The latest Murray-Darling Basin Plan Evaluation has again shown that only a holistic approach to water management can deliver lasting, Basin wide environmental improvements.
The Basin Plan Evaluation and Sustainable Rivers Audit released yesterday note that water recovery targets have been met, and ecological improvements have been observed.
On the socioeconomic front, some towns had navigated the reform process without major disruptions, but the Murray-Darling Basin Authority found others were not so fortunate.
"The MDBA's Evaluation has acknowledged the importance of complementary measures, noting that integrated and targeted water management programs are the most successful at improving environmental outcomes," said NSWIC CEO Dr. Madeleine Hartley.
"NSWIC has long advocated for a collaborative and coordinated approach that looks beyond simple volumetric targets, and we are pleased this is finally being recognised."
Factors cited by the MDBA as crucial to river health include "water quality, riparian and floodplain management, pest control, instream habitat, river operations, constraints and works, and environmental water portfolio management."
"This is a step in the right direction, underlining that investment in complementary measures is essential if we want to achieve enduring ecological improvements," said Dr Hartley.
"These complementary measures minimise impacts on irrigated agriculture and are supported by industry, environmentalists, and scientists alike.
"Irrigated agriculture and the communities that depend on it have endured the immense reform and borne much of the brunt of the Basin Plan, with the MDBA conceding its Basin-wide economic figures 'may mask the divergent experiences at the local level'.
"NSWIC trusts the next Basin Plan will focus on how to best to use the more than 3000GL of water recovered since 2000 under the 2012 Plan and earlier reforms, rather than simply recovering more water from farmers", said Dr. Hartley.
"Water buybacks have often come at the expense of vulnerable irrigation-dependent communities like Collarenebri, Menindee or Deniliquin, that have never rebounded since water recovery took place.
"We need to acknowledge the hard work done to date and admit environmental goals cannot be met by simply putting more water down the river. Our focus must now shift away from water recovery and towards how to best make use of the water that we already have."
