ABSTRACT

As populations grow, and the climate changes, there is a higher total demand for water supply, with water footprints reaching far into food production and manufacturing processes (Hoekstra and Mekonnen 2012). As a result many developing and developed countries are subject to water shortages implying that the supply of water, often seen as a right and taken for granted, is becoming increasingly important. For example in Australia there has been a propensity to drought over the past decade that has resulted in crises for water supply and farming. Access to water may not require waterside development but ownership of rights to extract water from different sources is becoming a rural and urban planning and governance issue.