This working paper presents the array of different policy instruments available for managing freshwater quality and quantity. In doing so, the paper provides insights into how the various instruments have been used to incentivise behaviour change in the New Zealand context, and outlines the barriers...

This publication provides an overview of the economic effects of water recovery on water prices and the irrigation sector in the southern Murray–Darling Basin. The analysis uses economic modelling to separate the effects of water recovery from seasonal variations in rainfall and water supply, along...

In 2017, the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture and Water Resources paid almost $80 million for water rights in the Condamine-Balonne valley. This research is based on unredacted valuation documents about the ‘Watergate’ scandal.

This interim report draws upon analysis of comprehensive water market data from 2012 onwards, and the views of a broad range of people with interests in the use and trade of water in the Murray-Darling Basin. The report considers options to enhance markets for tradable...

Water management in the Murray-Darling Basin has radically changed over the past 30 years, including Aboriginal people’s share of water rights in New South Wales.

The objective of the audit was to examine whether strategic water procurements by the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment were conducted consistent with government policy, were supported by appropriate program design, were planned and executed appropriately, and achieved value for money.

This report assists in the transition to a watershed approach by presenting a detailed content analysis of existing statutes governing New Hampshire’s natural and man-made bodies of water.

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...

This inquiry concerns the National Water Initiative (NWI) — a 2004 intergovernmental agreement between the Australian government and all State and Territory governments. It is the Productivity Commission’s second national water reform inquiry, with the first undertaken in 2017.

This report presents a series of forward looking scenarios for the southern Murray-Darling Basin water market, examining potential future water prices, trade flows and irrigation sector outcomes, taking into account recent and expected trends for water supply and demand.