Environmental water management in Australia: experience from the Murray-Darling Basin

Recent water reform in Australia has focused on seeking to balance the needs of the environment and consumptive users through improved flow regimes. This is in response to declining ecological conditions, exacerbated by drought and the threat of climate change particularly in the Murray-Darling Basin. A programme of environmental flows integrated through multiple governance layers and managed by an independent federal-government entity operating in the water market on behalf of the environment has been established to help rectify the decline. While a challenge for this new entity involves determining when to release, trade or carry over water in storage so as to maximize environmental outcomes, early results point to real environmental gains within a highly regulated and diverse river system.