Transcript Slide 1

DRAFT MURRAY DARLING BASIN
PLAN
Where is the Murray–Darling Basin?
Large system in south-eastern
Australia
• 1 million km2
• 1/7 area of Australia
• Contains Australia’s
3 longest rivers
- Murray ― 2,380 km
- Darling ― 1,480 km
- Murrumbidgee ― 1,490 km
• 23 river basins
• Major climate differences
(North to South)
• Murray ― highly regulated
Darling ― unregulated
Basin Plan ― why the need?
• Significant changes to hydrology
– Less flooding (overbank flows)
– Changes to seasonal flow regimes
• Over-allocation of water resources
– Particularly severe in southern basin
Degradation of environment
River red gums dying
Fish populations reduced
Waterbird number reduced
Algal blooms
Water quality degradation and
salinity
Murray Mouth closed to the sea
too often
Increased threat
production
to
agricultural
Balancing the equation
Interceptions
Environment
60%
Diversions
42%
Consumptive
Environment
Environment
58%
Flow to sea
40%
Flow to the sea
WITHOUT
DEVELOPMENT
CURRENT
Murray ― 58%, 42%
Darling ― 28%, 72%
Basin Plan ― purpose
• Objective
– to develop and implement an integrated water resource
Plan for the whole Basin
• Basin Plan seeks to rebalance the system
– more water for the environment, but
– minimise impacts on irrigators and local communities
• Murray–Darling Basin Authority’s task
– set the bounds (Sustainable Diversion Limits - SDLs)
and work with the States and local communities to
implement
– the Murray–Darling Basin Authority only has powers to
do part of the reform, but we must……
The Basin Plan
The Basin Plan must include:
• Sustainable diversion limits (SDLs)
• Water resource plan accreditation
• Environmental Watering Plan
• Water Quality & Salinity Management Plan
• Water trading rules
• Monitoring and Evaluation program
What are we aiming to achieve?
A healthy working Basin
• critical drinking water needs can be met
• rivers are connected to creeks, billabongs and floodplains
• healthy ecosystems supporting a wide variety of plants
and animals
• sufficient flows to flush nutrients and salt through the
system
• sustainable growth in food and fibre production
• long-term confidence for businesses and communities
• ‘fit for purpose’ water quality
• a free market for trading water
Decision-making process
Environment (Science + Judgements)
Balancing
Implications
• Social and economic
• Environmental
Environmentally sustainable level of take (ESLT)
= Sustainable Diversion Limit (SDL)
(more than just a volume)
Implementation
• Implementation of the Basin Plan as part of
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a Plan for the Basin
this is a major rural reform ― it will take time
‘whole of government’ response to minimise
impacts on local communities
developing and implementing regional water
resource plans
less focus on the SDLs and more on how the
extra water is used
•Opportunity to progress towards
more contemporary river management
•opportunity to address some of the
river constraints
•potential changes to the amount of
water needed to meet the SDLs once
river constraint issues are addressed
Constraints
• Operational constraints
- Change river operating rules ― these
are currently focused on the consumptive
delivery of water
- Optimise storage management
•Policy constraints
-Modify storage carryover rules
-Water sharing plans ― alter to
better protect environmental
water during droughts
-Remove state-based policies
that impact of environmental
outcomes
•Physical constraints
-Remove/modify infrastructure
that impede high flows
-Purchase easements to allow
high flows to be delivered
-Adopt engineering works and
other innovative solutions
Summary
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Development and implementation of the Murray–
Darling Basin Plan ― major rural reform
Significant reductions in current diversion limits
required
Commonwealth investment ($9 billion) should
‘purchase’ all the water required
But still need a ‘whole of government’ response to
minimise impacts on some local communities
Many opportunities to progress towards more
contemporary river management by addressing
many of the current constraints
This is a ‘journey’ we have just begun