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Around the world, producers across a variety of industries need tools and models for better measuring and monitoring water in order to guide decision making and improve productivity. Nowhere more is this the case than in irrigated agriculture. The purpose of this research is to develop a technology that integrates farmer costing data with on-site physical data provided by intelligent systems and technology to provide an account of on-farm water use. Currently, farm accounting technologies are not at the level of sophistication required to deeply consider the financial impacts of water use or loss. Water accounting technologies are not able to easily link to and integrate business systems and data to provide necessary monetary decision-making data, nor the context to support a smarter approach to cost-informed water management. Linking of soil moisture sensed data and local and remote weather station data to farm accounting in a potatoes case study demonstrates how smarter farm decision making can be supported by linking business systems and sensing technology.

Purpose There are increasing demands on professional accountants in practice to generate water accounts for clients using knowledge from other disciplines within and outside their firms. Whilst many professional service firms have a broad range of in-house and consulting expertise, professional groups within and between these organisations may not be generating and sharing the knowledge required for successful water accounting. The purpose of this paper is to explore how additional disciplinary skills for water volumetric measurement, understanding of licensing and allocations can effectively and efficiently be shared between the disciplines required to be involved. Design/methodology/approach Two cross-sectional semi-structured surveys developed using a social network lens were disseminated to Australian accountants operating in professional services firms, and the results were descriptively analysed. Findings The authors find that, whilst accounting and engineering are acknowledged as core disciplines for water accounting, there is a need for more standardised measures and frameworks across diverse scales to fit in with current reporting practices and meet stakeholder needs. These need to be nested in a water accounting regulatory model that includes the accountancy professional bodies as a platform for knowledge generation and sharing. Originality/value The paper provides evidence of perceived barriers to and pathways for interdisciplinary knowledge networks for a new type of accounting. It demonstrates how regulatory frameworks can potentially assist rather than impede accountants in their contribution to solving of complex corporate sustainability problems.

Water stress is increasing around the world. Nearly all countries around the world project increasing water risks due to climate change, with extreme events (floods and/or droughts) cited as a primary concern for regional catchments. Healthy catchments provide water for people and food production, mitigate flood sand droughts, recharge groundwater supplies and provide for aquatic ecosystems. However, around the world poorly managed farm dams contribute to unhealthy catchments and in turn the detriment of regional communities. Due to the nature of the Constitution, there has been a fragmented institutional response to the problem in Australia. Agricultural water interception activities, such as the capture and storage of surface water,are being monitored in individual ways across the country. Climate change induced drought can encourage water ‘hoarding’; various policy mechanisms that can sometimes allow for such behaviours results in significantly diminished stream flows, increasing the vulnerability of regional businesses and communities to the effects of drought. Furthermore, behaviours that allow for unfair water sharing in drought, such as water hoarding, also create unsafe water storage infrastructure (ie farm dams) that harbour considerable risk of damage and disaster downstream in times of intense rainfall. Where states like Tasmania and Victoria have taken an integrated approach to farm dam safety and fair sharing from farm dams, other states such as New South Wales and Queensland do not link the problems of water storage safety and equity and do not integrate policy. South Australia whilst working extensively to endeavour to protect catchments with water allocations and planning, has a gap in safe dam management policy. Often farmers can be uncertain as to what the requirements are, where their dams place amongs tthe competing pressures on resources and what, if anything, they can do to make sure that dams are managed sustainably and safely around them. This report presents the results of three phases of research that develops and tests a Water Equity Typology (WET) Model for South Australia. Through key expert advice and in-depth farmer surveys it was possible to gain improved understanding of the threats of unsustainable and unsafe water storage/sharing, including the increasing impacts from climate change, a lack of alignment of some elements of policy with farm business goals and the enhanced risk to farmers that they will fail to be competitive in a region. Results indicate that farmers are capable of adapting quickly to new water storage demands and can improve regional water sharing and contribute toward greater water security for their communities. This may be supported by alternative policy elements such as education initiatives, funding mechanisms and technology support from government.

