Senate Select Committee Inquiry into the Murray-Darling Basin Plan

Supplementary submission by the

Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder

John Gorton Building King Edward Terrace Parkes ACT 2600

GPO Box 787 Canberra ACT 2601 | 02 6275 9245


Executive Summary

To assist the Senate Select Committee on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in its inquiries, I am providing a supplementary submission on the Commonwealth’s environmental water activities.

In my role as Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, I am responsible for the management of the Commonwealth environmental water holdings. This function is governed by the Water Act 2007, the Basin Plan and subsidiary documents, such as the Basin-wide environmental watering strategy and Basin annual environmental watering priorities. I am also subject to the same state government regulations, fees, allocations, carryover and other rules as apply to equivalent entitlements held by other water users.

I am committed to being a diligent, responsive and prudent water manager. I do not waste water. Rather, I am focussed on maximising outcomes across rivers, wetlands and floodplains from the use of the entire Commonwealth environmental water portfolio. This includes the considered use of the tools available to all water users, such as carryover and trade, andthe application of adaptive management with:

  • clear objectives;
  • robust planning and decision-making processes;
  • meaningful engagement with other water users, river operators, land managers and local communities; and
  • monitoring programmes to assess effectiveness and inform future decisions.

Strategies to maximise outcomes include using a parcel of water multiple times as it flows through the river system; coordinating with other sources of water (such as environmental water managed by state governments and consumptive water deliveries); and delivering water at seasonally-appropriate times (for example, in response to natural rainfall cues),recognising that drying periods for wetlands are necessary in the Australian landscape.

However, I do not seek to maximise environmental outcomes at any cost. I have established a ‘good neighbour’ policy, which guides my management of Commonwealth environmental water. The central principle of this policy is ‘first, do no harm’. A precautionaryapproach is taken to managing environmental water, so that there is no material impairment of the interests of landholders and other water users. In particular:

  • I have not and will not place water orders that would flood private land without the consent of the landholder. For example, I place orders at below allowable delivery limits to provide a buffer in the case of unexpected inflows. In addition, river operators will not deliver environmental flows above the limits that apply to all water deliveries, including irrigation orders.
  • Commonwealth environmental water does not and cannot fill up dams to the exclusion of others. Commonwealth environmental water carryover into 2015–16 was equivalent to approximately 2per cent of the capacity of public water storages across the Murray-Darling Basin. In five of the last seven years I have, on average across the Basin, used more and carried over less than other water users.
  • Commonwealth environmental water does not increase competition for channel capacity. This is because it is not ‘new’ water in the system, but existing water entitlement used for a different purpose. Because environmental watering is often undertaken at a different time of year to irrigation orders, it can actually reduce competition for channel capacity.In the event of channel capacity becoming limited, I can usually be flexible about how and when environmental water is ordered, so as to minimise any potential impact on others. However, at times of critical environmental need, the Commonwealth may assert its rights to access its share of channel capacity, just as the previous owner of the water would have done.
  • I assess the risk of environmental watering causing negative environmental impacts. For example, environmental water delivery aims to avoid conditions that may result in a blackwater event (that is, water with low levels of dissolved oxygen), with water also held in reserve as a mitigation measure to dilute the event should one occur. Commonwealth environmental water has never contributed to or caused a significant blackwater event.
  • I am committed to working with local communities and interested stakeholders on the design and implementation of watering actions and listening in order to understand peoples’ issues and concerns. This commitment is supported by six Local Engagement Officers that live and work in local Basin communities.

When trading water, the primary purpose is to improve environmental outcomes. However, I have regard to social and economic outcomes by considering the impacts of any trading action on the market. This includes consideration of volumes that have the potential to disrupt other market activity given the seasonal demand for temporary water, ensuring timely and early information is provided to the market about my trading intentions, and undertaking and reporting on trades in a timely and efficient manner.

The recovery and management of Commonwealth environmental water is not the main driver of temporary water prices. Independent expert analysis has identified there are many factors influencing water prices with the primary driver being water availability (that is, water allocations and rainfall).

The decline in the environmental health of the Murray-Darling Basin has occurred over many decades. Reversing this decline is a long-term process. Nonetheless, early monitoring is showing that Commonwealth environmental water is already being used effectively to achieve positive environmental outcomes and contribute to the mandated objectives and outcomes in the Basin Plan and the Basin-wide environmental watering strategy. The delivery of Commonwealth environmental water, along with other sources of water, has for example:

  • supported native fish survival, breeding and migration

-2014 saw the largest golden perch breeding event in the Goulburn River since the floods in 2010

-record numbers (over 10 times the number recorded in recent history) of the threatened Murray hardyhead were found in the South Australian Riverland in 2015

  • supported native waterbird breeding and feeding habitat

-environmental watering supported the completion of colonial waterbird breeding events in the Macquarie Marshes in 2010–11, the Gwydir Wetlands in 2012 and Yanga National Park in 2014.

