Water

There has been a significant investment over a number of years to ensure that sustainable water management and development is underpinned by accurate and readily available water information. This information is of great value in helping to predict and manage the impacts of climate change on future water availability.

Three bulk water authorities Hobart Water, Esk Water and Cradle Coast Water supply 75% of the population with fully treated water. In the irrigation sector, the majority of water is sourced from unregulated watercourses and a water licence under the Water Management Act 1999 is required. In addition to this unregulated water, water is supplied via regulated irrigation schemes. The State Government owned irrigation schemes administered by the Rivers and Water Supply Commission are:

• the River Clyde Irrigation Scheme
• the South-east District Irrigation Scheme
• the Meander Valley Irrigation Scheme.

Other irrigation schemes managed by private land owners are:

• the Cressy-Longford Scheme
• the Winnaleah Irrigation Scheme.

Hydro Tasmania also releases bulk water for irrigation and other downstream users under agreements or specific legislation.

All of the Water Authorities have some spare capacity in supply although the existing infrastructure is not always capable of meeting peak summer demands. Some of the non-metropolitan areas experience water restrictions during the summer months owing to low flows in water supply streams, as well as boil water alerts. A major issue for Tasmania is that the urban water supply schemes are highly dispersed and managed and funded by local councils; therefore there is little opportunity for economies of scale in infrastructure planning and provision of technical expertise.

Currently the supply of water industry services, including bulk water supply, reticulation and wastewater treatment and disposal, is the responsibility of the bulk water authorities and local councils. Local government is responsible for all town sewerage schemes including sewage and wastewater management. A number of industrial and commercial users pump waste directly into council sewerage systems.

As a result of State and Local Government reforms, it is anticipated that from 1 July 2009 these services will be provided by three local government-owned regional corporations in the northern, north-western and southern areas of the State. A fourth common services corporation will also provide shared services to the new regional corporations.

The legislative framework for these new corporations has been specified in the Water and Sewerage Corporations Act 2008 (Corporations Act). New regulatory arrangements are also contained separately in the Water and Sewerage Industry Act 2008 (Industry Act) and will be the joint responsibility of the Treasurer and the Minister for Primary Industries and Water.

Further information on the structural and regulatory reform of the State's water and sewerage sector can be obtained from the 'Water and Sewerage Infrastructure Review' section of the Treasury website.