Water for the Future Achievements
Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, June 2009
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About the factsheet
One year into the Australian Governments comprehensive Water for the Future (WftF) initiative, designed to meet the challenges of water scarcity and climate change, work is well advanced to secure water supplies for all Australians and improve the environment.
Water for the Future is built on four key priorities: taking action on climate change; using water wisely; securing water supplies; and supporting healthy rivers. These priorities are being delivered through a 10-year, $12.9 billion investment in strategic programs including infrastructure funding, purchase of water entitlements for the environment, improved water management arrangements and a renewed commitment to water reform nationally.
WftF was announced on 29 April 2008. This fact sheet contains information about achievements in the first year of its implementation.
National approach to managing the Murray-Darling Basin
The Australian Government, in cooperation with Basin states, has reformed how the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), the nations most important source of food and fibre, is managed. For the first time an independent, expert agency, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA), is responsible for overseeing water resource planning in the Basin. The MDBA commenced operating on 8 September 2008 and by 2011 will prepare a Basin Plan which will include enforceable, scientifically-informed limits on the amount of water that can be taken from rivers and groundwater systems. This is a key element for ensuring the Basins long-term health and prosperity.
Murray River at Boundary Bend, Vic (J Baker & DEWHA)
Restoring the Balance in the Murray-Darling Basin
The Australian Government is buying back water entitlements from willing sellers to help restore the Basins environment. Water entitlements purchased in 2007-08 totalled 24 GL (billion litres) at a cost of $34.4 million. Under the 200809 tenders, substantial volumes of water entitlements are being acquired.
The Australian Government purchased almost 240 billion litres of water entitlements from Twynam Agricultural Group in May 2009. The $303 million purchase is the largest single purchase of water for the environment in Australias history and the volume of water involved is equivalent to one half of all the water used in Sydney each year. Ecologically significant wetlands that can expect to benefit from the purchase include the Macquarie Marshes, Gwydir Wetlands, Booligal Wetlands, Menindee Lakes and Fivebough and Tuckerbill Swamps.
The Australian Government also assisted NSW to purchase Toorale Station in north-western NSW, at the junction of the Darling and Warrego rivers near Bourke. Settlement of the sale occurred on 23 December 2008. Toorale contains important ecosystems that are under-represented in the National Reserve System, and has entitlements to extract 14,000 ML (megalitres) of water from the rivers and rights to harvest water from the floodplain. Through the purchase, an average of 20,000 ML of water will be returned to the Darling River each year, peaking at 80,000 ML in flood years.
Returning water to the environment
A total of 10.9 billion litres of water will have been returned to critical environmental sites in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales under Water for the Future by June 2009. Watering the sites is designed to sustain iconic River Red Gums and provide drought refuges for birds and fish. This will give the sites the best chance of recovery when natural inflows increase.
Environmental watering, Chowilla Floodplain, SA (P Doyle & DEWHA)
The first release of Commonwealth water for the environment commenced on 24 March 2009 at four sites in South Australia: Chowilla Foodplain; Paiwalla Wetland; Katarapko Floodplain; and Rocky Gully, near Murray Bridge. A total of 1.041 GL of Commonwealth water were delivered.
A second round of environmental watering at six sites in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia commenced in mid-May and will continue through to June 2009. The sites to receive water in the second round are: Hattah Lakes and Lindsay Island in Victoria, Backwater Lagoon in NSW, and Markaranka Floodplain, Overland Corner, and Gum Flat in South Australia.
Further watering occurred in June 2009 at Paiwalla wetlands (131 ML) and Murbpook Lagoon near Blanchetown (1400 ML).
Water for the sites has been sourced from entitlements directly purchased by the Government and as a result of the purchase of Toorale Station.
Some of the species that watering is expected to benefit include the Great Egret, Regent Parrot, Southern Bell Frog, as well as River Red Gums and Black Box woodlands.
Sustainable Rural Water Use and Infrastructure
The Australian Government has committed $5.8 billion to help irrigators make better use of the water that is available by upgrading infrastructure. In return for this funding, the Government will share in the water savings, adding to the water available for the environment. More than $3.7 billion has been committed so far to projects to improve water infrastructure and water efficiency in the Murray-Darling Basin. Projects being funded include:
Irrigation Infrastructure Hotspots Assessments
Assessments have commenced in several irrigation districts to identify the nature, location and amount of the worst water losses (known as hotspots) in existing channel and piped irrigation delivery systems across NSW and South Australia. Findings will help in developing plans to modernise irrigation infrastructure.
Chowilla Floodplain, before environmental watering in March 2009 (M Mohell & DEWHA)
On-farm Irrigation Efficiency (Pilot Projects)
Three projects have been awarded a total of $5.6 million to improve the efficiency of on-farm irrigation infrastructure which is anticipated to return up to 2 GL of water savings for the environment. Lessons learned from these pilot projects will be used to develop on-farm irrigation efficiency initiatives under the State Priority Projects and Private Irrigation Infrastructure Operators Program.
