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Healthy riversand catchments

John Williams, Kathleen H Bowmer and Hester L Gascoigne 3

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In Australia, the role ofstewardship and the valueof ecosystem services are being incorporated into new approaches to environmental planningthat include both publicand private investment.

Environmental damage is already costing Australians $AU3.5 billion each

year. Soils, unique plants and animals, rivers and water supplies are seriously

threatened by problems such as salinity, soil loss, pollution and habitat

destruction. The cost of repairing the country is harnessing all sectors of the

Australian community, government and industry to develop new integrated

approaches to landscape and river management. Land care is about matching

capacity to purpose. New water policy balances the needs of water users with

those of healthy rivers and will protect those assets that are still unspoiled.

Opposite page: The Wollondilly river in the Warragamba catchment. Image courtesy of Sydney Catchment Authority

A landscape that is unique

In its Blueprint for a Living Continent,

the Wentworth Group of concerned

scientists described in simple language

the natural resource issues that

confront Australia:

‘Australia is the driest inhabited

continent on Earth. It also has the

most variable climate. Australia is

also the most ancient continent.

It is an old and weathered landscape

and much of it is very flat, with a

salt inheritance buried deep within it.

Australian has been an island continent

for over 40 million years.’

These three elements – an arid climate,

ancient soils, and evolutionary history

– make Australia unique and unsuitable

for European agricultural practices.

Over this unique environment has

been superimposed the full gamut

range of European agricultural

practices supported by rapidly

developing technologies and driven

by changing global markets. It has

become apparent that in many

instances the existing agricultural

practices are unsustainable and have

led to large-scale damage to natural

systems. Innovative approaches are

needed to improve environmental

sustainability and biodiversity.

Landscapes and rivers aredamaged and need repair

The National Strategy for Ecologically

Sustainable Development adopted byall Australian Governments in 1992called for regular State of the

Environment reporting. Land and waterdegradation in Australia was identifiedand regularly examined during the1980s. However the spatial extent,trends and costs in lost production andenvironmental amenity, particularlybiodiversity, remained very poorlydocumented until the publication ofthe National Land & Water Resources

Audit report Australians and Natural

Resource Management 2002.

ANZLIC – the Spatial InformationCouncil and the Audit have preparedthe Natural Resources Information

Management Toolkit to assist managersand regional groups in discovering,accessing, visualising and managingtheir data and information.

Salinity and water quality problemsneed urgent attention because:

At least 2.5 million hectares (about5 percent of cultivated land) iscurrently affected by dryland salinity– modelling suggests that this couldrise to 12 million hectares (22 percent)at the current rate of increase

The National Land & Water

Rsources Audit reports that one third of Australian rivers are in extremely poor condition

Land and water degradation,excluding weeds and pests, is estimated to cost up to $AU3.5billion per year. In addition, drylandsalinity has adversely affectedbiodiversity, for example CSIROestimates a resultant reduction inbird species of 50 percent inagricultural areas

Infrastructure (such as buildings,roads) is being severely damagedin many rural urban centres

Current dryland agricultureis not sustainable

Over the past two hundred years, thesuccess of Australian agriculture hasdriven the nation’s economicdevelopment. The latest estimatefrom the National Land & Water

Reources Audit for the gross value ofagricultural production is $AU28billion. Half of the profits came fromirrigated agriculture, which takes upless than one percent of theagricultural land area.

However, in dryland agriculture,commodities are being produced in aworld market with ever-declining termsof trade, and at significant cost to theenvironment. A different agriculturalsystem is required – one that is inharmony with its environment and ableto support viable rural communities.

While the problems are severe,progress is being made throughcommitment to change at the mostsenior (prime ministerial) level, byengaging regional communities infinding solutions, through science-based intervention, and through newfunding mechanisms and incentives.

82 Healthy rivers and catchments

What drives innovation in Australia

Wheat crop near Blyth in the mid north of SouthAustralia. Image courtesy of ©CSIRO Land and Water

CSIRO Land and WaterWorking with communities towards healthy rivers and catchmentsSustainable management of Australia’s natural resources is critical to the health of our rivers and catchments.

