What is SAFE?
Secure Allocations, Future Entitlements (SAFE) is a project funded by the
Commonwealth Government to progress the management of groundwater in Victoria
and support the delivery of National Water Initiative objectives.
The SAFE project will set new boundaries for groundwater management areas and
promote consistent management of groundwater resources across the state.
Groundwater management decisions will more formally consider the groundwater
system as a whole by recognising that decisions for one part of the system must think
about impacts on other parts of the system.
This includes developing:
- management boundaries that cover all groundwater in the state instead of only
part of it
- guidance for decisions about managing each area
- guidelines for better determining the volume of groundwater available for use.
The project will provide guidance for groundwater management, taking into account
water users, the environment, and interactions between surface water and
groundwater.
How will SAFE be developed?
The new guidelines and boundaries will be developed and mapped by the Department
of Sustainability and Environment, Goulburn Murray Water, Grampians Wimmera
Mallee Water, Lower Murray Water and Southern Rural Water in consultation with
groundwater users including customer committees, urban water corporations, and
catchment management authorities.
What does this mean for me (the groundwater user)?
Some licences will need to be updated, and the number of licences in an area will
change if the boundaries have changed.
Your current groundwater management unit might change, however the changing
boundaries will not affect the entitlement volume on your licence.
We will have a better understanding of how reliable groundwater is and whether there
will be more water available to access due to a better description of groundwater
systems and their response to a varying climate.
The new boundaries may assist with trading over wider areas, giving more
opportunity and flexibility to buy and sell groundwater licence entitlement.
SAFE will provide a consistent approach to managing different types of groundwater
systems - so how the part of the groundwater system you extract from is managed will
be similar to how other systems are managed around the state.
Who will be consulted about this project?
A range of sessions for groundwater users will be held in each area including
meetings with existing water committees and Water Supply Protection Area
consultative committees.
To find out about meetings happening in your area, check online:
http://www.g-mwater.com.au/
http://www.gwmwater.org.au/
http://www.srw.com.au/
Why does this change need to happen?
Victoria has a large number of small groundwater management units which cover
about 25 to 30 per cent of the state.
In the past, areas where groundwater was used were given a boundary and it was not
considered necessary to develop boundaries around areas with poorer quality
groundwater.
The existing boundaries of some of these areas do not necessarily align with
underlying groundwater. This has made it difficult for regional water plans to
properly share, measure and report on groundwater resources.
The SAFE project will work out boundaries, taking into account existing management
and surface water boundaries and aligning with these where practical.
It will help us to better share, better measure and better report on the resource.
How does this relate to the existing management plans and local management
rules? When will changes take place?
The project links with development of local management rules and management
plans. Improving system understanding and setting more appropriate boundaries is
critically linked to improved management arrangements.
Existing management plans and rules will stay in place until an agreed transition to
any new guidelines is put in place.
The SAFE project will recommend a future framework by mid 2012. Once this is
complete, the findings will be considered by the Victorian Government, before any
implementation.
How does this relate to the Murray Darling Basin Plan?
The MDB Plan aims to set consistent limits on groundwater extraction for the whole
of the basin. The plan breaks the basin up into areas with similar geology and
determines volumes of groundwater that can be safely extracted without impacting on
the productive base and environmental values that the groundwater supports. DSE is
working with the Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) to limit potential conflicts
between boundaries.
What if the boundaries developed by SAFE do not match up with the MDBA
boundaries?
It is possible that the MDBA boundaries and the SAFE boundaries may not coincide.
The Victorian Government is actively working with the MDBA to make sure the
boundaries properly align.
How does this relate to the Sustainable Water Strategies?
The Sustainable Water Strategies (SWS) are setting the direction for water
management in four regions of Victoria for the next 50 years.
The Northern, Western and Gippsland SWS outline the directions of the SAFE project
in more detail (see page 68 of the Northern SWS and chapter five of the Gippsland
and Western SWS).
How does this relate to the Southern Groundwater Futures (SGF)?
The SGF project is providing groundwater information to users in a format and style
that is both informative and easy to understand. It will provide knowledge to
groundwater users to underpin future management approaches and decisions in the
south of Victoria.
The SAFE project will benefit from this. The concept of groundwater catchments is
informed by the extensive work undertaken by Southern Rural Water on mapping
aquifer layers, which is part of the information package offered by the SGF project.
SAFE builds on this knowledge, and provides a management guide for groundwater
resources.
Why do we need to change boundaries to include poor quality areas?
We are interested in ensuring management of all of our groundwater resources.
The quality of water determines what it can be used for, so while poor quality
groundwater might be too saline for humans to drink it can still be suitable for stock,
irrigation or other productive purposes.
Also, sometimes inter-aquifer movement of groundwater needs to be monitored to
work out how saline aquifers interact with fresh aquifers. Broader mapping may help
us to understand how poor quality areas could be managed. More information may
discover new chances for extraction in poor quality areas.
What are the benefits of how groundwater is currently managed?
The regulatory framework sets the architecture for groundwater resources in the state,
including groundwater licensing, entitlement and management. Recently management
plans have started to advance thinking. Some plans currently under development, the
latest are the Lower Campaspe Valley WSPA and Loddon Highlands WSPA.
These recent plans are starting to progress knowledge of how groundwater resources
with customer involvement in long term resource management issues.
The SAFE project will build on some of the advances made to the management of
groundwater in Victoria.