Community attitudes towards water management in the Moore Catchment, Western Australia

The Moore Catchment, which lies to the north of Perth in Western Australia, suffers from a number of problems related to water management. Farmers want to manage salinity and waterlogging problems through the use of drains, but this has possible negative off-farm impacts on both the environment and flood risk. Views on responsibilities for managing water within the catchment differ between farmers, local communities and government agencies. This paper reports the results from surveys of attitudes towards catchment management, for two community groups: residents of Perth and residents of rural towns in the catchment. These surveys elicited general attitudes towards the environment and agriculture, and views on responsibilities for managing the catchment. It also included a choice modelling section, where the attributes under consideration included the area of land under salt and trees, ecological risks to off-farm wetlands and risk of flooding, farm incomes and personal financial contributions to a management fund. Preliminary results indicate that residents of both rural towns and Perth are willing to pay to avoid damage to the natural environment, both on and off-farm, as well as the risk of flooding. Perhaps more surprisingly, whether farmers’ incomes were being negatively affected in a choice set has a very strong impact on the choice made.