Regulating for groundwater-use efficiency: A toolbox approach based on the experiences of three disparate jurisdictions

摘要

Water-use efficiency is critical to ensuring the sustainable use of groundwater resources. To varying degrees, water-use efficiency measures are embedded in groundwater management in the Gnangara Mound (Western Australia), the Namoi Catchment (New South Wales), and in Colorado (United States). Each of these areas is subject to heavy competition for water resources, which arises from the challenges of climate uncertainty, population increases and agricultural water demand. Using case studies of these areas, this article introduces a regulatory toolbox approach to facilitating water-use efficiency to meet these challenges. A toolbox approach is useful because it integrates the use of practical measures that can help achieve water-use efficiency and unites them through their relationship to the end goal of sustainability. However, the effective operation of key toolbox measures can be challenged by ill-defined concepts and implementation inadequacies. This article identifies shortcomings in water resources accounting and anti-speculation measures as specific issues that threaten both regulatory effectiveness for achieving water-use efficiency and their contribution to sustainability of groundwater resources. Because these measures provide a critical foundation for the later incorporation of other water-use efficiency toolbox measures, it is fundamental that they are designed to achieve resource sustainability through water-use efficiency.