The Productivity Commission’s inquiry report — Australia’s Urban Water Sector — was released in October 2011. In recent times, the urban water sector has faced drought, growing populations and ageing assets. Governments have largely responded with prolonged and severe water restrictions...

Most urban households face severe restrictions on their use of water. These impose hidden costs that could amount to billions of dollars each year. Australia's urban water shortages are only partly due to low rainfall. An important contributor has been inadequate institutional arrangements for...

There are significant differences in the way water rights are defined, allocated and administered in Australia and overseas. Arrangements in Australia (and South Africa), where governments devise plans to share the volume available for consumption among right holders, differ significantly from...

Released in November 2004, the paper uses TERM-Water, a bottoms-up regional CGE model of the Australian economy, to examine the regional effects of expanding trade of irrigation water in the southern Murray-Darling Basin. The study finds that water trading dampens the impact of water allocation...

This working paper was released in August 2004. This research is part of a suite of research related to water reform, including the effects of expanding water trade and the management of environmental externalities associated with the supply and use of irrigation water. A foundation for this...

The Productivity Commission has made recommendations on how the Australian Government's buyback of water entitlements in the Murray Darling Basin could be improved, in a report released today. The buyback and a larger irrigation infrastructure program are being used to recover water for the...