Over the last 10 years there have been a number of attempts by state and federal governments to determine the most effective mechanism for the delivery of potable water to remote South Australian (SA) outback towns that comply with Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG), and ensure the development of the townships. The problems faced by these outback townships have been adequately defined, what is lacking is:

• the capacity to identify and fund the agency responsible for rolling out a plan;
• an approach that leads to the identification of the most appropriate water supply solutions and then a consensus on these solutions; and,
• the implementation of governance mechanisms and acceptable cost covering arrangements.

This project explored governance options for outback towns in SA.

The methodology employed for the project included a systematic literature review which examined existing water source and supply information and options for five priority outback townships. The second part of the methodology was the establishment of a project steering group to guide the research team and respond to options. The third part was a workshop involving key stakeholders tasked with responding to the five proposed options.

The townships of Glendambo, Innamincka, Marree, Oodnadatta and Yunta were selected by the Outback Communities Authority (OCA) as they represented the diversity of current water supply provision (management, source, quality, quantity, demand) in outback SA.

The final report provides five options that could be explored by relevant bodies dealing with outback town water supplies.