The report, which Infrastructure Partners Australia (IPA) and the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) presented jointly to the Commonwealth Government, recommends a nationally led plan for urban water network management.
Some areas of concern highlight in the report are:
- The growing privatisation and monopolisation of water network in urban Australia
- Structural differences in water management businesses in different states
- The lack of national leadership and funding available for the water sector.
“We believe that there is a strong case for renewed national policy leadership – backed with meaningful incentives – to elevate consensus about the importance of good water policy into actionable national reform processes,” the Report states.
“Nationally led reforms along the lines recommended in this paper would elevate urban water above the urgent decisions made amid a crisis – allowing instead for an approach based on good water governance, long term planning and greater responsiveness to customer preferences.”
The report also contains key statistics and information about Australia’s current urban water networks, and outlines a practical approach to the suggested reforms. A PDF download of the full report is available here.
For further information visit the WSAA website or the IPA website.