SUBMISSION ON THE DRAFT MURRAY-DARLING BASIN PLAN

The Commonwealth Water Act 2007 requires the preparation of a Basin Plan which guides the management of the Murray-Darling Basin's water resources. A scientific review of the draft Basin Plan during its public review period by senior elected follows of the Royal Society of South Australia found that the plan: was deficient in explaining the relative merits of how the environmentally sustainable level of take was calculated; did not adequately detail the extent to which system constraints limited the volume of water that could be returned to the environment; used an inappropriate risk assessment methodology in determining the level of groundwater extraction; and lacked sufficient scientific rigour in its monitoring and adaptive management sections. We concluded that unless substantial changes were made to address these points it is unlikely that the final Basin Plan would provide a sound basis for the successful management of the Murray-Darling Basin's water resources.