The challenges include allocating our limited water resources efficiently between the environment and other users,

improving water use productivity and developing more efficient water delivery infrastructure.

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These complex issues requireintegrated scientific solutions based ona whole-of-systems understanding ofthe impacts of land management andwater use on rivers, catchments andestuaries – impacts that includegroundwater recharge, salinity, erosion,water quality and altered flow regimes.

In tackling these challenges, CSIRO Land and Water harnessesexpertise across disparatedisciplines ranging from hydrologicalresearch to economics and socialscience. We recognise that strongeconomic drivers are alsoimperative, as are institutional,structural and social changes.

Our researchers work inpartnerships with clients,collaborators and communities to provide the science capacityneeded to underpin catchment-scale decisions, policy options and infrastructure investments.

Partnerships in researchand development

Research and development effort is mostly co-investment withcorporations and agencies such asthe Murray-Darling Basin Commission,one example being the Murray-DarlingFreshwater Research Centre. Activelinkages include natural resource andenvironmental agencies in all Australianstates, as well as the relevantAustralian Government agencies,including the Departments ofAgriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, andTransport and Regional Services, aswell as the Department of theEnvironment and Heritage, andLand & Water Australia.

Partnerships include many Australianuniversities and twelve Cooperative

Research Centres, includingCatchment Hydrology; Coastal Zone,Estuary and Waterway Management;Freshwater Ecology; Irrigation Futures;Landscape Environments andMineral Exploration; SustainableRice Production; and Plant-basedManagement of Dryland Salinity.

In delivering applied research tomeet industry needs, CSIRO Landand Water collaborates with:

Research and development (R&D)corporations – including the GrainsR&D Corporation, the Grape andWine R&D Corporation, HorticultureAustralia, and the Rural IndustriesR&D Corporation

Industry and non-governmentorganisations such as theNational Farmers’ Federation,Canegrowers, Greening Australiaand Landcare Australia

Irrigation cooperatives – includingMurrumbidgee Irrigation, MurrayIrrigation Limited, ColeamballyIrrigation Cooperative Limitedand Goulburn Murray Water

For further information please contact:

Communication ManagerCSIRO Land and WaterPMB 2 Glen Osmond SA 5064T 61 8 8303 8513 F 61 8 8303 8550E [email protected] www.clw.csiro.au

Water management authorities andregional catchment managementagencies – including SydneyCatchment Authority, ACTEW,Melbourne Water, WA WaterCorporation, WA Rivers and WatersCommission, North Burdekin WaterBoard, South Burdekin Water Board,and SunWater

Private industry

Aerial view of Lyell Dam, Cox’s River near Lithgow, New South Wales. Image courtesy of ©CSIRO Land and Water

The water cycle

An integrated approach is underpinnedby recognition of interactions in thewater cycle (Figure 3.01). Many of theactions that have damaged Australianwater resources reflect failure tounderstand the complex nature ofthese interdependencies.

For example, rivers are stressed bybeing dammed and regulated, and bywater extraction when the pattern offlow is changed. Over-extraction ofwater can endanger native fish, increasesalinity and the incidence of algalblooms, and damage vegetation inwetlands and floodplains. These effectsare compounded by stresses caused byrelease of cold water from storages,removal of snags (submerged timber)that are critical habitat for fish, andintroduction of alien fish such as carp.

Some scientists believe that thesenon-flow stresses are more importantthan changes in flow regime, and this is causing substantial conflictbetween some scientists, watersuppliers and conservationists.

A whole-of-system understanding for the River Murray – its groundwatersystems, wetlands, billabongs andflood plains, linked to the extraction andreturn of irrigation waters – underpinsthe Living Murray initiative of theMurray-Darling Basin Commission(pages 21-22 and 96).

Many research groups are tackling the complex issues of river healthand water for the environment. Theyinclude the Cooperative ResearchCentre for Freshwater Ecology (page98), the Murray-Darling FreshwaterResearch Centre, The University ofAdelaide, Griffith University, JamesCook University, Murdoch University,Charles Sturt University and theUniversity of Western Sydney (pages63, 99, 120).


