Initially, sustainability was often considered in the context of evaluating plans and practice through the triple bottom line of environmental, economic and social analyses. Apart from the community, there is an increasing professional acknowledgement that a key element of sustainability is institutional (for example, Hedelin 2007). That is, it is recognised that the quality of the decision-making process is a highly significant precursor to implementing sustainable practice. Institutions are not simply construed as formal government organisations but more as the interfaces of various sectors of the community and government to obtain outcomes which reflect the long-term aspirations of the community for the benefits it wishes to attain from its water resources (Syme et al. 2008). As described earlier, one of the key elements of high-quality decision-making in this context is the achievement of procedural justice in the involvement the community has with the water utility.

Procedural justice has a number of elements (Lawrence et al. 1997) and these support acceptance of the decision-making process and its outcomes (Tyler and Blader 2000). While most of this social-justice research has been conducted in traditional social service areas, it is relevant to urban water management and other natural-resource management issues. For example, in a long-term planning exercise for creating strategic plans for the use of wastewater with the West Australian Water Corporation, perceptions that the public-involvement process was procedurally just led to greater commitment for involvement in future decision-making activities (Syme and Nancarrow 2002).

In procedurally just processes because there is voice (or an open expression of views), which enables information exchange, and decision-making can include local knowledge that can enhance the possibilities for adaptive learning. Adaptive learning is an important underpinning of sustainability in that increasing knowledge can contribute to the wisdom of decision-making and the avoidance of ‘surprises’. While the concept of adaptive learning is appealing, it has not really occurred in many places. But if adaptation is to evolve in an atmosphere of continuous improvement, it is vital that urban utilities grasp the opportunities provided by procedural-justice research and practice in the sustainability context.

The recent debate on whether to pipe water to Perth from the large South West Yarragadee aquifer, some 300 kilometres from the metropolitan area, provides a good example of the widening context within which urban utilities will be evaluated. This transfer would assist in lessening the probability of the imposition of severe restrictions. The early social research on this issue indicated concern by both South West and Perth residents that there was too little knowledge of the aquifer; fairness issues relating to the concept of ‘reasonable regional needs’ (that is, was it fair to take the water from that community?); and finally the doubt that the Water Corporation would reverse its decision if data showed that it was not sustainable for the aquifer. These issues continued to drive the community debate as the hydrological modelling became more detailed and the social and economic analysis increased. Finally, it became evident that the limits to the usefulness of modelling had been reached and that only monitoring the effects of the abstraction of water would validate the decision. The Independent Sustainability Panel established by the State Government, therefore, in its acceptance of the proposal put in place a series of public-accountability and involvement processes designed to ensure that adaptive learning through procedurally just processes could occur (Sustainability Panel 2007).

The issue for the community then became whether they could trust the utility or the regulators to implement the recommendations effectively. Comparisons were made between the recommended adaptive-learning approach and the widely publicised deterioration in the Gnangara mound aquifer (a groundwater mound also supplying Perth), where breaches in extraction rules had been publicised. Thus the issue of trust was paramount for the Water Corporation and for the community when assessing new developments.

Given the growing discussion of reallocation of water from rural to urban communities, this example is likely to recur. Thus, the water industry has been moved by circumstance and the community to become a much more visible player in the overall movement towards adaptive learning and sustainability. It is no longer sufficient for urban utilities to think on a project-by-project basis and to deliver levels of service that satisfy only the utilitarian aspects of water supply. Increasingly, issues of urban and environmental amenity and the integrity and quality of decision-making are becoming central concerns for the community. Longitudinal social research evaluating the maintenance of procedural justice and providing a basis of understanding the generation of trust while incorporating the concept of acceptable risk can provide a major contribution to the achievement of sustainability and improved decision-making. This contribution is currently patently lacking.