SA Water
Strengthening investment decisions with cost benefit analysis at SA Water
Challenge
How do you put a price on time spent in nature?
SA Water is a statutory corporation owned by the South Australian government. It provides essential water and wastewater services across South Australia.
In 2019 SA Water began the Reservoirs Access Initiative (RAI); a process of progressively opening its water reservoirs for recreational access. The intention? To deliver tangible social impact for the people and communities accessing each reservoir.
After four years of ongoing operations SA Water sought to measure the RAI’s social impact to support advocacy for funding, business planning and help them prioritise future investments.
Solution
ImpactInstitute conducted a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) of the Reservoirs Access Initiative in line with several guiding principles outlined by SA Water.
The CBA needed to involve stakeholders, understand any key changes, value the things that matter, only include what is material, not overclaim, be transparent, verify the result, and be responsive.
A total of 10 reservoirs, across rural and urban locations, were accessed as part of this project. Our methodology was stakeholder focused and considered social, environmental and economic benefits and costs.
The process involved:
- A literature review
- A review of public reports on other public green space initiatives
- Conducting surveys of SA Water reservoir users
- Conducting focus groups with SA Water reservoir users
- Conducting interviews with SA Water personnel and other key stakeholders
- An analysis of SA Water internal reports and data
Our process was transparent and highly consultative. We met regularly with SA Water to present key findings from our research, our methodologies, and our rationales for financial proxies.
Outcome
The review identified significant individual and community benefits from the initiative. These included improved health and wellbeing and stimulation of economic activity in surrounding regions.
The work ImpactInstitute conducted has helped SA Water quantify, in economic terms, the value of their initiative.
The report we produced is instrumental in helping SA Water with funding advocacy, moreover it identified strategic business and investment opportunities to further enhance returns.