Australian urban water utilities face a significant challenge in designing appropriate demand management and supply augmentation policies in the presence of significant water scarcity and climate variability. This article considers the design of optimal demand management and supply augmentation policies for urban water. In particular, scarcity pricing is considered as a potential alternative to the predominant demand management policy of water restrictions. A stochastic dynamic programming model of an urban water market is developed based on data from the ACT region. Given a specification of the demand and supply for urban water state dependent optimal price and investment policies are estimated. The results illustrate how the optimal urban water price varies inversely with the prevailing storage level and how the optimal timing of investment differs significantly between rain dependent and rain independent augmentation options.

Mixtures of alumina and silica react with SiF, above 600°C to form fluorotopaz. Pyrolysis of fluorotopaz gives a stoichiometric yield of interlocked whiskers of mullite and SiF,, which is recovered for reuse. The diameter of whiskers (aspect ratio -15) can be controlled from a maximum of -100 pm to less than 1 pm.

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On-farm irrigation infrastructure programs have become an important method of recovering water for the environment in the Australian Murray-Darling Basin (MDB). These programs offer farmers funding to upgrade infrastructure in return for a portion of their water rights. This study measures the effects of Australian Government on-farm infrastructure programs in the southern MDB between 2009-2010 and 2016-2017, particularly the On-Farm Irrigation Efficiency Program. A novel dataset is constructed combining program administrative data with farm survey data. This data is used to derive econometric estimates on the effects of these programs on various measures of farm productivity, profitability and water demand. On-farm programs are found to have positive effects for participants in terms of higher farm productivity and profitability. However, the study also finds a Jevon's paradox outcome, where farm demand for water is significantly higher post-upgrade.

Like many of the world's major river systems, Australia's southern Murray-Darling Basin (sMDB) faces significant water scarcity and environmental problems (

Recent shifts in the Australian climate including both higher temperatures and lower winter rainfall have had significant effects on the agriculture sector. Despite these recent trends, there remains uncertainty over the future climate and its potential impacts on Australian farm businesses. In this study, a statistical model of Australian cropping and livestock farms is combined with downscaled temperature and rainfall projections for 2050, to simulate the effects of climate change on farm profits. These future projections are compared against both a historical reference climate (1950 to 2000) and recent conditions (2001 to 2020). The results provide an indication of ‘adaptation pressure’: showing which regions, sectors and farm types may be under greater pressure to adapt or adjust to climate change. Future scenarios produce a wide range of outcomes, with simulated change in average farm profits (without any long-run adaptation or technological advance) ranging from −2 to -32% under RCP4.5 and −11 to −50% under RCP8.5, compared with a decline of 22.3% under observed post-2000 conditions (all relative to 1950 to 2000 climate). In contrast with the recent observed changes, projections show relatively moderate effects in south-eastern Australia, but relatively stronger effects for livestock farms in northern Australia.

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