Broadening Regulatory Concepts and Responses to Cumulative Impacts: Considering the Trajectory and Future of Groundwater Law and Policy

Abstract

The regulation of groundwater extraction has shifted, almost seismically, through Australia’s water reform era, which culminated in the National Water Initiative and the federal Water Act 2007 (Cth). Its starting point was minimal regulation, targeted at controlling selected extractions and pursuing sustainability for consumptive purposes. Since then, groundwater laws have imported regulatory concepts from the surface water sphere; among them, regulating extraction through statutory plans and in a broad-based way, and protecting dependent ecosystems. One issue emerges at the heart of both the history and future of groundwater reform: dealing with the cumulative impacts of extraction. This ar..