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Implementation of Australian Water Laws129indeed some of the 80 obligations in the NationalWater Initiative specifically address some of theseissues, for example, the proposed lexicon of watermanagement terms. With longer involvement inthe reforms, the answers to these questions shouldchange. That is, we would expect the CEO’sresponses to indicate a greater ability to achieveESD. Perceptions of ability to achieve ESD willbe linked to greater perception of transparencyof the process, trust in the state government, andother factors.AcknowledgementsThis work was conducted as part of a projectfor the Cooperative Research Centre IrrigationFutures. It was supported in kind by members of theCooperative Research Centre, especially MatthewDurack, Glen Starkey, John Bourne, Eddie Parr,Peter Smith, John Williams, Tom Vander Wel, andBernadette Zerba. The project was also supportedby the University of South Australia School ofCommerce and benefited from feedback givenby the respondents and also from comments byGeorge Warne (New South Wales), Geoff Parishand Tony Thompson ((South Australia), andthe opportunity to present some of this materialto meetings organized by the Australian Centrefor International Agricultural Research and theAustralian National Committee on Irrigation andDrainage. Other support was made available fromJolyon Burnett, Irrigation Association of Australia,and Stephen Mills, Australian National Committeeon Irrigation and Drainage and Chris Davis ofthe Australian Water Association. The AustralianCentre for International Agricultural Researchalso supported this research through workshopson a current project that was initiated by DonnaBrennan.The project employed Adam Gray, who did agreat job in liaising with many organizations anddrawing the figures. Michael Griffin and FionaPartington checked the typology by reference tothe Annual reports of the water supply businesses.Kirsty Willis co-ordinated the interviewing withgood humor despite this being one of the longest andtechnically challenging surveys in the Ehrenberg-Bass Research Institute experience. Rex Jones andKathryn Pickering provided much support in thefinancial management and other members of theCentre collected articles and checked the results,especially Ganesh Keremane, Anna Hurlimann,Arthur Spassis, and Diwakara Halanaik.Author Bio and Contact InformationJENNIFER MCKAY is a Professor of Business Law at theUniversity of South Australia. Her research interestsconcern water law reform and, in particular, regulatorymodels for the management and allocation of waterbetween competing uses and between competingjurisdictions. Before working in academia and research,Professor McKay worked in major commerciallaw firms in Adelaide and Melbourne. Her areas ofpractice included trade practices, corporations law andenvironmental audits. She has been nominated by theAustralian Branch of the International Law Associationto be a member of the International Law Associationcommittee on International Law on SustainableDevelopment www.ila-hq.org She is a Co-Founder andDirector of the Centre for Comparative Water Policies& Laws. The Centre has international members from 20countries including Sweden, Sri Lanka, Spain, USA,India, Finland and Israel. http://business.unisa.edu.au/commerce/waterpolicylaw/ Professor McKay is akey researcher for the Cooperative Research Centre forIrrigation Futures. This new centre aims to halve wateruse within Australia and define sustainable irrigationareas and practices. www.irrrigationfutures.org.au.Endnotes1.The Murray Darling Basin Agreement 1992 (asamended in 2000) is between the Commonwealthand the four States and aims to .. Promote and coordinateeffective planning and management forthe equitable efficient and sustainable use of water,land and environmental resources of the MurrayDarling Basin.”ReferencesAustralian Local Government Association. 2005.NRM Survey of Local Government 2004-5,Angela Shepherd http://www.alga.asn.au/policy.environment.nrm/survey.Australian Water Resource Assessment. 2000.Surface and Groundwater Availability andQuality, a report of the National Land and WaterResources Audit (Audit).Brandeis (Justice). 1932. New State Ice Co. vLiebmann 285 US 262 AT 311.Broughton, W. ed. 1999. A Century of WaterResources Development in Australia 1990-1999.The Institution of Engineers Australia Sydney.JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY WATER RESEARCH & EDUCATIONUCOWR