Chief Executive’s review

Entering a new era

This is a time of momentous change in the governance of the Murray–Darling Basin amid continuing serious drought conditions.

For the first time since the waters of the River Murray began to be regulated in 1914, we now have a single agency responsible for planning the integrated management of water resources across the whole Murray–Darling Basin.

The Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) commenced operations on 8 September 2008. On 15 December, MDBA subsumed the functions of the former Murray–Darling Basin Commission (MDBC), which then ceased to exist.

The centrepiece of MDBA’s activities is the development of a Basin Plan to manage the Basin’s surface water and groundwater resources and, for the first time, to set binding sustainable diversion limits (SDLs) based on the best and latest scientific, social, cultural and economic knowledge, evidence and analysis.

The detailed blueprint for achieving this is set out in the Commonwealth Water Act 2007.

To guide development of the Basin Plan, the Commonwealth Government announced in May 2009 the appointment of the Chair and members of the Murray–Darling Basin Authority — a group of five people who bring a wealth of relevant knowledge and expertise. As Chief Executive, I also am a member.

We held our first meeting in Canberra in June, with subsequent meetings planned for different key regional Basin areas to emphasise the need for local consultation and the gathering of local knowledge.

For further information on the structure and governance of MDBA, see pages xiii–xiv.

Transitioning successfully

While the transition from one agency to the other was complex and resource-intensive, I am proud to report that it was carried out efficiently and professionally — a credit to all staff involved.

Following the transition, we developed the first MDBA Corporate Plan to cover the period 2009–13. It incorporates the new Basin planning role and the reporting requirements under the Water Act.

Following detailed consultation with jurisdictional partners, the Murray–Darling Basin Authority and the Ministerial Council approved the plan at their first meetings in June.

A crucial task for MDBA has been to establish an internal structure to maximise effectiveness under the new plan and to carry out the functions absorbed from the former MDBC. Structural enhancements included the creation of a new Basin Plan Division, and a new Engagement section, with some ‘fine tuning’ of other areas.

Making significant progress on the Basin Plan

During 2008–09 we passed some significant milestones in the first phase of developing the Basin Plan. These included:

• developing strategies for integrating the management of the Basin’s surface water, groundwater and environmental water
• engaging with key agencies to draw together the environmental, social, cultural and economic information needed to describe the Basin’s water resources and how they are used
• compiling and analysing the information needed to prepare the Basin Plan
• engaging with and informing the community about the Basin Plan and the Basin’s water resources
• publishing The Basin Plan: a concept statement and a related fact sheet
• developing a process to identify, map and analyse relevant Basin stakeholders
• developing a stakeholder engagement implementation plan.
  
  

Delivering water

We remain ever-conscious of our ongoing responsibilities — especially, during this prolonged drought, of delivering water to users in a fair and efficient way.

Special water-sharing arrangements were again agreed between partner governments to safeguard the supply of water for critical human needs and to optimise water availability throughout the season. MDBA continued to supply and refine forecasts of water availability and to provide the systems for assessing options for special water-sharing arrangements.

Asset management is a fundamental part of water delivery. MDBA manages large dams, weirs and other infrastructure along the River Murray and the lower Darling, such as the crucial salt interception schemes. During 2008–09 major dam safety projects were advanced at Hume Dam, Dartmouth Dam and Lake Victoria storage, and at other locations.

Capping water diversions

MDBA is responsible for managing the implementation of the Cap on surface water diversions for each river valley in the Basin. Under the Basin Plan, the Cap will be replaced by new sustainable diversion limits for surface water and groundwater.

The Cap audit for 2007–08 (conducted and reported in 2008–09) found that in all valleys where a Cap applies, except for the combined Barwon–Darling – Lower Darling valley in New South Wales, diversions were within the Cap bounds. (New South Wales will report to Ministerial Council on the reasons for the breach and on remedial measures.) Other achievements included: finalising a Cap for the Queensland Border Rivers; and publishing the first-ever report on environmental water in the Water Audit Monitoring Report.

Keeping excess salt out of the Murray

In the Murray–Darling Basin, a naturally saline system, salinity has been a significant problem for many decades. To minimise its impacts, MDBA manages the Basin Salinity Management Strategy.

During 2008–09 salt interception schemes diverted some 450,000 tonnes of salt away from the river system. Peak salinity at Morgan, South Australia was kept below the required level, meeting the target for Basin salinity. Salt interception schemes at Waikerie and Pyramid Creek were completed, and construction began on schemes at Murtho and the Upper Darling.

Trading water

During 2008–09, MDBA’s Water Trade Program continued to coordinate and refine the legal instruments needed to facilitate interstate water trade. An unprecedented 593 GL of seasonal interstate allocation transfers were processed, mostly for use in permanent horticulture. Temporary amendments to the Lower Darling and Barmah Choke trading rules were made for 2008–09, creating more opportunities for water users to trade allocations interstate.

Water accounting information gathered this year helped to develop water accounting standards through the National Water Accounting Development project.

Working towards a healthy river

The Living Murray, one of Australia’s most significant river restoration programs, has moved close to its water recovery target of returning an average of 500 GL a year to benefit the six environmentally important ‘icon sites’ on the River Murray.

