Fact Sheets
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All about the barrages
Between Lake Alexandrina, the Coorong and Goolwa Channel are barrages separating the River Murray from the sea. These are designed and operated to ensure the lakes and lower reaches of the river remain fresh, not only for environmental reasons but as a water supply source.
There are five barrages that separate Lake Alexandrina from the Goolwa Channel and the Coorong — Goolwa, Mundoo, Boundary Creek, Ewe Island and Tauwitchere.
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Basin Plan implementation pathway process
The Basin Plan will only be implemented successfully with all governments, agencies and communities working together. A seven year pathway towards achieving and enforcing the SDLs will commence from the release of the draft Basin Plan. This transition period allows for further research, local engagement and adaptive management to occur to inform the final SDLs. This fact sheet describes the process.
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Communication products for the draft Basin Plan release
The Murray–Darling Basin Authority has developed a suite of communication products — statutory and informative — for the release of the draft Basin Plan. The major products and sources of information are described in this fact sheet.
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Climate change and the Basin Plan
Climate change has been identified as a significant risk to the availability of surface water in the Murray–Darling Basin. This fact sheet summarises how the MDBA has addressed the risk of climate change.
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Constraints and river management
Some regulations and physical constraints in the rivers of the Murray–Darling Basin make it harder to efficiently manage water in the Basin for multiple objectives. Changes to river management arrangements and removing system constraints could allow the Basin Plan to achieve improved environmental outcomes or achieve the same outcomes with less water. This fact sheet explains the constraints and potential opportunities for river management.
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The proposed “environmentally-sustainable level of take” of the Murray-Darling Basin
The Murray–Darling Basin Authority has a vision of a healthy working Basin with a balance between the water needs of communities, industries and the environment. The Basin Plan establishes new long-term sustainable diversion limits (SDLs) based on an assessment (as required by the Water Act 2007) of the environmentally sustainable level of take, or ESLT. This fact sheet explains the process to determine the ESLT.
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Flooding and the Basin Plan
Periodic flooding is a natural process of critical importance to the environmental health of the Murray–Darling Basin. Many species are dependent upon high flows to provide the nutrients and stimulus for fresh growth or breeding that they need. River regulation (storage and use of water) has significantly reduced flows, and changed the flooding regime. The Basin Plan will restore some small-to-medium flows while avoiding adverse economic, social and safety impacts on people and property.
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Hydrological modelling
To inform the sustainable diversion limits (SDLs), MDBA has run computer simulations of several possible scenarios, including to understand what the Basin’s river flows ‘looked like’ before water resource development; to set a baseline, and to model the effect of returning different amounts of environmental water to the system. This fact sheet explains what the models are and how they were used to inform the Basin Plan.
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Managing Australia’s water resources
This fact sheet provides an overview of the programs, roles and responsibilities of Australian Government agencies and entities working together to help deliver water reform.
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Sustainable diversion limit compliance
This fact sheet details the mechanisms that the MDBA will use to monitor compliance with sustainable diversion limits.
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Transitional and interim water resource plans
This fact sheet describes transitional and interim water resource plans, and the relationship between water resource plans and the Basin Plan. For the current transitional and interim plans, click here.
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Water Quality and Salinity Management Plan
The Water Act 2007 specifically requires that the Basin Plan include a Water Quality and Salinity Management Plan. This fact sheet discusses the initiatives that have guided development of the WQSM Plan and describes what the Plan covers.
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