Does anybody like water restrictions? Some observations in Australian urban communities*

Abstract

Mandatory water restrictions continue to be the immediate response to urban water shortages in most major cities in southern Australia. Whilst generally rejected by economists on efficiency grounds, restrictions and the enforcement regimes used to invoke them are, nonetheless, viewed by some in the community as a positive way of dealing with water scarcity. Given the likelihood that urban water restrictions will persist for some time, there is value in understanding householders' attitudes in this context. The impact and acceptability of differing approaches to enforcement is of particular interest, because this has wider ramifications for the administration of policy generally. This paper uses the results from a choice experiment to investigate the interplay between different components of a water restriction regime. In stark contrast to prevailing views that focus on the community benefits from 'sharing the pain of water shortages', results point to the significance of being able to inform on ones neighbours as a component of the enforcement regimes.

The value of water quality improvements in the region Berlin–Brandenburg as a function of distance and state residency

“…We assume normal distributions for the non-monetary attributes but maintain a fixed cost attribute 139 to alleviate problems with taking the ratio of two random parameters [21]. However, the coefficient 140 varies across the two groups of respondents, i.e., inhabitants of BE or BB.…”

Willingness to Pay to Avoid Water Restrictions in Australia Under a Changing Climate

“…Firstly, during the period of the millennium drought there was extensive political pressure directed at households, particularly in metropolitan cities, to adopt and comply with urban water restrictions. It was common for politicians and the media to portray restrictions as a moral duty and to appeal to metropolitan residents to 'share the burden' of rural districts and irrigation communities by restricting their water usage (Cooper et al 2012). Extensive investment in media campaigns, accompanied this approach.…”

“…Accordingly, the social stigma associated with not complying with water restrictions in the metropolitan cities, particularly Melbourne, became prominent, with numerous instances of social punishment, such as threats, vandalism and violence, occurring if individuals failed to comply with water restrictions (Australian Broadcasting Corporation 2008). Formal enforcement was also prominent in the major cities taking the form of water inspectors patrolling residential areas with the capacity to issue fines for non-compliance (Cooper et al 2012). This was particularly the case in NSW and Sydney in particular.…”

Restoring the balance: Water reform & the Murray-Darling Basin plan

“…While substantial work on climate change impacts on: future conjunctive water resources in the MDB Pittock 2003), the environment (Roshier et al 2001); the need for producer adaptation and adoption responses Goesch et al 2009;Marangos & Williams 2005); the threats to urban communities (Buikstra et al 2010;Cooper, Rose & Crase 2012); estimations of catchment (Connor et al 2009) and MDB wide economic impacts (Beare & Heaney 2002;Jiang & Grafton 2012), threats to existing MDB water sharing rules and water trade (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Loch et al 2012); the impact climate change will have on the Basin Plan (Connell & Grafton 2011;Grafton & Jiang 2010); and the economic benefits for the MDB from mitigating carbon emissions (Garnaut 2008;Quiggin et al 2010;The Treasury 2008) exists, no substantial work exists in examining the impacts climate change will have on the alternative proposed approaches to obtaining water for the environment and the economic consequences of failing to take climate change into account for environmental targets, urban users or irrigator's sunk investments.…”

“…Drought events exposed that this lack of water security increased the competition and conflict for water resources between all water users (Cooper, Rose & Crase 2012). The notable droughts of the establishment stage included: a series of dry years in the 1890s; the Federation Drought (1901-02); and again in 1912 (Loch, Wheeler & Adamson 2014).…”