Governance of Water in Australia
Regional Workshop on Water Accounting
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
16-18 July 2007
Michael Vardon
United Nations Statistics Division
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Overview of Presentation
•
•
•
•
What are the main issues for water?
Policy – The National Water Initiative
Institutional set up
Information sources
• ABS Water accounts and statistics
• Australian Water Resource Assessment
2
Main Questions
• How much water is there?
• Now and what can we expect in the future
• How much water is used?
• What is water use?
• Is this use sustainable?
• What are the benefits and costs of water use?
• Now/later
• Here/there
• Public/private
• What is the best way to allocate/manage water?
3
Water Availability in Australia
Mean annual runoff 387,000 GL
Drought in Australia
70 % Agricultural
production
50 % of population
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INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT
ON A NATIONAL WATER INITIATIVE – NWI
• June 2004
• Agreement between the Commonwealth of
Australia and all of the state/territory
governments – i.e. New South Wales,
Victoria, Queensland, South Australia,
Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory
and the Northern Territory
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Paragraph one of NWI
1. Water may be viewed as part of Australia’s
natural capital, serving a number of
important productive, environmental and
social objectives. Australia’s water
resources are highly variable, reflecting the
range of climatic conditions and terrain
nationally. In addition, the level of
development in Australia’s water resources
ranges from heavily regulated working
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rivers and groundwater resources, through
Paragraph two of NWI
2. In Australia, water is vested in governments
that allow other parties to access and use
water for a variety of purposes – whether
irrigation, industrial use, mining, servicing
rural and urban communities, or for amenity
values. Decisions about water management
involve balancing sets of economic,
environmental and other interests. . . . . . . .
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NWI and water accounts
•
•
•
•
The NWI calls for the compilation of annual water
accounts.
The exact nature of the accounts is still being determined
(there is an Expert Advisory Group on Water Accounting
– the EAP)
The ABS water accounts appear consistent with those
envisage by the NWI
A seminar jointly held by the National Water
Commission and ABS determined that water accounts
should:
• Should support the NWI
• Not unnecessarily depart from international standards
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Institutional involved in water
management and information
• Australian
Government
agencies
• States and Territory
Governments
agencies
• Councils and
committees
• Water Industry
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Australian government agencies
• Department of Environment and Water Resources
• National Water Commission
• Bureau of Meteorology
• Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries
• Bureau of Rural Sciences
• Common Scientific Industrial Research
Organization
• Australian Bureau of Statistics
10
Minister for Environment and
Water Resources
The Australian Government Department of the Environment and Water Resources has responsibility for
implementing the following key water initiatives:
•
National Plan for Water Security ($10 billion, 10 point plan to improve water efficiency and address
over-allocation of water in rural Australia)
•
A National Plan for Water Security - questions and answers
•
National Water Initiative (the blueprint for Australia's water reform)
•
The Department also develops and implements Australian Government policy, programmes and
legislation to assist in the sustainable management of the Murray-Darling Basin and our rivers,
groundwater, wetlands and urban water. Other specific responsibilities include:
•
National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality
•
Natural Heritage Trust
•
Community Water Grants
•
Coastal Catchments Initiative
•
Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS) Scheme
•
National Climate Change Adaptation Programme
•
Commonwealth Environment Research Facility
•
Alligator Rivers Region protection and monitoring
•
National Framework for Chemicals and Environmental Management
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National Water Commission
• The National Water Commission is an independent
statutory body in the Environment and Water
Resources portfolio. Its role is to drive the national
water reform agenda. Established under the
National Water Commission Act 2004, the
Commission provides advice to the Council of
Australian Governments (COAG) and the
Australian Government on national water issues.
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Water Commissioners - Role
The role of the Commissioners is to:
• provide guidance on the strategic policy framework for the
National Water Commission.
• provide guidance on major reports or advice to Council Of
Australian Government or governments.
• promote the National Water Commission and the National
Water Initiative externally, including speaking for the
Commission as agreed within the Commission.
• champion certain aspects of National Water Initiative
reforms as agreed with the Commission.
