Goulburn-Murray Water is working with the Victorian Government and various other agencies to minimise the social-economic impacts of the recent changes to the Murray Darling Basin Plan.
In November 2023, changes were made to the Murray Darling Basin Plan that gave the Commonwealth Government greater scope to purchase water entitlements, removing water from irrigators’ consumptive pool.
In response to these changes, the Victorian government recently published a prospectus titled Planning our Basin Future Together.
The prospectus reflects on previous instances where water entitlements have been purchased by the federal government and what could be done differently to create better outcomes.
GMW Managing Director Charmaine Quick said it was important there was a clear strategy in place for any buybacks.
“The changes to the Murray Darling Basin Plan have understandably caused concerns for many of the communities in our region,” she said.
“In the past, buybacks programs have been conducted as open tenders for water purchases. This has meant they have been largely untargeted, creating a Swiss cheese effect, where the patchy nature of the buybacks means we are delivering less water but still have the same costs relating to infrastructure operation and maintenance.
“This makes water delivery less efficient and irrigation more costly."
Conversely, water delivery in northern Victoria has become more efficient in recent years, largely thanks to water recovery projects such as the Connections Project and the Water Efficiency Project that GMW delivered.
Together, these two projects have created more than 450GL of annual water savings. This has enabled GMW to provide additional water to the environment and for urban water security without affecting irrigators’ consumptive pool, therefore benefitting the economy as well as the environment.
Community involvement was crucial to both projects, and Ms Quick said it was important for communities to be engaged with for future water recovery initiatives.
“It is important that we identify which areas water recovery will have the biggest benefits and least harm, and the best way to do this is by listening to our communities and understanding their needs,” she said.
“It’s by working together that we will arrive at the best outcome.”
People can share their thoughts on Victoria’s proposed approach by heading to the Engage Victoria website: www.engage.vic.gov.au/planning-our-basin-future-together