Innovation 1: Whole-of-system-thinking

irrigation region

6

7

8

5

groundwater dam

rainfall

wetland

riverestuarycoastal waters

dryland catchment land use

climate variability & change

1

2

3

4

Key intervention points for sustainability of irrigation systems are:

1 & 7. Reduce water extraction; improve river flow regime by trading, regulation of water use and improveddam management

2. Reduce water extraction from groundwater

3. Manage sub-surface drainage to avoid accumulation of salt in the root zone’ and improve interceptionof subsurface drainage water and reuse through bio-concentration and extraction or evaporation basins

4. Improve water use efficiency on farm

5. Improve surface water drainage, improve reuse, reduce contaminants

6. Manage landscapes to maintain run-off while reducing amount of salt and pollutants to rivers and groundwater

8. Improve prediction of climate change over longer term on water availability

Image courtesy of CRC for Irrigation Futures

FIGURE 3.01 Catchment, Irrigation, River and Groundwater Management Cycles

Salinity patches and scalds near Mount Torrens in the Mount Lofty Ranges, South Australia. Image courtesy of ©CSIRO Land and Water

Australian Bureau of Meteorology

Improved weather forecasting

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Sustainable water resources

management requires accurate

and timely information.

One way in which the AustralianBureau of Meteorology contributesto sustainable management is byan improved weather forecastingcapability achieved throughadvances in numerical weathermodelling and new observationsystems such as Doppler radar.

Increasing pressure for moreefficient management of water, forexample through tighter controlson allocation and more competitionfor the resource across its differentuses, places a higher value onaccurate forecasts of both rainfalland evaporation. Innovations in theBureau of Meteorology are meetingthis need through improvements inforecasting at a range of scalesfrom seasonal, through themedium term (1-4+ days ahead)and down to short term or‘nowcasting’ (0-12 hours ahead).

Seasonal forecasts provide watermanagers with information on futurerainfall (and through that river flowconditions) expressed in terms ofthe probability of, for example,above or below average conditionsfor a particular time of year. Watersupply managers can use thisinformation for decisions on waterallocations, the timing of any waterrestrictions or managing releasesfor environmental purposes.

Accuracy of forecastscontinually improving

Medium term forecasts fromnumerical weather prediction(NWP) models include predictionsof hourly rainfall and evaporationsequences, out to four and moredays, at space scales of severalkilometres. The accuracy of thisinformation is continually improvingand is now available for mostareas of Australia several timesdaily. Bureau researchers usesupercomputers to estimate thereliability of predictions by runningan ensemble of NWP calculationsto produce probabilities of rainfall.Rainfall forecasts can be used withhydrological models to predictfuture streamflow conditions forflood warning and other purposes.They can also greatly improvewater use efficiency in irrigationsystems by reducing the volume of ‘irrigation rejections’ as well asassisting managers to manipulatetheir storage systems to optimisethe availability of water to meetdemand at different locations inthe system.


Bruce StewartAssistant Director (National Operations)Bureau of MeteorologyGPO Box 1289 KMelbourne VIC 3001T 61 3 9669 4179F 61 3 9669 4071E [email protected] www.bom.gov.au

Above: Forecast of daily rainfall for 1 October 2003made 48 hours in advance (left-hand box) usingthe Bureau numerical weather prediction modelLAPS (Limited Area Prediction System) for theMurray-Darling Basin (dark outline), compared withobserved daily rainfall for that date (right-hand box)

Bureau of Meteorology

Very short-term (0-3 hours) forecasts ofrainfall are used to assist with flash floodwarning. These forecasts are commonlymade directly from observations byweather radar. Current practice is limitedto generalised forecasts and warnings.However research is focusing on bothincreasing the lead time of the forecastsand improving the spatial resolution.

Integrated catchmentmanagement

The problems caused by current landuse practices require a multi-facetedapproach: fixing one problem whilecausing another is no solution.Relying on overly simple technicalsolutions will not do.

