TROUBLED WATERS Confronting the Water Crisis in Australia’s Cities TROUBLED WATERS Confronting the Water Crisis in Australia’s Cities Edited by Patrick Troy Published by ANU E Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at: http://epress.anu.edu.au/troubled_waters_citation.html National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Title: Troubled waters : confronting the water crisis in Australia’s cities / editor, Patrick Troy. ISBN: 9781921313837 (pbk.) 9781921313844 (pdf.) Notes: Includes index. Bibliography. Subjects: Water consumption--Australia Water conservation--Australia Water resources development--Australia Dwellings--Australia--Energy consumption. Climatic changes--Environmental aspects--Australia. Other Authors/Contributors: Troy, Patrick N. (Patrick Nicol), 1936- Dewey Number: 363.610994 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design by Teresa Prowse Cover images by Silvia, sourced from: http://www.stockvault.net/Sea_water_g13-Drop_of_water_p9502.html http://www.stockvault.net/Food_Drink_g16-Water_bubbles_p9504.html Printed by University Printing Services, ANU This edition © 2008 ANU E Press Contents Contributors vii Acknowledgments ix Introduction: The water services problem 1 Patrick Troy 1. The life and times of the Chadwickian solution 7 Tony Dingle 2. The water crisis in Southeast Queensland: How desalination 19 turned the region into carbon emission heaven Peter Spearritt 3. Down the gurgler: Historical influences on Australian domestic 37 water consumption Graeme Davison 4. Nature, networks and desire: Changing cultures of water in 67 Australia Lesley Head 5. Urban water: Policy, institutions and government 81 Steve Dovers 6. Sustainability in urban water futures 99 Geoff Syme 7. Exploiting the unspeakable: Third-party access to sewage and 115 public-sector sewerage infrastructure Janice Gray and Alex Gardner 8. Property in urban water: Private rights and public governance 157 Lee Godden Conclusion: A new solution 187 Patrick Troy Index 211 v Contributors Patrick Troy AO is Emeritus Professor and Visiting Fellow in the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University <[email protected]> Tony Dingle is Professor of Economics, Monash University. <[email protected]> Peter Spearritt is Professor of History, Centre for Applied History and Heritage Studies, University of Queensland. <[email protected]> Graeme Davison is Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor, School of Historical Studies, Monash University. <[email protected]> Lesley Head is Professor, School of Earth & Environmental Sciences and GeoQuEST Research Centre University of Wollongong. <[email protected]> Stephen Dovers is Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society. Australian National University. <[email protected]> Geoffrey J. Syme is Research Program Leader of Society, Economy and Policy, CSIRO Land and Water. <[email protected]> Janice Gray is Senior Lecturer, School of Law, University of New South Wales. <[email protected]> Alex Gardener is Associate Professor, School of Law, Law University of Western Australia. <[email protected]> Lee Godden is Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, and Director, Office for Environment Programs, University of Melbourne. <[email protected]> vii Acknowledgments The conversations, Symposium, National Workshop and explorations on which this book is based were sponsored by the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian National University's Water Initiative. Individual authors also acknowledge assistance as follows: Patrick Troy wishes to acknowledge the contributions of the five anonymous referees; Jim Walter for his guidance; and Phil Greaves for his patience and support. Graeme Davison acknowledges the assistance of Frank Bongiorno, Miles Lewis, Richard Overell and Kimberley Webber in obtaining source material for this essay. He also thanks Katherine Rogerson of the ACP Library for permission to reproduce the cover of The Australian Women©s Weekly, 14th April 1951, and illustrations; Sandra Camden-Bermingham of Electrolux Home Products for permission to reproduce the Hoover advertisment; Australia Home Beautiful for illustrations and Victa for permission to reproduce the illustration. Lesley Head wishes to acknowledge that The Backyard Project was funded by the Australian Research Council (DP 0211327). Janice Gray and Alex Gardener would particularly like to thank Dr Michael Keating, Chairperson, IPART; Pamela Soon, Solicitor, IPART; Luke Woodward, Partner, Gilbert + Tobin Lawyers; Sally Walkom, Senior Policy Advisor, Sydney Water; and Ian Waters, Corporate Secretary and Solicitor, Sydney Water Corporation, whose assistance was invaluable. All errors, omissions and misinterpretations remain those of the authors. ix Introduction: The water services problem Patrick Troy Despite the urgency with which Australian cities now face the problem of inadequate water supplies, and despite the impact of recent patterns of changes in climate on those supplies, the roots of the water problem are deeply historical and can only be addressed by accounting for intersecting technological, cultural, economic and political factors. Together these factors have entrenched a path dependency in the way water services are supplied and attitudes towards them that must be thoroughly questioned if the current crisis is to be understood and addressed. This book summarises these intersections as a preliminary to the consideration of alternative methods of ensuring a sustainable and appropriate mix of the supply of water services for Australian cities in the future. In Chapter 1, Tony Dingle points out that from the standpoint of today, urban water supply and sewerage systems in Australia appear to have changed little in their technological essentials for extended periods of time. A water-supply authority harvests rainwater or stream flow, stores it, treats it (if required) so that it is potable, and then reticulates it into homes and businesses. The liquid and solid wastes generated there are piped out again, treated to some degree, before being emptied into the ocean. This has usually been explained as an example of path dependence. The technology is expensive and disruptive to install. Once in place it limits future development paths so that it is less costly to expand an existing system as the number of consumers and per-capita requirements grow, rather than replace it with something different. Consumers also are not required to change their usage habits. This generates a set of obstacles both in supply and usage to the adoption of new technologies that differ significantly from what is currently in place. There have, however, been major transitions in the past where cities have replaced existing methods of supply with new and different technologies. The most obvious of these have been the shifts from water delivery by water cart or on-site rainfall collection to reticulation; and from nightsoil collection to piped, water-borne collection by means of flush toilets. These transitions were made by most cities in the developing world between the mid nineteenth and the mid twentieth century. Typically, they were climactic events provoked by widespread concerns, usually about threats to public health. They usually involved an assessment of the alternative technologies available at the time. 1 Troubled Waters: Confronting the Water Crisis in Australia's Cities In examining these transitions, their timing and the factors which provoked them, Dingle raises questions about what might constitute necessary conditions for radical change in today's networked cities. In the light of previous transitions, are they now approaching the critical conditions in relation to water supply and sewerage provision that could push them onto different trajectories in relation to present and future sources of water as well as patterns of water usage? In Chapter 2, Peter Spearritt provides illustrations of the way the rigidities in approaches to the provision of water services and short-term political considerations have influenced the investment in water-services infrastructure in Southeast Queensland (SEQ). He discusses how the Queensland Government reacted to the recent drought and argues that the explanation of the crisis in SEQ lies in an analysis of infrastructure quick-fixes popular with engineers, a remarkable lack of accountability in the water bureaucracies and untold arrogance in the electricity authorities. Spearritt claims that successive bureaucrats and Ministers ignored the warning signs, sounded as early as 1997 by experts in the Department for Natural Resources and Mines. The Government embarked instead on a series of `supply side' projects although the creation of the Queensland Water Commission in 2006 was followed by the introduction of regulations which demanded severe reductions in domestic water consumption. In Chapter 3, Graeme Davison explores the social history of our changing water-consumption habits and behaviour. He argues that the increase in consumption was brought about by the twin concerns of health and morality, reminding us of the strong link between Protestant