Climate change is reducing water resources in many parts of Australia. Increasingly, higher risk sources are either being developed or being considered for development as public drinking water sources. There is a rising demand from the community for additional recreation facilities and subsequent access to drinking water catchments, as they are predominantly close to urban areas. These competing factors place substantial pressure on public water utilities to ensure the provision of safe drinking water. As the health risk profile increases, there is a need for additional barriers which may include new or upgraded water treatment facilities. This report covers the methodological development in the WaterRA project Public Perception of Source Protection and Its Relationship to Recreation and Water Treatment. It aims to develop a nationally applicable methodology to assist in the formulation of defensible policy which provides for drinking water source protection while accounting for recreational needs in surface water catchments in Australia. This book is co-published with Water Research Australia.

Integrated Assessment of Scale Impacts of Watershed Interventions is the outcome of a multi-disciplinary research team of social scientists, hydrologists (groundwater and surface water), modellers; and bio-physical scientists who have worked together over five years to develop an integrated model of the sustainability of biophysical, economic and social impacts of watersheds. Impacts of watershed interventions are assessed at upstream, mid-stream and downstream locations of two hydrological units that are characterised with differential bio-physical attributes. The editors propose that watershed interventions, when integrated with hydro-geology and bio-physical aspects, have greater influence on the resilience of the socio-ecological system. This book takes these aspects in to consideration and in the process provides insights in to watershed design and implementation.