Water management can be set within a conceptual framework which emphasises
the importance of maximising the usefulness of water as it moves through a
catchment area. The framework is based upon a consideration of the thermody
namic property of entropy, i.e. a measure of a system's increasing inabilit
y to do work. It is concluded that a consideration of water utility as a de
terminant is more appropriate than the conventional volume-paradigm applied
to water resourcing.