Barriers to successfully developing and implementing a WQM for local government may be experienced within or outside councils, and may be institutional, financial, geographical or cultural in nature.

Surveys of council staff undertaken during the development of the WQM toolkit indicated that major barriers relate to planning and/or access to resources, particularly funding. Other obstacles may include organisational structures, poor internal coordination, absence of strategic direction, lack of supporting policies, lack of profile for environmental issues within council and the community, lack of regional cooperation and a whole of catchment approach, including difficulties in establishing linkages with other organisations.

Many of the issues listed above are institutional and cultural in their nature, and are therefore difficult for individual staff members to influence or manage. However, there are strategies that can be implemented to try and beat these barriers. These include:

• Using informal networking within council to bring together people from different parts of the organisation to work on mutually relevant issues. This arrangement can be formalised through the formation of a “virtual team”, which holds meetings and makes recommendations to management.
• Raising the profile of environmental issues within council. Many councils will have a vision that relates to environmental values. Demonstrate how WQM fits into this vision.
• Improving regional linkages by pursuing an Integrated Catchment Management approach to WQM.