A wide range of irrigation efficiency and water management projects, being developed by Basin states, are being assessed for inclusion under the funding agreed by the Commonwealth under the July 2008 Intergovernmental Agreement. The Australian Government has invested $99 million in the Wimmera Mallee pipeline which involves replacing 16,000 km of open channels with 8,000 km of pipeline for the supply of stock and domestic water across a region that covers 10 per cent of Victoria, from the Grampians to the Murray River. The project is on schedule to be completed in early 2010.
Irrigation Modernising Planning Assistance
Over $4 million has been provided to 13 irrigation water providers around Australia under Round 1 and a further $600,000 to another five projects in Round 2 to assist irrigation water providers to develop long-term plans to upgrade and rationalise irrigation infrastructure and assess options to adapt to a future with less water.
The South Australian Priority Projects
The Australian Government has committed up to $120 million for priority works in South Australia. A potable water pipeline servicing the eastern side of the Lower Lakes has been opened. An irrigation pipeline on the western side of the Lower Lakes has undergone due diligence with a projected opening in September/October 2009.
Sheep grazing, near Ivanhoe, NSW (A Mostead & DEWHA)
Managing the Coorong and Lower Lakes
Up to $200 million will be provided to support an enduring response to the environmental problems facing the Lower Lakes and Coorong given these sites national and international significance. The Australian Government is advancing $10 million to South Australia to undertake the feasibility work necessary to expedite this important project.
Sustainable Yields Projects
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has commissioned the CSIRO to undertake assessments of current and future water yield, taking account of current and future climate change scenarios, in South West WA, Tasmania and Northern Australia. The results of this work will ensure that decisions about planning and managing water resources are based on the best available science.
The Northern Australian assessment is due for completion in mid-2009, while the Tasmanian and WA projects are due to be completed in late 2009. Results of the studies will be released to the public.
These three sustainable yields projects follow the release of the Murray-Darling Basin Sustainable Yields report prepared by CSIRO for the Australian Government and finalised in 2008. The report found:
Goulburn-Murray irrigation canal, Vic (J Baker & DEWHA)
- Total flow at the Murray mouth has been reduced by 61 per cent and the river now ceases to flow through the mouth 40 per cent of the time, compared with one per cent in the absence of water resource development;
- The median decline for the entire Basin is projected to be 11 per cent by 2030 nine per cent in the north and 13 per cent in the south;
- Under the median 2030 climate, diversions in driest years would fall by more than 10 per cent in most New South Wales regions, 20 per cent in the Murrumbidgee and Murray regions, and from around 35 per cent to 50 per cent in the Victorian regions;
- Under the dry extreme 2030 climate, diversions in driest years would fall by around 40-50 per cent in New South Wales regions, over 70 per cent in the Murray, and 8090 per cent in major Victorian regions;
- By 2070 the median climate under high global warming is expected to be broadly similar to the dry extreme 2030 climate; and
- Current groundwater use is unsustainable in seven of the 20 high-use groundwater areas in the Basin and will lead to major drawdowns in groundwater levels in the absence of management intervention.
Securing Urban Water Supplies
The Government is providing more than $1.5 billion to help cities, towns and households to improve their water security by becoming more efficient with the water that is available and finding new sources of water that are less dependent on rainfall, such as recycling, stormwater harvesting and desalination. Programs include:
$1 billion National Urban Water and Desalination Plan
Corin Dam, Canberra (S Wray & DEWHA)
Proposals for desalination, water recycling and stormwater harvesting in major cities are due to be received by June 2009. Guidelines for a special call for proposals with increased incentives for stormwater harvesting and reuse projects were issued in March 2009. The Adelaide to Parklands water recycling project that is currently being constructed is funded from this plan. Funding of $20 million each has been committed to establish a Centre of Excellence in Desalination in Perth, which has been awarded to Murdoch University, and a Centre of Excellence in Water Recycling in Brisbane, proposals for which are being evaluated. The Government has announced $328 million in funding for the Adelaide Desalination Plant to improve water security for Adelaide and to reduce the reliance on the Murray River.
National Water Security Plan for Cities and Towns
The $254.8 million program will help communities of 50,000 people or fewer to secure their water supplies. Funding has been approved and projects are underway for a number of project commitments.
Green Precincts Fund
This $15 million fund is investing in high profile demonstration projects to raise community awareness and encourage take-up of water and energy saving measures. Proposals received through a competitive call for proposals are being assessed for funding while two specific election commitment projects have commenced: Essendon Football Clubs Windy Hill grounds in Melbourne; and support for a detailed scoping study into a NSW South Coast solar farm.
$250 million National Rainwater and Greywater Initiative
Water tank (J Baker & DEWHA)
Funding has commenced for rebates to households and grants for surf life saving clubs to buy and install rainwater tanks, greywater systems or other water efficient devices.
Murray-Darling Basin Communities
Grants totalling $200 million will be provided to local municipalities in the Murray-Darling Basin to help them plan for a future with less water and associated local water savings.
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