river basin management pathways to water security

Don Blackmore Chairman – Water for a Healthy Country;

Chairman- eWater CRC

Former CEO Murray Darling Basin Commission

The Australian Water Story River Basin Management pathways to

water security

18 April 2012

Evolution of Water Management

• Pioneering and Discovery Phase

1880 – 1920

• Delivery Phase 1920 – 1985

• Management Phase 1985- Present

The reform agenda Policy | Institutional | Instruments | Tools

Ratio of maximum annual flow to

minimum annual flow for selected rivers

15.5MURRAYAUSTRALIA

4705.2DARLINGAUSTRALIA

54.3HUNTERAUSTRALIA

16.9ORANGESOUTH AFRICA

3.9POTOMACUSA

2.4WHITE NILESUDAN

2.0YANGTZECHINA

1.9RHINESWITZERLAND

1.3AMAZONBRAZIL

RATIO BETWEEN

THE MAXIMUM and

the MINIMUM

ANNUAL FLOWS

RIVERCOUNTRY

Commissioner, Sir Ronald East

straddling the River Murray at Nyah,

Victoria during the drought of 1923

0

200

400

600

800

1000

(L)

Daily water consumption percapita (including irrigation)

Australia

Africa

Europe

Asia North

America

South America

0

4000

8000

12000

16000

(ML)

Annual streamflowper km2

Australia – the driest inhabited continent – with the highest per capita water use

Evolution of Water Management

• Pioneering and Discovery Phase 1880 – 1920

• Delivery Phase 1920 – 1985

• Management Phase 1985-

Present

The reform agenda The Major reforms; •Manage water on a catchment basis (MDBC , SCA etc) •COAG agrees water reform agenda 1994 (similar to electricity and transport in National Competition Policy) •State benefit from increased revenue generated by the reform •National Water Commission and MDBC institute audit roles

1. Diminishing water security

Climate change and drought

Urban population growth

2. Over-allocation of resources

Rapid and poorly managed expansion of irrigation

(1960s-1980s)

Uncontrolled groundwater use

Drier climate since 1950s

3. Environmental degradation

Salinity

Toxic algal blooms

Decline in native fish, birds and floodplain vegetation

Australia’s top 3 water issues

National water policy reform (1994-2004)

1994 COAG water reforms

Institutional reform (rural and urban)

Property rights and water markets/trading

Environmental flow provisions

Groundwater management

Water included in National Competition Policy

2004 National Water Initiative

Review and update of 1994 reforms

New powers and role for Commonwealth (Federal)

Government

New Commonwealth Water Act (2007)

Water for the Future fund ($12.9 billion)

Murray-Darling Basin Plan

The Murray Darling Basin Story

Driving Philosophy: You can’t manage what you can’t describe and measure

The Murray-Darling Basin

Must move from perceptions to fact

“Sufficient certainty” enables the hard questions and tradeoffs to be tackled

management

Conventional River Basin Knowledge Knowledge

Policy Process

Implementation Personality

On Ground Action

The reform agenda Policy | Institutional | Instruments | Tools

Instrument— water scarcity

The Cap

The Murray-Darling Basin

70% of Australia’s irrigated agriculture

However...

Serious over-allocation of water between 1960s-1980s

10500 The Cap

0

8000

16000

24000

32000

'20s '30s '40s '50s '60s '70s '80s '90s

(GL)

QLD VIC NSW

MDBC TOTAL

Instrument—increased economic output

Water Trading

Water trading

From this .... To this ….

Employment Figures Resulting

From Irrigation Investment

High-value horticulture

Requirements for Water Markets

Clear specification of entitlements Comprehensive registration systems

linked to water accounts Mechanisms to transfer between

different entitlements Trading rules

Instrument—managing salt pollution

Salinity and Drainage Strategy

Victoria - Shallow Water Tables 1996

River

Murray

Melbourne

Loddon

Avoca

Campaspe Goulburn

Broken

Ovens

Kiewa

Victoria – Shallow Water Tables 1996

Victoria - Salinity Hazard at 2100

River

Murray

Victoria – Salinity Hazard at 2100

Salinity Strategy in Summary

Farming

systems

development

Forestry for

environmental

services

Joint works to

protect shared

rivers

State salinity

Strategies

Catchment

Management

Strategy

Irrigation and land

and water

management plan

Morgan salinity

target <800EC

95% of time

End of valley

target site Farming Systems Development Forestry for Environmental Services Joint works to protect shared rivers

Instrument—restoring river health

Environmental Flows-The Living

Murray “A healthy working river”

The Murray-Darling Basin Plan (2010-11)

Defines ‘Sustainable Diversion Limits’

For 20 River Valleys in MDB (in different States)

Covers surface- and ground-waters

Will consider climate change risks

Protect environmental ‘assets’

Floodplain forests and wetlands

Environmental flows

Water quality and salinity

Political and social implications

State ‘Water Sharing Plans’ must be accredited

Social impacts must be considered

Based on ‘best-available’ science

(evidence-based policy)

Better environmental outcomes

Tools—fundamental for effective River planning and management

River Models-”a computer

simulation that enables reliable

and repeatable testing of the

system”

CLIMATE

LAND USE

ECOLOGICAL ASSETS

DAMS & WEIRS

IRRIGATION CITIES

For rural and urban water management

Pro

ject

web

site

The reform agenda Policy | Institutional | Instruments | Tools