Pub Date : 2023-12-19DOI: 10.1080/13241583.2023.2292608
Umair Iqbal, Muhammad Zain Bin Riaz, J. Barthélemy, Pascal Perez
{"title":"Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT)-oriented framework for blockage assessment at cross-drainage hydraulic structures","authors":"Umair Iqbal, Muhammad Zain Bin Riaz, J. Barthélemy, Pascal Perez","doi":"10.1080/13241583.2023.2292608","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13241583.2023.2292608","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51870,"journal":{"name":"Australasian Journal of Water Resources","volume":" 12","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-12-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138960910","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-09-23DOI: 10.1080/13241583.2023.2261162
Glen Walker, Barry Hart
ABSTRACTIn their recent paper, Williams et al. (2022) evaluated salinity management in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) as ‘unsustainable’, and a risk to water availability and quality in the Basin. However, this evaluation was weakened first by a failure to analyse the Basin salinity strategies of the last thirty-five years, noting that these have led to Basin salinity target being met since 2010; and second to not providing Basin-specific data to support their evaluation. Contrary to Williams et al. comments, existing evidence indicates that infrastructure intended to improve water use efficiency (e.g. salt leaching, salt disposal basins) will generally reduce stream salinity. The requirement for a leaching efficiency means that there is a lower limit to water use efficiency improvements, but this is unlikely itself to be a major risk. We agree that the changes that have occurred over the last twenty years would warrant a review of salt storage options in the MDB that better matches future needs.KEYWORDS: Murray Basinsalinitysalt disposalstream salinitysaline ecosystems AcknowledgementsThe authors would like thank Asitha Katupitiya, Acting General Manager, Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism, River Management Portfolio, Murray–Darling Basin Authority, Canberra for his comments on earlier draft of the manuscript. We would also like to thank the reviewers for constructive comments that have improved the manuscript.Disclosure statementThe authors are not aware of any conflicts of interest.Additional informationFundingThis work received no funding.Notes on contributorsGlen WalkerGlen Walker has over 30 years research experience with CSIRO in groundwater and salinity before forming Grounded in Water. Glen has been awarded the WE Woods Award for salinity research; and has been a member of the Independent Audit Group-Salinity for the MDBA; the Independent Expert Scientific Committee Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Developments and a member of the University of Melbourne Expert panel on irrigation return flows.Barry HartBarry Hart is an Emeritus Professor at Monash University and previously was Director of the Monash University Water Studies Centre. He is currently Chair of Alluvium Holdings and Alluvium Consulting Australia, and a board member of EcoFutures. Barry was a member of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority Board for 9 years (2009-2018) and, amongst many other past appointments, has had leadership roles on the Commonwealth Environmental Water Scientific Advisory Panel, the Great Barrier Reef Water Quality Partnership Science Advisory Panel and the Gippsland Lakes and Catchment Task Force. In 2003, Barry received a Centenary Medal for services to water quality management and environmental protection. He was also made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in June 2012.
{"title":"Comment on sustainable salinity management in ‘the three-infrastructures framework and water risks in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia’ by Williams et al. (2022)","authors":"Glen Walker, Barry Hart","doi":"10.1080/13241583.2023.2261162","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13241583.2023.2261162","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTIn their recent paper, Williams et al. (2022) evaluated salinity management in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) as ‘unsustainable’, and a risk to water availability and quality in the Basin. However, this evaluation was weakened first by a failure to analyse the Basin salinity strategies of the last thirty-five years, noting that these have led to Basin salinity target being met since 2010; and second to not providing Basin-specific data to support their evaluation. Contrary to Williams et al. comments, existing evidence indicates that infrastructure intended to improve water use efficiency (e.g. salt leaching, salt disposal basins) will generally reduce stream salinity. The requirement for a leaching efficiency means that