SoE 2011 – Inland water chapter overview

1. SoE 2011 – Inland water chapter overview This presentation is one of a series of Australia State of the Environment 2011 (SoE 2011) presentations given by SoE Committee members and departmental staff following the release of the SoE 2011. This material was developed to be delivered as part of an oral presentation. The full report should be referred to for understanding the context of this information. For more information please refer to: http://www.environment.gov.au/soe/index.html Or contact the SoE team via email: soe@environment.gov.au

2. New cover page Presentation – Inland water chapter overview Photo: Aerial view of the Pilbara, by Andrew Griffiths, Lensaloft

3. State of the Environment reporting has improved • SoE 2011 is the fourth independent national assessment • Detailed analyses, wide range of information sources, comprehensively referenced, includes outlooks • Rigorous and transparent peer review process • High relevance to decision-makers and environmental managers 1996 2001 2006 2011

4. State of the Environment 2011 Committee Chair Tom Hatton(Group Executive, Energy, CSIRO) Members Steven Cork (research ecologist and futurist) Peter Harper (Deputy Australian Statistician) Rob Joy(School of Global Studies, Social Science & Planning, RMIT) Peter Kanowski (Fenner School of Environment & Society, ANU) Richard Mackay(heritage specialist, Godden Mackay Logan) Neil McKenzie (Chief, CSIRO Land and Water) Trevor Ward (marine and fisheries ecologist) Barbara Wienecke – ex officio (Australian Antarctic Division, DSEWPaC)

5. Purpose of SoE 2011 Provide relevant and useful information on environmental issues to the public and decision-makers... … to raise awareness and support more informed environmental management decisions … … leading to more sustainable use and effective conservation of environmental assets.

6. Strengths of SoE 2011 • Detailed analyses, wide range of information sources, comprehensively referenced • Discussion of the major drivers of environmental change • Analyses of issues that are highly relevant to environmental decision-makers and managers • Report-card style assessments of condition, pressures and management effectiveness • Discussions of current resilience, future risks and outlooks • Rigorous and transparent peer review process

7. SoE 2011 Products Full Report In Brief Supplementary Products www.environment.gov.au/soe

10. Assessment summaries in the report

11. Drivers chapter – context for rest of SoE • How are a changing climate, population growth and economic growth creating pressures on our environment?

12. Headlines (in Summary chapter) • 17 headlines in summary chapter give a high level overview of the big issues

13. Key Findings (in theme chapters) • ‘key findings’ give an overview of more specific conclusions for each theme

15. Key findings • Pressures caused by past as well as ongoing human activities continue to affect our inland waters, and climate change poses our largest future threat • A decade of drought severely affected southern inland water systems; subsequent floods will show how well ecosystems recover from prolonged and extreme changes in water regime • Many of our inland waters systems, particularly in the north, are relatively intact • Water quality does not meet guidelines in settled areas

16. Key findings • The past decade was Australia’s most ambitious period of water policy reform, but responsibly meeting our needs for water remains a national challenge • Water prices rose, and Australia started to use less water • Water reforms, via the water market, have helped to secure environmental flows and support ecosystem services • Our metropolitan areas made massive investments in new water infrastructure to secure future supplies • There was a diminished focus on managing catchment water quality issues, including salinity

17. The last ten years – a decade of change • Ambitious water policy reform • National Water Initiative • Water Act 2007 – new arrangements for the MDB • Water for the Future • Worst and longest droughts Australia has ever seen • Widespread and unprecedented flooding • Widespread acceptance by the public and governments that Australia’s climate is changing

18. State and trends of inland water environments • Many of Australia’s inland water environments are degraded • Southern Australia degraded from high levels of water resource development, compounded by extended drought • Northern Australia and Tasmania generally in good condition • Nutrient levels in guidelines are exceeded in all metropolitan areas and most areas of intensive agriculture • Water quality monitoring and analysis is inconsistent and sparse – trends difficult to identify

20. Water quality: nitrogen

21. Water quality: phosphorus

23. Ecological processes and species populations Study by NWC in 2005 • Stream habitats in more than half the nation’s length were assessed as modified from pre-European conditions • Main causes of habitat degradation: • Changes in sediment loads • Loss of riparian vegetation • Condition of habitats worst in New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia

24. River basin condition: Western Australia

25. Waterbird abundance: eastern Australia

26. Threatened frog species

28. Pressures affecting inland water environments • Legacy pressures • Climate variability and climate change • Water resource development • Land use and management • Pests and invasive species Photo by Nick Barnes

29. Australian rainfall in 2010

30. Inflows to Perth surface water supply catchments

31. Current and predicted distribution of the cane toad

32. Occurrence of nationally significant weed species of particular concern to inland water systems

33. Management effectiveness – outcomes

34. Resilience – need for better understanding Darling River in flood, January 2010, New South Wales Photo by Denise Fowler, courtesy of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority

35. Current and emerging risks to inland water environments • Changed water balances, flow regimes and inundation patterns • Increased pollution and loss of habitat associated with urban expansion • Damage to inland water environments from invasive species and water abstraction

36. Outlook for inland water environments • Potential to: • Meet projected growth in population and maintain prosperity • Improve protection of inland water environments • In places, reverse historical and detrimental flow regime changes • Reliant on: • Full realisation of National Water Initiative principles • Urban water strategies with mix of demand management, water recycling and desalination • Uncertainties: • Consequences of a changing climate • Resilience of inland water environments to drought/floods

37. Strengths and limits of SoE • Describes trends over time where possible, and lessons • Highlights current and future issues of management concern • Was designed to assist decision-makers • Provides critical information, but can only be impactful if decision-makers consider it and use it For more information email: soe@environment.gov.au To order copies email: ciu@environment.gov.au Or read it online: www.environment.gov.au/soe