The regulation of river systems to meet water demands for irrigation in the southern Murray Darling Basin has changed the timing and the volume of the natural pattern of flows. Australian governments have committed to restoring, in part, winter and spring flow regimes to preserve and enhance the...

Australian governments have agreed to develop and implement policies to promote more efficient use of water resources and improved water quality. Policy objectives may include incentives for investment in efficient irrigation technologies. However, the presence of large, sunk investment and the...

A key feature of water policy reform in Australia has been the separation of water access entitlements from land titles and the establishment of markets for water. However, the separation of water entitlements from land failed to account for a number of characteristics that were implicit in the...

Many irrigation areas are facing the problems of aging infrastructure and a declining revenue base from which to fund maintenance and repair activities. The push toward full cost recovery for storage and delivery services arising from water reform policies means that some supply utilities will...

The joint conference paper, 'Third-party effects of water trading and potential policy responses' by Anna Heaney (ABARE), Gavan Dwyer (PC), Stephen Beare (ABARE), Deborah Peterson (PC) and Lili Pechey (ABARE), was presented to the American Agricultural Economics Association conference,...

Efficient investment in salinity mitigation requires an understanding of how different landscapes respond to alternative land and water use options at both a regional and a broader scale. A simulation modeling framework that integrates the relationships between land use, vegetation cover,...

A modelling framework incorporating relationships between agricultural production and groundwater hydrology was developed to estimate the benefits of improved irrigation efficiency in the Riverland of South Australia. Increased irrigation efficiency can generate external benefits to downstream...

The global push toward free trade and the consequent rise in volume of imports from a wider range of countries incurs the likelihood of introducing unwanted pathogens. Given that a zero-risk quarantine policy is not possible, there are tradeoffs between the gains from international trade and the...