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Management Strategies. Key Knowledge and Skills. Current management policies and strategies to implement these policies Evaluate the effectiveness of water-management policies and strategies in terms of current use and sustainability.
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Key Knowledge and Skills • Current management policies and strategies to implement these policies • Evaluate the effectiveness of water-management policies and strategies in terms of current use and sustainability
50 years ago the main concern was the storage and regulation of water = some of the nations greatest engineering • However natural river- flow patterns were dramatically changed Source: page 58 your text
Change in Policy • Floods, an important part of the rivers ecology are now controlled • What may have been appropriate allocations in the past, may no longer be appropriate • New policies and strategies have been developed to ensure the sustainable use of water resources and to restore the health of the catchment
Water licences &water allocations Water licence • gives and irrigator an entitlement to extract a certain volume of water from a river, dam or groundwater each year • Refers to the specific volume of water a licence holder can withdraw in a season • The allocation is a percentage share of the pool of water available that year • Irrigators do not have a guaranteed right to water every year
Variability • Allocations vary from year to year = planning for farmers difficult • Amount of water available for irrigation varies from year to year, influencing the types of crops that are grown. Would you grow cotton in a drought year? What crop would you grow? • Rice production virtually ceased, cotton production declined, and dairy farmers substituted grains and other feed for irrigated pastures
Variability Water plentiful • Allocations may be high and farmers may choose to plant annual crops such as rice and cotton which require more water per unit area Water scarce • Irrigators may receive only a percentage of the allocation to which they are entitled or none at all. • They may plant other cereals that use less water • Trade some or all of their allocation • Not sow a crop
Low water availability • When there is low water availability, farmers with perennial crops like fruit and grapes may loose their annual crop and their trees and vines if they decide not to irrigate. • If their water allocation at the beginning of an irrigation season is insufficient to produce a crop, they may choose to buy extra water
The Darling River • Queensland's rivers supply only about 4% of the Murray’s flow • Most water used in the Darling basin is unregulated • When the river reaches a certain height, water is pumped out and stored on farms, or is harvested from the floodplains and put into dam storage. • Water is not released from large dams as is along the Murray
Water Trading • Introduced in the 1990s, occurs when irrigators buy or sell their water allocations on either a permanent or temporary basis. • The irrigators right to extract water was turned into a tradable commodity called a ‘water access entitlement’ or licence. • Trades can be between: • individuals, • irrigation districts or • states
Water Trading • If irrigators know they are going to have reduced allocation during a season, they may decide to sell their water to someone else. • In a drought a guaranteed income from the water sale may be better then risking growing a crop. • Moving water licences between users ensures that water allocated for irrigation progressively moves to a higher-value user. • = greater production for the same (or less) volume of water
Water Recovery • The Living Murray Initiative (page 71) aims to recover: • 500 GL of water annually to help restore the rivers health costing $ over years • The actual volume of water available each year depends on allocations Water can be recovered through these means:
Infrastructure improvements • Replacing out-dated infrastructure allows: • better management and control of flows • Reduces evaporation and seepage Example: Goulburn Valley as part of the Northern Irrigation Renewal Project
On farm initiatives • Incentives can be offered to encourage land owners to improve the use of water on their properties • The federal government announced tax changes in February 2011 that would encourage irrigators to invest more water efficient infrastructure to increase productivity
Buy-backs • Water for the future is a 10 year plan to address over allocation • As part of the initiative, $3.1 billion will be invested in restoring the balance in the MDB, to purchase water entitlements from irrigators willing to sell
Urban improvement • Water can be recovered from urban areas through improved use of water • undertaking permanent water conservation measures and • water recycling projects Amounts of water recovered (source: page 74)
Living Murray Initiative • The federal government as part of the Living Murray Initiative allocated 3.1 billion to buy back water from irrigators between 2008 and 2018. • Toorale station was purchased for $ 23.75 million = 14 GL water entitlements
Water entitlements for the living Murray are subject to allocations the same way as irrigation water • Once allocations are announced, the sites needing most water are identified. • The plan aims to replicate natural watering cycles • Sites would receive large scale watering at 3 – 5 year intervals and low to moderate amounts in the years between
Impacts of water recovery • More than 216 GL of environmental water was delivered to the rivers, wetlands and floodplains of the MDB in the first 2 years of the commonwealth water recovery program • This water has been used to replenish wetlands in NSW, Victoria and SA. Read page 75 for some of the sites that received this water
Attitudes to water recovery • Pair and share
