Administrative and Legal Aspects of Saline Water Use and Management

Summary

The Senate Select Committee on Water Pollution reporting in 1970, pointed to the lack of effective control, at that time, over the dangers of water pollution throughout Australia. One possible form of administrative structure at the State level, to combat these dangers, is exemplified by the central administration set up by the Environment Protection Act, passed by the Victorian Parliament late in 1970, to cover all aspects of environmental pollution. At the inter-State and Commonwealth-State levels there are special legal and administrative problems to be faced. Control of salinity on the River Murray will depend on a practicable solution to these problems being found. A satisfactory administrative structure to operate at these levels could be built on the experience and advice of central pollution-control administrations, established within the separate States.

Research for this paper was supported in part by the Australian Research Grants Committee and the Australian Water Resources Council.