Charging for water abstraction and discharges – A checklist

What is the problem you are trying to solve, and over what timescale? What policy outcomes do you want to achieve and how will charges (alone or in combination with other measures) help you deliver them? Charging is just one mechanism among many that can be used to deliver sustainable water management. It is not an end in itself, and for the purposes of managing a public good it cannot operate effectively without other delivery systems. In particular, permitting systems – “command and control” regulation – are essential for effective water allocation and pollution control. But charging can also help to ensure that water users internalise at some of the costs of their activities, and, over time, change their behaviours.