Institutional Overview from an Australian Perspective –With Particular Reference to the Murray-Darling Basin - Water and Agriculture: Sustainability, Markets and Policies - page 307

Figure 2. Rainfall in the Murray-Darling Basin

900

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0

1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

Ca lendar Yea r

Source: Bureau of Meteorology, 2005.

Table 1. Ratio between the maximum and minimum annual flows from select rivers

Country River Maximum to minimum annual flows

Brazil Amazon 1.3

Switzerland Rhine 1.9

China Yangtze 2.0

Sudan White Nile 2.4

USA Potomac 3.9

South Africa Orange 16.9

Murray

Australia 15.5

Australia Hunter 54.3

Darling

Australia 4 705.2

Annual runoff in the basin is about 24,000 GL/yr. Under natural conditions, about
11,000 GL /yr is consumed by wetlands and /or floodplains and about 13,000 GL/yr
flows to the sea. The Murray River forms part of the New South Wales and Victorian
state border and the Darling River forms part of the New South Wales and Queensland
border.
This paper profiles the Murray-Darling Basin and the management of natural
resources through the Murray-Darling Basin Commission. The Commission is an
example of inter-jurisdictional management of rivers and catchments — a consequence of
federation and state boundaries.