Australia: Technological Innovation amidst Complex Regulation in Kalkallo

To begin with, it was described how the project was innovative. This was followed by data collection. Two sources of data were collected for the Kalkallo Project case study. The primary data source was semi-structured interviews with key project participants who had direct experience of the phenomenon of interest. A secondary data source was documentation about the Kalkallo Project, both that supplied by participants, and publicly available documentation about the Kalkallo Project and its surrounding context. There was a constant focus on regulatory impediments such as complexity, uncertainty, lack of incentives and gaps in framework. The factors that played key roles in impeding and enabling the project were identified.

Publicly available regulatory documents were analyzed afterwards to identify the requirements and approvals required for the project and subsequently integrate them within the conceptual frame of Australian urban water regulation. Instead of looking for legislative blockers, the requirements were seen as new ways of creating an enabling environment for experimentation.

To continue, the relationship between the key events and decisions in the Kalkallo project was chronologically described. In the course of this project an environment where risks of innovation are shared between stakeholders was created. A culture of trust around institutional arrangements for the safe delivery of drinking water was established. Conclusively, a model suitable to regulate innovative practices which consider certainty and risk allocation was developed.

The Kalkallo project showed a meaningful degree of success in some dimensions while it performed low in some others. A number of approvals which have been expected to have been required to enable the project were not in fact required. The project has enabled the government to take significant actions towards sustainability, livability and resilience values.

Policy success may exist on at least three levels; process, political and program levels. It may not be possible to achieve success in all three dimensions. At the end of the project the need to reframe how regulation is understood in the context of urban water management was pointed out. Furthermore, the existence of a culture of trust when there was gap in regulatory framework was important in overcoming impediments to innovation.

Uncertainty resulted from risk assumptions can raise costs and lessen the desire for a broader innovation uptake. The clarification of policy can be a strong force for action as it integrates society values into the action agenda. Without subsidy from the government the project wouldn’t have succeeded.

In particular, we observed that elements within existing legislative and regulative frameworks played a crucial role, both directly and indirectly, as project enablers; either by providing an incentive to take action, or by providing a broader supportive environment within which innovation could occur.