WATER LAW REFORM IN AUSTRALIA AND SOUTH AFRICA: SUSTAINABILITY, EFFICIENCY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE.

Australia; South Africa

The article focuses on water law reform in Australia and South Africa. Water is not only significant in terms of human use; inland aquatic ecosystems provide invaluable ecosystem `services.' Water quantity and quality are the key indicators of the underlying sustainability of aquatic ecosystems and associated terrestrial components. Water quality and quantity are influenced by complex interactions between water bodies, including surface-groundwater connections. In turn, these factors are influenced by the environmental conditions in the catchments through which water flows. The viability of aquatic ecosystems is fundamental also to maintaining wetlands. Australia and South Africa both have internationally significant wetland areas. Obviously though, human modifications to the natural world impact on the sustainability of all ecosystems. Australia and South Africa both inherited legal systems with water laws developed in response to well-watered European climatic conditions. Thus the common law systems for regulating water use reflected non-indigenous environmental contexts.