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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3442 ..

Mr Speaker, the Water Resources Bill 1997 provides for the effective management of the Territory's water resources and related matters.

In comparison with the states and territories, the ACT has few natural resources. The Territory's water resources are among our most significant. They are vital for the health and well being of the community, they are an integral and valued part of our natural landscape, and they are absolutely critical to the future economic development of the Territory. The Government is therefore committed to water resources management which maximises the overall returns to the community while maintaining their ecological values.

Through the Water Resources Bill, the Government intends to ensure:

. first, that the use of the Territory's water resources sustains the physical, economic and social well being of the people of the Territory;

. secondly, that the management of the Territory's water resources is undertaken in such a way to protect the ecological health of ACT waterways and aquifers; and

. thirdly, that the Territory's water resources are able to meet the reasonably foreseeable needs of future generations.

The ACT is the only state or territory which has no means of actively managing its water resources to provide for a system of water

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