The Social Impact of Changing Water Regimes Framework
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THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF CHANGING WATER REGIMES FRAMEWORK AND ECHUCA CASE STUDY A Report by the National Academies Forum Editors Leon Mann and Ian D. Rae November 2005 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Preface 2 1 Introduction 5 2 The Specialists’ Perspective 11 3 The Practitioners’ Perspective 31 4 Echuca - the Last Fifty Years (or so) 74 5 Echuca's Changing Population 97 6 Water Resources in the Shire of Campaspe 119 7 Science versus the Public: Water Matters 139 8 Conclusion 151 1 Preface In 2000 and 2001 the Business Council of Australia entered into discussions with Australia’s four learned academies about societal change. The academies – Australian Academy of Science (AAS), Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), Academy of Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA), and Australian Academy of Humanities (AHA) – saw the need for a joint approach and agreed to work together to study selected aspects of this fascinating topic. Uppermost in the mind of the Business Council was the social impact of changing water regimes. The supply of water for business, agriculture and domestic use was already a matter of concern and has become even an more prominent issue as much of our country experienced a serious drought, and climate change assessments raised the possibility that such climatic extremes would become more common in future. Such questions had been addressed, from technical and business perspectives, in the report Water for Ever, published by the Academy of Technological Sciences following their study of the availability and use of water in Australia. More recently, there has been the distraction of proposals to ‘drought proof’ Australia, and Governments have shown increased interest in restoring river flows in the Murray-Darling system. The outcome of the discussions between the Business Council and the Academies was a submission to the Australian Research Council (ARC) for support from the Council’s Learned Academies fund for a study of the social impact of changing water regimes in rural and regional Australia. Seed funding of $10,000 was provided by the Business Council of Australia. The submission to ARC was made by the National Academies Forum (NAF), the vehicle for cooperative action by the learned academies, which also provided $10,000 to support the study. The upshot was a grant of $92,000 for a study to be conducted in 2002. Because the study was slow to progress, and was not completed in calendar 2002, the ARC allowed the NAF to continue to draw on the grant through 2003 to the completion of the study. The 2000 Review of the Australian Learned Academies noted “the emergence of national questions and problems … which call for expertise and research from a wide span of intellectual disciplines” and recommended that the Academies should “speak with one voice in advising governments and stimulating public debate”. The study proposal submitted to the ARC offered an opportunity for the Academies to respond to that advice by working together to explore the social aspects of water degradation. This study calls for the broadest possible spread of expertise in the study group. The diverse expertise of the Fellowships of the four academies and the networks to which their Fellows belong, coupled with their independence from political parties and lobby groups, ensures that they can give independent advice to government agencies and the community. 2 In this study the impact of changed water management regimes on community was examined in a region highly dependent on water and irrigation for its livelihood and future. The site chosen for the case study was the city of Echuca and its immediate surrounds in Campaspe Shire, some 150 km north of Melbourne on the banks of the Murray River. It is intended that the pilot study would examine the social impacts caused by changing water regimes. Every region has its distinctive features, , and accordingly the impact of changing water management regimes differs from region to region. Accordingly, the study in Echuca and its environs serves as a test of the approach and methodology, not as a basis for regional or national water policy. A more ambitious objective, would be to examine the social impact of changes in water policy and management in several regions so as to more clearly identify the most important general responses and differentiate them from local or region-specific responses. Each of the four Academies nominated representatives who formed the steering committee for the study. The members were Dr Peter Crawford (ATSE), Mr Keith Daniel (ATSE), Professor Graeme Hugo (ASSA), Professor John Lovering (AAS), Professor Leon Mann (ASSA), Professor Janet McCalman (AHA), Mr Steven Munchenberg (BCA) and Dr Lawrence Warner (AHA). Professor Ian D. Rae (ATSE Technical Director) was convener for the committee and he and Professor Mann oversaw the contributions to the study. A major contribution to the study was made by Quentin Farmar-Bowers, who examined the way in