ABSTRACT
Rapid urbanization and growing populations have increased pressure on urban water resources and current climate change predictions have reduced the certainty of traditional supply sources. ese have caused a shi in the traditional urban water management regime characterized as being centralized and largely reliant on an engineering approach [32] toward a more sustainable regime that emphasizes the use of new technologies and strategies to increase self-suciency by using water sourced from within cities [39]. is means that urban water management now includes services such as water harvesting, water manufacturing, storage, treatment and distribution, and, at times, ood mitigation [36]. However, the integration of these new sources into the urban water supply mix and the successful implementation of new approaches to urban water management is a multifaceted challenge requiring input beyond the merely technical [22]. Instead, it involves a wide range of actors with varying roles and responsibilities at dierent levels of administration, generating overlapping concerns among the public agencies managing the resource [24,26]. Some say that it is a political question and calls for new institutions and organizations to manage this complexity and to consider future generations [28]. With this background, the goal of this chapter is to examine ownership issues within current urban water management regimes in Australia. In this regard, we focus on one state, South Australia, where the government is supportive of, and engaged in, transitioning South Australia toward becoming a water-sensitive state, and particularly Adelaide into becoming a water-sensitive city [11]. e state already leads the country in a number of key urban water areas, such as treated wastewater reuse, and stormwater harvesting and reuse, and therefore provides opportunities to explore the practical and theoretical resilience of current urban water governance regimes, and to make suggestions for strategies to achieve enhanced governance regimes. e data used in our case study are based on a mail-out survey of the residents of Salisbury City Council, which is renowned worldwide for its water recycling solutions, and for showcasing best practice urban water management.
