are presently working on a research plan and strategic investment criteria. Program 1  has finalised a  monthly update and these will appear on this web site. 
  
  The web site is www.irrigationfutures.org.au

October

• Prof. McKay was guest of the World Bank and the Ministry of Water Resources PRC at the Workshop on Dam Management conducted at the National Hydraulic Research Institute in Nanjing between October 23 to 24. The Workshop featured a the work of Dr John Pisaniello and Prof McKay on dam safety laws but also looked at broader issues in water management.
  
  The workshop was addressed by Zhai Haohui Vice Minister of water resources, Rahul Raturi Senior Director World Bank the Director of the Department of Construction and Management, Allessandro Palmieri, and was attended by 100 water managers from all provinces.

• The following article appears in the October issue of UniSA News (PDF 858KB)
  
  Mawson Lakes residents are highly supportive of water recycling, with more than half willing to use reclaimed water in their laundries, a UniSA study shows. This community acceptance is an important finding as more than 20 per cent of most in-house water is being used in the laundry, according to Professor Jennifer McKay, director of UniSA’s Water Law and Policy Group. Her study looks at attitudes to reclaimed water usage by residents in Mawson Lakes, a development with a dual water supply that makes use of reclaimed water for toilet flushing, garden watering and car washing.
  
  One of three such systems in the country and a rarity worldwide, the dual water supply is expected to be operational in early 2004. Reclaimed water will be sourced from storm water and wastewater collected at Mawson Lakes and treated to class A standard before being returned to residents.
  
  'While Mawson Lakes residents believe in the importance of recycling to save water, the study reveals that their support for using reclaimed water decreases as the proposed use becomes increasingly personal – from 99 per cent support for irrigating lawns and gardens to less than one per cent in favour of drinking reclaimed water, but this is slightly less evident for younger people than for those in the over 50 age group. The study also shows that young people have a greater understanding of the need to conserve water, given the state's severe water shortage, and are more supportive of the use of recycled water for potable purposes such as drinking in the future, providing appropriate quality is guaranteed' Prof. Mackay said.
  
  Prof. McKay says the study should alert water policy developers of the need to target water conservation education campaigns to older age groups.  'Water reclamation and reuse are becoming increasingly required as an alternate supply of water and in drought-proofing areas, and previous research shows that dual water supply systems have the potential to reduce potable water demand by half', she says.
  
  The Mawson Lakes recycled water project was undertaken by UniSA researchers Prof. McKay, Professor Phil Howlett, Dr John Boland, Adjunct Professor Dennis Mulcahy and PhD student Anna Hurlimann, with support from Roger Farquar (Delfin Lend Lease) and Chris Marles (SA Water). A $280,000 Australian Research Council Linkage Grant funded the research.

• Prof. McKay will be chairing Day 2 of the upcoming conference, 'Urban Water Reform 2003 National Conference', being held on 30–31 October 2003, in Melbourne, Australia. This session focuses on Promoting Sustainable Decision Making. Click here for further details about the conference program. (PDF 157 KB)

August

• Prof. McKay gave an invited presentation at the learning workshop, 'Water Institutions and Sector Performance', organised as part of the 25th Conference of the International Association of Agricultural Economists, Durban, South Africa:
  
  'Reporting on progress in Institutional reforms of the Australian water sector since 1995 and issues impeding progress in 2003'
  
  The Workshop is organised by four international experts one from the World Bank Ariel Dinar, Lead Economist, the other from the International Water Management Institute on from University of California Berkeley University of Pretoria

• International Collaboration on Water Policy
  
  Institutional issues in water resources allocations is an important topic that not only concerns rural and urban Australia but also India. This is the focus of a bilateral grant between Australia and India, funded through the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). One of the core researchers in the project is Prof. Jennifer McKay. A recent Workshop on Institutional Water issues was conducted in Beechworth and organised by Latrobe University, ACIAR, and the University of South Australia. The Workshop attracted a wide audience of key national policy makers, water utility CEOs and major water users (i.e. growers) from Australia. Importantly, the Workshop also welcomed the Secretary of the Ministry for Water Resources from India, as well as Professor Gandhi from India and Professor R Maria Saleth from Sri Lanka (who is an adjunct Professor in the University of SA Water Policy and Law Group). In addition, Divu Halanaik, a PhD student being supervised by Professor McKay, is part of the team on the grant and also contributed to the lively discussions. See project details for further information.
  
  Prof. McKay, one of Australia's foremost national water policy experts, presented a paper at the Workshop and chaired other sessions. The key theme of her presentation was the need for a national body to manage water in Australia. It included suggestions on national laws that are built on state ownership of rainfall and the performance based assessment of water utilities. She proposed fresh directions and national leadership in developing water policies that would help solve the nation's serious interstate water sharing disputes. Prof. McKay commented that water management in each State was characterised by fragmentation, a lack of agreed performance management standards, differing price settings for water and variations in water quality standards.
  
  Prof. McKay's proposal for improved policy was subsequently reported by Kim Woods of The Weekly Times, with the article appearing on 23rd July 2003. The article published (in verbatim) parts of Prof. McKay presentation under the title 'Water Body Wanted'. The argument for improved policy was also reported in a Radio interview with Peter Jeppesen for inclusion in the program Country Roundup to be broadcast on Saturday 26 July.