which different groups acknowledged and responded to changing water regimes, and included interviews with people in the Echuca district. His research report, held by the National Academies Forum, was the basis for Chapter 1. Chapters 2-7 consist of contributions by experts on various aspects of the study – demography (Graeme Hugo), hydrology (Teri Etchells), public participation in policy making (Ron Johnston) – while local resident Selina Handley produced a pen-picture of life in Echuca. About the Contributors: Teri Etchells completed her PhD in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Melbourne, as part of the Co-operative Research Centre for Catchment Hydrology. Previously, she had graduated from Monash University in 1997 with degrees in Engineering (first class Honours) and Commerce. Teri first developed an interest in the water industry through a cadetship with Melbourne Water and then moved into strategy consulting with The Boston Consulting Group before starting her PhD. 3 Quentin Farmar-Bowers completed his PhD degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Melbourne, following a BSc in Agriculture and an MA in Business Studies. He was a member of the Victorian Public Service for nineteen years, where his career culminated in a two-year period as Director of Research for a Parliamentary Committee. He has been a consultant, working with Government departments and other agencies on projects concerned with sustainability, such as those involving land clearing, flora and fauna management, and biodiversity maintenance. Selina Handley is an Arts graduate with Diplomas in Education and Agribusiness. She has taught in Alice Springs and Echuca and worked extensively with Victorian Government agencies in Community Engagement and Social programs. With her husband, she runs a dairy farm and lives just south of Echuca, but maintains sporting, social and cultural activities in the town. Graham Hugo FSSA is a Professor of the Discipline of Geographical and Environmental Studies and Director of the National Centre for Social Applications of Geographical Information Systems at the University of Adelaide. Australia’s leading demographer, he is the author of over two hundred books, articles in scholarly journals and chapters in books, as well as a large number of conference papers and reports. In 2002 he secured a $1.125 million ARC Federation Fellowship over five years for his research project, “The new paradigm of international migration to and from Australia: dimensions, causes and implications”. Leon Mann FSSA is Professorial Fellow and Director of the Centre for Research and Development leadership in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences in the University of Melbourne. From 1991 to 2003, he held the Pratt Family Chair of Leadership at the Melbourne Business School. Professor Mann was President (2001- 2003) of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, and chairs the Academy’s research committee. Ian D. Rae FTSE is Technical Director of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. An organic chemist by training, he has had extensive experience in policy development and serves as an adviser to Australian Governments and the United National Environment Programme. He is President Elect of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. Ron Johnston FTSE is Executive Director of the Australian Centre for Innovation Ltd at the University of Sydney, and one of Australia’s leading analysts of change. Over the past fifteen years he has mapped and publicised the forces of change emerging from new technologies, changing patterns of international competitiveness and trade, new organisational structures, and shifts in social values. His work has included issues as diverse as water supply and management, technology-assisted learning, irrigation, university research, sea transport, global warming, nuclear fuel management, the IT industry, biotechnology, laws of the sea, opportunities for youth, sustainability and knowledge management. 4 Chapter 1 Introduction Ian D. Rae and Leon Mann 1.1 The centrality of water The supply of water for business, agriculture and domestic use was already a matter of concern and has become even a more prominent issue as much of our country experienced a serious drought, and climate change assessments raised the possibility that such climatic extremes would become more common in future. Such questions had been addressed, from technical and business perspectives, in the report Water for Ever, published by the Academy of Technological Sciences following their study of the availability and use of water in Australia. More recently, there has been the distraction of proposals to ‘drought proof’ Australia, and Governments have shown increased interest in restoring river flows in the Murray-Darling system. 1.2 A study of the social impact of changing water regimes in rural and regional Australia While water planning and management in Australia has often focused on technical considerations of quantity and quality, the social impact of management strategies and contemporary water reforms, has been much less analysed.