User-pays water
By Kristy Koglin
ADELAIDE -- The pressure to privatise any form of consumption has brought into question the free supply of water. The drought and declining water quality have also brought into question water management.
One proposal is for rural users to have allocated amounts of water that can be used or bought or sold as needed. In times of severe water shortages there is a need for rationing, but an ongoing system of water quotas in the midst of economic and environmental catastrophes on the land would only accentuate these problems.
It seems South Australia's water will now cost users. The Liberal State Government has adopted plans to have users pay for all their water, instead of just their excess.
At the moment South Australians pay $30 a quarter as a supply charge and have a standard free allowance of 136 kilolitres. Any water beyond that costs 88c/kL. The opposition has stated that the new system would cause the $30 supply charge to increase and that home owners would pay $120 for each 136kL of water used.
Liberal Premier Dean Brown told Parliament that while the Audit Commission recommendation had been adopted, no proposals had been put to Cabinet. The changes would be “taken up for the next financial year”. Prices are expected to rise by approximately 10%.
The new charging system was announced at the same time as environment and natural resources minister David Wotton released a discussion paper which finally acknowledges a “dramatic deterioration in the quality of SA's water”.
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