October 2014
Message from the Northern Basin Advisory Committee Chair
working with the MDBA to ensure that the work done
is informed by communities and will provide useful
information for the decision makers.
The key messages following the Dirrinbandi meeting
are:
The latest Northern Basin Advisory Committee
meeting was in Dirrinbandi. Holding the meeting in
Dirrinbandi allowed the Committee to hear local
community concerns first-hand, including any impact
on business due to water recovery to date and the
potential impacts from further water recovery.
Community members have expressed some
frustration about the time being taken for some
decisions to be made. I’d like to clarify that the
Northern Basin Review will help to ensure that the
science and socio-economic impacts of the Basin Plan
are better understood by the end of 2015. The work
will help the Murray−Darling Basin Authority (MDBA),
States and the Department of the Environment to
make decisions from 2016.
The Northern Basin Advisory Committee understands
the community concerns and frustrations and is

The quest for the shared reduction – the
Committee is keen to ensure all ways of minimising
impacts on communities are considered. NSW
reported on four northern Basin supply-measure
proposals. The Committee’s advice to NSW is to
involve the community as early as possible in these
proposals.

The Committee supports priority being given
to water recovery through water savings from
infrastructure investment, because it avoids impacts
on communities. Any buyback that is still needed
should be strategically targeted where possible. The
Committee is providing possible options to
governments in this regard.

The potential for temporary trade as an
adaptive-management strategy – the Committee
supports the use of temporary trade as part of the
toolkit to achieve Basin Plan outcomes. More
information about the use of temporary trade follows.

Queensland government representatives
provided a briefing on the flows in the CondamineBalonne in April. The Committee will write to the
Commonwealth and Queensland Ministers about the
importance of good governance in the accounting of
water use, to ensure the confidence of water users
and downstream stakeholders.

Northern Basin communities have delivered a
clear message that they will have no trust or
confidence in the Basin Plan unless they
(communities) understand how their sacrifices are
resulting in environmental outcomes at a Basin and at
a local level. A working group of the Committee will
further explore the role of local level monitoring and
evaluation in the Basin Plan evaluation framework.

The Committee recognises that achieving
healthy rivers, wetlands and floodplains involves more
than additional water for the environment. The
Committee is informed that a project proposal has
been developed by the Northern Basin Alliance of
natural resource management groups. The MurrayDarling Basin Environmental Water Knowledge and
Research Project (which has a $10 m budget) may be a
prospective source of funding for this project. Read
more about the Murray-Darling Basin Environmental
Water Knowledge and Research Project.
The next meeting of the Northern Basin Advisory
Committee will be held in Canberra on 24 - 25
November.
Mal Peters
Northern Basin Advisory Committee Chair
NBAC members, MDBA and state officials visited Police Lagoon near Dirrinbandi. The lagoon is significant for the local Aboriginal
community – the Kamilaroi people. Visitors discussed how the lagoon (as an example) might be affected by environmental
watering as well as a range of other environmental issues. Photo by Sarah Moles.
Temporary water trade
The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office
manages the Commonwealth holdings of water
entitlements used to protect and restore the rivers
and wetlands in the Murray−Darling Basin.
Once water is recovered, it is allocated subject to
annual priorities and contemporary circumstances.
Commonwealth held water has the same
management options available as other water
entitlement holders, such as use, carryover and trade.
To date, the primary management option used by the
Commonwealth Environmental Water Office has been
‘use’ (more than 3,400 GL delivered across the Basin)
as well as:

carryover − a maximum carryover from one
year to the next of 564 GL

temporary water trade − the sale of 10.4 GL of
seasonal water allocations in the Gwydir and Peel
catchments.
There are many forms of temporary trading that will
be considered through time including:

purchase or sell rights to flow events or parts
of flow events (unregulated)

purchase or sell water held in a public storage
(such as a sale of Commonwealth environmental
water in the Gwydir and Peel catchment)

purchase of water in a private storage.
The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office is
investigating the need to purchase temporary water
allocations in some parts of the northern Basin,
consistent with the Basin annual environmental
watering priorities to protect refuge sites during
ongoing dry conditions. Currently acquisition options
focus on the potential to augment natural unregulated
flow events in the Lower Balonne (Culgoa and Narran
rivers and other distributaries) and Barwon Darling.
These rivers currently have high environmental
demand.
The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office can
temporarily trade Commonwealth environmental
water.
The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office will
provide further information to the water market prior
to undertaking any trading action, based on decisions
by the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder.
Environmental water requirements are variable and
temporary trade is an option to make water available
where and when it can be used to best effect. For
example:
For more information about temporary trade, visit the
Commonwealth Environmental Water Office Trade
web page.

