Editor's Summary: Throughout Australia, allocating water to protect the natural environment is a fundamental aspect of managing the right to take water for consumptive purposes. The allocation of water for environmental purposes, therefore, requires a balance between competing uses. Further, decisions to allocate water to consumptive uses in compromise of natural ecosystems reflect societal choices about what will be an acceptable sustainable use of water resources. And because water resources legislation reflects these societal choices, some core principles need to apply. In this Article, Alex Gardner examines the national water policy principles pertaining to the determination and implementation of environmental water allocations in Australia. He then focuses on the progress that has been made in New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia in establishing an effective legislative framework for allocating water to protect the natural environment.