Till the Well Runs Dry? Controlling Groundwater Extraction in Victoria, Australia, and California, USA

How can regulatory mechanisms establish and implement controls on groundwater depletion?  This study contrasts the regulatory experience of California, USA with that of Victoria, Australia in preventing and responding to groundwater depletion by controlling groundwater extraction.  California and Victoria share a Mediterranean climate, concerns about how climate change will affect water availability, increasing groundwater use, and common roots in relation to water law.  Groundwater regulation is a live political and legal issue in both jurisdictions.  In the face of ongoing debates about groundwater regulation in both jurisdictions, this study analyzes empirically how key groundwater control mechanisms are presently established and implemented, for example management plans for “groundwater supply protection areas” in Victoria, and AB 3030 groundwater management plans in California. 

A two-step analytical method is used, informed by key tenets of modern water resources management, such as adaptive management and integrated water resource management.  First, content analysis is carried out for the relevant regulatory mechanisms in Victoria and California, coding elements of the documents relating to: (a) physical context; (b) objectives of the control measure; (c) stakeholder engagement; (d) the information used to determine the control measure and monitor its effects; (e) the type of control applied (fee-based; absolute or average volume limit; restrictions on marketing; restrictions on new wells, etc); (f) enforcement of the control; and (g) review of the control.  Second, interviews with key stakeholders are carried out in relation to a smaller number of control measures in place in particular areas, which are selected to represent key patterns revealed by the content analysis.  This two-step research method will show empirically how groundwater extraction is presently regulated in two regions suffering from water stress, thereby seeking to inform ongoing debates over groundwater policy and legal reform.