Purpose – This paper explores the role of accountants as part of the necessary infrastructure in rural community development providing specialised knowledge and skills to business owners who may lack the expertise required to ensure successful business operations. Design/methodology/approach – Perceptions of seven rural development officers from separate Rural Development Boards and two local governments in South Australia are canvassed through a set of interviews. Findings – Findings challenge the notion that use of modern communication technology, which allows for accountants and their accountancy practices to be located anywhere in the world, is sufficient to fulfil their role in rural communities. Instead, a critical dual role for accountants is identified which includes a community development function. Research limitations/implications – The research is limited by the geographic area from which the participants were selected. While this controlled for any possible jurisdictional differences between states in Australia, the participants targeted comprise only a relatively small group. Originality/value – The paper identifies an important role for accountants in rural communities hitherto unidentified. Accountant contributions to rural development and the sustainability of rural communities is highlighted.

The safety of medium- and large-scale dams is addressed in many countries, but limited attention is paid to problems associated with smaller farm dams, particularly potential cumulative threats posed in larger catchments. Farmers in Australia often overlook the common law obligation to review and design dams in line with current standards. The result is downstream communities, property and environment placed at risk. This paper demonstrates the significance of this problem with case studies undertaken in policy-absent South Australia, policy-driven Victoria and policy-strong New South Wales, including empirical evidence on attitudes and responses of landholders and key policy actors. This demonstrates need for supervision of small dams. Tasmania is included as a case study as it represents a policy-model state on how this can be best achieved in line with international best-practice. The four cases provide useful comparative lessons. Policy guidelines applicable to any jurisdiction are included; their application is illustrated with the case studies. The paper considers the policy implications of these lessons for Australia in particular and the world in general. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

A number of horrific failures of both public and privately owned dams in recent decades has triggered serious concern over the safety of dams throughout the world. However, in Australia, although much Government attention is being devoted to the medium- to large-scale dams, minimal attention is being paid to the serious potential cumulative, catchment-wide problems associated with smaller private dams. The paper determines how to consider addressing hazardous private dam safety issues generally through a comparative analysis of international dam safety policy/law systems. The analysis has identified elements of best and minimum practice that can and do exist successfully to provide deserved assurance to the community of the proper safety management of hazardous private dams at both the individual and cumulative, catchment-wide levels. These elements provide benchmarks that enable ‘appropriate’ legislative arrangements to be determined for different jurisdictional circumstances as illustrated with an Australian policy-deficient case study. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Small dam failures can be catastrophic. Small rural catchment dams pose failure threats at individual and cumulative levels and both must be accounted for during design of dams to minimise the flood risks to downstream communities and the environment. This chapter aims to address this need for an engineering/accounting tool through conceptual development of a cost-effective farm dam flood safety tool and its link to an international best practice dam safety assurance policy model. The tool’s development process involves generating catchment data representing “hydrologically homogenous” regions using complex best-practice dams/flood engineering, to derive simple regionalised flood capability prediction relationships of reliable accuracy. Preliminary development in the Australian State of Tasmania has enabled testing of the tool’s transferability to a wide range of hydrology-variant regions. Results demonstrate the tool’s successful transferability to different regions; how the prediction relationships would be refined by future research; and how the tool can link to Tasmania’s international best practice dam safety policy which includes “farmer friendly” elements. Overall the chapter shows how governments can provide adequate yet cost-effective dam safety accountability and assurance policy to ensure that individual potentially hazardous dams are kept safe and cumulative safety threats posed by rural catchment dams are minimised. Developing the tool in Tasmania, with its wide variety of regions, illuminates the potential for transferability of the development process to other regions worldwide

