Irrigated agriculture: more than ‘big water’ and ‘accountants will [not] save the world’

Two of Tony Allan’s phrases – big water and accountants will save the world invite me to argue that irrigation is poorly served when its hydrology seen solely as or via accounts. While applies because irrigated areas deplete considerable volumes water, systems contain many more relations, behaviours puzzles. In this problematic, environmental, social governance (ESG) accounts become a dominant force. This worrying for degree which individual are rendered into catchment-level accounting abstractions, removing us from vital, multidisciplinary, cross-scale action-oriented approach.