  • improved the condition of vegetation such as river red gum forests and woodlands

-in 2013 the Lachlan River was reconnected to lakes, creeks and wetlands throughout the catchment, providing benefits to 60,000 hectares of floodplain wetlands and inundating river red gums, black box, lignum and other wetland vegetation communities.

-in 2013–14, watering of the Mallowa Wetlands in the Gwydir catchment saw the native vegetation biomass 25 times higher than in areas that had not been watered.

  • improved water quality through the flushing of salt, sediments and excess nutrients out of the Basin through the Murray Mouth

-On average two million tonnes of salt needs to be flushed from the Basin each year. Commonwealth environmental water contributed to flushing approximately 18 per cent of this required salt in 2011–12 and 30 per cent in 2012–13.

The primary purposeof Commonwealth environmental water is toprovide the environmental outcomes envisaged by the Basin Plan with other elements of the water reform process targeting socio-economic outcomes. However, environmental water does provide significant complementary socio-economic benefits including: improvements in water quality (especially salinity), reductions in channel capacity competition, and recreational and tourism benefits through support to activities such as camping, bird watching and fishing.

Mr David Papps

Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder

29 January 2016

Contents

Executive Summary

Introduction

Managing Commonwealth environmental water – efficient and effective use

Objectives for environmental watering

Commonwealth environmental water planning

Environmental water delivery

Carryover and trade

Amending Commonwealth environmental water trading provisions

Benefits of environmental water

Monitoring programmes

Environmental outcomes

Social and economic benefits

Avoiding negative impacts on people, property and the environment

Inundating private land and infrastructure

Channel capacity

Carry-over

Impacts on the market

Environmental damage

Environmental water management in the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth

Case Studies

Case Study 1: Responding to natural cues in the River Murray

Case Study 2: Adaptive management and localism in practice in the Goulburn River

Case Study 3: Working together to support the recovery of the Murray hardyhead

Case Study 4: Providing fish refuge from the impact of poor-quality water in the River Murray

Case Study 5: Environmental Watering in the Gwydir Wetlands

Appendix A – Commonwealth Environmental Water Outcomes Framework

Appendix B – Commonwealth Environmental Water Portfolio Management Framework

Introduction

  1. On 24 June 2015, the Senate resolved to establish the Select Committee on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. The committee is to inquire into the positive and negative impacts of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and associated Commonwealth programmes on regional communities.
  2. The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder lodged a submission to the Inquiry on 18 September 2015 (submission no. 45). The submission provided an overview of the management of Commonwealth environmental water.
  3. This supplementary submission has been prepared in response to key issues raised by community members (both in public submissions received by the Committee and at the Committee’s public hearings) that relate to Commonwealth environmental water. This includes:
  4. the efficient and effective use of environmental water
  5. Commonwealth environmental water trading provisions
  6. the benefits of environmental water
  7. avoiding negative impacts of environmental water
  8. environmental water management in the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth.

Managing Commonwealth environmental water – efficient and effective use

  1. Community members have raised concerns about the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder ‘wasting water’.These includeconcerns that there is a lack of clear objectives or purpose;with environmental water being delivered at the wrong time of the year or out-of-sync with natural conditions (e.g. too much water being delivered in dry conditions); andthat water is being stockpiled in storages, when it could instead be sold to irrigators.
  2. The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder is a diligent, responsive and prudent operator. The Commonwealth environmental water portfolio is managed efficiently and effectively, focused on maximising beneficial outcomes through water delivery, carry-over and trade. This involves having:
  3. clear objectives and targets
  4. planning and decision-making approaches that include management of risks
  5. collaboration and cooperation with other water users and river operators
  6. effective engagement with communities
  7. robust monitoring, evaluation and reporting processes.