there is a lower limit to water use efficiency improvements, but this is unlikely itself to be a major risk. We agree that the changes that have occurred over the last twenty years would warrant a review of salt storage options in the MDB that better matches future needs.KEYWORDS: Murray Basinsalinitysalt disposalstream salinitysaline ecosystems AcknowledgementsThe authors would like thank Asitha Katupitiya, Acting General Manager, Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism, River Management Portfolio, Murray–Darling Basin Authority, Canberra for his comments on earlier draft of the manuscript. We would also like to thank the reviewers for constructive comments that have improved the manuscript.Disclosure statementThe authors are not aware of any conflicts of interest.Additional informationFundingThis work received no funding.Notes on contributorsGlen WalkerGlen Walker has over 30 years research experience with CSIRO in groundwater and salinity before forming Grounded in Water. Glen has been awarded the WE Woods Award for salinity research; and has been a member of the Independent Audit Group-Salinity for the MDBA; the Independent Expert Scientific Committee Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Developments and a member of the University of Melbourne Expert panel on irrigation return flows.Barry HartBarry Hart is an Emeritus Professor at Monash University and previously was Director of the Monash University Water Studies Centre. He is currently Chair of Alluvium Holdings and Alluvium Consulting Australia, and a board member of EcoFutures. Barry was a member of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority Board for 9 years (2009-2018) and, amongst many other past appointments, has had leadership roles on the Commonwealth Environmental Water Scientific Advisory Panel, the Great Barrier Reef Water Quality Partnership Science Advisory Panel and the Gippsland Lakes and Catchment Task Force. In 2003, Barry received a Centenary Medal for services to water quality management and environmental protection. He was also made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in June 2012.","PeriodicalId":51870,"journal":{"name":"Australasian Journal of Water Resources","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135966089","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-23DOI: 10.1080/13241583.2023.2248676
Robert Arnold Ayre, Terry Malone, John Lawrence Ruffini
{"title":"Wivenhoe, January 2011: the dam truth","authors":"Robert Arnold Ayre, Terry Malone, John Lawrence Ruffini","doi":"10.1080/13241583.2023.2248676","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13241583.2023.2248676","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51870,"journal":{"name":"Australasian Journal of Water Resources","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43758192","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-08DOI: 10.1080/13241583.2023.2241161
J. Brookes, B. Busch, P. Cassey, D. Chilton, S. Dittmann, Tyler N. Dornan, George Giatas, B. Gillanders, M. Hipsey, P. Huang, Chris Keneally, M. Jackson, L. Mosley, Rowan Mott, D. Paton, T. Prowse, M. Waycott, Q. Ye, S. Zhai, M. Gibbs
ABSTRACT Freshwater aquatic ecosystems can be considered sentinels of change as they integrate signals from catchment, hydrology and biogeochemistry to provide an indication of how the system fluctuates. The Coorong estuary acts as a sentinel for the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), Australia. Its location at the terminus of the Murray-Darling River systems, which drains more than 1 million square kilometres across 22 major catchments, means that any change to climate, water extraction or land use in the upstream catchments will have repercussions for the Coorong. It therefore acts as an indicator of the health of the MDB and the effectiveness of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan at protecting this ecosystem. Environmental water secured through the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and establishment of the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder has been critical to preventing significant ecosystem decline in the Coorong. For most water years in the last decade environmental water has contributed to the majority of flow through the barrages. This has exported salt from the basin, reduced influx of salt from the ocean, and expanded available habitat for fish in the Coorong. However, the environmental flows have not been sufficient to arrest sand build up, and dredges still operate at the Murray Mouth during all but the highest flow events. There is a clear case for continued water management and reform, extending beyond the boundaries of the MDB, to further increase security of water flowing along the river system through the barrages and supporting the ecological health of the Coorong, and by association the full MDB.
