Sustainable Water Management Strategies for Environmental Balance

1. Striking the Balance between Food and Fibre Production and the Environment Mike Young Executive Director, The Environment Institute

2. Environmental policy • Triple bottom line? • Environment first? • Transition arrangements often confused with definition of final outcome to be pursued Economic Environmental Social

3. Getting the balance right • Recognise the difference between • Identifying environmental objectives • The science of estimating how much water is needed to deliver each environmental objective • The amount needed can be reduced by improving institutional arrangements • But volumes needed will change as technology, knowledge and institutional arrangements improve

4. Three importantobservations

5. Scarcity is compromising Biodiversity! After Vörösmarty and others (2010).

6. With 10% less rainfall Users Users Environment Environment River Flow River Flow

7. Water accounting matters • Improvements in water use efficiency come at a big cost to rivers • Forests, farm dams, overland flow capture water • Need to assume groundwater is connected to a river • MDB Guide found that the cost of not dealing with water accounting has major (in-equitable) consequences • up to 37% reduction in water entitlements if interception excluded, only 29% if included • Water accounting risks need to be assigned so that their distribution does not erode the environment’s interest

8. The MDB

9. Current building blocks • Hydrological integrity • Bring in small farm dams, forestry, overland flow capture, etc • Equitable risk sharing with Environment • Environment to be a major entitlement holder • Subsidiarity for regional planning but not for environmental water • Uniform definition of SDL across the Basin built around a 114 year average less 3% allowance for adverse climate change • But Environmental water held centrally

10. Suggested trade-offs in Guide • Conveyance to and thru mouth 9 yrs in 10 • Prepared to lose 25% of red gum forests • Most benefits from 3,000 GL to 4,000 GL local and within region where reduction occurs

11. Entitlement-based planning Uncontrolled floods and overland flows Entitlements - Controlled watering - Irrigation, urban and Industrial uses Entitlement shares Conveyance Conveyance water

12. A way forward • Recognise that the collective environmental aspirations in existing plans need review • The Act allows the SDLs to be defined in any way the Authority thinks appropriate – Section 23 (2) (c) • Rather than a volumetric approach they could identify the portfolio of entitlements that should be acquired for the environment places in regional environment trusts • Still need to define conveyance reserve • Define maximum limit on annual allocations as amount when all existing entitlements in a region receive 100% allocation • Grandfather in 100% of interception processes – linked to the entitlement system • Identify a proportion of each entitlement type to be acquired for the environment – A target portfolio • Purchase the portfolio needed • Place a significant proportion in environment trusts • Move forward step by step, monitoring, adjusting and learning with communities as the Basin goes forward • Environmental infrastructure • Removing grazing from key areas • Buying entitlements • Commitment to keep on investing until health is restored • If the money is used wisely, there is enough on the table over $0.5million per irrigator

13. www.adelaide.edu.au/environment www.myoung.net.au