Good water management is at the heart of a resilient and sustainable future for the Granite Belt

Water is a key socioeconomic driver of sustainable growth, livelihood, justice, food security and labour. Water availability is a global challenge and one that the Granite Belt community understand all too well.

Water, food, and energy are at the heart of sustainable development. Agriculture is the largest consumer of the world’s freshwater resources as it is on the Granite Belt. However, a changing climate, population growth and new emerging economic activities are rapidly impacting on demands for our region’s limited water resources.

The way in which water is valued affects the way in which governments, businesses and the public use, conserve and manage it. Valuing water and water valuation are not the same thing. The oversimplification of water valuation in Australia is at the core of its misallocation across the nation. Valuing water should not be limited to economic values alone. Valuing water must also be about its use, protection, and socially equitable allocation when it is scarce and the needs of the environment.

Our region needs to engage in a respectful and informed discussion on the matter of water that includes all water dependent users, and address sustainable water security for the environment, the needs of the urban community and an emerging and diversified vibrant future economy. It must embrace contemporary science, emerging trends and technologies and management skills.

To withstand future pressures, water managers must balance the needs of people, nature, and the economy. This requires our whole community to recognise and embrace the multiple values attaching to water and to protect our water sources, educate and empower users for sustainable water use and finally to invest and innovate.

In the past month, representatives of GBSAN participated with other leaders in the Queensland water management community, in a full day workshop titled “Future issues that water management needs to include”. Climate change, food security, increasing urbanisation, population growth, a rising demands for water being driven by new energy sources and shifting community values will demand an informed and enlightened approach to water management. These are exactly the issues our community needs to grapple with if we are to have a vibrant future.

From the Sustainability Matters column in Stanthorpe Today, March 2023.