On current projections, most of the water recovery measures to achieve this target will be completed by the end of 2009. At 30 June, the measures had recovered a total of 342.5 GL long-term Cap equivalent (a type of average taking into account the different characteristics of water entitlements in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, and their reliability) for The Living Murray program.

In future, The Living Murray will increasingly focus on actually delivering recovered water to the sites.

The Environmental Works and Measures Program of The Living Murray aims to deliver water and to improve the health of the river system through new and improved infrastructure projects. In 2008–09, the program conducted major hydrologic modelling for supplying and delivering environmental water through these works and measures. A mid-term review of the program helped to prioritise projects to align with the available budget.

Checking river health

MDBA monitors the long-term health of the Basin’s rivers through the Sustainable Rivers Audit. The program has completed five years of data collection across the Basin, having sampled 82,060 fish and 294,308 macroinvertebrates from more than 1,000 sites. Hydrological data has been studied from nearly 500 sites. Reports from the first four years of monitoring are publicly available on the MDBA website, and data from the fifth year will be posted in late 2009.

Managing acid sulfate soils

Record low inflows and river levels in recent years have led to the drying of many permanent wetlands in the Murray–Darling Basin, resulting in the exposure of acid sulfate soils. MDBA has been assessing the extent and risk posed by acid sulfate soils at priority wetlands in the River Murray system.

Key achievements in 2008–09 included:

• a desktop assessment of more than 19,000 wetlands throughout the Basin and rapid on-ground assessment of approximately 1,450 wetlands considered to be at risk of acidification
• detailed assessments at high-priority wetlands, including 15 of the Basin’s Ramsar wetlands, 80 wetlands on the Murray between Lock 1 (Blanchetown) and Wellington, and sites in the Loddon River catchment in north central Victoria.

Managing risks to water resources

Working with the Basin states, MDBA is tackling six major risks to shared Basin water resources:

• climate change
• increased farm dam development
• increased groundwater extraction
• afforestation (in particular, plantation forestry)
• bushfire impacts on catchments
• reduced irrigation return flows due to improved irrigation efficiencies.

Several technical reports published in 2008–09 have created a better understanding of the impacts of groundwater extraction, bushfires and human-made water bodies.

As part of the development of the Basin Plan, a new, broader approach to managing risks to Basin water resources is being developed. Involving two primary components — risk assessment architecture for the Basin Plan, and risk management and mitigation — this will also build on previous work on risks.

Understanding drought and climate change

Understanding climate variability and longer term climate change is critical for the future of Basin water resources, and therefore for agriculture, communities and the environment.

To tackle this issue, MDBA acted as the lead agency in the South Eastern Australian Climate Initiative (SEACI).

The first phase of the initiative, which ended in June, came to two major conclusions:

• that the current drought in south-eastern Australia has been influenced by the enhanced greenhouse effect
• that regional predictions of future climate suggest south-eastern Australia will become drier and warmer as a result of the enhanced greenhouse effect.

A second phase of SEACI has been successfully negotiated, with CSIRO acting as lead agency.

SEACI 2 will extend the involvement of MDBA with CSIRO, the Bureau of Meteorology, the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment, and the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change.

MDBA has continued to communicate the extent and impacts of the continuing record drought through two-monthly drought updates. ‘Water in storages’ pages on the MDBA website, updated weekly, clearly and graphically show the volumes of water in public storage.

Helping native fish

This year we made significant progress on the navigable pass upgrades of locks and weirs and associated fishway construction. The fishways are an important element in implementing the Native Fish Strategy, which aims to return native fish populations to 60% of estimated pre-European settlement levels by 2050.

The new fishway at Lock 3, the first of a new design, was close to completion by the end of June 2009. As a result of completion of this fishway, approximately 2,100 km of the River Murray will have been opened to fish passage by August 2009. This is the ninth fishway in the visionary ‘Sea to Hume’ program which aims to give native fish free access to the entire length of the river from the sea up to Hume Dam — a distance of 2,225 km.

Continuously improving performance

As part of the transition to the Murray–Darling Basin Authority, we reviewed the internal performance reporting framework. In particular, we looked at how the internal performance reporting aligned with the reporting obligations specified in the Portfolio Budget Statements and the Water Act. A revised framework — incorporating a holistic approach to quarterly performance reporting and consolidating the reporting on financial and non-financial performance, risk management, project management and workforce metrics — has been developed for implementation during 2009–10.

Looking forward to 2009–10

The coming year will see major developments for MDBA.

Stakeholder engagement and community consultation processes will gain maximum momentum as the proposed (or ‘draft’) Basin Plan nears completion, and is released for evaluation by groups and individuals throughout the Basin.

A program for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the plan will be developed, setting out the principles to be applied and the framework to be used for monitoring and evaluation. It will also include reporting requirements for the Commonwealth and the Basin states, and reviews of the environmental watering plan and the water quality and salinity targets.

The year 2009–10 will also be a time for further consolidating and streamlining MDBA systems and processes.

And, with a professional, vigilant eye on climate conditions, we will remain alert to the most effective ways of delivering reliable water resources to users dependent on the Murray–Darling Basin.

 

Rob Freeman
Chief Executive
Murray–Darling Basin Authority