Objectives for environmental watering

  1. The Basin Plan’s environmental watering plan establishes the objectives, processes and principles that guide the management of environmental water in the Murray-Darling Basin. The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder is obligated to act consistent with the environmental watering plan.
  2. The environmental watering plan’s overall objectives can be summarised as:
  3. protect and restore the Basin’s water-dependent ecosystems (that is, the rivers, wetlands and floodplains of the Basin, and the native plants and animals they support)
  4. protect and restore the functions that underpin these ecosystems
  5. ensure these ecosystems are able to withstand threatening impacts.
  6. The environmental watering plan also sets broad targets to measure progress towards meeting the objectives. Up to 2019, the focus is on ‘no environmental loss or degradation’. From 2019 onwards, it is expected there will be broad environmental improvements.
  7. The Basin-wide environmental watering strategy provides the next level of detail on the environmental objectives and targets. It describes the environmental outcomes expected over the next decade as a result of implementing the Basin Plan and associated water reforms. These outcomes focus on four components: river flows and connectivity; native vegetation; waterbirds; and native fish. Examples of the expected outcomes include:
  8. a 20–25% increase in waterbirds
  9. a 10–15% increase in mature Murray cod and golden perch at key sites
  10. maintenance of the current area and condition (and in some regions, improved condition) of river red gum, black box, coolabah and lignum communities
  11. improved overall flow, such as 10% more flow in the Barwon-Darling, 30% more flow in River Murray and 30–40% more flow to the Murray mouth.
  12. The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder is also obligated to act consistent with the strategy.
  13. At a catchment scale, long-term watering plans are being prepared by Basin state governments. The plans will identify the key rivers and wetlands in each catchment, and the objectives, targets and environmental watering requirements for each river or wetland. These plans are being developed over the coming years. In the meantime, environmental water managers will continue to draw on information from a large number of existing documents that describe environmental watering requirements for specific wetlands and catchments, as well as local knowledge and monitoring results.
  14. Prior to the start of each water year, annual environmental watering priorities are prepared by Basin state governments (for each catchment) and by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (for the Basin as a whole). The annual priorities inform Commonwealth environmental water portfolio management planning.
  15. The environmental objectives, outcomes and targets in the Basin Plan’s environmental watering plan and the Basin-wide environmental watering strategy are all long-term. However, individual environmental watering actions are undertaken over much shorter timeframes. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the short-term outcomes that will contribute to these longer-term objectives.
  16. The Commonwealth Environmental Water Outcomes Framework identifies outcomes that can be expected from Commonwealth environmental watering over time periods of:
  17. less than one year (1 year outcomes)
  18. between one and five years (5 year outcomes).
  19. When these shorter-term outcomes are achieved over multiple years, the best available science indicates that they will cumulatively contribute to meeting the longer term objectives and outcomes in the Basin Plan and the Basin-wide environmental watering strategy (see Appendix A for more detail).

Commonwealth environmental water planning

  1. Commonwealth environmental water planning is primarily driven by supply—how much water is available—and demand—what are the environment’s needs.
  2. Environmental water demands change in response to changing conditions.
  3. In wet conditions, the purpose of environmental water is to improve environmental condition, for example, by improving habitat, breeding opportunities, and food sources to increase populations of native fish and water birds.
  4. Under drought conditions, the environmental demand for water can be variable. Floodplain areas that have received water over the past couple of years and are in good condition may require a drying period—in this case, their demands are low. However, many wetlands and rivers would have naturally received water in all but the very driest of years. Under drought conditions, these will continue to have high water demands. Environmental watering is typically focussed on supporting these needs, which include low flows, flushing waterholes, improving water quality, and providing refuges for plants and animals.
  5. Similarly, the water available to meet environmental demands changes in response to rainfall and inflows. Under drought conditions, water availability is reduced, and disproportionately so for the environment.The dominant source of water for the environment is planned environmental water[1]. Under most water resource plans, planned environmental water availability is reduced by a greater proportion than water for consumptive use.As with other entitlement holders, Commonwealth environmental water holdings receivelower allocations.
  6. Further information on how the Commonwealth environmental water is managed under different supply and demand scenarios is provided in Appendix B.

Environmental water delivery

  1. Environmental watering typically aims to follow natural cues such as rainfall events and natural inflows. Natural cues are often critical for triggering breeding or movement of native species and occur across the whole year, including winter.By responding to natural cues, it assists in ensuring outcomes are optimised through:
  2. appropriate timing, magnitude, duration and frequency of watering events
  3. avoiding the creation of ‘artificial’ outcomes that cannot be sustainably managed
  4. providing a sound ecological underpinning to environmental water.
  5. However, it is not always possible or desirable to restrict environmental water delivery to responding to natural flow events. Environmental watering is undertaken in a working and highly managed river system. The extent to which natural cues are followedis guided by the overarching objectives and what is possible within existing constraints and operating arrangements. Also, many wetlands are in poor ecological health and the ‘normal’ wetting-drying cycle may have to be manipulated to assist in restoration and recovery (that is, provide flows to assets at a higher frequency to restore health, than what would be required to simply maintain health).
  6. An example of how environmental watering is informed by natural cues in a relatively dry year is provided in Case Study 1: Responding to natural cues in the River Murray.

Carryover and trade

  1. Environmental water is not filling up storages or being needlessly stockpiled.Carrying over water does not indicate that it is surplus to environmental requirements.
  2. Carryover is an essential management tool for any water user, including the Commonwealth, as a prudent risk management strategy. It allows users to reserve water in good years to mitigate the risk of environmental damage during drier periods. It can also be used to water wetlands or river red gums in late winter and early spring, ahead of most of the increases to seasonal allocations for many entitlement types.
  3. Commonwealth environmental water carryover into 2015–16 was equivalent to approximately 2per cent of the capacity of public water storages across the Murray-Darling Basin.