Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
In the larger river systems of the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia, an
increasing volume of rights to water have been re-allocated from consumptive
use to entities that use the water for environmental water purposes, to address
declining river and wetland health. Most of this has been done by purchase of
water rights from irrigators by government agencies over the last five years.
These 'environmental water entitlements' are held by statutory government
bodies such as the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder and the
Victorian Environmental Water Holder. Governance arrangements provide
for adaptive use of the water to achieve environmental outcomes such as
increasing flooding frequency and duration to highly valued wetlands that
have deteriorated.
Case study - Northern Region Sustainable Water Strategy, Victoria,
Australia
Northern Victoria sits at the southern end of the Murray-Darling Basin in
Australia. The Sustainable Water Strategy (SWS) covers a group of rivers that
flow north into the River Murray (Figure 7.1). The rivers and aquifers support
a major agricultural region which generates (in Australian dollars) around
$3.26 billion per year in production value, including $924 million from
irrigated horticulture and $707 million from dairy (Victorian Government
2008b: 28). The water resources also supply drinking water for large towns,
villages and farms, as well as providing water-based recreational activities.
Water infrastructure includes eight large reservoirs and several smaller
reservoirs (total storage capacity approximately 11,500 gigalitres), and 6770
km of irrigation channels, most of which were constructed decades or longer
ago. There are no worthwhile opportunities for further substantial reservoirs.
Infrastructure maintenance and operation are funded largely through fees on
water use.
Water rights are well established, volumetrically defined, metered and
enforced, with a highly developed system of tradeable water entitlements
and markets in those entitlements. Costs are recovered through fees on
transactions and water use.
The region is also home to iconic water-dependent plants and animals, as
well as many significant wetlands, three of which are Ramsar-listed.
Faced with a record drought and future climate projections suggesting
long-term reductions in water inflows, from 2007 to 2009 the state
government developed a water resource plan for the region - called a
Sustainable Water Strategy - that sought to address future risks to the local
economy and to valued ecosystem assets.
In a discussion paper in January 2008 (Victorian Government 2008a), the
state government set out the situation, set out benefits currently arising from
the water resources, projections of future climate and risks to those benefits
under current management arrangements. The paper also outlined several
kinds of actions that could be undertaken, and sought community input on
