Jane Edmanson at Smart Approved WaterMark launch
ISSN: 1883 1491
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In this issue
The Commission has released Australian Water Governance 2006 – an online resource that illustrates how water is managed at the national, cross-border, and state and territory levels across Australia.
The CEO of the National Water Commission, Ken Matthews, said “Australian Water Governance 2006 (AWG 2006) is a comprehensive snapshot of the ‘who’ and ‘how’ of governance in Australia’s water sector in 2006 that will assist the understanding of the way water is managed in each state and territory and across borders.
“This is the first online resource to clearly describe Australia’s water governance arrangements, particularly in the key reform areas of water pricing, planning and markets. This important resource allows a simple comparison of the legal and institutional arrangements governing water in each Australian state and territory.
“And governance matters. The fact is that in many jurisdictions governance arrangements are shifting at a very fast pace to address the issues around water scarcity.
“For example, nowhere is governance more topical than in the Murray-Darling Basin where institutional reform of the governance arrangements is at the heart of the Prime Minister’s Water Plan.
“Jurisdictions outside the Murray-Darling Basin are also actively reviewing their governance arrangements. For example, the Tasmanian government has established a Ministerial Taskforce on the reform of the water and sewerage sector.
“Australian Water Governance 2006 gives us a starting point to evaluate the improvements in water governance arrangements as a result of Australia’s blueprint for water reform, the National Water Initiative”, said Mr Matthews.
Australian Water Governance 2006 is the first product to be released from the baseline assessment of Australia’s water governance arrangements for the National Water Initiative conducted by the National Water Commission.
Future products will evaluate the current water governance arrangements in Australia, paying particular attention to those aspects that are most critical to achieving National Water Initiative outcomes.
Australian Water Governance 2006 is available on the NWC website at http://www.nwc.gov.au/nwi/water_governance/index.cfm.
A new report, The Economic and Social Impacts of Water Trading (PDF), which identifies the changes occurring in water use in rural Australia as a result of water trading, was released in Canberra earlier this month.
The report was jointly funded by the National Water Commission, the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation and the Murray Darling Basin Commission.
The report finds that while it is difficult to untangle the effects of trade from other drivers of change, trade is a key mechanism which has helped existing industries manage adjustment and the current drought. Trade was also found to be critical to new horticultural developments opening up.
Speaking at the launch ceremony, CEO of the National Water Commission, Mr Ken Matthews, said ”Water trading is a centrepiece of the National Water Initiative and the Commission has pressed hard to open up trade. An open, robust water market will provide many benefits to individuals, communities, the environment, and the economy more broadly”.
The Commission is aware that there are a range of community and industry concerns associated with water trade and governments’ participation in the water market.
The Commission is working to develop a comprehensive framework under which it will monitor, evaluate and report the economic, social and environmental impacts of trade in the southern Murray Darling Basin. This is an important role under the National Water Initiative.
This report is an important source of information for stakeholders, academics and policy makers.
The report is available at www.nwc.gov.au, www.mdbc.gov.au, or www.rirdc.gov.au.
Earlier this month, the former Government announced, plans for the establishment of a $30 million Centre for Groundwater Research and Training to seek solutions to Australia’s water scarcity problems.
CEO of the National Water Commission, Ken Matthews said that the Centre would be funded jointly by the National Water Commission and the Australian Research Council, which would each provide $15 million over five years to the project.
Mr Matthews said, “The current drought has sparked a new awareness of the critical importance of groundwater in the minds of most Australians.
“Although groundwater provides Australia with about 30% of its water, this hidden resource is not well understood which poses challenges for sustainable management.
“The key objective of the Centre is to build capacity in knowledge and skills in a new generation of groundwater scientists in order to improve the way we manage groundwater.
“This funding of $30 million for the Centre for Groundwater Research and Training brings to $82 million the amount now committed to the Australian Government’s Groundwater Action Plan”, said Mr Matthews.
During the next few months, competitive proposals to develop the Centre will be sought from research groups and consortia based in Australian universities, in collaboration with partners from outside the university sector.
It is anticipated that the Centre will begin operating in mid-2008 and that its establishment will lead to a further strengthening of more general environmental research in our universities.
The Smart Approved WaterMark (SAWM) consumer website was officially launched at the start of National Water Week at Eden Gardens in Sydney. The launch was undertaken with the assistance of Gardening Australia personality Jane Edmanson and HRH, The Prince of Wales (aka Gerry Connolly).
