Murray–Darling Basin
Administration

Surface water legislation

The main legislative instruments governing water resource management within the Murray–Darling Basin (MDB) region are:

• Australian Government Water Act 2007
• Queensland Water Act 2000
• New South Wales Water Act 1912
• New South Wales Water Management Act 2000
• Victorian Water Act 1989
• Australian Capital Territory Water Resources Act 2007
• South Australian Natural Resources Management Act 2004

Groundwater legislation

Groundwater in the MDB region is governed by the same legislation as surface water, as detailed for surface water above.

Surface water

Water planning and management in the MDB region is based on State and Territory water management plans. The details of each Territory's and State's arrangements are provided below.

Queensland

Water resource plans and resource operations plans are the water management instruments in Queensland. Water resource plans covering the MDB region during the 2013–14 year were:

• Water Resource (Warrego, Paroo, Bulloo and Nebine) Plan 2003 (Queensland Government 2009c); note, however, that the Bulloo River is not part of the MDB region
• Water Resource (Condamine and Balonne) Plan 2004 (Queensland Government 2009b)
• Water Resource (Moonie) Plan 2003 (Queensland Government 2009d)
• Water Resource (Border Rivers) Plan 2003 (Queensland Government 2009a).

Through an amendment to the Water Act 2000 (Qld), existing water resource plans are to continue until 30 June 2019. The Warrego, Paroo, Bulloo, and Nebine water resource plan is currently under review. The other plans are likely to be extended with review and accreditation prior to the implementation date for sustainable diversion limits specified in the Basin Plan 2012.

The New South Wales–Queensland Border Rivers Intergovernmental Agreement 2008 (New South Wales Government and Queensland Government 2008) provides direction on water sharing and access, interstate trading, and managing the streamflows shared by both States, as well as water for the Darling River Basin.

New South Wales

Water sharing plans (WSP) are the water management instruments in New South Wales and remain in force for ten years following their approval subject to section 43A of the New South Wales Water Management Act 2000. WSP are reviewed with the intention for replacement after ten years. WSP can be extended beyond ten years. WSP can be suspended due to low flows, hence not in force from time to time. Water sharing plans covering the MDB region that were continued from the previous year and applied during the 2013–14 year were:

• Water Sharing Plan for Adelong Creek (New South Wales Government 2006g)
• Water Sharing Plan for Castlereagh River (above Binnaway) (New South Wales Government 2006e)
• Water Sharing Plan for the Castlereagh (below Binnaway) Unregulated and Alluvial (New South Wales Government 2011a)
• Water Sharing Plan for Gwydir Regulated River (New South Wales Government 2006b)
• Water Sharing Plan for the Intersecting Streams Unregulated and Alluvial (New South Wales Government 2011b)
• Water Sharing Plan for Lachlan Regulated River (New South Wales Government 2012b)
• Water Sharing Plan for the Lower Murray-Darling Unregulated and Alluvial (New South Wales Government 2012i)
• Water Sharing Plan for Macquarie and Cudgegong Regulated Rivers (New South Wales Government 2006j)
• Water Sharing Plan for Mandagery Creek (New South Wales Government 2006f)
• Water Sharing Plan for the Murray Unregulated and Alluvial (New South Wales Government 2012j)
• Water Sharing Plan for Murrumbidgee Regulated River (New South Wales Government 2012c)
• Water Sharing Plan for NSW Border Rivers Regulated River Water (New South Wales Government 2009a)
• Water Sharing Plan for the NSW Border Rivers Unregulated and Alluvial (New South Wales Government 2012k)
• Water Sharing Plan for NSW Murray and Lower Darling Regulated Rivers (New South Wales Government 2010a)
• Water Sharing Plan for Peel Valley Regulated, Unregulated, Alluvium and Fractured Rock (New South Wales Government 2010b)
• Water Sharing Plan for Phillips Creek, Mooki River, Quirindi Creek and Warrah Creek (New South Wales Government 2006d)
• Water Sharing Plan for Rocky Creek, Cobbadah, Upper Horton and Lower Horton (New South Wales Government 2006c)
• Water Sharing Plan for Tarcutta Creek (New South Wales Government 2006h)
• Water Sharing Plan for Tenterfield Creek (New South Wales Government 2006a)
• Water Sharing Plan for Upper Billabong (New South Wales Government 2006i)
• Water Sharing Plan for Upper Namoi and Lower Namoi Regulated River (New South Wales Government 2008).
• Water Sharing Plan for Barwon–Darling Unregulated and Alluvial (New South Wales Government 2013a)
• Water Sharing Plan for Belubula Regulated River (New South Wales Government 2013b)
• Water Sharing Plan for Lachlan Unregulated and Alluvial (New South Wales Government 2013c)
• Water Sharing Plan for Macquarie Bogan Unregulated and Alluvial (New South Wales Government 2013d)
• Water Sharing Plan for Murrumbidgee Unregulated and Alluvial (New South Wales Government 2013e)
• Water Sharing Plan for Namoi Unregulated and Alluvial (New South Wales Government 2013f)
• Water Sharing Plan for Gwydir Unregulated and Alluvial (New South Wales Government 2013g).

