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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3443 ..

allocations or entitlements. In the past this was not recognised as a problem as there has been little difficulty in meeting demand for water from available supplies, particularly in times when subsidies for dam building were readily available.

Of particular relevance in this context are the following factors:

. first, direct extraction by private individuals, businesses and organisations from ACT waterways and groundwater has been increasing rapidly in recent years;

. secondly, there is an increasing need to ensure that appropriate environmental flows are maintained in ACT waterways;

. thirdly, as direct extraction increases there is an increasing risk of conflict arising between neighbours over access to available water resources;

. fourth, a mechanism is needed by which significant water using businesses can secure the necessary water resources without compromising environmental requirements; and

. finally, the ACT's water resources are a finite and valuable resource, the use of which has environmental costs. There is, therefore, a need to ensure that environmental impacts are limited and that the community receives a fair return on the use of their water resources.

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