• Professor McKay's paper on public private partnerships, published in the book 'Water Pricing and Public Private Partnerships in the Americas', is available online from the Third World Centre for Water Management. Follow the link 'Publications on-line'.  Other authors in the publication come from USA, Brazil, Chile, Mexico.

July

• Institutional Issues in Water Resource Allocation: Lessons from Australia and Implications for India [Word document, 3pp]
  
  This is a workshop to be held on the 17–18 July 2003 at La Trobe, Beechworth, Australia. Click on the above link to view the flyer details

• International Human Rights Day 2003 [Word document, 1p.]
  
  Held annually on 10th December this year The Hawke Centre at UniSA in association with the International Human Rights Day SA Planning Committee will hold a Community Debate at which Professor McKay will speak. See the link above for further details.

June

• Appointment of Adjunct Professor R Maria Saleth to WPLG. Prof Saleth will be engaged in the international work of the group in India and in particular the work on improving groundwater institutions. Prof Saleth is an international expert on water resources management, and is presently working for the International Water Management Institute in Sri Lanka.

• An abstract by Prof McKay has been accepted for the 2003 international Water Symposium Stockholm Sweden which is held annually in World water week. The 2003 theme is Drainage Basin Security - Balancing Production Trade and Water Use. For details see the Stockholm International Water Institute. The title of the paper is 'A Hobbes based governance structure to link, local, drainage basin and national policy from the Australian federation'. This was one of 50 accepted abstracts out of 350 submitted.

• The WPLG is well represented at the International Water Resources Association Conference in Spain in October 2003. For details see XI World Water Congress. There are three papers

• Anna Hurliman and Jennifer McKay, 'Community attitudes to water recycling in Australia'
• Diwakara Halanaik, Jennifer McKay and Steve Barnett, 'Cost sharing as a tool in a sustainable groundwater management policies – some international'
• Jennifer McKay and Diwakara Halanaik, 'New directions and national leadership in developing water policies in federations – India and Australia'

• Professor McKay has had published a chapter titled 'A proposal for an international virtual water trading council: building institutional frameworks at international level to reduce poverty", in the book Water Development and Poverty Reduction, edited by Olcay Unver, Rajiv K Gupta and Avesgul Kibaroglu, published by Kluwer

May

• Professor McKay attended the first National Editorial Advisory Committee meeting of the Australian Journal of Emergency Management last week in Mt Macedon, Victoria. The Journal has recently been restructured to provide for the Advisory Committee as well as Editorial committees.
  
  The journal is produced by Emergency Management Australia which is part of the Commonwealth Attorney General’s Department, Canberra, and aims to build capacity in the emergency management industry. It provides access to information and knowledge on the development of safer sustainable communities in Australia.
  
  The meeting produced a set of outcomes which will focus the direction of the Journal and EMA into issues concerned with terrorism, dam safety, water quality and governance structures to enhance emergency preparedness and response.

March/April

• Prof McKay is one of twenty invited national experts to contribute to a media briefing at the University of Technology Sydney on Sustainable Freshwater on the 3rd April. The series was originally called Horizons of Science but is now called Science Forums. For further details about her presentation read the flyer (PDF 175 KB)
  
  The forums are sponsored by a grant from the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources and Department of Education Science and Training, under their Science and Technology Innovation Awareness Strategy. The vision of the Strategy is to have nation that is aware of the importance of science and technology to our future successes: whose citizens are well informed and comfortable in debating the important issues raised by science and technology and that supports and respects innovation and entrepreneurship as an occupation.

• Prof. McKay has submitted a media summary on governance issues in water planning regimes including private public partnerships and water markets.

• Prof. McKay will speak at the Stockholm Water Symposium during the week of 10–16 August 2003. Her paper is one of 50 accepted out of 350 abstracts.

January

• Prof. McKay will chair a stream at the Enviro 04 Conference in Sydney, to be held from 26th March to 1st April. This stream, one of three, will deal with water resources and the environment and assurance of bulk water supply. Besides sessions on water, the conference will investigate other environmental issues such as air, business and the environment, waste management, sustainable energy, and sustainable industry.

• Prof. McKay is scheduled as a keynote speaker at the Australian Water Summit, 26–28 February 2003, Crown Plaza Hotel, Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia. For further details see this flyer (PDF, 157 KB). Her paper is entitled "Overcoming legal obstacles associated with property rights and registration to implement successful water resources planning regime" and can be downloaded here (PDF, 49 KB)

• Prof. McKay has been appointed as a key researcher in the CRC for Irrigation Futures. The new CRC has been funded up to $16 million. According to the Commonwealth Department of Education, Science & Training (DEST) the CRC for Irrigation Futures will endeavour to halve water use within Australia, and define sustainable irrigation areas and practices.
  
  It will address the needs of stakeholders by delivering the enterprises, services and communities that can adapt to changing markets, technologies and environmental demands. This CRC will examine the issues of urban, industrial and rural communities sharing and reusing water. Further it will seek to enhance analytical capacity, knowledge and technology in this area, and seek more profitable and efficient irrigation enterprises and services that improve environmental outcomes.

• Divu, a PhD student in the WPLG, and Prof. McKay are working in a groundwater depletion problem in Mt Larcom Queensland as part of a federally funded Regional Development program. Other co-researchers include the Australian National University's David Ingle Smith and the James Cook University of North Queensland. The problem revolves around an industrial mine depleting water in a small community where the water supply is unregulated from Groundwater. We are going to propose a number of solutions.

 

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