Australian Capital Territory

The Water Resources Act 2007 (ACT) does not provide for the making of a statutory water resource management plan in the Auatralian Capital Territory. Instead, it provides for specific instruments to manage water. When considered as a whole, these instruments constitute the main elements of a typical plan. These instruments include:

• Water Resources (Water Management Areas) Determination 2007 (No. 1) DI 2007–193—water management areas (Auatralian Capital Territory Government 2007a)
• Water Resources (Water Available from Areas) Determination 2007 (No. 1) DI 2007–191—volumes of water available from an area (Auatralian Capital Territory Government 2007b).

Victoria

Victoria's water entitlement and allocation framework provides the basis for the management of Victoria's water resources and governs how water can be abstracted and used. The framework considers all water resources (surface water and groundwater) for both consumptive and environmental purposes.

The key water resource management planning documents are:

• bulk entitlements that are the legal rights to water granted by the Minister for Water under the Victorian Water Act 1989 (Department of Environment and Primary Industries 2013e)
• regional sustainable water strategies—statutory planning tools made under the Victorian Water Act 1989 (Department of Environment and Primary Industries 2013f)
• water supply demand strategies—urban
• stream-flow management plans (Department of Environment and Primary Industries 2013g)
• groundwater management plans
• regional river health strategies, prepared under the Victorian Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994.

Two regional sustainable water strategies applicable to MDB areas within Victoria are the Northern Region Sustainable Water Strategy and the Western Region Sustainable Water Strategy.

South Australia

Water management in South Australia is governed by water allocation plans and regional natural resources management plans. The South Australian Natural Resources Management Act 2004 requires that regional natural resources management plans, of which water allocation plans are a component, be reviewed within 10 years of being adopted. Water resource plans covering the MDB region during the 2013–14 year were:

• River Murray Prescribed Water Course Water Allocation Plan (Government of South Australia 2009)
• Marne Saunders Prescribed Water Resources Water Allocation Plan (Government of South Australia 2010b)
• Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges Prescribed Water Resource Area Water Allocation Plan (Government of South Australia 2014b).
  
  

Groundwater

Water planning and management in the MDB region is based on State and Territory water management plans. The details of the specific instruments in place for each State and Territory are listed below.

Queensland

Queensland has no current statutory water resource plans for groundwater; however, Queensland manages groundwater through other management frameworks. These include:

• declared groundwater areas, requiring the abstraction of water to be licensed (except for stock and domestic use)
• groundwater management areas involving a higher level of management, including licensed abstraction, specifying a volumetric limit; detailed water sharing rules, including announced allocations to set and control the volume of water abstracted under licence each year; metering, ensuring abstraction is accounted for and managed in accordance with entitlement and resource availability; and moratoriums, limiting the abstraction of new water
• moratoriums on other groundwater areas, are replaced by the Dec 2014 amendments to the WRP's.

New South Wales–Queensland Border Rivers Intergovernmental Agreement 2008

The New South Wales–Queensland Border Rivers Intergovernmental Agreement 2008 (New South Wales Government and Queensland Government 2008) applies principally to surface water in the Border Rivers catchment within the jurisdiction of the respective States, but also provides for broad agreement on the shared groundwater resources of the Dumaresq River groundwater area. It is the intention of both States that this agreement will ultimately be amended to better articulate the sharing arrangements for the groundwater resources common to the two States, excluding the Great Artesian Basin (GAB).

New South Wales

The following water sharing plans applied to groundwater within the MDB region during the 2013–14 year:

• Lower Gwydir Groundwater (New South Wales Government 2012d)
• Lower Lachlan Groundwater (New South Wales Government 2012f)
• Lower Macquarie Groundwater (New South Wales Government 2012e)
• Lower Murray Groundwater (New South Wales Government 2012h)
• Lower Murrumbidgee Groundwater (New South Wales Government 2012g)
• Upper and Lower Namoi Groundwater (New South Wales Government 2008)
• Lower Murray Shallow Groundwater (New South Wales Government 2012l)
• NSW Great Artesian Basin Shallow Groundwater (New South Wales Government 2011c)
• NSW Murray–Darling Basin Fractured Rock Groundwater (New South Wales Government 2011d)
• NSW Murray–Darling Basin Porous Rock Groundwater (New South Wales Government 2011e).

Sections of the GAB within the MDB region are also covered by water sharing plans; however, the GAB resource is not included in the MDB region in the 2014 Account.