by selling allocations in one catchment where
environmental watering needs have largely been met,
and purchasing in another catchment where
additional environmental water would be beneficial

by selling allocations when environmental
needs have largely been met and/or market
conditions are favourable. The seller can then set
aside the proceeds for a later purchase of allocations
that will result in improved environmental outcomes.
First Basin-wide Environmental Watering
Strategy being finalised
One of the most important tools for implementing the
Basin Plan − the Basin-wide Environmental Watering
Strategy − is being finalised for release in late
November.
The MDBA is preparing the strategy in consultation
with scientific experts, river operators, environmental
water managers and government agencies as well as
Aboriginal, industry, environmental and community
groups.
The strategy sets out the important Basin-scale
environmental outcomes being sought from the use of
environmental water. It outlines management
activities that will improve the condition of river flows
and connectivity, riverine vegetation, waterbirds and
fish.
It takes a Basin-wide perspective and provides
guidance to help environmental water holders, Basin
state governments and waterway managers plan and
manage environmental watering at a Basin scale.
It will be up to water managers and holders to use this
guidance to make decisions about water use in their
own regions, working with agencies across catchment
boundaries and with local communities.
In the northern Basin, MDBA attended locallyarranged meetings in Goondiwindi, Dubbo and
Bourke, where we took the opportunity to provide
information and receive feedback about the draft
strategy that was released in August.
Read more about the Basin-wide Environmental
Watering Strategy (or copy the following URL into
your browser):
http://www.mdba.gov.au/what-wedo/environmental-water/basin-watering-strategy.
Science and waterholes
Following the introduction of the Basin Plan, the
MDBA engaged a small panel of scientists to review
the knowledge and information required to refine
environmental water requirements. The panel were
asked to focus on the science behind the
environmental water requirements in the
Condamine–Balonne and Barwon–Darling systems.
One of the recommendations of the Northern Basin
Science Review was the need to collect better
information about waterholes in the lower Balonne
Floodplain and Barwon-Darling River, particularly
about how long they hold water when there isn’t any
flow in the river. This is important because waterholes
can provide a refuge for aquatic animals at times of
low water flow.
MDBA also held a community meeting in Dirranbandi
that included discussion about the draft strategy.
Representatives from the Commonwealth
Department of the Environment, the Commonwealth
Environmental Water Office, State governments and
local natural resource management organisations also
attended the meeting.
MDBA is reviewing all feedback on the draft strategy
to determine any changes that need to be made
before releasing the final strategy later this year.
Public submissions resulting from the draft strategy
will soon be available on the MDBA website.
Read the draft strategy (or copy the following URL into
your browser):
http://www.mdba.gov.au/sites/default/files/draftBWS.pdf.
Narran River near Angledoon NSW, showing gauges
The MDBA established a project to map waterholes
and analyse their persistence in the Lower Balonne
and Barwon–Darling rivers systems, based on input
from scientists and the local knowledge gathered from
communities.
As part of the project, the Queensland and NSW
governments are looking at how long representative
waterholes will last with no flow, and how sediment
entering and leaving the waterholes affect this. Other
factors such as groundwater, local rainfall and
pumping are also taken into account.
Meters are placed in the waterholes to measure how
the depth of each waterhole varies over time.
Sediment cores are also being taken from the bottom
of waterholes to look at the role sedimentation plays.
Queensland government scientists developed a model
that allows the persistence of individual waterholes to
be predicted in the Moonie River. This project will
determine if this model can be applied along the
Culgoa, Narran and Barwon-Darling rivers, and what if
any changes are needed to do so.
While there is some information on the locations of
waterhole refuges at catchment scales, there is no
information on how comprehensive such mapping is,
or how the persistence of these refuges changes with
different flow characteristics and different types of
waterholes (e.g. natural vs weir pool).
The results of the project will be used to review some
of the existing environmental water requirements for
the lower Balonne Floodplain and Barwon-Darling
River, and determine if revised flow indicators are
required to protect waterhole refuges in the Narran
and Barwon–Darling rivers.
Dates to note
19 – 25 October – National Water Week
30 October – Climate Outlook released, Bureau of
Meteorology
November – Basin-wide Environmental Watering
Strategy to be published
November – Constraints Annual Report published
24 – 25 November – Northern Basin Advisory
Committee meeting, Canberra
27 November – Climate Outlook released, Bureau
of Meteorology
Contact MDBA
Visit the MDBA web site where you can now find
Northern Basin information under Hot Topics.
You can also get more information on MDBA’s
northern Basin program by emailing Frank Walker,
Director, Northern Basin at
frank.walker@mdba.gov.au or call Frank on
07 4637 8847.
Email: engagement@mdba.gov.au
Phone: 1800 230067
Information about other projects being carried out as
part of the Northern Basin Review is available on the
MDBA web site.