An Historical Introduction to Water Reform in NSW - 1975 to 1994

It is notorious that in NSW there is, generally, not enough water to satisfy every person's expectations. To address this, reform of the management of water resources in the State started in the mid-1970s. The Water Resources Commission adopted several administrative mechanisms to deal with the problem of the over-allocation of water. In 1984 the problems regarding the administration of the State's water resources prompted an audit of water agencies. More reforms followed. Then a decade later when the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) decided to embark on efficient and sustainable reform of the water industry, NSW was drawn into further efforts, which culminated in the enactment of the Water Management Act 2000. This article considers changes made in the important period of reform before the COAG amendments. It starts by explaining the historical patterns of water management, and briefly describes the legislative framework governing water management in the 1970s. The article sets out, in chronological order, important specific mechanisms that were adopted in this period. It studies litigation that arose from the reform measures and concludes with an analysis of the reform