Time for a Water Re-‘Vision’

Abstract

The future management of Australia's water resources is at a crossroads. Will demand be relentlessly chased with technology, or will a truly sustainable approach be pursued? ‘Sustainable water management’ is an increasingly important imperative in Australian water policy. It responds to the decreasing availability of water resources in many urban areas. However, the achievement of ‘sustainability’ may be compromised because of a lack of a unified approach to the concept. This article discusses the concept of sustainability and highlights attributes contributing to difficulty in its adoption in the Australian water policy arena. Recent water policy approaches taken in Australia are discussed with a focus on two case studies: one of water recycling and the other desalination. The article establishes four immediate needs to ensure the sustainable management of water resources: 1) a unified definition of sustainability for application in the management of Australia's water resources; 2) development of sustainability indicators to guide decision-making; 3) the adoption of good policy process for decision-making; and 4) a re-‘vision’ of the present approach to water management. A ‘Water Source Hierarchy’ is proposed to guide future water management decisions. The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them. Albert Einstein