Indigenous water management
Governments across Australia are in the early stages of formally recognising Indigenous relationships with water for spiritual, cultural and economic purposes.
In signing the National Water Initiative all state and territories have committed to:
- include Indigenous representation in water planning
- incorporate Indigenous social, spiritual and customary objectives and strategies
- take account of the possible existence of native title rights to water.
As a result, Australia's governments are reassessing the way they provide for Indigenous access to water through policy, legislation and programs.
National Water Commission support
Through its Raising National Water Standards Program investments, the Commission has sought to enhance the opportunities for Indigenous communities to participate in water planning and management activities in northern Australia, as a pilot for the whole country.
- The establishment of the Indigenous Community Water Facilitators Network is advancing Indigenous engagement in the research and management of tropical rivers, water use and conservation across northern Australia.
- We also support the Indigenous Water Policy Group convened by the Northern Australian Land and Sea Management Alliance.
- Explicit inclusion of Indigenous interests in water plans is rare. To address this the Commission is providing $200,000 to hold an Indigenous Water Planning Forum which will bring together Indigenous people and jurisdictional water planners to identify and document good examples of Indigenous engagement in water planning processes.
- Other projects are funding a national risk assessment of water services in remote Indigenous communities to improve drinking water management. Guidelines and best practice documentation on potable water services will address existing poor quality water supplies in many remote communities.
- Funding of $5 million is enhancing knowledge and understanding of river ecology and water-dependent ecosystems, including access to traditional knowledge in Australia's north through the Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK) research hub. This work will underpin water planning in the north for both surface water and groundwater systems and support Indigenous engagement in water planning and allocation systems.