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Report on audit of methods for reporting water storage volumes in Murray-Darling Basin

GHD for Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts - November 2008

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Background

Current situation

The Murray-Darling Basin Commission (MDBC) is responsible for directing the operation of water storages along the Murray River, in accordance with the water sharing rules of the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement (2006). The MDBC collates water storage volume information from the respective basin jurisdictions, summarise and report on the information.

The MDBC has been asked by the Australian Government to undertake a stocktake of current water storage volumes in both public and private storages across the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB). This information will provide a comprehensive summary of water storage levels (public and private) and commitments (critical human needs and irrigation allocations) against these. This information will be published in the Annual Water Audit Monitoring Report, while the information will also be updated and made publicly available quarterly (MDBC, 2008). Public storages are generally state-managed, large on-river storages, while private storages generally refer to on-farm and/or off river storages, also including council owned storages.

Concerns have been raised about the consistency of the methodologies currently being used by the various agencies in obtaining, recording and reporting on available water resources across the Murray-Darling Basin. In order to address these concerns, the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) initiated a project to review the methodologies used by the MDBC and Basin jurisdictions to report on current water storage volumes across the MDB.

Current water storage volumes within the MDB are collected by six agencies covering the five Basin jurisdictions across the MDB, these being at a State Government Department level in New South Wales (NSW), Victoria (VIC), South Australia (SA), Queensland (QLD), the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and the MDBC 1. The various agencies, including the MDBC, are responsible for the monitoring, data collection and management of storages under their jurisdictions, as well as reporting storage volume information via the respective agency websites or its general reporting arrangements.

Published storage information includes total storage capacity, current levels, active and dead storage levels. The total public storage capacity in the Basin's larger storages (>10 GL) is approximately 24 500 GL. At 31 August 2008, there was 5 840 GL in active storage or approximately 24 per cent storage capacity. About 16 per cent of this water is in the northern basin public storages, and about 84 per cent in the southern basin storages. The northern basin comprises the Darling River and its tributaries, while the southern basin comprises the Murray River and its tributaries, including the lower Darling River. The amount of water in major private storages is about 740 GL. About 70 per cent or 530 GL is in the northern basin. For private storages estimates are indicative only, and based on the total water harvested in private dams during summer 07/08 and the estimated usage since then (MDBC, 2008).

1. List of interviewee's included in Section 2.2

Cover - Report on audit of methods for reporting water storage volumes in Murray-Darling Basin

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