Environmental water management - introduction
Effective environmental water management is essential for maintaining the health of our rivers and water resources, and the ecosystems and industries that depend on them.
To provide adequate water for the environment we need to understand how groundwater, rivers, wetlands, catchments and floodplains interact. We also need to determine the best timing, quantity and duration of environmental flows. Water quality is also important.
This information will allow managers to develop and implement water management plans and practices that ensure the ongoing health of our waterways as well as allowing adequate resources for consumptive use.
Environmental water management and water reform
The National Water Initiative (NWI) requires the identification of specific environmental outcomes for water systems in each jurisdiction. It also calls for the implementation of management practices and institutional arrangements that will achieve those outcomes. These practices and arrangements include:
- establishing environmental water managers and giving them the necessary authority and resources to provide sufficient water at the right times and places
- allowing environmental water managers to trade water
- ensuring that environmental water management is cost-effective and that the new environmental water managers are fully accountable for their work
- managing environmental aspects of interconnected groundwater and surface water systems jointly where necessary
- delivering environmental water across state boundaries where required
- making special arrangements for high conservation value rivers, reaches and groundwater areas
- conducting periodic independent audits of environmental achievements and publicly reporting the results.
Progress
In the 2009 Biennial Assessment of progress against the NWI, the National Water Commission reported that progress has been achieved towards the goals for integrated environmental water management, but the pace of reform has generally been too slow to ensure adequate protection of many water-dependent ecosystems.
There were also concerns about the security of environmental water access entitlements and rules-based environmental water, particularly in intense or prolonged drought.
Some other findings include that:
- There has been an improvement in the availability of scientific tools and information to provide an evidence basis for establishing environmental water requirements in water plans. It will be important that such tools are now adopted and applied routinely in water planning.
- Concerns remain about the security of environmental water access entitlements and rules based environmental water, particularly in conditions of intense or prolonged drought.
- Continued buybacks, including major purchases, are an important strategy for improving environmental outcomes and adjusting to the new sustainable diversion limits that will be developed under the new Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
- The role of environmental water managers is generally not adequately defined and resourced.
- There is potential for confusion and inefficiencies due to a lack of communication and alignment between Commonwealth, state, and local environmental programs.
- Environmental water managers require specific environmental objectives within water plans to guide water delivery and support monitoring, evaluation and adaptive management.
- There is no transparent, accessible and accountable mechanism for registration of entitlements-based and non-entitlements-based water being delivered for environmental outcomes.
- The majority of water plans lack detailed monitoring, evaluation and reporting protocols linked to the delivery of environmental water and the intended outcomes.
- improved scientific research and practical application of best available knowledge are required to better understand and explain the links between environmental water delivery and ecosystem health.
Image: courtesy of TRaCK