In Australia, these ideas have evolvedto what is known as IntegratedCatchment Management (ICM)(Figure 3.03), Total CatchmentManagement (TCM) and recently,Whole Catchment Planning (WCP). Atthe broadest level, integrated resourcemanagement involves the integrationof environmental and economicconsiderations at management,planning and policy levels. This isargued to be an effective means ofimplementing the principle ofsustainable development.

The publication Farming Action –

Catchment Reaction: the Effect of

Dryland Farming on the Natural

Environment (Williams et al. 1998)provides a compendium of informationabout indicators of catchment health,effects of farming practices on landand water, and the tools and modelsavailable for bringing about change.

Setting targets

The goals of catchment planning inthe Murray-Darling Basin are toachieve healthy rivers, innovative,competitive industries, andsustainable regional communities.

These goals incorporate targets for eachof the Basin’s major catchments asminimum requirements for catchmenthealth. Usually, targets are set for waterquality (salinity and nutrients), water

sharing (consumptive and environmentalflows), riverine ecosystem health, soilhealth and terrestrial biodiversity.

End-of-valley targets for each

catchment in the Basin are needed

to protect the health of the Basin as

a whole (Figure 3.02).

Catchment Management Authorities

have been established in Victoria and

New South Wales. Similar planning

groups are evolving in all other states.


Above: proposed core signals of catchment health

Map: salinity targets in the Murray-Darling Basin.Electrical Conductivity Units (ECU) are a measure of salt concentration. Location of end-of-valleysalinity target sites.

Source: Basin Salinity Management Strategy, MDBC, 2001

Within-valley target at site 4 to protect town water supply

Within-valley target at site 2 to protect

irrigation water supply

Within-valley target at site 3 to protect wetland ecosystem

major town

wetland

End-of-valley target at site 1 to protect

Basin health

1

2 3

4

FIGURE 3.02 Targets for a catchment

FIGURE 3.03 Integrated Catchment Management (ICM) Principles – proposed target-setting in the Murray-Darling Basin

catchmenthealth

Water qualitysalinitynutrients

Water sharingenvironmental flowscompulsive use

Terrestrialbiodiversity

Riverine ecosystemhealth

LegendEnd-of-valley target sitesBasin target siteInterpretation sites

Landcare – a ‘true blue’ response

Australia has a long history of

governments working with individual

farmers and small farmer groups in soil

conservation projects. The grass roots

initiative Landcare was officially born

with the formation of the first Landcare

Group in Western Victoria in 1986.

In late 1989, the Australian Government

provided a national focus when it

announced the Decade of Landcare.

Support funding was administered

through the National Landcare

Program. A joint submission by the

National Farmer’s Federation and the

Australian Conservation Foundation

was a major contribution to the national

Landcare initiatives. Compared with

the initial agency-led programs, this

‘bottom up’ approach has been very

successful in involving farmers.

Landcare now includes more than

4,000 Landcare groups Australia-

wide. Forty percent of farmers are

members and they are influencing

many more. The national body,

Landcare Australia, builds partnerships

with the corporate sector, conducts

awareness-raising activities and

administers Australian Government

and state grants programs such as

the National Landcare Program, the

National Action Plan for Salinity and

Water Quality, and the Natural

Heritage Trust.

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Innovation 2: Farming without harming

Source: Prime Minister’s National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality

FIGURE 3.04 National Action Plan Priority Regions

The National Landcare Program

continues to support the Landcare

movement. In May 2003, the AustralianGovernment committed a further$AU122 million to the program for thefollowing three years, and agreed toreview the program’s effectivenessand possible future directions.

Landcare has played a major role inraising awareness of natural resourcemanagement issues. It has supportedthe adoption of changed farmingpractices such as no till, trash-blanketing and sustainable grazing;has improved the condition of land,water and vegetation on farmsAustralia-wide; and is a criticalbuilding block in catchment planning.