{"title":"How well is the basin plan meeting its objectives? From the perspective of the Coorong, a sentinel of change in the Murray-Darling Basin","authors":"J. Brookes, B. Busch, P. Cassey, D. Chilton, S. Dittmann, Tyler N. Dornan, George Giatas, B. Gillanders, M. Hipsey, P. Huang, Chris Keneally, M. Jackson, L. Mosley, Rowan Mott, D. Paton, T. Prowse, M. Waycott, Q. Ye, S. Zhai, M. Gibbs","doi":"10.1080/13241583.2023.2241161","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13241583.2023.2241161","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Freshwater aquatic ecosystems can be considered sentinels of change as they integrate signals from catchment, hydrology and biogeochemistry to provide an indication of how the system fluctuates. The Coorong estuary acts as a sentinel for the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), Australia. Its location at the terminus of the Murray-Darling River systems, which drains more than 1 million square kilometres across 22 major catchments, means that any change to climate, water extraction or land use in the upstream catchments will have repercussions for the Coorong. It therefore acts as an indicator of the health of the MDB and the effectiveness of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan at protecting this ecosystem. Environmental water secured through the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and establishment of the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder has been critical to preventing significant ecosystem decline in the Coorong. For most water years in the last decade environmental water has contributed to the majority of flow through the barrages. This has exported salt from the basin, reduced influx of salt from the ocean, and expanded available habitat for fish in the Coorong. However, the environmental flows have not been sufficient to arrest sand build up, and dredges still operate at the Murray Mouth during all but the highest flow events. There is a clear case for continued water management and reform, extending beyond the boundaries of the MDB, to further increase security of water flowing along the river system through the barrages and supporting the ecological health of the Coorong, and by association the full MDB.","PeriodicalId":51870,"journal":{"name":"Australasian Journal of Water Resources","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42370802","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-22DOI: 10.1080/13241583.2023.2214989
Matt Gibbs, Mark Alcorn, J. Vaze
{"title":"The SWTools R package for SILO data acquisition, homogeneity testing and correction","authors":"Matt Gibbs, Mark Alcorn, J. Vaze","doi":"10.1080/13241583.2023.2214989","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13241583.2023.2214989","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51870,"journal":{"name":"Australasian Journal of Water Resources","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46101225","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-05-18DOI: 10.1080/13241583.2023.2211357
Leila H. Noble, J. Guillaume, C. Wyborn, A. Jakeman
ABSTRACT This paper explores how scientific uncertainty was addressed in the Australian Government’s decision-making process leading to the establishment of the ‘sustainable diversion limit’ (SDL) for the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in 2012. Our research draws on a systematic document analysis to generate an argument map representing the reasoning presented in government reports and legislation, as well as interviews with current and former public servants and researchers who have knowledge of the decision-making process. Looking towards the review of the Basin Plan, this analysis provides additional evidence for a number of areas to be discussed to advance the management of uncertainty in the associated decision-making. First, there is a need to address the challenges to adaptive management, as adaptive management delegates much of the uncertainty to future changes in policy as improved knowledge is gained. Second, there is a need to generate and use new knowledge for the review since the legislative mandate to use the ‘best available science’ enabled the use of pre-existing models and historical climate data. Third, there is a need for dialogue on handling of trade-offs between objectives given that uncertainty creates space for political pressures from interest groups. Fourth, there should be wider transparency about uncertainty in decision-making processes.
{"title":"How can management of uncertainty in sustainable diversion limits be advanced in the review of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan?","authors":"Leila H. Noble, J. Guillaume, C. Wyborn, A. Jakeman","doi":"10.1080/13241583.2023.2211357","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13241583.2023.2211357","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper explores how scientific uncertainty was addressed in the Australian Government’s decision-making process leading to the establishment of the ‘sustainable diversion limit’ (SDL) for the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in 2012. Our research draws on a systematic document analysis to generate an argument map representing the reasoning presented in government reports and legislation, as well as interviews with current and former public servants and researchers who have knowledge of the decision-making process. Looking towards the review of the Basin Plan, this analysis provides additional evidence for a number of areas to be discussed to advance the management of uncertainty in the associated decision-making. First, there is a need to address the challenges to adaptive management, as adaptive management delegates much of the uncertainty to future changes in policy as improved knowledge is gained. Second, there is a need to generate and use new knowledge for the review since the legislative mandate to use the ‘best available science’ enabled the use of pre-existing models and historical climate data. Third, there is a need for dialogue on handling of trade-offs between objectives given that uncertainty creates space for political pressures from interest groups. Fourth, there should be wider transparency about uncertainty in decision-making processes.","PeriodicalId":51870,"journal":{"name":"Australasian Journal of Water Resources","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42897377","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-06DOI: 10.1080/13241583.2023.2181844
B. Gawne, Ross Thompson
ABSTRACT For over two decades, Australia has sought to address the effects of the over allocation of water resources in the Murray-Darling Basin through implementation of the Murray Darling Basin Plan (2012). It is increasingly apparent that the impacts of climate change on surface runoff and water demand will profoundly impact rivers, potentially negating the Basin Plan’s achievements. It will be critical that we use the lessons from the last two decades to inform adaptation to climate change. Environmental water allocations over the last decade have focussed on providing base flows, freshes, and overbank flows, within a Natural Flow Regime paradigm. In a climate-changed world managers have three broad options. The first would be to continue to pursue single loop adaptive management making improvements within the existing framework. The second option would be to adapt the system approach to focus on a subset of sites, akin to maintaining aquatic reserves. The third option would be to move flow management away from the natural flow paradigm to a more functional regime. This approach would invoke the second adaptive management loop by evaluating options for adaptation and developing processes for navigating trade-offs among social, economic, cultural, and environmental values and between protection, restoration, and adaptation. Changes in water availability because of climate change will require more than incremental adaptation (first loop adaptive management) and will necessitate consideration of either protecting a smaller suite of spatial areas or a smaller set of functional outcomes. This requires profound change to some of the Basin Plan’s approaches to environmental flow management. The review of the Basin Plan in 2026 provides a rare opportunity to adapt the Basin Plan from a foundation of protect and restore to one that includes adaptation, and this will require substantive changes to the Basin Plan (second loop adaptive management).
