In Australia, the water supply and sanitation is of good quality. The supply of freshwater is vulnerable to climate change; however, the country has put emphasis on water conservation and the government in every region has imposed restrictions on the use of water in the community. The water reform in Australia is a great success, despite its geological status with low rainfall latitude and it has extensive dry areas with high variability in and between floods and droughts. All Australians has considered the natural environment as its fundamental of life and the preservation is their legacy to the future generations . In the 1980s, some significant reforms have occurred in the urban water industry, its operational reforms have improved on the urban water utilities efficiently. Its pricing reform as the introduction of its usage has moved to full-cost recovery, improved the water use efficiency, and investment effectiveness in the water infrastructure. The Australia water corporatization from 1995 onwards has formed a broader process of the public sector reforms . The key factors or approaches are secret of the success of the water reform in Australia.
The federal system has triggered to drive policy action. The state governments are very responsible for water in some of the cross-border water management agreements, state-state and federal-state tensions, federal pressure and fiscal incentives for reform, and the intergovernmental reform agreements, for example, the National Water Initiative or NWI. The system has the means to influence states such as the public jawboning, benchmarking states reform performance, independent assessments of reform progress, subsidizing reform costs the offsetting revenue losses from reforms, incentives for reforms, incentive payments for reforms, engaging States in reforms designs, national strategy, legislating reforms, and competitive bidding by States for conditional federal funding. The performance seems reasonable with better business profits and adequate return on assets.
In finding ways through a federal system, its aim is to achieve compatible market, regulatory, and planning that are based in the system of managing surface and groundwater resources for the rural and urban use that optimized economic, social, and environmental outcomes, globally. This aim is part of the National Water Initiative inter-governmental agreement. The inter-governmental agreement has aimed to consolidate the whole of water reform as a single deed, find agreements among many different participants, to integrate production, environment, science, and economics, and to deal with the urban and rural issues. The reform effort continues as institutions adapt to manage new sources of water made as needed by changing rainfall pattern .
The right institutions with the necessary authority, resources, and stability are under its governance; it is always critical in institutions and capacity building for data, information, and knowledge. The right suite of policies that covered the many water challenges in a coherent, integrated way. The best water governance arrangement is the use of science and knowledge to underpin rational decisions.
Reference
Australian Government. (2014). About Us: Australian Government. Retrieved May 17, 2014,
Council of Australian Governments. (2014). About Us: COAG. Retrieved May 17, 2014, from
COAG Web site: http://www.coag.gov.au/water_climate_change_and_the_environment
Public Sector Reform in Australia: An Evaluation of the Corporatisation of Sydney Water, 1995
Schott, K., Wilson, S., & Walkom, S. (2008). Urban Water Reform: An Industry Perspective.
Australian Economic Review , 41 (4), 413-419. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8462.2008.00526.x.