National Action Plan forSalinity and Water Quality

The National Action Plan for Salinity

and Water Quality (funding $AU1.4billion over seven years) was endorsedby the Prime Minister, state premiersand chief ministers at the COAGmeeting on 3 November 2000. It identifies high-priority, immediateactions to address salinity, particularlydryland salinity, and deterioratingwater quality in key catchments andregions across Australia.

Natural Heritage Trust

The plan complements the AustralianGovernment’s Natural Heritage Trust

(NHT) ($AU2.7 billion), which is its

chief environmental flagship program.The NHT has been successful inraising community awareness about a range of on-groundcommunity action and monitoringprograms, including Landcare,Rivercare, Bushcare and Coastcare.

New land uses

Australia needs suites of new land usesthat are matched to its diverse climate,soils and geology, and which deliverwater and nutrient flows below the rootzone and across the land surface atrates that mimic pre-developmentconditions. Radical changes in landuse are needed to achieve ‘farmingwithout harming’:

Commercial tree production systemsand novel tree species are neededfor large areas of current crop andpasture zones, including trees toproduce nuts, oils, pharmaceuticals,bush foods, speciality timbers,charcoal and biomass. The Rural Industries Research andDevelopment Corporation supportsresearch in agribusiness trade andsustainable farming systems includingagroforestry. CSIRO Forestry andForest Products specialises indeveloping varieties and systemsfor profitable plantations in lowrainfall areas. Specific breedinglines for radiata pine and softwareprograms for genetic analysis thathave been adopted in the USA,Japan, Canada and France

New forms of cereals, oilseeds,pulses and forages are beingselected or bred for characteristicsthat reduce deep drainage andnitrogen leakage. The GrainsResearch and DevelopmentCorporation, the CooperativeResearch Centre for Plant-basedManagement of Salinity, CSIROPlant Industry, and SouthAustralian R&D Institute (SARDI),amongst others, are active in thisarea. Researchers from CSIROSustainable Ecosystems (contact:Ted Lefroy) and the University ofWestern Australia recently receivedthe prestigious Eureka Prize forwork on perennial native grassesthat will reduce leakage of waterinto the water table while stillproviding commercial returns

New land assessment tools arebeing used for best location of trees,other perennial plants, high-valueannuals and native vegetation tomeet water quantity and qualitygoals, as well as manage biodiversityin the landscape. The Redesigning

Agriculture for Australian

Landscapes Program (RAAL), a jointinitiative of Land & Water Australiaand CSIRO, has developedprecision farming methods, to‘double the yield in half the area’.(page 121) Mosaics of land use arecombined with ecosystem servicesthat are paid for by stakeholdersand beneficiaries. This enablesenterprises to derive income from arange of traditional world marketsfor wheat and wool, timber fromagroforestry, and environmentalcredits for carbon, salinity, watersupply and biodiversity. Thisapproach is being tried in WesternAustralia where alley farming ofnative trees, legumes, cereals andoilseeds is being used, and in theHeartlands Program (page 93) inthe Murrumbidgee and Murrayregion of South East Australia


Mount Lofty Ranges in mid summer near MountTorrens, South Australia. Image courtesy of ©CSIROLand and Water

Sydney Catchment AuthorityProtecting the largest urban water supply in Australia

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The Sydney Catchment Authority (SCA) protects over 16,000 square

kilometres of catchments and the quality of bulk raw water in 21 dams

and reservoirs including Warragamba Dam – the largest urban water

supply in Australia. The SCA supplies bulk raw water to Sydney Water

and other customers, who then filter, treat and distribute it to four

million people in Sydney, Blue Mountains and the Illawarra.

This statutory authority was established in 1999 following a water qualityincident in 1998 when high levels of pathogens were reported in GreaterSydney’s water supply.

Catchment management

The SCA uses an internationally accepted model to assess pressure on the catchments, identify issues, and implement initiatives such as theHealthy Catchments Program. The program allows the SCA to maintainand improve the health of the catchments through grants and incentives.Examples of initiatives include improving the management of dairy effluents,carrying out riparian revegetation, and assisting local councils to upgradesewerage infrastructure and storm water drains. The SCA, working withSydney Water, has a ‘catchment-to-tap’ approach, enabling it to provide a reliable supply of the highest quality bulk raw water.