The web site has been designed to provide consumers with information on how to save water around their home, about the SAWM scheme and has a full list of approved water-saving products and services. It also offers the option of signing up to receive a regular e-newsletter, featuring water-saving tips and the latest products and services approved by the scheme. The website is at www.smartwatermark.org
The Smart Approved WaterMark, funded under the Water Smart Australia programme, is a national accreditation symbol for water savings which requires assessment by an independent panel of experts. It can be applied to products, services and organisations that have been identified as contributing to water savings and efficiency, especially in outdoor use, and provides a simple and identifiable label for products and services to allow them to differentiate themselves from competitors.
To date over 120 products and services now carry the approved logo, which is shown below. The Australian Government is contributing $1.2 million to the $1.88 million SAWM scheme. The scheme was established by four associations closely involved with water use – the Water Services Association of Australia, the Australian Water Association, Nursery & Garden Industry Australia and the Irrigation Association of Australia.
The project advances the National Water Initiative objective of increasing water use efficiency in domestic and commercial settings
Following a request by the former Prime Minister and the Premiers of NSW, Victoria and South Australia and the then Acting Premier of Queensland at the Water Summit on 7 November 2006, the National Water Commission contracted the CSIRO to report on current and future water availability in the Murray-Darling Basin. The project will provide a robust, Basin-wide estimate of water availability on a catchment and aquifer basis, taking into account climate change and other factors such as plantation forestry and farm dams.
The project has been the largest research contract CSIRO has taken on in its 80-year history. It has generated a massive data set to drive a computer-based ‘supermodel’ of the Basin’s water resources, created by linking 40 existing and new models of surface and groundwater flows and extractions within the Basin’s individual catchments.
Reports for each region are being released progressively as they are completed. 18 regions within the Murray-Darling Basin will be assessed and an overall Basin report will be provided at the conclusion of the project. The reports provide CSIRO’s best estimate (median) of the likely range of future climate outcomes by 2030 and the impacts on water availability. However, there is considerable uncertainty in the climate predictions for 2030 arising from different climate models and different global warming scenarios.
The following five reports are now available:
Border Rivers (Queensland and northern New South Wales)
The CSIRO’s best estimate (median) of the likely range of future climate outcomes by 2030 is for a nine per cent reduction in average runoff leading to a ten per cent fall in water availability. Extreme estimates range from a 28 per cent reduction to a 20 per cent increase in average annual run off.
The level of surface water use has reduced the reliability of supply in the region and end-of-system flows. The level of groundwater development near the Dumaresq River is expected to reduce groundwater levels and streamflow. Without management changes, projected increases in groundwater use would be unsustainable in the long term, further affecting stream flow.
The ‘best’ estimate 2030 climate would also increase the average time between beneficial floods into anabranches and billabongs on the Macintyre River.
Paroo (Queensland and northern New South Wales)
The CSIRO’s ‘best’ estimate (median) of the likely range of future climate outcomes by 2030 is for a 3 per cent reduction in average surface water availability, which would not affect the volumes or relative level of surface water use. Extreme estimates range from a 16 per cent reduction to a 40 per cent increase in long-term average annual runoff.
The ecology of Lake Wyara, part of the Currawinya Lakes Ramsar site, would be likely to be affected by more frequent, smaller floods under the ‘best’ estimate 2030 scenario, while both the wet and dry extremes for 2030 climate scenarios would be likely to have considerable ecological consequences for the Currawinya Lakes and the Paroo Overflow Lakes.
The CSIRO’s ‘best’ estimate of the likely range of future climate outcomes by 2030 is a 17 per cent fall in long-term average annual runoff leading to a 21 per cent reduction in water availability. This is less severe than a continuation of the climate of the last 10 years.
Extreme estimates range from a 47 per cent reduction to a one per cent increase in long-term average annual runoff.
Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges (South Australia)
The CSIRO’s ‘best’ estimate of the likely range of future climate outcomes is an 18 per cent reduction in water availability. However, there is considerable uncertainty in the climate predictions for 2030 arising from different climate models and different global warming scenarios. This means that reduced water availability could range from 3 per cent to 52 per cent.
The report finds that future groundwater extraction could be cause for concern in parts of the reporting region and notes increasing groundwater salinity in the Angas Bremer Groundwater Management Unit and the Currency Creek region.
Warrego (Queensland and northern New South Wales)
The report indicates that future water resource availability in the Warrego is highly uncertain, with estimates ranging from a decrease of 30 per cent to an increase of 47 per cent. The CSIRO’s ‘best’ estimate of the likely range of future climate outcomes is a seven per cent reduction in water availability.
The report found that the frequency of beneficial small floods reaching the environmental asset of the Yantabulla Swamp and important high flows to the Warrego River Waterholes has not been affected by water resource development.
The information contained in the above reports will be used to help develop the new sustainable diversion limit for the river systems in the Basin, which is a key responsibility of the new Murray-Darling Basin Authority under the Water Act 2007.
