Water is a shared resource
and management of shared resources has a basic problem, the lack
of a market mechanism to signal water scarcity. In a free market,
scarcity is normally communicated by rising prices. As the cost
increases, resources are treated with increasing respect and are
conserved wherever possible. Markets do not function, however,
unless there are clear property rights in the resources to be
exchanged. This is easier to do for land than for water, because
parcels of land can be readily identified and stay in place. As
a result, land markets are common in many countries. When land
is sold, landowners reap the benefits of good land management
in higher prices or pay the penalty of bad management in lower
prices. In this way, markets signal land scarcity and give farmers
the incentive to adopt land-conserving technologies.
Water, however, is
a transient resource. As it moves, the same water can be used
again and again, with none of the individuals having exclusive
rights to it. Since ownership means exclusive use, water markets
are poorly developed. Most irrigation water in New Zealand, for
example, was obtained with public subsidies. When farmers paid
for it at all, it was usually much less than the value of the
water measured by its scarcity.
Farmers had, therefore,
little incentive to adopt water-saving technologies because these
were often more expensive to install than the amount of money
the farmer might save by conserving water. Water subsidies are
considered traditional rights. Making people pay an unsubsidised
price for water use would be highly unpopular. The challenge to
the community is to design water use policies that have the needed
signal of water scarcity without provoking conflict.
Water use and quality
is regulated by a number of government agencies, local councils
and, more recently, by corporations such as Watercare Services
in Auckland. All these groups have differing views of water quality
and water use. Watersheds, for example, may involve forestry,
mining, agriculture, power generation, road building, parks, conservation,
and water distribution agencies.
New Zealand has integrated
these many diverging interests with the Resource Management Act
of 1991. New Zealand is also experimenting with the idea of tradable
water rights for farmers and industries to establish market indicators
for scarcity. In most cities, water is now metered and consumers
pay by the litre for their water use.
People wishing to take
water out of streams, rivers or aquifers or discharge wastes into
waterways, must apply for permits and comply with certain standards
in accordance with the Resource Management Act.
New Zealand has numerous
scientific bodies that assist in monitoring water quality. The
New Zealand National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research
(NIWAR) monitors 77 sites and publishes information on flow, water
temperature, dissolved oxygen, clarity, pH, turbidity, conductivity,
biochemical oxygen demand, and trace elements (Statistics New
Zealand 1993).
The Councils and companies
that supply water and treat waste water have water quality testing
laboratories that conduct continual testing of water quality being
provided to the community and of the effluent from sewage treatment
facilities. They also monitor supplies, pumping rates, reservoir
levels, and a variety of other parameters to keep the water supply
safe.
Despite all the research,
hard data over a number of years is unavailable on the vast majority
of New Zealand waterways. There has been, for example, very little
testing of water samples for toxic substances such as agricultural
chemicals.
The Ministry for the
Environment is developing water quality standards and monitoring
procedures that can be used by local communities to evaluate the
health of rivers and lakes. These will be important contributions
to the Agenda 21 process of empowering local peoples to safeguard
their own water supplies and the health of inland waters.
