Water is a limited and valuable resource. Robust and transparent water accounting and compliance are essential to long-term water resource management arrangements that are sustainable, secure and adaptable.
In 1995, the Murray–Darling Basin Ministerial Council introduced the Murray–Darling Basin Cap on Surface Water Diversions (the Cap) to protect and enhance the riverine environment and protect the rights of water users. The Cap introduced long-term limits on how much water could be taken from rivers in 24 designated river valleys.
The Cap also introduced a requirement that Basin state governments had to work out ways to turn the long-term limits into annual Cap targets that take account of changes in things like the weather conditions and water availability in each year.
Under the Cap, Basin state governments must provide data to the Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) about how much water was actually taken each year compared to the annual Cap targets.
Assessing Cap compliance
Once the MDBA receives annual data from the Basin state governments, the data is entered into the Cap Register and an assessment of compliance with Cap limits is made.
The Cap Register records a credit for the year if annual diversions were less than the annual Cap target and records a debit if annual diversions were more than the annual Cap target. For most Cap valleys, the annual credits/debits are added together from year to year to create a cumulative balance, which is also recorded on the Cap Register.
If it appears that more water has been taken in a particular valley than allowed under its Cap limit, the MDBA arranges for a special audit to be conducted by an Independent Audit Group. For most Cap valleys, the trigger for a special audit is when the cumulative balance is a debit of 20% or more of the long-term Cap limit.
If the Independent Audit Group confirms that too much water has been taken, the MDBA advises the Murray–Darling Basin Ministerial Council of the breach.
The state in which the breach occurred then must advise the Ministerial Council how it will address the issue.
Once diversions in a Cap valley where a breach has occurred come back into balance with the Cap and the MDBA is satisfied that the Valley is once more compliant with the Cap, the MDBA revokes the declaration and advises the Ministerial Council.
Since 1997–98, 18 special audits have been triggered across 7 Cap Valleys. Of these, 14 have resulted in a declaration of a breach in particular water years. The Valleys in which breaches have occurred were the Barwon–Darling/Lower Darling, Gwydir, Lachlan, Moonie and Namoi. There are no current declarations of breaches of the Cap. Read more about Cap compliance.
Reporting on Cap compliance
Following the introduction of the Cap in 1995, interim arrangements were put in place to establish Cap compliance and reporting, starting with the 1994–95 year. Formal Cap reporting and compliance started with the 1997–98 water year.
For the period 1997–98 to 2011–2012, the MDBA reported annually on Basin state government compliance with the Cap by publishing Water Audit Monitoring Reports. These reports provide a comprehensive analysis of water availability and take by state for each water year.
The Cap continues in parallel with sustainable diversion limit (SDL) accounting until Schedule E of the Murray–Darling Basin Agreement is amended or repealed. The MDBA is working with Basin state governments to cease Cap reporting upon full implementation of sustainable diversion limits.
Sustainable diversion limit compliance
The Murray–Darling Basin Plan 2012 (the Basin Plan) introduced new water accounting and compliance arrangements based on SDLs which came into force from 1 July 2019, following the accreditation of water resource plans. The SDLs apply to 29 surface water and 80 groundwater sustainable diversion limit resource units and will replace the Cap compliance framework.
SDLs represent the maximum long-term annual average quantities of water that can be taken on a sustainable basis from Basin water resources as a whole and the water resources, or particular parts of the water resources, of each resource area (SDL resource unit). The Water Act 2007 requires that this reflects an environmentally sustainable level of take.
The Basin Plan's SDL water accounting and compliance arrangements expand on the Cap to explicitly include reporting on water take from watercourses, regulated rivers, groundwater, run-off dams, floodplain harvesting and commercial plantations (net take), and for basic water rights.
Water regulators and users had 7 years (the transition period) to prepare for SDL water accounting and compliance.
Full implementation of the SDL compliance arrangements are subject to the accreditation of Basin state government water resource plans (WRPs) by the Commonwealth Minister responsible for water. Where WRPs are not accredited, bilateral agreements have been put in place with relevant Basin state governments to give effect to SDL reporting and compliance from the 2019–20 water year.
The Murray–Darling Basin Authority was responsible for decisions on SDL compliance for the 2019–2020 water year. The establishment of the Inspector-General of Water Compliance (IGWC) in August 2021 means that decisions on compliance with sustainable diversion limits from the 2020–2021 water year on will rest with the IGWC.
Sustainable diversion limit compliance outcomes 2019–2020
The MDBA examined water use across all 29 surface water and 80 groundwater SDL resource units for the 2019–20 water year.
A summary of the outcomes is provided in the Murray–Darling Basin sustainable diversion limit compliance outcomes report 2019–20, the first compliance report that examines how water use by Basin state governments is tracking in accordance with the Basin Plan. This report includes the registers of take for 2019–20.
Decisions on compliance with sustainable diversion limits from the 2020–2021 water year on will rest with the IGWC.
The Annual Water Take Report 2019–20 provides further information about the availability and use of water from the Murray–Darling Basin based on states reporting under the sustainable diversion limits. It also reports on environmental water held, available and used in 2019–20, and compliance under the Murray–Darling Basin Cap on diversions.
Transition period water take reporting
Since 2012, Basin state governments have been required to report on water take in each SDL resource unit, as well as meeting their annual Cap reporting requirements. The MDBA worked closely with Basin state governments to trial the monitoring and accounting methods in preparation for the 2019–20 water year.
The MDBA reported on annual Cap compliance and on the outcomes of the trial through transitional SDL water accounting reports to ensure a smooth transition between the 2 frameworks.
The Transition Period Water Take Report 2018–19 was the fourth and final in the series of transitional SDL accounting reports.
