"I would say that the $3,000 charge is not anywhere near the recommended pricing level," he said.
"If you're a very small body user, you're still paying $3,000, which could be substantial if you're not using very much," Dr O'Donnell said.In Australia, charging for water helps pay for regulation of water use and is a core commitment of the National Water Initiative, agreed to by all states and territories.
"The panel is firmly of the view that the Water Act should be amended to require shale gas companies to acquire and pay for water extraction licences for their activities," the authors wrote. Quentin Grafton, UNESCO's chair in water economics and trans-boundary water governance, said the NT government's groundwater charge ought to at least cover the costs of monitoring water compliance at fracking sites.
Professor Grafton, an economics professor at the Australian National University, said he would be "shocked" if the $3,000 fee covered all the costs of monitoring a company's water use from fracking.
Thats about a government saying 'look what we've done', while doing nothing. Political smoke and mirrors.
I have a great idea. Why not give the rights to all our groundwater to Chinese companies, they can then charge the landowners (on whose land the water lies) for a water license to use their own water. Opps, I am too late, some genius thought of this before me.