Australian Capital Territory

As with surface water, groundwater is managed in line with the following instruments associated with the ACT Water Resources Act 2007:

• Water Resources (Water Management Areas) Determination 2007 (No. 1) DI 2007–193—water management areas (ACT Government 2007a)
• Water Resources (Water Available from Areas) Determination 2007 (No. 1) DI 2007–191—volumes of water available from an area (ACT Government 2007b).

Victoria

Within the MDB region, the following groundwater management plans were in force during the 2013–14 year:

• Katunga Water Supply Protection Area Groundwater Management Plan 2006 (Goulburn–Murray Water 2006)
• Shepparton Irrigation Region Water Supply Protection Area Groundwater Management Plan 1997 (Goulburn–Murray Water 1997)
• Murrayville Water Supply Protection Area Groundwater Management Plan 2001
• Mid-Loddon Groundwater Management Area—Local Management Rules June 2009 (Goulburn–Murray Water 2009)
• Upper Ovens River Water Supply Protection Area Water Management Plan (Goulburn–Murray Water 2012).
• Lower Campaspe Water Supply Protection Area (WSPA) Groundwater Management Plan (this plan has replaced the earlier Campaspe Deep Lead WSPA and Southern Campaspe Plains groundwater management area plans) (Goulburn–Murray Water 2013a)
• Loddon Highlands WSPA Groundwater Management Plan (this plan has replaced the earlier Spring Hill and Upper Loddon WSPA plans) (Goulburn–Murray Water 2013b).

Border Groundwater Agreement (Victoria–South Australia)

Victoria and South Australia entered into the Border Groundwaters Agreement in 1985, and it was updated in 2005 (Government of South Australia 2005). It states that the available groundwater shall be shared equitably between the two states along a 20-km wide designated area extending on both sides of the border.

South Australia

Within South Australia, water allocation plans are developed for each prescribed well area. The water allocation plans in place in the MDB region during the 2013–14 year include:

• Water Allocation Plan for the Mallee Prescribed Wells Area (Government of South Australia 2014a)
• Water Allocation Plan Noora Prescribed Wells Area (Government of South Australia 2001)
• Water Allocation Plan for the Peake, Roby and Sherlock Prescribed Wells Area (Government of South Australia 2010a)
• Marne Saunders Prescribed Water Resources Water Allocation Plan (Government of South Australia 2010b).
• Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges Prescribed Water Resource Area water allocation plan (Government of South Australia 2014b).

The Marne Saunders Prescribed Water Resources Water Allocation Plan applies to both surface water and groundwater.

The South Australian Natural Resources Management Act 2004 requires that regional natural resources management plans, of which water allocation plans are a component, be reviewed within 10 years of being adopted. The Water Allocation Plan for the Mallee Prescribed Wells Area was revised in May 2012. The Water Allocation Plan for the Angas Bremer Prescribed Wells Area will be incorporated into the Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges water allocation plan once the latter is implemented.

Murray–Darling Basin plan

The Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) released the draft Murray–Darling Basin plan for public exhibition in November 2011 (MDBA 2013b). Thereafter during the 2012–13 year, consultation with community, stakeholder, and the Basin States and the Territory was undertaken. After the end of the consultations and negotiations, the Basin Plan 2012  was adopted by the Commonwealth Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities in November 2012.

The Basin Plan 2012 aims to optimise social, economic and environmental outcomes arising from the use of the Basin water resource in the national interest. It establishes long-term average sustainable diversion limits in 29 surface water SDL resource units and 81 groundwater SDL resource units. Compliance with the SDLs is required from 1 July 2019. There is a period of transition from the Cap to SDLs by 2019.

During the transition period, the Cap will continue to be the instrument for compliance for surface water diversions through until the 2019–20 year or for as long as Schedule E of the Murray–Darling Basin Agreement remains in effect. Although enforcement will only be against the Cap during the transition period, the MDBA will publish information about permitted and actual diversions under Section 71 of the Australian Government Water Act 2007. This will ensure there is a level of transparency and accountability for all basin water resources until SDLs take effect in the 2019–20 year.

Based on the Basin Plan 2012 assessments, proposed SDLs for surface water and groundwater have been 10,873,000 ML per year and 3,324,000 ML per year respectively for the whole Basin.

Environmental water in the MDB region is governed by the same legislation as surface water, as detailed in surface water legislation (see Water legislation).

Under Section 22 of the Water Act 2007 (Cwlth), the Basin Plan must contain an environmental watering plan (EWP). The content of the EWP must also comply with Section 28 of the Water Act 2007 (Cwlth).

