Evolution of the societal value of water resources for economic development versus environmental sustainability in Australia from 1843 to 2011

Abstract

Societal values are generally seen as leading to changes in human decisions and behavior, but have not been addressed adequately in current water management, which is blind to changes in the social drivers for, or societal responses to, management decisions. This paper describes the evolution of the societal value of water resources in Australia over a period of 169 years. These values were classified into two groups: those supporting economic development versus those supporting environmental sustainability. The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper was used as the main data source to track the changes in the societal value of water resources. Content analysis was used to create a description of t..