Water for the Future

The Basin Plan

The need for water reform

Water reform is needed in the Murray-Darling Basin to deliver healthy rivers, strong communities and sustainable food production.

The use of Basin water has supported local economic growth but has also damaged the environment. A more balanced distribution of water is needed to ensure the long-term health of the Basin.


For more information see: The importance of water reform in the Murray-Darling Basin

Industries and communities also suffer from environmental damage and poor water quality

Without a healthy river, water quality deteriorates as salt and minerals build up in the system. Floodplains deteriorate, affecting their ability to sustain agriculture.

Salinity

In an average year, two million tonnes of salt flows down the Murray-Darling. It is vital for the health of the Basin to flush out these salt and excess nutrients through the mouth of the river. A closed river mouth means less salt is exported from the Basin. Over the last decade the Murray Mouth has been closed for four of ten years.

Salinity in the Basin damages agricultural production imposes economic costs and affects the quality of drinking water. And a 2003 study estimated the cost of salinity on water infrastructure and land in the Basin at $305 million per year.

Increased river flows will ensure that the River Murray flows through its mouth nine years out of ten.

Reduced availability of water and changes to flow regimes has resulted in environmental decline

The Basin is important for biodiversity and supports a large number of plants, animals and ecosystems, including 95 species listed as threatened.

The volume of water that flows through Basin rivers is low and far more variable than major international rivers.  For example, the average annual volume of water flowing through the River Murray is less than the average daily flow of the Amazon River.

Low levels of rainfall and slow flows mean that the rivers experience high levels of evaporative losses and are less able to accommodate efficient water storages. 

Farmers, communities and governments in the Basin have made significant progress in using water more wisely, including adopting world-class irrigation practices and technology. However, overall, too much water is being removed from the Basin's rivers, wetlands and floodplains, resulting in long-term environmental decline.

Before human development, natural flows would produce regular medium floods as well as seasonal dry periods. The system would be flushed during regular medium floods and low flows in summer would support important environmental processes. Development in the Basin has reduced fluctuations in stream flows. Environmental sites below major storages no longer experience frequent small to medium floods.

Both the reduced availability of water and changes to flow regimes has resulted in environmental decline. Native bird and fish numbers have been falling, algal blooms have increased and during the last drought the Basin experienced the world's largest recorded outbreak of acid sulfate soils. These changes have also reduced the environment's ability to perform important services such as pollination, fish breeding, nutrient recycling and replenishment of soils.

Sustainable rivers audit

The first basin-wide report card on the ecological health of the Murray-Darling Basin, the Sustainable Rivers Audit   conducted between 2004–2007 over 96,000 km of rivers and streams, found long-term degradation in most of the Basin's valleys.

CSIRO's work through the Murray-Darling Basin Sustainable Yields project, conducted during 2007 and 2008, revealed that consumptive water use in the Basin has reduced average annual streamflow at the Murray mouth by 61 per cent. The river now ceases to flow through the mouth 40 per cent of the time, compared to 1 per cent in the absence of water resource development. Climate change could further reduce flood events in many parts of the Basin, in some cases dramatically, affecting birds, fish, plants and animals.

Restoring regular flows to the Basin will improve environmental health and deliver benefits to all users

Restoring regular flows will deliver environmental, economic and social benefits.

Videos

Environmental watering in the Murrumbidgee River

More than 160 gigalitres of environmental water was released into the Murrumbidgee River in New South Wales in June 2011. >>Watch Video

 
Draft Murray-Darling Basin plan

Draft Basin Plan 
Find out more about the draft Basin Plan.


Resources

Water information hotline

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