There is a water crisis today. But the crisis is not about having too little water to satisfy our needs. It is a crisis of managing water badly -

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2 There is a water crisis today. But the crisis is not about having too little water to satisfy our needs. It is a crisis of managing water badly - such that billions of people and the environment suffer. World Water Vision.

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4 Presented by Professor Jennifer McKay Director Centre Comparative Water Policies & Laws University of South Australia, School of Commerce 1st August, 2006 World Vision AusAid The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre University of South Australia Educating Professionals. Creating and Applying Knowledge. Serving the Community

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6 1977 Mar Del Plata Resolution II All peoples whatever their stage of development, their social and economic conditions, have the right to have access to drinking water in quantities and of a quality equal to their basic needs. Educating Professionals. Creating and Applying Knowledge. Serving the Community

7 Water A precious resource subject to climate change Increasing demand from an industrialising and urbanising world Balance between supply and demand an issue Supply driven engineering solutions not always feasible New supply sources a key issue recycled water Demand is inelastic and rising Water projects do not cause wars they are a catalyst for peace Educating Professionals. Creating and Applying Knowledge. Serving the Community

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15 India Rainfall And Food Security Over each year the rainfall is concentrated - 73% falls between June and September - hence agriculture depends on irrigation. 70% of food grain is irrigated 80% of the water is used for irrigation India suffers from federalism and disputes between states. Internal harmony is an issue because of introspective state policies. International water treaties work well with Pakistan. Problem with subsistence farming is that a drought or lack of water availability plunges the farmer into debt. Debt stays with the family Many farmers have committed suicide. Educating Professionals. Creating and Applying Knowledge. Serving the Community

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17 Water is Taught Caste Prejudices Upper castes use the up stream water and lower castes often in the tail end where they do not get water. India A million mutinies now 2001 Nobel Laureate, V.S. Naipaul Educating Professionals. Creating and Applying Knowledge. Serving the Community

18 Disputes within States are the main issue They are protesting against the Madhya Pradesh government's forcible eviction of more than a thousand Adivasi families to make way for the Maan Dam. All they're asking is that the government of MP implement its own policy of providing land for land to those being displaced by the Maan Dam. There's no controversy here. The dam has been built. The displaced people must be resettled before the reservoir fills up in the monsoon and submerges their villages. Excerpt from Ahimsa an essay by Arundhati Roy, 2002 From: An ordinary person s guide to Empire Educating Professionals. Creating and Applying Knowledge. Serving the Community

19 Disputes within States are the main issue continued Madhya Pradesh Bhopal Hunger strikes over the failure of the Government to provide land to 1000 Advasi families who were displaced when the Maan Dam was built. The activists eventually ended the hunger strike when an independent committee was formed on resettlement. Up to 400,000 people are planned to be displaced due to the building of 135 medium and 3000 small dams on the Narmada River. Educating Professionals. Creating and Applying Knowledge. Serving the Community

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22 Participatory Irrigation Management - India The early results from the research we have done shows that some WUA organisation types work better than others in achieving farmer participation and sharing the water. Research is being conducted to determine which type is most effective. Educating Professionals. Creating and Applying Knowledge. Serving the Community

23 Issues In Participatory Irrigation Management Issues include: Equity in water sharing there is a real problem with being a tail ender in one of the big schemes. Crop practices do not reflect the real scarcity Environmental issues Groundwater which is under the common law under the exploitation rights of the land holder is overexploited Drawdowns In Gurajat some farmers have grouped together to drill well 800 meters to get water!!! Source: ACIAR Project UniSA Educating Professionals. Creating and Applying Knowledge. Serving the Community

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25 Breakdown In Trust In the study sites in Gurajat, Maharstra and AP we found instances of breakdown with people starving. This occurred where there was a lack of trust and conflict resolution measures. This is a bottleneck and needs to be addressed, using Shah s (2005) expression, to prevent the institution from being temporary - disappear/decline/stagnatedisappearing. The pressure has been to create Water users Associations in India to run and share out water. Results are that many of these bodies are socially sustainable and fair but not environmentally sustainable whereas others are neither. The key is the trust among the members if that exists then the organisations are maintained and water is shared. Educating Professionals. Creating and Applying Knowledge. Serving the Community

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31 Australia Federation Much of the Institutional disparity entrenched within the Australian Water Supply Industry is a legacy of Australian Federation in Section 100 of the Australian Constitution states: The Commonwealth shall not, by any law or regulation of trade or commerce, abridge the right of a State or of the residents therein to the reasonable use of the waters of rivers for conservation or irrigation. Educating Professionals. Creating and Applying Knowledge. Serving the Community

32 Australia Federation continued For most of the last century, each State has structured and regulated its local Water Supply Industry with little coordination or consultation with the other State Governments. There are several hundred Water Authorities across the nation with widely varying Corporate Governance Structures, reporting requirements, and legislative frameworks within which to operate. Added to this, many have markedly differing clientele, catchment environments, and infrastructure requirements. In short, they often have sharply differing perspectives and goals. Educating Professionals. Creating and Applying Knowledge. Serving the Community

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39 Recycling Issues Community acceptance is the big issue as far as recycled water is concerned few people in Australia are comfortable with the notion of drinking it. There are different perceptions according to the amount of Natural input onto the purification of it Educating Professionals. Creating and Applying Knowledge. Serving the Community

40 Mawson Lakes recycling for toilet & outdoor use No one will drink the class A water despite the fact that it is safe 30% of those surveyed are willing to use it in the laundry. This result indicates a higher level of acceptance than was expected. However, it is still illegal to use recycled water in this manner in SA 80 to 90% of those surveyed are willing and now do use recycled water for car washing and garden watering Hurlimann and McKay, What attributes of recycled water make it fit for residential purposes - the Mawson Lakes experience Desalination Educating Professionals. Creating and Applying Knowledge. Serving the Community

41 Mawson Lakes A problem with recycled water is that it often has different attributes than is desired. ie: Some colour Some odour More salt Lower water pressure not wanted for clothes washing not wanted for clothes washing not wanted for garden watering not wanted for garden watering Hurlimann and McKay, What attributes of recycled water make it fit for residential purposes - the Mawson Lakes experience Desalination Educating Professionals. Creating and Applying Knowledge. Serving the Community

42 Community Acceptance a Real Problem Recycled water leads to a number of Intersectoral Conflicts. In Toowoomba (QLD), there is considerable community resistance to proposed recycling schemes, in particular proposals that water be treated to human consumption standard. The proposals have also encountered opposition from the local irrigators who see the proposals as potentially costing them their currently cheap source of irrigation water. Goulburn (NSW), on the other hand, appears to be rather more accepting of initiatives for recycling water, but this could simply reflect that they are more desperate for reliable water supplies. Educating Professionals. Creating and Applying Knowledge. Serving the Community

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47 Acknowledgements Adam Gray (UniSA) Anna Hurlimann (University of Melbourne) Kirsty Willis (Marketing Science Centre) Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research Australian Water Association CRC for Water Quality & Treatment Division of Business (University of South Australia) Irrigation Association of Australia School of Commerce (University of South Australia) CSIRO Water & Land (Adelaide & Canberra) And especially: CRC Irrigation Futures for project funding Educating Professionals. Creating and Applying Knowledge. Serving the Community

48 Thank you for your time and attention Educating Professionals. Creating and Applying Knowledge. Serving the Community