The integrated surface water and groundwater sustainable diversion limit will be part of the basin-wide water plan the Authority will develop. Along with the CSIRO work other scientific and economic inputs and consultation with stakeholders will be used to determine the limit.
Reports on the other Murray-Darling Basin catchments will be provided progressively through to early 2008 and regular updates will be provided in Distilled as the rest of the final reports become available.
More information about the CSIRO Murray-Darling Basin Sustainable Yields project can be found at www.environment.gov.au/water/mdb/yields.html
The Northern Territory Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts (NRETA) is rapidly developing valuable tools to assist water management in the Western Gulf region.
With the support of funding from the Australian Government’s Water Smart Australia programme for the Gulf Water Study, very detailed draft maps of water sources and flows in the region adjoining the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Queensland border are nearing completion. This region includes the Calvert, Robinson, Foelsche and Wearyan River catchments.
The project is also refining a hydrological model for the Roper River. The model being developed is one of the first models of river flow in Australia that incorporate the interactions between surface water and groundwater. A perennial river, the Roper relies heavily on groundwater springs to maintain dry season flows.
Throughout the project, NRETA have worked closely with local landholders and traditional owners to identify springs, waterholes, sinks and unusual landscape formations to better understand water resources in the region.
By the completion of this project in 2010, the Northern Territory Government will have an infinitely better understanding of water resources in the region to provide scientific rigor to water management and planning in the region. A clear understanding of surface water flows, groundwater flows and their interaction is fundamental to this process.
Additional trials of the new Framework for the Assessment of River and Wetland Health (FARWH) have just commenced in Queensland, with $1,350,000 of funding from the Raising National Water Standards programme and a $500,000 contribution from the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water.
The Framework for the Assessment of River and Wetland Health utilises a conceptual model of river and wetland function, based on six ecologically significant components that should be represented in all future river and wetland health assessments. These key ecological components are:
These trials will test the alignment of the FARWH to Queensland’s current river health monitoring and assessment programs to provide greater confidence and consistency between state and national river health monitoring approaches and provide an enhanced capacity for the sustainable management of aquatic ecosystems.
These additional trials will contribute to the development of the FARWH by improving its national applicability and ensuring compatibility with Queensland’s locally relevant and comprehensive river health assessment and monitoring programs. The project will test the FARWH against current river health assessments and monitoring programs in four different regions in Queensland. These will be conducted in two stages, with the first trials to commence in South East Queensland and Central Queensland in April 2008, followed by trials in the Lake Eyre Basin and Wet Tropics in 2009. The final project reporting will in May 2010.
The FARWH was developed as a major component of the Australian Water Resources 2005 (AWR 2005), after scoping identified difficulties in reporting on river and wetland health in a comparable manner within and across jurisdictions, and deficiencies in the level of information available for current NWI reporting requirements.
In the AWR 2005 the FARWH was successfully tested against existing river health monitoring programs including the Victorian Index of Stream Condition (ISC) and the Tasmanian Conservation of Freshwater Ecosystem Values (CFEV). This testing validated the FARWH as a framework that could be applied in different locations, using different data sources from across the country to provide a nationally comparable assessment.
A key recommendation of the AWR 2005 was that further trialing of the FARWH should be encouraged by other parties to the NWI. This recommendation was supported by the Commission’s expert panel, the Aquatic Ecosystem Advisory Group, chaired by National Water Commmissioner, Peter Cullen.
The aims of the FARWH are to:
All of the reports related to the FARWH can be found online at the AWR 2005 publications page.
The CEO of the National Water Commission, Ken Matthews, recently gave one of the opening addresses to the CSIRO Cutting Edge Science Symposium on the hydrological consequences of climate change.
The two day symposium focused on the link between climate and water and the scientific understanding of how future climate projections are likely to affect water availability in Australia and brought together researchers from a range of institutions and disciplinary areas to develop a shared understanding of the links between climate change and hydrological systems.
The aim of the conference was to address questions such as:
Mr Matthews set out the Commission’s view of the public understanding of the hydrological consequences of climate change. He said that on the basis of hydrological data it is clear that climate change is real and that Australia’s rainfall is reducing especially in the south west of, and increasingly, the south east of Australia. Of concern was the fact that the amount of run off from rainfall is reducing disproportionately and is now about two to three times less than historical levels.
As a challenge to the scientists attending, Mr Matthews then set out a series of questions that he believes are critical to the Australian public and policy makers.
They included:
Further information is available from the Hydrological Consequences of Climate Change program (PDF).
Commission Mo-bros Peter Hyde, Wilf Finn, Doug Pittard, Michael Peat and Volker Aeuckens.
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