Moving water at Sydney Uni

We are currently struggling to manage our water resources in Australia. Wetlands are drying out, acid sulphate soils are developing, river flows have been altered, water supplies in cities are under pressure. Much of current debate focuses on the effect of climate change, and sceptics and believers are battling it out on the newspaper pages. However, rather than getting stuck in a “tis” “tisnot” debate it might be more useful to see if we can disentangle management from climate effects.

First up I would ask the climate sceptics (yes that is you Miranda Devine) the following question: If you had to make a business decision and the general consensus among investment advisers was that is was 80 – 90% certain that the market would go one way or another, would you follow their advice? The current IPCC report estimates that it 80 – 90% certain that climate change is due to human influences…

I am sorry, but I have to write something about the pope’s visit. I mean, it dominated the news. This week more column space was taken up in the paper by world youth day and the pope’s visit than the government’s green paper on the “carbon pollution reduction scheme”. And, I must say, even for a non-catholic like myself, I am quite impressed. I read in the newspaper that 100 nuns had prayed for good weather, and behold! It was gorgeous for 6 days and only on the seventh day the skies loom gray and we might get a sprinkle. I am hoping the dear ladies can now please pray for a couple of deluges as we could use a bit of rain here in Australia.....

Sorry, I am a bit late with posting this week. Oh, that might be assuming that somebody actually reads my ramblings (Preposterous!). Sustainable yield is used in all state and federal policies in relation to surface and groundwater and is currently the goal of a major CSIRO research project in the Murray Darling Basin. The CSIRO project seems to suggest that there is a measurable or quantifiable thing called “sustainable yield”. However, is there really something such as sustainable yield that we can scientifically or at least quantitatively define? Most definitions of sustainability in Australia echo the famous Bruntlandt report definition that reads: “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
Yes, I know, it is a very anthropocentric definition and it is also not very quantitative. It is in fact very qualitative and I think that is what makes the whole area of sustainability so problematic.. But back to water as that is what I wanted to discuss.

Several things are happening. The new agreement in the Murray Darling basin basically shifts all power from the states to the federal government through the new Murray Darling Authority. This announcement from the PM ensured Australia even makes in into the Herald Trib. Interestingly, the prime minister echoed my words from two weeks ago and the agreement won’t help the lower lakes , and I agree it won’t. The second thing is today’s Ross Garnaut report , which will give some gloomy reading about the future, but I have discussed that earlier