Water

The Association continues to be an extremely active participant in the water debate, at a State, Murray Darling Basin and national level.

State
In 1995, following the Council of Australian Governments water reform agenda, the NSW Government announced a comprehensive overhaul of water management aimed to improve the health of rivers and groundwater and to deliver greater security for all water users and regional communities. As part of these reforms, the Water Management Act 2000 was created and made provisions for environmental flows and securing water supply to consumers. The CRM Committee has a strong involvement in policy and practical issues stemming from these changes, ranging from Water Sharing Plans to Water Pricing, both directly and via membership of the NSW Irrigators Council.

National
The CRM Committee continues to have input into the development of national water policy, including the National Water Initiative, via representation on the National Farmers’ Federation Water Committee. The NWI is Australia’s blueprint for national water reform and has been signed by all state and territory governments. While the Association continues to support the broad framework of the NWI, it has concerns about the detail of the policy and the implementation process. The Association is seeking that both State and Federal governments deliver consistent and complete implementation of the NWI in a way that delivers its fundamental objective – true water resource security for farmers and that the appropriate mechanisms are put in place to ensure no negative third party impacts (stranded assets).

Murray Darling Basin
The Committee is also very actively involved in the development of the Basin Plan. In July 2008, the Council of Australian Governments signed an intergovernmental agreement on Murray Darling Basin Reform. The IGA outlines significant new Governance arrangements for water management in the Basin, including the formation of an independent Murray Darling Basin Authority, a new Basin Community Committee to replace the Community Advisory Committees, a Ministerial Council and a Basin Official’s Committee. The Association has expressed strong concern with the current direction of the Basin Plan, which appears to have been driven almost entirely from an environmental perspective, and is continuing to lobby strongly for a more balanced approach to delivering social, economic and environmental outcomes, as per the Water Act 2007.

Click here to visit the Murray Darling Basin page for further information...

Submissions

• Development of Sustainable Diversion Limits for the Murray-Darling Basin Issues Paper (December 2009)
• Greater Metropolitan Region Unregulated Rivers Draft Water Sharing Plan and Draft Groundwater Sharing Plan (November 2009)
• NFF Submission to COAG Consultation Draft NWI Policy Guidelines for Water Planning and Management (February 2010)
• NFF Submission to the Productivity Commission’s Draft Research Report on Market Mechanisms for Recovering Water in the Murray Darling Basin (February 2010)
• NFF Submission to the ACCC Water Trading Rules Draft Advice (February 2010)
• NFF Submission to the Development of Sustainable Diversion Limits Issues Paper for the Murray Darling Basin Plan December 2009
• NFF Submission on the National Water Initiative (December 2009)
• NFF Submission on the ACCC Water Trading Rules Position Paper (October 2009)
• NFF Submission on the Senate Inquiry into Water Licences and Rights (October 2009)
• NFF Submission on Market Mechanisms for Recovering Water in the Murray Darling Basin Productivity Commission (September 2009)
  

Fact Sheets

• Water: Regulatory Framework in Rural NSW
• MDB Planning Process - Member Brief
• Water Update

Links

National

• The Murray Darling Basin Authority - plans for the management of water resources in the Murray-Darling Basin. This site has a large number of reports that discuss the development of the Basin Plan, of particular interest are:
  • Socioeconomic context for the Murray-Darling Basin
  • Sustainable Diversion Limits - Issues Paper
  • The MDBA interpretation of the Water Act 2007 as it applies to the Basin Plan
  • All reports and fact sheets are available here
• The Department of the Environment, Water Heritage and the Arts - the Australian Government department responsible for water policy development and administration of Commonwealth programs.
• Australian Competition and Consumer Commission - statutory responsibility under the Water Act 2007 to provide advice on water market and trading rules.
• The Bureau of Meteorology - Water Information- collects data relevant to water trading and resources.
• National Water Commission - advisory and audit role
• The National Water Market Website - a COAG initiative aimed at improving the efficiency of water registers, transactions and market information functions.

 New South Wales

• Office of Water - an office within the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water responsible for sustainable water management.
  • NSW Water Sharing Plans – Contains information on Water Sharing Plans.
  • Critical Water Planning – Contains critical water planning communiqués released by the NSW Office of Water outlining current water resource availability; how and why it is being shared and probabilities for improvement.
• State Water - a Rural Water Utility, owned by the New South Wales Government, delivering water for rural, agricultural and environmental use across the state.
• Who’s who of Irrigation in NSW - from the NSW Irrigator’s Council Website, this page provides a one stop shop for irrigation contacts, both in NSW and Federally.
• NSW Water Information – Contains river water levels and flows updated daily and storage and allocation data updated weekly