Introduction to Australian Water Resources 2005
Australia is the driest inhabited continent in the world; rainfall is extremely
variable and droughts are a common occurrence. With these pressures on the
environment and economy, the Intergovernmental Agreement for a National
Water Initiative was signed by the Australian Government
and all state and territory governments to better manage Australia's scarce
and valuable water resources.
The National Water Commission (the Commission) has a key role in implementing
the requirements of the National Water Commission Act 2004 , and the
Intergovernmental Agreement on a National Water Initiative (NWI). A major activity
to support this framework for water reform is the preparation of Australian
Water Resources 2005 (AWR 2005).
The primary purpose of AWR 2005 is to provide the Commission with a baseline
picture of a range of water management and resource issues from which future
comparisons, and the success of NWI reform processes, can be measured. AWR
2005 aims to define water resource knowledge gaps that are critical to the
success of NWI measures. AWR 2005 is being structured to provide a repeatable
framework and to work towards the establishment of an ongoing water data information
infrastructure: the Australian Water Resources Information System.
The Commission has engaged the services of the Water Resources Observation
Network (WRON) Alliance to develop AWR 2005. The WRON Alliance members involved
in AWR 2005 include Sinclair Knight Merz (Project Manager), CSIRO, Bureau of
Rural Sciences, Australian Bureau of Statistics, eWater Co-operative Research
Centre, and National Land and Water Resources Audit.
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