{"title":"Adaptive water management in response to climate change: the case of the southern Murray darling Basin","authors":"B. Gawne, Ross Thompson","doi":"10.1080/13241583.2023.2181844","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13241583.2023.2181844","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT For over two decades, Australia has sought to address the effects of the over allocation of water resources in the Murray-Darling Basin through implementation of the Murray Darling Basin Plan (2012). It is increasingly apparent that the impacts of climate change on surface runoff and water demand will profoundly impact rivers, potentially negating the Basin Plan’s achievements. It will be critical that we use the lessons from the last two decades to inform adaptation to climate change. Environmental water allocations over the last decade have focussed on providing base flows, freshes, and overbank flows, within a Natural Flow Regime paradigm. In a climate-changed world managers have three broad options. The first would be to continue to pursue single loop adaptive management making improvements within the existing framework. The second option would be to adapt the system approach to focus on a subset of sites, akin to maintaining aquatic reserves. The third option would be to move flow management away from the natural flow paradigm to a more functional regime. This approach would invoke the second adaptive management loop by evaluating options for adaptation and developing processes for navigating trade-offs among social, economic, cultural, and environmental values and between protection, restoration, and adaptation. Changes in water availability because of climate change will require more than incremental adaptation (first loop adaptive management) and will necessitate consideration of either protecting a smaller suite of spatial areas or a smaller set of functional outcomes. This requires profound change to some of the Basin Plan’s approaches to environmental flow management. The review of the Basin Plan in 2026 provides a rare opportunity to adapt the Basin Plan from a foundation of protect and restore to one that includes adaptation, and this will require substantive changes to the Basin Plan (second loop adaptive management).","PeriodicalId":51870,"journal":{"name":"Australasian Journal of Water Resources","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47231988","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-06DOI: 10.1080/13241583.2023.2180830
Natasha Harvey, J. Guillaume, W. Merritt, J. Ticehurst, K. Thompson
{"title":"How could managed aquifer recharge be feasible in the Coleambally Irrigation Area?","authors":"Natasha Harvey, J. Guillaume, W. Merritt, J. Ticehurst, K. Thompson","doi":"10.1080/13241583.2023.2180830","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13241583.2023.2180830","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51870,"journal":{"name":"Australasian Journal of Water Resources","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43901957","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-01DOI: 10.1080/13241583.2023.2181292
G. Walker
ABSTRACT The rivers of the south-eastern Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) and the associated irrigation areas of the southern riverine plain (SRP) in south-eastern Australia have undergone major hydrological changes over the last 30 years. These include a period of lower rainfall; a rebalance of surface water diversions between consumptive and environmental water uses under the MDB Basin Plan, improvements in water infrastructure; water trade out of the region; and falling groundwater levels. All these changes increase losses from streams to groundwater systems; potentially leading to the need for greater releases from dams to maintain baseflow in the major rivers. Baseflow is important for conveyance of water, water quality and baseflow-dependent ecosystems during dry periods. Hydrological changes in the SRP will reduce the streamflow by 2029–30 by an estimated 80 to 320 GL/yr. Further hydrological changes by 2029–30 will reduce the streamflow by another 50 GL/yr in the following decade. This is the first assessment of the cumulative stream impacts of the SRP and is relatively lower than previous assessments for single drivers. The current approach of mitigating unexpected losses is to increase conveyance loss budgets as required. This could be extended to mitigate the lower end of potential impacts; but further steps to reduce losses may be required towards the upper end. Further actions include a review of extraction limits for surface water and groundwater, trigger levels, and a greater shift towards conjunctive water management. Groundwater extraction, which has dominated impacts, is increasing from a relatively low proportion of the extraction limit in Goulburn-Murray Sedimentary Plain and shallow aquifers of the SRP. Over time, climate change will become more dominant as a driver. Most monitoring required to support mitigation already exists, but data is not collated or reported in a form relevant for stream impacts. Modelling also needs to be updated with reporting of more relevant outputs.
