Water for the Future

Policy and programs

Progress of water recovery under the Restoring the Balance in the Murray-Darling Basin program

The aim of the Restoring the Balance in the Murray-Darling Basin (RtB) program is to provide more water for the environment, which can be used to protect and restore Basin river systems and wetlands. To date, the RtB program has secured the purchase of more than 4,100 individual trades.

Purchases so far have been primarily made through open market tenders. Information on the criteria used for making the decision to purchase these entitlements can be found in the Restoring the Balance in the Murray-Darling Basin fact sheet.

The information in the table below has been updated to reflect the details of purchases secured through exchanged contracts recorded as at 30 April 2012. Further updates will be made as additional contracts are exchanged.

The table summarises the water purchases made through the Restoring the Balance in the Murray-Darling Basin program, including the purchase of Toorale Station (Barwon-Darling and Warrego catchment) water entitlements.  Some points to note regarding this purchase information are:

Purchases Secured under the Restoring the Balance in the Murray-Darling Basin Program as at 30 April 2012
  Catchment Entitlement Type Secured Purchases (ML) Secured Entitlement Purchases - Long Term Average Annual Yield (ML) Other Purchases - Long Term Average Annual Yield (b) Average price paid per trade ($/ML)(c)
Northern Basin Gwydir General security 88,520 31,867   2,239
Supplementary 19,101 3,629   1,045
Condamine Balonne Unsupplemented 21,735 21,735   1,517
Intersecting Streams (inc NSW Warrego)(a) Unregulated 8,106 8,106   N/A
Namoi General security 6,203 4,776   2,050
Macquarie-Bogan General security 57,631 24,205   1,268
Supplementary 1,888 397   161
QLD Border Rivers Medium Priority 6,832 2,255   2,276
Unsupplemented 64 64   1,200
Barwon-Darling(a) Unregulated 22,273 22,273   836
Southern Basin Ovens High reliability 50 48   N/A
Goulburn-Broken High reliability 178,191 169,282 43,188 2,091
Low reliability 10,286 3,600 7,783 196
Loddon High reliability 2,796 2,656   1,802
Low reliability 644 174   200
Campaspe High reliability 6,366 6,047   2,174
Low reliability 395 194   173
Murrumbidgee High security 103 98   2,400
General security 147,230 94,227   960
Supplementary 20,821 2,915   218
NSW Murray NSW General security - above choke 175,439 142,105   1,217
NSW General security - below choke 40,671 32,943   1,149
NSW High security - below choke 2,636 2,504   2,140
VIC Murray VIC above Choke - High reliability 54,151 51,444 15,790 1,948
VIC below Choke - High reliability 150,792 143,253 28,936 2,094
VIC above Choke - Low reliability 5,406 1,297 2,354 193
VIC below Choke - Low reliability 5,762 1,383 3,947 199
SA Murray SA High security 88,301 79,471   2,131
Lower Darling General security 492 399   949
Disconnected Tributaries Lachlan High security 733 733   N/A
General security 81,671 34,302   683
  TOTAL   1,205,290 888,380 101,998  
  TOTAL LONG TERM
AVERAGE ANNUAL YIELD

990,378

 

Notes:

All average annual yield figures in this table are calculated using SEWPaC's estimates of the long term average annual yield for each entitlement. It was advised in the Murray-Darling Basin Ministers' Communique of 4 November 2011 that these would be used to determine how much of the 'gap' between the Baseline Diversion Limit (BDL) and the Sustainable Diversion Limits (SDL) has been 'bridged' through purchase and infrastructure projects.

(a) This data includes the water entitlements acquired from Toorale Station.

(b) This includes the water purchased from the Victorian Government related to the NVIRP project. The water purchased in this transaction is specified in average annual yield terms.

(c) Average price paid per entitlement trade – excludes the purchase from the Victorian Government related to the NVIRP project.