Streamflow Management Plans
In June 2004 the Victorian Government released its Our Water Our Future (OWOF) action plan. An important component of OWOF is establishing Environmental Water Reserves, the legal share of water for the environment, for all Victorian rivers, streams and groundwater systems. Government introduced the Water (Resource Management) Bill 2005 to amend the Water Act 1989 and from 2006 the act legally recognises the Environmental Water Reserve as the legal share of water for the environment.
The preparation and implementation of a Stream Flow Management Plan enhances the Environmental Water Reserve in priority, flows stressed, unregulated rivers. SFMPs, through Victorian River Health Strategy, released in 2002, and OWOF action plan are recognised as a crucial part of achieving Government's river health objectives.
What is a Streamflow Management Plan?
Streamflow Management Plans (SFMPs) aim to provide a balanced and sustainable sharing of streamflows between all water users in unregulated catchments. SFMPs are now recognised as Management Plans under the Water Act 1989 (as amended 2002) and are legally binding on individual water users and authorities.
SFMPs apply to unregulated streams. These are catchments where the flow in streams is not "regulated" by controlled releases from publicly owned dams to supply water to downstream users. In these systems flow is simply run of the river generated from rainfall runoff in the catchment.
Emphasis of the plans is on water sharing between consumptive users and the environment during periods of flow stress.
SFMPs develop rules for how entitlements within the stream catchment are to be managed to meet the objectives for the stream developed by a community based consultative committee.
Why develop SFMPs?
Ever increasing demands for water and the finite limit of how much water is available mean there is a need to:
- Protect the long term sustainability of the riverine environment by reaching a balance between environmental requirements and the consumptive users of water.
- Clarify diverters' rights to water, including the reliability of supply, licence conditions, rostering, trading and diversion limits.
- Provide a framework of rules with which to operate the stream to meet agreed management objectives.
How are SFMPs Developed?
A consultative committee made up of representatives from a range of stakeholder groups develop SFMPs.
Representatives include consumptive water users, non-government organisations and government organisations with statutory responsibilities. Examples are shown below:
Non-government organisations
- Environment Victoria
- Strawberry Runner Growers Co-operative (Yea)
- Victorian Farmers Federation
- VRFish (Victorian Recreational Fisheries Peak Body)
Government organisations represented
- Catchment Management Authorities (Goulburn Broken and North East)
- EPA North East Region
- Goulburn Valley Urban Water Authority (Yea River)
- Local government
- Melbourne Water (King Parrot Creek)
- Department of Sustainability and Environment
- North East Region Urban Water Authority (Kiewa and Upper Ovens)
Decision-making in the consultative committee is by consensus. This means that committee members;agree in principle that the recommendations in the Draft Plan overall are a fair and reasonable means of achieving the objectives. The Draft Plan is then the basis for public consultation.
It is a community plan until approved by the Minister.
The Role of Goulburn-Murray Water
Goulburn-Murray Water supports the development of Streamflow Management Plans (SFMPs) by providing executive assistance;and expertise to the consultative committees; Goulburn-Murray Water manages the required consultancies, public consultation processes and so forth on behalf of the consultative committees.
The Current SFMP Program
Goulburn-Murray Water are currently working on four priority unregulated stream programs:
Kiewa River
Upper Ovens River
King Parrot Creek
Yea River
