Murray–Darling Basin: Water management
- The Basin Plan guides how water is shared between various needs in the region's water resource plan areas.
- Existing water resource plans implemented under the jurisdictional legislative instruments will be aligned with the Basin Plan in future.
- Environmental water is managed as planned environmental water and held environmental water.
For further information on the region's water management scroll down this page or click on the links below:
Surface water and groundwater management
Basin plan
- The Murray–Darling Basin Authority's (MDBA) Basin Plan was adopted by the Commonwealth Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities in November 2012.
- The plan sets long-term average sustainable diversion limits (SDLs) in 29 surface water SDL resource units and 80 groundwater SDL resource units. Compliance with the SDLs is required from 1 July 2019.
Surface water management plans
Figure R10 Water resource plan areas for surface water within the Murray–Darling Basin region
- There are 20 water resource plan areas to manage surface water resources within the region.
- Detailed maps for SDL resource units for surface water are available from the MDBA website.
Groundwater management plans
Figure R11 Water resource plan areas for groundwater within the Murray–Darling Basin region
- There are 19 water resource plan areas to manage groundwater resources within the region.
- Detailed maps for SDL resource units are available for groundwater and deep groundwater from the MDBA website.
Jurisdictional water management plans
Queensland
- Surface water and groundwater are managed under water plans for catchment areas in the Queensland section of the Murray–Darling Basin region.
- Draft water plans (which align with Basin Plan requirements) for the Condamine and Balonne, Border Rivers and Moonie catchments were released on 11 April 2018.
- Water plans, as well as information on updated water management arrangements, are available at the Queensland Government Mining, Energy and Water website.
New South Wales
- The water management instruments for surface water are water sharing plans. More information on these plans is available from the NSW Department of Industry website.
Australian Capital Territory
- The Water Resources Act 2007 (ACT) does not provide for statutory water management plans. Instead, the ACT Government has in place its own water management guidelines.
- More information on water management activities in the ACT is available on the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate website, or in the Water management section in the Canberra region account.
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 Victorian Government has in place the Victorian Waterway Management Strategy, which determines state waterway health and policy targets.
- Two regional sustainable water strategies applicable to the Murray–Darling Basin region areas within Victoria are the Northern Region Sustainable Water Strategy and the Western Region Sustainable Water Strategy.
- More information on these strategies is available from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning website.
South Australia
- There are a number of water allocation plans and regional natural resource management plans in place.
- More information on these plans is available from the Department for Environment and Water website, or from the Water management section in the Adelaide region account.
Border Agreements
- The New South Wales–Queensland Border Rivers Intergovernmental Agreement 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. It also provides for broad agreement on the shared groundwater resources of the Dumaresq River groundwater area.
- The Border Groundwater Agreement between South Australia and Victoria specifies 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.
Environmental water management
- Under the Australian Government Water Act 2007, the Basin Plan must contain an environmental watering plan.
- The Environmental water provisions outlined in the Basin Plan aim to achieve the best possible environmental outcomes using the increased but still finite amount of water made available.
Commonwealth environmental water programs
- The Australian Government has introduced the Sustainable Rural Water Use and Infrastructure Program (Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources 2016). Under this program, water savings are recovered for the environment through three main components: irrigation infrastructure projects; supply measures (by using water more efficiently); and water purchase.
- The water rights acquired by the Australian Government under the program become part of the Commonwealth environmental water holdings that are managed by the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder. More information can be found on the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office website.
- The Living Murray Program established in 2002 is one of Australia's larger river restoration programs and aims to maintain the health of six icon sites along the Murray River. The program is a partnership among the Australian, New South Wales, Victorian, South Australian, and Australian Capital Territory Governments.
Jurisdictional water provisions
- Within each jurisdiction, water management plans address requirements to provide water for the environment by setting aside volumes that cannot be abstracted for consumptive use, as well as through releasing volumes from a storage in a controlled manner to achieve a set of conditions downstream.
Queensland
- The structure of the Queensland water plans is primarily aimed at providing planned environmental water rather than using held environmental water.
- The Australian Government has acquired entitlements in Queensland for environmental benefit.
New South Wales
- The Office of Environment and Heritage within the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment 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.
Australian Capital Territory
- The Environment Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate has developed Water Resource Environmental Flow Guidelines 2019.
- 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.
Victoria
- The Victorian Environmental Water Holder holds entitlements that could be used for environmental benefits.
- A mixture of planned environmental water and held environmental water is delivered to achieve environmental benefits.
South Australia
- The South Australian Department for Environment and Water 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.
Cultural water management
- Section 10.54 of the Basin Plan states that 'A water resource plan must be prepared having regard to the views of Indigenous people with respect to cultural flows'.
- An example for cultural flow provision is the high security entitlements assigned in the Water Sharing Plan for the Murrumbidgee Regulated River Water Source 2016 for Aboriginal cultural water use.