The paper argues for the integration of engineering and accounting professionals through a transdisciplinary approach to on-farm water issues associated with farm dams. An integrated macro and micro solution is put forward in the context of poor farmer behaviour as spillways are blocked to pursue individual aims at the expense of other stakeholders, including downstream communities and the environment. Integrated engineering accounting is proposed as a solution through transdisciplinary thinking Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The safety of catchment basins is threatened because of the potential and severe consequences of private on-farm dam failure. Such failure follows inadequate development and implementation of accountability and assurance policy in relation to water storage, a consideration which resources and land use policy planning must take into account if lives, private property, public infrastructure and the environment downstream are to be saved. Thus, this paper aims to explore the interrelated policy issues associated with improving safety of farm dam water storage structures to mitigate individual and cumulative dam failure threats. The paper provides insights into the design of best-practice resources and land use pol- icy for the Australian setting based on contemporary international best practice in private dam safety accountability and assurance policy. A strategic literature review identifies international dam safety policy benchmarks from minimum to best practice. Practical application of the benchmarked policy is then undertaken through case studies in two contrasting Australian states, Tasmania and South Australia, which literature suggests represent a leader and laggard in terms of best international policy practice. Whilst Tasmania provides leadership and best practice in comparison with international policy benchmarks, the paper reports data from a 15-year longitudinal case study which confirms that South Australia lags and demonstrably would benefit from application of the policy guidelines developed. The case study on appropriate dam safety management accountability and assurance policy development for catchments in two strongly contrasting state jurisdictions in Australia is novel, as are the recommendations developed for how resources and land use policy can best address cumulative threats from smaller dams in catchments. The case study and recommendations can assist similar jurisdictions world-wide to address the threats associated with farm dams in catchments. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

We examine safety data pertaining to ten dams in Vietnam and we conduct interviews with stakeholders to determine their perceptions of the adequacy of dam safety policy. All ten dams in our study were rated as ‘high’ hazard and face a high risk of failure due to both physical and management inadequacies. The responsibility and accountability for dam safety has been poorly implemented, leading to low levels of assurance for the communities affected. The evidence suggests that policies pertaining to dam safety accountability and assurance in Vietnam do not yet satisfy international benchmarks. The established policy benchmarks and their key elements provide guidance on both aspirational and essential policy reform in Vietnam; the minimum practice benchmark representing a baseline expectation for developing countries. The original contribution of the paper is two-fold: (i) we assess for the first time the adequacy of dam safety policy and practices in Vietnam and (ii) our process of assessment can be replicated in other similar developing countries for testing the adequacy of dam safety policy against international standards and for identifying any necessary policy reforms. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Small dam safety is generally being ignored. The potential for dam failure resulting in catastrophic consequences for downstream communities, property, and the environment, warrants exploration of the threats and policy issues associated with the management of small/farm dams. The paper achieves this through a comparative analysis of differing levels of dam safety assurance policy: absent, driven, strong, and model. A strategic review is undertaken to establish international dam safety policy benchmarks and to identify a best practice model. A cost-effective engineering/accounting tool is presented to assist the policy selection process and complement the best practice model. The paper then demonstrates the significance of the small-dam safety problem with a case study of four Australian States,policy-absent South Australia, policy-driven Victoria, policy-strong New South Wales, and policy-modelTasmania. Surveys of farmer behavior practices provide empirical evidence of the importance of policy and its proper implementation. Both individual and cumulative farm dam failure threats are addressed and, with supporting empirical evidence, the need for "appropriate" supervision of small dams is demonstrated. The paper adds to the existing international dam policy literature by identifying acceptable minimum level practice in private/farm dam safety assurance policy as well as updated international best practice policy guidelines while providing case study demonstration of how to apply the guidelines and empirical reinforcement of the need for "appropriate" policy. The policy guidelines, cost-effective technology, and comparative lessons presented can assist any jurisdiction to determine and implement appropriate dam safety policy. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Generally, the world’s largest dams have been erected and managed by governments, while individual owners have been responsible for private dams. Both kinds of dams have experienced technical failures that have resulted in tragic losses of life as well as disastrous damage to property and environment, and this has generated serious concerns regarding dams’ safety worldwide. In Australia, despite the fact that attention has been focused on the physical and technical integrity of medium- to largescale dams, the smaller private dams have been virtually ignored with regard to their serious potential and actual problems. Specifically, private dams pose threats to downstream communities and environment in larger catchments due to these dams having potential cumulative safety dangers. This paper establishes the significance of this problem. The main issues and concerns surrounding the (lack of) implementation of private dam safety assurance and environmental protection laws have been identified and illustrated with Australian case studies. An international comparative review of private dam safety assurance policies, laws, and management practices has been conducted in order to provide a basis for addressing these issues. The practices analyzed comprise Australia (including New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania), the United States (including Michigan and Washington), Canada (including Alberta), the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Finland. The review/analysis has identified benchmarks for and elements of “best” and “minimum” practice that can and do exist successfully to control the safety management of private dams and minimize both individual and cumulative dam safety threats within catchments. These elements have led to the development of models of “best” and “minimum” practice and guidelines for selecting “appropriate” practice suitable for varying jurisdictional circumstances; their application is illustrated with an Australian case study. The models and associated comparative guidance provided here enable appropriate law and policy arrangements for private dam safety assurance to be determined and/or checked for any jurisdiction worldwide. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Farmers in Australia often overlook their Common Law responsibility to maintain dams and the downstream community is threatened if dam failure becomes possible. The seriousness of this problem has been demonstrated by past research regarding spillway capabilities. This paper adds to previous research by providing illustrative and comparative evidence on a broader range of private dam safety management practices, issues and threats based on case studies over a 12-year period in South Australia. An historic case study of inadequate and complacent policy responses to these threats is included. The paper shows that relying only on landholders’ Common Law duty to maintain dams does not provide adequate accountability and assurance for dam safety. Governments must adequately protect the community from unacceptable dam safety management practices. Guidance on how to do this is provided based on international best practice and key-actor feedback on the Tasmanian “model” approach. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Dam safety is a significant issue being taken seriously worldwide. However, in Australia, although much attention is being devoted to the medium- to large-scale dams, minimal attention is being paid to the serious potential problems associated with smaller dams, particularly the potential cumulative safety threats they pose in catchments. This paper establishes the significance of this problem and reviews various Australian policies, including consideration of evidence from past research, to identify the potentially more effective policies with respect to smaller dams/cumulative safety assurance. New ‘case studies’ research that recently tested the effectiveness and coverage of the “strong” dam-safety policy of New South Wales (NSW) is then reported. The case studies comprised 2 samples of 10 hazardous private reservoirs investigated for spillway adequacy in line with state-of-the-art practice: one sample comprised dams supervised under the NSW policy, while the other sample comprised only non-supervised dams. The case studies show the potential effectiveness of strong policy, but also the importance of registering all dams and the need for some form of supervision of even small dams due to either their individual or cumulative hazard potential. The State of Tasmania provides a ‘model’ on how this can be best achieved in line with international best-practice, and this recently became the focus of a comprehensive study. This study involved strategic consideration and assessment of policy responses to the varying issues associated with small-dam safety and practical feedback from key policy actors. The results of this study are also reported here to provide guidance to any other jurisdiction world-wide needing to manage numerous small dams posing cumulative safety threats in catchments.