General environmental water management information applicable to the MDB region can be found in MDBA 'Environmental water' website. Some key features of the environmental watering within the MDB region are stated below:

• Each jurisdiction has legislative goals for managing surface water and groundwater systems. This includes managing environmental water outcomes in the MDB region.
• Within each jurisdiction, the water management plans that have been developed or still in development, address requirements to provide water for the environment by setting aside volumes that cannot be abstracted from the system and through releasing volumes from a storage in a controlled manner to achieve a set of conditions downstream. The restrictions on abstraction also apply to groundwater systems.
• In addition to water management plans, other programmes have been introduced by governments to increase the volume of water that is provided for the environment. For example, the Australian Government has introduced the Sustainable Rural Water Use and Infrastructure Program (SRWUIP), which is a national programme investing in rural water use, management and efficiency projects, including improved water knowledge and market reforms.  Under the programme, water savings are recovered for the environment through three main components: irrigation infrastructure projects; supply measures (by using water more efficiently); and water purchase (Australian Government Department of the Environment 2014a). The water rights acquired by the Commonwealth under this programme become part of the Commonwealth environmental water holdings. These holdings are managed by the  Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH).
• Jurisdictions have also delivered significant water recovery programmes over the recent past, such as New South Wales River Bank, Rivers Environmental Restoration Program and the Wetland Recovery Program.
• Entitlements are held for the purpose of watering the environment as a result of the above mentioned and other programmes (e.g., environmental entitlements held by the Minister for Environment in New South Wales, the Murray–Darling Basin Authority for the Living Murray programme, and the Victorian Environmental Water Holder in Victoria (VEWH)).
  
  

Commonwealth environmental water programmes

Information about Commonwealth environmental water management involving the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH) can be found on the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office website.

The CEWH can trade Commonwealth environmental water and water holdings subject to conditions in the Australian Government Water Act 2007. Commonwealth environmental water holdings are published in the CEWH's annual report, and are updated each month on the Commonwealth environmental water holdings website.

Queensland

The structure of the Queensland water resource plans is primarily aimed at providing planned environmental water rather than using held environmental water. There is no environmental water holder within Queensland. The Commonwealth Government has acquired entitlements in Queensland for environmental benefit.

New South Wales

The NSW Office of Water within the Department of Primary Industries is responsible for water licences and regulation, including oversight of planned environmental water. The Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) within the Department of Premier and Cabinet collaborates with many other partners to manage  environmental water in New South Wales, including delivery of allocations from held environmental water and utilising planned environmental water to deliver environmental benefits. Environmental entilements (including The Living Murray (TLM) entitlements) managed by OEH as at 30 June 2014 was 408,541 ML (NSW Office of Environment and Heritage 2015).

Victoria

The VEWH held entitlements that could be used for environmental benefit during the 2013–14 year. A mixture of planned environmental water, which is addressed in the bulk entitlements and other rules, and water entitlements are used to deliver environmental benefits.

South Australia

The South Australian Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources manages environmental water. A mixture of planned environmental water and held environmental water is delivered to improve the ecological health of the River Murray, including wetlands, floodplains, The Lower Lakes and the Coorong. See the River Murray Water Allocation Plan for details (Government of South Australia 2009). 

Australian Capital Territory

The Department of Environment, Climate Change Energy and Water has developed the Environmental Flow Guidelines 2006. The objectives set in the guidelines are met by releases from the storages, as planned partly regulated surface water management, rather than using held environmental water.

There is no environmental water holder within the Australian Capital Territory and the Commonwealth Government has not purchased any entitlements for environmental benefit within the Australian Capital Territory.

Tables A1 to A6 detail the organisations responsible for water management within the MDB region.

¹ For Canberra water supply.

1. Administer and process water trades: only entitlement trades.
2. Environmental water management:  manage held and discretionary environmental water
3. Administer and process water trades: process only allocation trades.
4. Administer entitlement register.
5. Includes also trade prerogatives: process and approve water trades internal to the irrigation corporation. Intrastate trades and interstate trades require State Water Corporation approval for allocation trades and NSW Office of Water approval for entitlement trades.
6. In New South Wales, local councils hold water access entitlements to abstract water.

1. Only administers water allocation within water supply schemes it manages and operates.
2. In Queensland, local councils may hold water licences, supplemented water allocations and/or unsupplemented water allocations.

1. Also includes internal water trade processing and approving within the irrigation trust. Intrastate and interstate trades require the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources's approval.
2. In South Australia, water access entitlements are held by SA Water, who has retail arrangements with local councils for water abstractions.

1. With effect from 1 January 2015, the Department of Environment, Land, Water, and Planning (DELWP) has been delivering specific functions previously delivered by the Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI). It is likely that some of the DEPI links provided in the National Water Account will be available through the DELWP website instead of the DEPI website.
2. In Victoria, bulk water access entitlements are held by the water corporations,which are obliged to supply entitlements under the licences referred to in the schedules within their bulk entitlement conversion orders. Water and wastewater management functions under the Victorian Water Act 1989 are performed by statutory water corporations (not by local councils).