Climate Change a Factor in Unveiling of New Roadmap for Basin Review

A veiw of the Hume Weir at sunrise on February 23, 2007 in Albury, Australia. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Sir Angus Houston, chair of the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA), has unveiled a roadmap on how the authority will conduct its 2026 basin plan review (BPR).

Focusing on four key themes: climate change, sustainable water limits, First Nations, and regulatory design, the BPR will be released “every 6 months or so” until the delivery of the final report in 2026, according to the MBDA (pdf).

Angus said that climate change, one of the key themes, is the most plausible reason for the predicted 20 to 30 percent decrease in future water inflows to the basin.

“I think there is a reality that we will have to face further downstream—there will be less water available for everything that is required,” Angus told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

“We’ve got to use the plan to retain a river that remains healthy and a river that can support us.”

Meanwhile, Greens Senator for South Australia Sarah Hanson-Young said that while the roadmap was “all well and good,” she asked how the Albanese government would deliver on its current plan.

“South Australians are still waiting for the promised 450GL to be delivered on time and in full,” Hanson-Young said.

“This is not news for South Australians, who have long been fighting against upstream greed to ensure our communities and ecosystems receive the water they need to survive.”

Under the Murray Darling Basin Plan, the final 450 gigalitres of water are an additional target on top of the legislated 2,750 gigalitres that basin states agreed on meeting back in 2018.

So far, only 4.5 of the 450 gigalitres, termed “efficiency measures,” have been recovered. In total, more than 2,100 gigalitres of water have been relocated back into the environment.

The roadmap will also support desired outcomes from Indigenous communities.

“We’ll work with First Nations to determine how the review can be used to capture and contribute to the achievement of First Nations aspirations forwater management in the Basin,” the MDBA said.

According to the MBDA, amendments to the Basin Plan could be recommended based on the findings from the review.

Basin Plan Seen as Model for Other Countries: Ecologist

Renowned ecologist Professor N. LeRoy Poff from the University of Canberra and Colorado State University said the Murray Darling Basin Plan was an example for other countries of how integrated water management at the basin scale can work.

“In the Colorado River Basin, we are in a vicious water cycle of overuse, overtake and under regulation, and the latest projections are frightening,” Poff said at the MDBA’s annual river reflections regional water conference in Narrabri, reported Country News.

“Demand for water in the Colorado River Basin is now exceeding supply, and by 2030, we’re looking at a shortfall in excess of 750 gigalitres, not accounting for climate change.

“When you consider that 85 percent of the current usage is going to agricultural production, that’s going to create ripples through the U.S. economy and our food production capabilities.

“Water resources are highly contested, and there is limited scope for flexibility to achieve more equitable allocations, especially regarding Native Americans and the environment.

“We also have the urgent challenge of how to plan effectively for a warmer and hydrologically more variable climate.”

Poff added that he was “particularly impressed” by the balance achieved between community and industry needs and the protection of water for the environment.

However, Shelley Scoullar, chair and co-founder of the Speak Up Campaign—an advocacy group for Basin communities impacted by the Murray Darling Basin Plan—said in January that policymakers need to look at the reality of the Basin Plan.

“[W]e’ve ended up with a basin plan based on numbers and not on outcomes,” Scoullar said.

“The basin plan is a difficult topic or piece of legislation, and we feel that politicians know that there (are) flaws within the basin plan but yet, aren’t brave enough to call them out.”

One major concern for Scoullar is the looming 2024 deadline for the Basin plan’s proposed targets.

“We’re seeing some concerning ecological issues that have been raised in their heads since the implementation of the Basin Plan. In more blue-green algae blooms, we’re seeing more hypoxic Blackwater events. And we’ve got carp breeding at the moment out of control, and we’ve got all these issues that are about quality that needs to be addressed,” she said.

Water Entitlements Affected By Climate Change Too, Says Commonwealth Water Holder

Simon Banks, the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder who manages water entitlements bought by the federal government, said the outlook would mean his water portfolio would be cut, reported the ABC.

“The challenge will be with climate change and potentially less water in the future, and that will be less water across all entitlement holders, including the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holdings,” Banks said.

“It’s a tension we have all got to work with.”

However, Michelle Ramsay, from Girraween Properties at Bonshaw near the Queensland border, said she was concerned that the roadmap did not include community impact.

“I’m hoping to see a really big change in the way MDBA understands impacts and proactively puts communities at the centre of conversations,” Ramsay told ABC.

“We care about the future of our basin too, but we live in our communities, and we care about them—a buyback is good for the irrigator that sells the water, but what about the community they leave behind.”

Meanwhile, Jan Beer, a representative from the Upper Murray River Catchment Association in Victoria, previously told The Epoch Times that the implications of the federal government’s water buyback scheme would be far-reaching if pursued.

“If they buy back that water or they take that further water out of the consumptive pool, then food production and food security will be greatly affected because the irrigators get the very last of what’s left in the consumptive bucket of water,” Beer said.

A review by the Productivity Commission into how effectively the basin plan has met its objectives is expected to be completed by December. The Commission’s 2019 report said that some water projects were unlikely to be delivered by the 2024 deadline.