In Search of the Elusive Triple Bottom Line: Turbulent Infrastructure Policy at the Sydney Water Board

Searle, GH

In Search of the Elusive Triple Bottom Line: Turbulent Infrastructure Policy at the Sydney Water Board

Searle, GH

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Publisher:: SOAC
Publication Type:: Conference Proceeding
Citation:: State of Australian Cities (SOAC) Conference, 2007, pp. 99 - 109
Issue Date:: 2007-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Searle, GH	en_US
dc.contributor.editor	Hamnett, S	en_US
dc.date	2007-11-28	en_US
dc.date.issued	2007-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	State of Australian Cities (SOAC) Conference, 2007, pp. 99 - 109	en_US
dc.identifier.isbn	978-0-646-48194-4	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/7344
dc.description.abstract	Potential conflicts between economic, social and environmental sustainability can cause turbulence in policy-making within infrastructure authorities as they seek to simultaneously accommodate the three sustainability dimensions. The paper explores this issue through an analysis of recent infrastructure policy in the Sydney water board. After 1988, neo-liberal policies were used to address water pollution problems caused by modernist hydraulic paradigm infrastructure provision. These involved a special remediation levy, higher developer and user charges, and private sector funding of infrastructure, as well as urban consolidation, to simultaneously address economic and environmental sustainability. But the failure to solve water pollution problems, plus national competition policy, led to increased state control over the triple bottom line via corporatisation and accountability to separate pricing, public health and environmental agencies. A public health crisis arising from the failure of a private sector filtration plant resulted in the establishment of a new catchment authority and increased powers for state ministerial and health department intervention. Construction of a new dam was avoided by tapping into a river catchment outside the Sydney region, but with environmental river flow costs. Then a drought-induced water supply crisis caused the government to propose, abandon, and re-propose a desalination plant that would meet its business goal of reliable water supply at purported lower cost and perceived health safety than recycling, but with potentially greater environmental costs than recycling alternatives. Overall, the state s needs to reduce expenditure and meet health standards have generally prevailed over environmental goals, but this has become increasingly contested, with correspondingly increased turbulence in policy outcomes.	en_US
dc.publisher	SOAC	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	State of Australian Cities (SOAC) Conference	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	State of Australian Cities Conference	en_US
dc.title	In Search of the Elusive Triple Bottom Line: Turbulent Infrastructure Policy at the Sydney Water Board	en_US
dc.type	Conference Proceeding
utslib.location	Adelaide, Australia	en_US
utslib.location.activity	Adelaide, Australia	en_US
utslib.for	1202 Building	en_US
utslib.for	1201 Architecture	en_US
dc.location.activity	Adelaide, Australia	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building/School of Built Environment
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.place-of-publication	Adelaide, Australia	en_US
pubs.start-date	2007-11-28	en_US

Abstract:

Potential conflicts between economic, social and environmental sustainability can cause turbulence in policy-making within infrastructure authorities as they seek to simultaneously accommodate the three sustainability dimensions. The paper explores this issue through an analysis of recent infrastructure policy in the Sydney water board. After 1988, neo-liberal policies were used to address water pollution problems caused by modernist hydraulic paradigm infrastructure provision. These involved a special remediation levy, higher developer and user charges, and private sector funding of infrastructure, as well as urban consolidation, to simultaneously address economic and environmental sustainability. But the failure to solve water pollution problems, plus national competition policy, led to increased state control over the triple bottom line via corporatisation and accountability to separate pricing, public health and environmental agencies. A public health crisis arising from the failure of a private sector filtration plant resulted in the establishment of a new catchment authority and increased powers for state ministerial and health department intervention. Construction of a new dam was avoided by tapping into a river catchment outside the Sydney region, but with environmental river flow costs. Then a drought-induced water supply crisis caused the government to propose, abandon, and re-propose a desalination plant that would meet its business goal of reliable water supply at purported lower cost and perceived health safety than recycling, but with potentially greater environmental costs than recycling alternatives. Overall, the state s needs to reduce expenditure and meet health standards have generally prevailed over environmental goals, but this has become increasingly contested, with correspondingly increased turbulence in policy outcomes.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/7344