ATSE’s response to the Productivity Commission’s public inquiry into Australia’s Urban Water Sector.
Summary
The following observations are made:
- The Academy believes that it is essential that communities in urban areas have access to a reliable, consistent water supply congruent with the agreements made between the Commonwealth and States/Territories through the Intergovernmental Agreement on the National Water Initiative.
- It is recommended that authority for overarching water policies including those responsibilities deriving for water reform (primarily with State/Territory Ministers) be clearly allocated to an on-going Ministerial Council backed up with appropriate policy and technical skills.
- It is considered that the further aggregation of small municipally owned water utilities should be encouraged in New South Wales and Queensland as was undertaken in Victoria in the 1990s and more recently in Tasmania. There may be a need to consider such changes within a broader framework of local government reform. Even before any major changes are initiated, every effort should be made to induce existing service providers to improve their performance in terms of efficiency, service delivery, assessment of risk, security of supply, in cooperation with other suppliers.
- A better definition of stormwater flows in urban areas and the proportion of them that can be available for access as a consumptive resource should be undertaken.
- Further research should be undertaken into the suitability of treated urban stormwater for addition to the drinking water system.
- It is concluded that there is considerable scope for the States to reform how water services are provided and how the planning is undertaken that ensures water utilities have access to, or have the ability to purchase, additional bulk water entitlements when required.
- The Academy supports the National Water Commission’s view that the introduction of treated recycled water into the drinking water supply (i.e. purified recycled water [PRW]) is an important option to improve Australia’s long-term water security and should be considered on its merits.
- The community as a whole needs to be encouraged to have a better understanding of the water cycle.
- Planning systems should embrace an integrated “whole of landscape” approach – rather than having discrete planning systems that separate water management, ecology, coastal processes and land use planning at local and catchment scales.
- Access to water resources by urban water utilities should be provided under the same principles as those for other water users – namely through ownership of entitlements as determined in the 1994 Water Reform Agenda and the 2004 National Water Initiative.
- Current water resource management / water supply services separation arrangements should be reviewed as to whether they have been implemented appropriately, or whether some changes in the 1994 Water Reform Agenda should be undertaken.
- Policy-makers must ensure they consider the interdependence and integration of the policies they are contemplating, with those of other areas, including water. For example, projected policies relating to carbon sequestration or biodiversity through tree planting or woodland thickening should fully take into account the scientific interdependence of these policies with those of catchment management.
- Though not a specific urban water issue, any revision of the NWI should mandate the use of NWI-compliant language in acts and regulations as defined within the NWI and agreed by governments.
- Much more policy attention should be given to increasing the efficiency of domestic hot water heating.
- A greater focus should be placed on pricing signals that can vary according to scarcity and demand.
- Revisions to regulations and the NWI should be such as to facilitate the offering of a range of alternative water products.
- The NWC’s approach to encouraging independent price regulation in those jurisdictions not yet having it is endorsed. In the longer term, there is merit in considering a national approach to independent price regulation.
- The National Water Initiative should be amended to better provide in principle for competition options to be realised.
- It is recommended that further modelling be commissioned of how water systems can be configured and owned to allow retail purchasers a choice of water supplier and/or products, and the legislative structures that may be required to achieve such an outcome.
- Consideration should be given to developing a pricing environment with a complementary regulatory environment that encourages more innovative management of wastewater at the household level.
- Any approvals for the establishment of privately operated water or wastewater plants should include an agreed approach for continuity, possibly involving a performance bond, in the event that the original operator is unable to continue.
- Modelling should be commissioned to address the alternative approaches to recycling water “fit for purpose” vs recycling all of it “suitable for drinking” purposes. Regulatory environments should allow either approach to be adopted on its efficiency and economic merits.
- Developing a nationally implemented consistent approach to recycled water regulation including water recycling should be addressed.
- Primary responsibility for ensuring water quality and health standards should firmly rest with the water utilities themselves with an adequacy of regulation to ensure that such standards are met.
- Cognisance of the need for ensuring that underpinning water quality science is continually updated should be built into any revision of the NWI. A survey of peri-urban and urban stream and stormwater composition would form a useful basis for such developments.
- It is considered that efforts should be made to secure some form of sanctions/rewards for use following the next NWC Biennial Assessment and any subsequent introduction of additional urban water reforms.
