Home topics technology Tech Tech Advertorial: Grant helps sort out Australia’s water resources Guest Author May 30, 2008 The efficient and wise use of Australia’s precious water resources is a priority for Tom Rooney, founder of water brokerage company Waterfind. Using his knowledge of water broking, Rooney gathered a team of specialists to develop a purpose-built online water trading system that brings together and automates the complex and varied trading rules and regulations of different water markets. "Waterfind provides water trading services to irrigators, and the system provides farmers with choice, transparency of information, and a mechanism that makes it easier and quicker for them to find water,” explains Rooney. "One of the major benefits that water trading provides is assisting to sort out water resource issues such as over allocation. Well organised reallocation of water resources can limit the effects of drought for farmers, and on an even bigger scale can help Australia deal with the effects of climate change." Currently the online system automates information about resources, trading rules and regulations of many of the major water markets in NSW, Victoria and South Australia. This includes all the major irrigation districts in the three states and allows for buying and selling of water allocations. "The system helps minimise the paperwork involved, and in developing our system we also developed common market terminology to simplify the water trading process even further," says Rooney. "The Murray River market covers three States which each have different rules and requirements for trading