• monitor the quality of corporate governance within the
Commission .
• review the performance of the Commission.
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Seven Commissioners
• Mr Ken Matthews, Professor Peter Cullen, Mr
David Trebeck, Mr Peter Corish, Ms Chloe
Munro, Dr John Radcliffe and Dr Wally Cox.
• Each Commissioner has been selected for the
contribution they can make as individuals to the
work of the National Water Commission.
Commissioners do not represent any particular
group or sector. All Commissioners are required to
act in the best interests of the National Water
Commission.
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State and Territory Government
6 States and 2 Territory
Governments
• Each with water
management,
environmental and
agricultural agencies
• Most with catchment
management
authorities
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Committee and councils
Council of Australian Governments (CoAG)
• Natural Resource Management Ministerial
Council
• National Land and Water Resources Audit Advisory Council
(AAC)
• Executive Steering Committee on Australian Water Resource
Information (ESCAWRI)
• Baseline Water Resource Assessment Steering Committee
• Expert Advisory Panel on Water Accounting (EAP)
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Water Industry
• 501 Water supply or
sewerage providers
• Australian National
Committee on Irrigation
and Drainage (ANCID)
• Australian Water
Association (AWA)
• Water Supply Association
of Australia (WSAA)
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Australian History of
Water Resource Assessment
• 1963 Review of Australia’s Water Resources (AWRC 1965)
• 1975 Review of Australia’s Water Resources (AWRC 1977)
• 1977 The First National Survey of Water Use in Australia
(DNDE 1981)
• 1985 Review of Australia’s Water Resources and Water Use
(AWRC 1987)
• 1995-96 Water in the Australian Economy (AATSE 1999)
• 1993-94 to 1996-97 Water Account, Australia (ABS 2000)
• 2000 Australian Water Resource Assessment (NLWRA 2001)
• 2000-01 Water Account, Australia (ABS 2004)
• 2004-05 Water Account, Australia (ABS and NWC 2006)
• 2005 Australian Water Resources (NWC 2007, to come)
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ABS Water Statistics Program
Guided by ABS Water Statistics User Group
Main program outputs:
• Water Account, Australia (4-yearly, may be biennial)
• Water Use on Australian Farms (Annual)
• Water Supply, Australia (Proposed new annual publication)
• Water Storage, Australia (Proposed new annual
publication)
• Survey design and collection
All products freely available from the ABS website www.abs.gov.au
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ABS Water Statistics Program
continued
Other outputs
• Research papers
- Experimental Estimates of Regional Agricultural Water Use
- Experimental Monetary Water Accounts for Australia, 2003-04
• Regional water use accounts for 2004-05
• Investigating production of water emission and quality accounts
• Collaborative projects E.g. Productivity Commission
- Characteristics of Australia’s Agricultural Water Users
• National Water Commission
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Baseline Water Resource
Assessment
• NWC baseline assessment of Australian Water
Resources 2005
• Joint project involving the ABS, Bureau of
Resource Science, CSIRO, National Land and
Water Resources Audit, SKM (consulting
company)
• ABS Water Accounts were integral to the
assessment
• Final assessment due out soon . . . .
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Water Account, Australia
• 3 editions
• Latest release November 2006
• Covers
•water supply and use
•water storage
•Allocations and trading
• Data for Australia and for each
of the Australian states and
territories
• Previous editions released in
2000 and 2004
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Water accounting model
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Water use in Australia, 2004-05
Total water extracted – 79,784 GL
Water returned (almost all for hydro-electricity) – 60,436
GL
Water consumption – 18,767 GL
• 65% by agriculture
• 11% by households
• 11% by water supply industry (includes system losses)
• 3% by manufacturing
• 2% by mining
• 1% by electricity and gas industry
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• 7% by all others
Contact details
Michael Vardon
Adviser on Environmental-Economic Accounting
United Nations Statistics Division
New York 10017 USA
Room DC2 1532
Phone: +1 917 367 5391
Fax: +1 917 363 1374
Email: vardon@un.org
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