This report assesses the progress of the Australian, State and Territory governments since 2017 towards achieving the objectives and outcomes of the National Water Initiative (NWI). It also provides practical advice to governments on future directions for national water reform through renewal of the NWI.

The Australian Government established the Register of Foreign Ownership of Water Entitlements (the Register) in 2017. The primary aim of the Register is to increase transparency about foreign ownership of Australian water assets and, more broadly, maintain community confidence in Australia’s foreign investment policy. This...

The water sector is increasingly facing unprecedented challenges and disruptive change, as are many other sectors of the economy. The partial privatisation of water assets is just the beginning of this process and climate change impacts will exacerbate all these challenges. Action needs to be...

Research in this report contradicts claims by federal and state government ministers that new dams are not being built in Australia. The report shows that 20 to 30 large new dams have been recently constructed, funded at least in part by Australian taxpayers.

This strategy shows the South Australian Government's full response to the Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission and the Productivity Commission’s five-year assessment – with a continued focus on implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, in full and on time, by 2024.

Executive summary A growing body of research shows that healthy watersheds are a vital component of a well-functioning water supply infrastructure system. When green infrastructure is used to complement, substitute, or safeguard traditional gray infrastructure, it can achieve optimal service delivery and save water suppliers...

This report shows how poor water quality stalls economic progress, stymies human potential, and reduces food production. The report calls for a paradigm shift that emphasizes safer, and often more cost-effective remedies that prevent pollution by combining smarter policies with newer technologies.

WRI and partners at Quantis, LimnoTech and Valuing Nature have developed a new approach for implementing and valuing water stewardship activities. The Volumetric Water Benefit Accounting (VWBA) meets a critical need in corporate water stewardship: a common method for assessing the benefits of water stewardship...

This technical report prepared by Prof. Fran Sheldon from Australian Rivers Institute (Griffith University) reviews the ecology, hydrology, and license types of water along the Barwon-Darling.

This study examines the political economy of rural water supply in Ethiopia, using a literature review and interviews with government staff and water sector stakeholders to unpick systemic obstacles to sustainable access to water.

The White Gum Valley (WGV) and other projects in the CRC for Low Carbon Living have created rich data for energy and water systems in exemplar low carbon precincts. The stored and dynamic data have been retained through other projects. The utilisation of the data...

India faces a major water crisis; it is already water scarce and will become even more so without major intervention. The crisis is largely due to years of mismanagement, fragmented governance frameworks and contradictory policy.

Billions of dollars have been spent on infrastructure schemes that have failed to deliver any measurable improvement in water flows or the state of the environment, writes John Quiggin.

Wastewater treatment plays a pivotal role in the protection of public and environmental health in urban precincts and in the recovery of scarce water and energy resources for an increasingly urban and growing global population. Yet wastewater treatment operations are among the most energy-intensive within...

This report covers the activities of utilisation project “Energy efficient swimming pools – engagement and utilization”. This involved project partners: School of PV and RE Engineering, UNSW, Simply Better Pool Savings, and Randwick Council.

This paper develops a pilot model which demonstrates the potential to use agent based modelling to evaluate the potential level of success of potential future water conservation programs or identify ways to improve the adoption existing programs.

The Australia Institute has released this additional analysis of the controversial $80 million water deal between the Department of Agriculture and Water and a company domiciled in the Cayman Islands. The analysis shows the close collaboration between the department and the company selling the water...

This report argues that catchment-level cap-and-trade systems for water abstraction, incorporating both urban and rural water uses, are the best approach for New Zealand to manage water supplies in catchments where water is becoming scarce.

The Australia Institute surveyed a nationally representative sample of Australians in 2018 and in 2019 about their views towards issues surrounding the health and management of the Murray Darling Basin.

This paper provides Members of the 57th Parliament of New South Wales with an authoritative overview of 45 key issues affecting the state in 2019. It presents the latest evidence on key areas for the NSW community such as health, education, crime and justice, housing...

In this report, the World Bank and World Resources Institute show how the next generation of infrastructure projects can tap natural systems and, where appropriate, integrate green and gray infrastructure.

This paper outlines how India has other options available to it that would improve its water security.

The report tells Victorians about the health of the environment – the land, the water, the air, and the ecosystems. Using 170 different scientific indicators, the report shows where Victorians are doing well and where improvement is needed.

This report reveals the countries where the most people live with physical water scarcity, how ballooning customer demands jeopardise water access for the poorest and most marginalised people, and how making thoughtful choices as consumers can help ensure access to water for basic needs is...

Climate change poses a major threat to the watersheds of the Hindu Kush region of the Himalayas (HKH). Increasing temperatures are likely to exacerbate existing trends, which cause low water levels in the summer and floods in the winter.