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on that water market. The government intervened
by buying back some of the permits to ensure
that water supplies remained adequate and
also by making the strict rules for trading more
flexible and efficient. That gave a boost to the
trade which, in turn, was good for the economy:
it continued to flourish despite the drought. As a
result, we can still afford structural solutions such
as investments in infrastructure, better planning
for water consumption and a sound forecasting
system for the Bureau of Meteorology.’
To what extent is water in Australia still
a political challenge?
‘Much less so than in the past. We were used
to sorting out problems like this regionally and
so when Prime Minister John Howard set aside
10 billion dollars in 2007 in order to make
nationwide top-down interventions possible,
there was a lot of very heated debate. These
days, tackling issues together has become
second nature. Of course, there are always
discussions about costs. It is our job to use
sound science and reliable numbers to show
that investments of this kind really do pay.’
Why did you need outside help?
‘From a scientific point of view, that’s a good
story. When it finally rained again after ten years,
our computer systems literally couldn’t manage
the floods any more. We were used to two floods
a year lasting two months and now we had a
flood covering more or less the entire continent
for nine months. The Netherlands, including
Deltares, came in to help: they have systems
that can manage these enormous quantities of
water and the associated data flows.’
What is the strength of an institute like
the Bureau of Meteorology?
‘Our ability to compare solutions independently.
It really is unbelievable how many conflicting
interests and possible solutions a regional water
manager has to cope with. We can help. Recently,
there was a discussion about bringing excess
water from the north of Australia to the south as
an alternative to expensive freshwater plants. The
public perception was that water would flow to the
south on its own. In reality, of course, the water
has to be pumped and that costs more money
than making fresh drinking water from seawater.’
Don’t you get pushed into the role of
preaching a message all the time?
‘I’m not really the preaching type, and I don’t think
that is my role either. That’s the politicians’ job,
and we supply them with the right numbers. I
don’t see that as preaching; it’s more a question
of helping people to make the right decisions.’
And has the general public’s behaviour
changed?
‘Domestic water consumption has fallen
dramatically. People find it normal now to buy
an economical dishwasher, to sweep the streets
rather than hose them down, and to clean the
car in the garden so that the lawn is watered
at the same time. What can be difficult is the
general public’s very short memory. One of our
major challenges continues to be keeping people
properly informed about how the water system
works. Almost half our population didn’t know
what the words
attachment
or
watershed
meant.
That is always a challenge for us.’
What can the world learn from your
experience?
‘Nobody doubts that the challenges facing us this
century will be the climate, and water and food
safety. And that means, above all, the devilish
combination of the three. The good news is that
enormous progress has been made in water
technology. Solving the problems begins with
sound research and a reliable government that
safeguards access to water and food. Australia
has acquired a great deal of experience about how
to encourage sound collaboration in that area.’
DELTARES, SEPTEMBER 2015