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Towards Urban Water Reform: A Discussion Paper

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  • Productivity Commission

Abstract

Most urban households face severe restrictions on their use of water. These impose hidden costs that could amount to billions of dollars each year. Australia’s urban water shortages are only partly due to low rainfall. An important contributor has been inadequate institutional arrangements for the management of our urban water resources. This discussion paper identifies a number of deficiencies in how urban water is currently managed, the most fundamental being the lack of any effective market. The Commission argues that appropriate reforms would be best advanced through a comprehensive public review, to determine the merits of different options and build a greater understanding within the community of the costs of the status quo and the tradeoffs in pursuing change.

Suggested Citation

  • Productivity Commission, 2008. "Towards Urban Water Reform: A Discussion Paper," Research Papers 0801, Productivity Commission, Government of Australia.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:prodrp:0801
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    File URL: http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/78150/urbanwaterreform.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

    1. Edwards, Geoff W., 2012. "The Desalination Plant, The North-South Pipeline And The Welfare Of Melburnians," 2012 Conference (56th), February 7-10, 2012, Fremantle, Australia 124292, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    2. R. Quentin Grafton & Tom Kompas & Hang To & Michael Ward, 2009. "Residential Water Consumption: A Cross Country Analysis," Environmental Economics Research Hub Research Reports 0923, Environmental Economics Research Hub, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University, revised Aug 2009.
    3. Neil Byron & Alan Johnston & Rick Baker & Andrew Barker, 2008. "Towards Urban Water Reform," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 41(4), pages 401-412, December.
    4. Barker, Andrew & Murray, Tim & Salerian, John, 2010. "Developing a Partial Equilibrium Model of an Urban Water System," Staff Working Papers 102, Productivity Commission, Government of Australia.
    5. Freebairn, John W., 2012. "Risk Aversion and Urban Water Decisions," 2012 Conference (56th), February 7-10, 2012, Fremantle, Australia 124206, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    6. Malcolm Abbott & My Tran, 2020. "The Price Elasticity of Demand of Australian Urban Residential Consumers and Water Restrictions," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(3), pages 153-153, March.
    7. Stuart White & Kate Noble & Joanne Chong, 2008. "Reform, Risk and Reality: Challenges and Opportunities for Australian Urban Water Management," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 41(4), pages 428-434, December.
    8. Abbott, Malcolm & Wang, Wei Chun & Cohen, Bruce, 2011. "The long-term reform of the water and wastewater industry: The case of Melbourne in Australia," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 115-122, June.
    9. Brennan, Tess Annie Louise, 2011. "Implementing Coarse Priority Schemes," 2011 Conference (55th), February 8-11, 2011, Melbourne, Australia 100533, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    water use; water demand; water recycling; water resources; water trading; desalinisation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics

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