50 The Future of Water in African Cities
uptake of solutions related to urban water management (Butterworth et al., 2011). To be successful, engagement should ensure that expectations about the process are well framed and understood by all players.
Box 2.5
Public Participation in Allocating Scarce Water: The Eastern Australian Experience In the mid-1990s Australia embarked on a program of water allocation reform, with increased public participation where new initiatives were proposed. Since then, severe drought conditions have prevailed in Eastern Australia for nearly 10 years, with rainfall falling by 30 percent from historic averages in key agricultural regions. Despite these dramatic reductions in water availability, overall agricultural contributions to the economy have been maintained. The pain of losses to farmers has been cushioned through the buy-back program, whereby irrigators in rural areas could sell their water rights and essentially either move out of agriculture or revert to rainfed agriculture. Public acceptance of losses in farm income through the prolonged droughts was achieved in part through credible information communicated effectively to all stakeholders. A Community Reference Panel was the main means of public participation in this process. Capacity building of participants, independent scientific support, and access to data were some of the most critical factors promoting effective public participation. Because the public had the opportunity to participate in and influence decision making in water allocation, some potential legal conflicts were avoided, although recent (2011) developments indicate that underlying conflicts still exist. In response to the proposal by the River Basin Authority of a Basin Plan for the Murray Darling, irrigators have argued that the control and limitation of river flows for consumptive uses and the establishment of environmental flows limit the potential of economic growth for river-dependent industries. On the other hand, the proposed amendments to the Basin Plan by the state of South Australia argue for new environmental and economic models to be used in the calculations for the reduction of consumptive extractions. At the same time, environmentalists claim that the environmental flows are not sufficient to sustain key natural assets and ecosystem functions in the Basin. Public participation can improve decision making, but it is not a panacea. Sources: Martin and Puddy, 2012; Tan, 2006.