Issues concerning dam safety and equitable sharing of catchment run-off are receiving more attention throughout the world. This paper assesses these matters in the context of Australia, and the need for policy responses. Landholders often overlook the common law obligation to review/design dams to current standards because of high costs, leaving them vulnerable to litigation if their dam fails. The paper reports on an innovative spillway design/review procedure, applicable to southeast Australia, but transferable to any region worldwide. Dam safety policy models and guidelines derived from international best practice are linked to the procedure and intended to aid government decision-making. The procedure minimises costs to landholders and provides an acceptable level of safety assurance to downstream communities. Also discussed are recent surveys testing community attitudes to the procedure and implemented dam safety and water allocation policies. These further guide any government wanting to implement this'integrated engineering and community partnerships'approach to preventing potential disasters due to private dam failure and achieving sustainable and safe water storage and use.

Dam safety is a serious issue worldwide. However, in many countries, for example, China and Australia, although much attention is being devoted to the medium to large-scale dams, little or no attention is being paid to the serious potential problems associated with smaller dams, particularly the potential "cumulative domino effect" failure risk to the larger public dams. Farmers in Australia have often overlooked the common law obligation to review/design dams in line with current standards because of high engineering consulting costs. This leaves them vulnerable to litigation if their dam fails and the downstream community is susceptible to unacceptable risk levels. To overcome this problem, an innovative Australian-developed cost-effective spillway design/review procedure has been developed to minimise cost burdens to dam owners and encourage better dam safety management. A recent survey undertaken in the Australian "policy model" State of Victoria to test community attitudes to the procedure and implemented dam safety and water allocation policy is also reported here. This survey clearly demonstrates that farmers require more than awareness and encouragement in order to ensure that they look after their dams properly.

2005

2005

Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 1997