Organisations responsible for water management
- Organisations responsible for water management in the region are shown below.
| Organisation | Responsibilities | ||||||||
| 1. environmental water management | |||||||||
| 2. water resource management | |||||||||
| 3. water availability determinations | |||||||||
| 4. water allocation announcements | |||||||||
| 5. wholesale water delivery | |||||||||
| 6. water infrastructure operations | |||||||||
| 7. administration and management of water legislation and licensing | |||||||||
| 8. administration and processing of water trades | |||||||||
| 9. water extraction and use approvals | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |
| Icon Water 1 | x | x | x | ||||||
| Environment Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate | x | x | x | x | x | x | |||
| National Capital Authority | x | ||||||||
1 For Canberra water supply.
| Organisation | Responsibilities | ||||||||
| 1. environmental water management | |||||||||
| 2. water resource management | |||||||||
| 3. water availability determinations | |||||||||
| 4. water allocation announcements | |||||||||
| 5. wholesale water delivery | |||||||||
| 6. water infrastructure operations | |||||||||
| 7. administration and management of water legislation and licensing | |||||||||
| 8. administration and processing of water trades | |||||||||
| 9. water extraction and use approvals | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |
| Department of Planning, Industry and Environment 1 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| NSW Office of Environment and Heritage 2 | x | ||||||||
| WaterNSW 3 | x | x | x | x | |||||
| Murrumbidgee Irrigation 4 | x | x | x | x | |||||
| Murray Irrigation Limited 4 | x | x | x | x | |||||
| Jemalong Irrigation 4 | x | x | x | x | |||||
| Coleambally Irrigation Cooperative Ltd 4 | x | x | x | x | |||||
| Western Murray Irrigation Ltd 4 | x | x | x | x | |||||
| Local councils 5 | |||||||||
1 Focusses on policy, planning, and water market regulation, with oversight of major water infrastructure projects.
2 Environmental water management: and discretionary environmental water.
3 Leads customer activities.
4 Includes also trade prerogatives: process and approve water trades internal to the irrigation corporation. Intrastate trades and interstate trades require Water NSW approval .
5 In New South Wales, local councils hold water access entitlements to abstract water.
| Organisation | Responsibilities | ||||||||
| 1. environmental water management | |||||||||
| 2. water resource management | |||||||||
| 3. water availability determinations | |||||||||
| 4. water allocation announcements | |||||||||
| 5. wholesale water delivery | |||||||||
| 6. water infrastructure operations | |||||||||
| 7. administration and management water legislation and licensing | |||||||||
| 8. administration and processing of water trades | |||||||||
| 9. water extraction and use approvals | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |
| Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| SunWater 1 | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| Local councils 2 | x | x | x | x | |||||
1 Only administers water allocation within the water supply schemes it manages and operates.
2 In Queensland, local councils may hold water licences, supplemented water allocations and/or unsupplemented water allocations.
| Organisation | Responsibilities | ||||||||
| 1. environmental water management | |||||||||
| 2. water resource management | |||||||||
| 3. water availability determinations | |||||||||
| 4. water allocation announcements | |||||||||
| 5. wholesale water delivery | |||||||||
| 6. water infrastructure operations | |||||||||
| 7. administration and management of water legislation and licensing | |||||||||
| 8. administration and processing of water trades | |||||||||
| 9. water extraction and use approvals | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |
| Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board | x | x | x | x | x | ||||
| Department for Environment and Water | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
| SA Water | x | x | |||||||
| SA Murray–Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board | x | x | x | x | x | ||||
| South East Natural Resources Management Board | x | x | x | x | x | ||||
| SA Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board | x | x | x | x | x | ||||
| Central Irrigation Trust 1 | x | x | x | x | |||||
| Renmark irrigation Trust | x | x | x | x | |||||
| Creeks Pipeline Company Ltd | x | x | |||||||
| Local councils 2 | x | ||||||||
1 Responsibilities in administration and processing of water trades include 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, which has retail arrangements with local councils for water abstractions.
| Organisation | Responsibilities | ||||||||
| 1. environmental water management | |||||||||
| 2. water resource management | |||||||||
| 3. water availability determinations | |||||||||
| 4. water allocation announcements | |||||||||
| 5. wholesale water delivery | |||||||||
| 6. water infrastructure operations | |||||||||
| 7. administration and management of water legislation and licensing | |||||||||
| 8. administration and processing of water trades | |||||||||
| 9. water extraction and use approvals | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |
| Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning 1 | x | x | x | ||||||
| Victorian Environmental Water Holder | x | ||||||||
| Goulburn Murray Water Corporation | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| Lower Murray Water Corporation | x | x | x | x | |||||
| Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water Corporation | x | x | x | x | x | ||||
| Local councils 1 | |||||||||
1 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).
| Organisation | Responsibilities | ||||||||
| 1. environmental water management | |||||||||
| 2. water resource management | |||||||||
| 3. water availability determinations | |||||||||
| 4. water allocation announcements | |||||||||
| 5. wholesale water delivery | |||||||||
| 6. water infrastructure operations | |||||||||
| 7. administration and management of water legislation and licensing | |||||||||
| 8. administration and processing of water trades | |||||||||
| 9. water extraction and use approvals | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |
| Murray–Darling Basin Authority | x | x | x | x | |||||
| Commonwealth Environmental Water Office 1 | x | ||||||||
| Snowy Hydro Ltd 2 | x | x | x | ||||||
1 Manages Commonwealth environmental water holdings under the Australian Government Water Act 2007.
2 Transfers water into the Murray–Darling Basin region.