Blueprint for a National Water Plan
Water is fundamental to life – everyone has an obligation to protect it.
Following the recent release of Blueprint for a Living Continent, the Wentworth Group was challenged by policy makers to prepare a way forward on the challenge of managing Australia’s water resources.
The Wentworth Group’s Blueprint for a National Water Plan met this challenge. It recognised that we have made understandable but profound mistakes in many areas of Australia, overallocating water by giving away too many licenses to take water from rivers and aquifers.
The Blueprint called for Australians to become water literate and the Council of Australian Governments to commit to urgently needed national water reforms. The Wentworth Group provided a series of solutions that would:
- Protect river health and the rights of all Australians to clean usable water
- Establish a new, nationally consistent water entitlement and trading system
- Engage local communities and ensure a fair transition.
They showed that solutions did exist – what was needed was the political courage to implement them.
Authors
Mr Peter Cosier, Prof Peter Cullen, Prof Tim Flannery, Assoc Prof Ronnie Harding, Dr Steve Morton, Prof Hugh Possingham, Dr Denis Saunders, Prof Bruce Thom, Dr John Williams and Prof Mike Young.
Acknowledgment
The Wentworth Group acknowledges the contribution made by Dr Steve Hatfield Dodds.
ISBN: 1-875-94150-9
