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Age Editorial: Water Planning Needs More Than Quick Fixes
Water planning needs more than quick fixes
Editorial,The Age
September 4, 2008
Divining water in a dry future requires more than faith and hardware.
THE observation that water is the oil of the 21st century graduated to a truism in a blink. Security and prosperity are tied to it. Wars will be fought over it. Cartels have been founded on control of it. Access to it intimately shapes the possibilities of a life: how we work, where we live, how broadly we venture across the landscape.
But the analogy expires short of the true ambit of water in our lives. There are, after all, alternatives to oil. But to borrow the observation of W. H. Auden, “Thousands have lived without love, not one without water”. While we ride the juggernaut of peak oil with little capacity to determine its direction, the prospect of peak water galvanises action. With buckets and tanks, pipes and plants, thrift and innovation — it is within our realm to secure this, surely?
International River Symposium
Two researchers from the Collaborative Water Planning Project are presenting the key findings on risk and community participation for water planning at this week’s 11th International Riversymposium – an event held as part of Brisbane’s Riverfestival.
More Seats, More Tables: Methods for enhancing public participation in water planning & management
John Mackenzie
The proliferation of tools, tool-kits and tool-boxes for community participation presents a series of dilemmas for contemporary water management practioners looking to engage the community in water management. How are we to decide which approach is right for different circumstances, different planning needs and with different sectors of the community? This presentation explores the development of a fit-for-purpose framework for community participation, which attempts to outline how to select from the range of engagement approaches available based on needs assessment and adaptive management methodologies.
The Risk in Water Planning
Claudia Baldwin & Mark Hampstead
Water planning is a key means of achieving the objectives of Australia’s National Water Initiative and one of the most important tools for achieving sustainable use of water. It is also a critical vehicle for consideration of climate variability and climate change in planning and managing for future use and environmental protection. This paper draws from our review of water allocation planning in Australia, undertaken for National Water Commission in the latter half of 2007. The review gathered information from documents, planners and stakeholders to identify best practices and lessons learned. Eleven case studies from States and the Northern Territory were used to illustrate the strengths and challenges of planning processes in delivering desired outcomes. The focus in this paper is on how governments in Australia have addressed climate variability and climate change in water planning to date. We review current approaches to managing climate risks and suggest a range of options for responding to this challenge within the water planning framework. In doing so, we explore risk assessment, future scenario development, contingency planning and adaptive management and highlight the role for transparency, public involvement, and assessment of possible impacts through this process.
About The International RiverSymposium
The International Riversymposium is part of Riverfestival – Brisbane’s community and environmental festival celebrating our waterways and culture by focusing on the city’s signature natural landmark, the Brisbane River. The festival is 10 days of a diverse program at the start of spring with music, visual arts, film, forums, education projects, dining, culture, large-scale free outdoor events and recreation.
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Maude Barlow Presentation (Brisbane)
Maude Barlow, author of Blue Covenant, will be discussing her very important new book at an upcoming event in Brisbane.
Date: Tuesday 2 September
Time: 6:00pm for 6:30pm start
Venue: Irish Club, 175 Elizabeth Street, Brisbane
Tickets: $15 / $12 concession, bulk purchase (6 or more) $10 each
Bookings: Through Brisbane’s Better Bookshops: Avid Reader: 193 Boundary St, West End, Ph: 07 3846 3422 or books{at}avidreader.com.au
Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water by Maude Barlow
Scientists call them “hot stains” – the parts of the earth running out of clean, drinkable water. They now include northern China, large areas of Asia and Africa, the Middle East, Australia, the Midwestern United States, and sections of South America and Mexico. How did the world’s most vital natural resource become so imperiled? And what must we do to pull back from the brink?
In the tradition of such classics as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, Blue Covenant addresses an environmental crisis that – together with global warming – poses one of the gravest threats to our survival.
World-renowned activist and author Maude Barlow has been at the forefront of international water politics, and in this timely and important book she discusses the state of the world’s water, how water companies are reaping vast profits from declining supplies, and how ordinary people from around the world have banded together to reclaim the public’s right to clean water.
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