Abstract
This chapter presents a case study of the use of indicators to inform water supply planning and management, using data from Australia’s National Water Account. The study draws on the rich tradition on indicators, ratios and metrics in the financial field, to select a suite of 17 indicators to best represent a broad picture of context, sustainability and security relating to water availability and supply. The selected indicators fit into four broad themes relating to water availability, water use, sustainability and water security. The indicators were found to be useful for providing insight into key questions likely to be raised by decision makers in water policy and sustainable water resource management such as: How much water is available for use? How much water is being used and how is it being used? Is water use sustainable? Can future demand be met? They were also useful for standardising water information across water systems that differ in size, climate and type of use, allowing rapid comparison of key issues between regions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Australian Government (2019) Our natural environment. https://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/our-country/our-natural-environment. Accessed 18 Feb 2019
Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology (2013) The national water account companion guide. http://www.bom.gov.au/water/nwa/document/companion-guide.pdf. Accessed 16 Feb 2019
Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology (2018) National water account. http://www.bom.gov.au/water/nwa. Accessed 24 Jan 2019
Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO (2018) State of the climate 2018. http://www.bom.gov.au/state-of-the-climate/State-of-the-Climate-2018.pdf. Accessed 24 Jan 2019
California Department of Water (2014) The California water sustainability indicators framework. https://water.ca.gov/LegacyFiles/waterplan/docs/cwpu2013/Final/vol4/sustainability/05Sustainability_Indicators_Framework.pdf. Accessed 24 Jan 2019
Chalmers K, Godfrey JM, Lynch B (2012) Regulatory theory insights in the past, present and future of general purpose water accounting standard setting. Account Audit Account J 25(6):1001–1024
Delen D, Kuzey C, Uyar A (2013) Measuring firm performance using financial ratios: a decision tree approach. Expert Syst Appl 40(10):3970–3983
European Environment Agency (2004) Water exploitation index. https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/water-exploitation-index. Accessed 24 Jan 2019
Falkenmark M (1997) Meeting water requirements of an expanding world population. Philos Trans R Soc Lond Ser B Biol Sci 352:929–936
Gassert F, Landis M, Luck M, Reig P, Shiao T (2014) Aqueduct global maps 2.1. Working paper. World Resources Institute, Washington, DC. http://www.wri.org/publication/aqueduct-global-maps-21. Accessed 24 Jan 2019
Global Sustainability Standards Board (2018) GRI 303: water and effluents 2018. https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/gri-303-water-and-effluents-2018/. Accessed 24 Jan 2019
Godfrey JM (2011) Australia leads the water reporting initiative. Charter 82(1):24–26
Keywood MD, Emmerson KM, Hibberd MF (2016) Climate: rainfall. In: Australia state of the environment 2016. Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy, Canberra. https://soe.environment.gov.au/theme/climate/topic/2016/rainfall. Accessed 16 Feb 2019. https://doi.org/10.4226/94/58b65c70bc372
Kummu M, Guillaume JHA, de MH, Eisener S, Flörke M, Porkka M, Siebert S, Veldkamp TIE, Ward PJ (2016) The world’s road to water scarcity: shortage and stress in the 20th century and pathways towards sustainability. Nat Sci Rep 6:38495
Liu J, Yang H, Gosling SN, Kummu M, Flörke M, Pfister S, Hanasaka N, Wada Y, Zhang X, Zheng C, Alcamo J, Oki T (2017) Water scarcity assessment in the past, present, and future. Earth’s Future 5:545–559
Murray-Darlin Basin Authority (2018) A plan for the Murray-Darling Basin, https://www.mdba.gov.au/basin-plan/plan-murray-darling-basin. Accessed 24 Jan 2019
Office of the Premier (Victoria) (2017) Government provides water storage certainty. Press release. https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/government-provides-water-storage-certainty-2/. Accessed 11 Oct 2018
Penman S (2007) Financial statement analysis and security valuation. McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Petheram C, Gallant J, Wilson P, Stone P, Eades G, Rogers L, Read A, Tickell S, Commander P, Moon A, McFarlane D, Marvanek S (2014) Northern rivers and dams: a preliminary assessment of surface water storage potential for northern Australia. CSIRO Land and Water Flagship Technical Report, CSIRO, Australia, Queensland
Slattery M, Chalmers K, Godfrey JM (2012) Beyond the hydrographs’ legacy: water accounting in Australia. In: Godfrey JM, Chalmers K (eds) Water accounting: international approaches to policy and decision making. Edward Edgar Publishing, Cheltenham
Tello E, Hazelton J, Cummings L (2016) Potential users’ perceptions of general purpose water accounting reports. Account Audit Account J 29(1):80–110
United Nations Development Programme (2018) Sustainable development goals. www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html. Accessed 24 Jan 2019
Vanham D, Hoekstra AY, Wada Y, Bouraoui F, de Roo A, Mekonnen MM, vand Bund WJ, Batelaan O, Pavelic P, Bsatiaanssen WGM, Kummu M, Rockstrom J, Lui J, Bisselink B, Ronco P, Pistocchi A, Bidoglio G (2018) Physical water scarcity metrics for monitoring progress towards SDG target 6.4: an evaluation of indicator 6.4.2 “level of water stress”. Sci Total Environ 613-614:218–232
Water Accounting Standards Board (2012) Australian water accounting standard 1: preparation and presentation of general purpose water accounting reports. Commonwealth of Australia (Bureau of Meteorology), Canberra
WaterinCore (2010) Sustainable water management through common responsibility enhancement in Mediterranean River Basins. Water management. Common list of indicators & database. http://www.waterincore.eu/deliverables/03_03_01_en.pdf. Accessed 24 Jan 2019
Western Australia Government Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (2018) Climate change and waterways. http://www.water.wa.gov.au/water-topics/waterways/threats-to-our-waterways/climate-change-and-waterways. Accessed 24 Jan 2019
Xu H, Wu M (2017) Water availability indices – A literature review. Argonne National Laboratory, Energy Systems Division, http://water.es.anl.gov/documents/Technical%20Report_%20Literature%20Review%20of%20Water%20Availability%20Indices_030317.ems_vs.pdf. Accessed 24 Jan 2019
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Crown
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Braaten, R., Bende-Michl, U., Dutta, S. (2020). Indicators for Sustainable Management of Water Supply: A Case Study from Australia. In: Khaiter, P., Erechtchoukova, M. (eds) Sustainability Perspectives: Science, Policy and Practice. Strategies for Sustainability. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19550-2_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19550-2_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-19549-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-19550-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)