Adapting to drought in Australia and California: Creative water transfers in a water-scarce world

Abstract

Both Australia and the semiarid southwestern United States face similar challenges of adapting to an uncertain, drying cli?mate punctuated by persistent severe droughts. The Chaffey brothers were pioneers in the development of water policy and irrigation in Australia, driven by social policies promoting closer settlements. Support for water markets grew to the point that legislation was enacted to allow trading in water entitlements. At the height of the Millennium Drought, with the full impacts of the drought upon them and with few other alternatives, cities in southeastern Australia began to enter the market. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWDSC) added short-and lo..