First Biennial Review of the National Water Initiative

The key points contained in the submission by the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering are:

• The NWI reforms lies in the hands of the states and territories. Consideration should be given to strengthening some aspects of the NWI and thescrutiny provided by the NWC, and to developing more incentives and sanctions to ensure the NWI is implemented in ways that secure sustainable outcomes across the nation.
• There is a need to strengthen those requirements in the National Water Initiative (NWI) which favour integrated catchment planning and management.
• The NWI documentation should be recast to emphasise the deterministic role of catchments and to deal sufficiently with their idiosyncrasies in securing sustainable decisions on water allocation and use. That may well lead to a strengthening of the review process undertaken by the NWC.
• There is the need for the NWI and NWC to call for and, where necessary, demand a systems approach to planning and managing water catchments.
• It is desirable to strengthen the NWI to encourage more strategic water planning,including Clause 90 of the NWI, thereby encouraging state and territory governments to implement strategies to drive integrated water, sewage and energy planning and to give greater focus and priority to rural reform.
• The NWI could require state and territory governments to give special focus to coastal river systems and to exercise care in using inland experience to guide coastal planning and management in water resource management, water allocation and trading.
• The NWI should provide for state and territorial reviews of institutional blockages to water management reforms, leading as necessary to recommendations that can be explicitly followed up by the NWC.
• There would be considerable benefit in clarifying and recognising the various roles of stakeholders in a revised NWI, thereby reducing the risk that NWI initiatives will be compromised or fail to meet expectations during implementation.