{"title":"Risk of stream loss from changing irrigation, climate and groundwater extraction on the southern riverine plain of the Murray-Darling Basin in south-eastern Australia","authors":"G. Walker","doi":"10.1080/13241583.2023.2181292","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13241583.2023.2181292","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The rivers of the south-eastern Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) and the associated irrigation areas of the southern riverine plain (SRP) in south-eastern Australia have undergone major hydrological changes over the last 30 years. These include a period of lower rainfall; a rebalance of surface water diversions between consumptive and environmental water uses under the MDB Basin Plan, improvements in water infrastructure; water trade out of the region; and falling groundwater levels. All these changes increase losses from streams to groundwater systems; potentially leading to the need for greater releases from dams to maintain baseflow in the major rivers. Baseflow is important for conveyance of water, water quality and baseflow-dependent ecosystems during dry periods. Hydrological changes in the SRP will reduce the streamflow by 2029–30 by an estimated 80 to 320 GL/yr. Further hydrological changes by 2029–30 will reduce the streamflow by another 50 GL/yr in the following decade. This is the first assessment of the cumulative stream impacts of the SRP and is relatively lower than previous assessments for single drivers. The current approach of mitigating unexpected losses is to increase conveyance loss budgets as required. This could be extended to mitigate the lower end of potential impacts; but further steps to reduce losses may be required towards the upper end. Further actions include a review of extraction limits for surface water and groundwater, trigger levels, and a greater shift towards conjunctive water management. Groundwater extraction, which has dominated impacts, is increasing from a relatively low proportion of the extraction limit in Goulburn-Murray Sedimentary Plain and shallow aquifers of the SRP. Over time, climate change will become more dominant as a driver. Most monitoring required to support mitigation already exists, but data is not collated or reported in a form relevant for stream impacts. Modelling also needs to be updated with reporting of more relevant outputs.","PeriodicalId":51870,"journal":{"name":"Australasian Journal of Water Resources","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49525349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-02DOI: 10.1080/13241583.2023.2173049
Paul Martin, J. Alexandra, C. Holley, M. Thoms
ABSTRACT The revised Murray-Darling Basin Plan is scheduled for 2026. Given the Plans complexity, and issues involved in the revision it is worth asking what will be the main drivers of change? What changes can reasonably be anticipated? What preparations should stakeholders make for their engagement in the planning process? As we move towards the next Basin Plan, there are multiple wheels in motion that could shape the future. Several factors we anticipate being important are examined. Our aim is to stimulate stakeholders to think about and prepare for major contingencies that could affect their interests. We focus on those that will likely affect water availability, and changes in policy and water-governance by public agencies. We take the starting point that rivers are complex social-ecological systems, within which structural circumstances and forms of social capital will affect individuals’ and communities’ abilities to maximise what they achieve from their natural assets, and their resilience to unfavourable contingencies. We conclude with some observations about how stakeholders might strengthen their ability to respond to opportunities or threats. While the future is always uncertain and all planning processes are flawed, how stakeholders conceive of and respond to today’s challenges will substantially affect their capacity to be resilient.
{"title":"Murray-Darling Basin Plan mark II. What should stakeholders plan for?","authors":"Paul Martin, J. Alexandra, C. Holley, M. Thoms","doi":"10.1080/13241583.2023.2173049","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13241583.2023.2173049","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The revised Murray-Darling Basin Plan is scheduled for 2026. Given the Plans complexity, and issues involved in the revision it is worth asking what will be the main drivers of change? What changes can reasonably be anticipated? What preparations should stakeholders make for their engagement in the planning process? As we move towards the next Basin Plan, there are multiple wheels in motion that could shape the future. Several factors we anticipate being important are examined. Our aim is to stimulate stakeholders to think about and prepare for major contingencies that could affect their interests. We focus on those that will likely affect water availability, and changes in policy and water-governance by public agencies. We take the starting point that rivers are complex social-ecological systems, within which structural circumstances and forms of social capital will affect individuals’ and communities’ abilities to maximise what they achieve from their natural assets, and their resilience to unfavourable contingencies. We conclude with some observations about how stakeholders might strengthen their ability to respond to opportunities or threats. While the future is always uncertain and all planning processes are flawed, how stakeholders conceive of and respond to today’s challenges will substantially affect their capacity to be resilient.","PeriodicalId":51870,"journal":{"name":"Australasian Journal of Water Resources","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42235598","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：