Principles-Based Governance of a Large Water Utility

The Water Corporation of Western Australia is a State Governmentowned corporatised water utility which operates over the huge 2.5 millionsquare kilometre land area of Western Australia. The Corporation services a population of about 2 million people, has 2200 employees, an asset base of about AUD 18 billion, and an annual turnover of over AUD 1 billion. The Water Corporation has embarked on a journey of business transformation, with environmental, social and financial sustainability as the prime conceptual and ethical drivers. This new focus on long-term sustainability has been catalysed by a dramatic decline in the yields of the surface and groundwater resources in the south west part of Western Australia – over 65% over the past 30 years, with demand growing at a rate of more than 3% per year. The Executive of the Water Corporation has adopted 18 Business Principles as a thinking and governance framework, and these are being applied progressively. Practical business benefits achieved so far include the Corporation’s ‘Security through Diversity’ approach to sustaining water supplies in a drying climate; its commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030; public targets for reductions in per capita domestic water use and wastewater reclamation; and the development of a multi-faceted biodiversity protection and enhancement program.