Analysing the water crisis in Australia's Marray-Darling Basin

This model was created as part of an open ideation event run by http://circleofblue.org/.

It shows some of the problems being caused by over extractraction of water from the Murray-Darling basin in Australia. And also some of the solutions (blue boxes) being considered. This is a world issue that has manifested in many countries and will continue to manifest as our water consumption increases with population and adoption of water hungry appliances and crops in areas that require artificial irrigation.

Here is how one might go about developing a model like this:

1. Create a model, a hypothesis - describing the problem, and consequences of attempted solutions to date 

2. Elaborate the model with subject matter experts - from all walks, agriculture, industry, government, science, ... - Bring in other people's perspectives on the model 

3. Elaborate further, creating sub-models for drill down into complex or contentious areas 

4. Perform a root cause analysis to understand how this situation arose 

5. Share the model and report with others to gather feedback iteratively

6. Capture the feedback in terms of model elaborations and ideas entered into the report 

7. Create a plan of action, and show the to-be model next to the as-is model 

8. Do an impact and risk analysis on the plan of action and refine it by mitigating risks and protecting against adverse impacts 

9. Create the final report and action plan for improving your situation

10. Execute