Water market reforms
Water markets involve the buying and selling of water entitlements and allocations.
Australia's largest water markets are in the Murray-Darling Basin. They are critical to irrigated agriculture and communities. These water markets help with better use of scarce water resources and contribute to sustainable water management.
The Australian Government is delivering reforms to improve access to information. This access will help support fair and transparent markets across the Basin.
The Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Act 2023 made changes to the Water Act 2007 to support these reforms.
Several Commonwealth agencies are responsible for delivering these reforms with the Bureau. These include:
- the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
- the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
- the Inspector General of Water Compliance.
Under the reforms, the Bureau of Meteorology has an expanded role.
Water data hub and water markets webpages
We have developed new systems to collect and publish information.
The water data hub is a secure platform for storing and managing information. It allows organisations to submit details about water markets decisions announced from 1 July 2026. Organisations must provide this information to us under new legislation.
This information is now published on the water markets webpages. These pages provide a central view of water markets decisions across the Basin.
The initial release of the water data hub and associated webpages support increased access to information about water markets decisions. This will expand to include more detailed water markets information from July 2027. The systems and user interfaces will also see improvements.
Water Markets Data Standards
The bureau has developed the Water Markets Data Standards 2026.
This legislative instrument prescribes detailed requirements for collecting, generating or recording and giving water market information. The standards work alongside the Water Amendment (Water Markets Information) Regulations 2026.
The standards support new reporting obligations by establishing consistent requirements.