Water quality risk management

The SCA is currently developing a Water Quality Risk Management Plan,which builds on its existing Pollution Source Risk Management Plan. Theexpanded plan will provide the framework for direct funding and resources toprotect the water supply from pollutants. This risk-based approach to waterquality management is consistent with contemporary water industry practices.

Research

Through collaboration with various universities, the SCA is conductingextensive research which includes:

Developing a climate-forecasting model that will help detect droughtahead of time and assist the SCA plan its future water management

Developing models about potential threats from erosion and sedimentationby researching catastrophic events which occurred over the last tenthousand years

Identifying land practices that may result in high levels of nutrients gettinginto the water supply

Estimating the amount and source of pathogens, Giardia andCryptosporidium, in the catchments. This will allow the SCA to targetproblem areas and prioritise rectification plans to protect water quality

Above right: Warragamba Dam and auxiliary spillway


Graeme HeadManaging DirectorDanallam House Level 2 311 High StreetPenrith NSW 2750PO Box 323 Penrith NSW 2751T 61 2 4725 2100F 61 2 4732 3666E [email protected] www.sca.nsw.gov.au

As salinity is primarily a groundwaterproblem, an understanding ofgroundwater flow systems is essentialto assessing the salinity risks inlandscapes. The Groundwater Flow

Systems Framework (Figure 3.05)describes and explains the behaviourof groundwater in response torecharge (water that infiltrates the soiland reaches the groundwater stores). The framework classifies three majortypes of flow systems – local,intermediate and regional – whichrespond differently to interventionsuch as tree planting.

The system allows managers to setpriorities for investment in landscapechange based on the assets at risk,the time needed for change, and thelocations best targeted for remedialaction. The framework was developedby scientists from CSIRO Land andWater (Glen Walker, Mat Gilfedder andMirko Stauffacher with Ray Evans ofSalient Solutions Pty Ltd and Phil Dysonof Phil Dyson & Associates), anddeveloped with support of theMurray-Darling Basin Commission andthe National Dryland Salinity Program.

The Salinity Investment Framework

(SIF) is a new system to help setpriorities in investment in salinity repair.SIF identifies natural assets in fourmain classes – biodiversity, waterresources, agricultural land, and ruralinfrastructure such as towns androads. It then sets priorities based on three main criteria – the value of the natural asset, the threat to it, and the feasibility of options availableto protect it. SIF was initiated by theWestern Australia’s Salinity Counciland is coordinated by Department of Environment (contact: Tim Sparks)for the Natural Resource ManagementCouncil of Western Australia.

PRISM, the Practical Index of SalinityModels, is a product of the National

Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality

and was prepared by consultants


Innovation 3: Salinity management

FIGURE 3.05

Local

Intermediate

Regional

focus research

improve monitoring

regional salinity impacts

adaptive management

set priorities

conceptual models

GFS maps

case studies

groundwater processes

ongoing monitoring

Outcomes of the GFS framework

Components of GFS framework

Source NLWRA 2000: Walker et al. 2003 and MDBC

Groundwater flow systems map for the Murray-Darling Basin

Local

Res

pons

e to

cha

nge

(%)

Intermediate

Regional

Time (years)0 50 100 150 200

100

80

60

40

20

0

Groundwater flow system framework

The National Dryland Salinity Program issupported by the following organisations:Land & Water Australia; CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity;CSIRO; Rural Industries Research andDevelopment Corporation; Meat andLivestock Australia; Grains Research andDevelopment Corporation; Murray-Darling Basin Commission; Australian

Wool Innovation Pty Ltd; Australian Government Department of AgricultureFisheries and Forestry, through the National Landcare Program; National Land& Water Resources Audit and the State Governments of South Australia,Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania(contact: Land & Water Australia).

The National Dryland Salinity Program sponsors the annual W.E. Wood Awardin recognition of outstanding scientific or technical excellence in research.Awards have been made to:

Dr Ed Barrett-Lennard from the Western Australia Department of Agriculture,for demonstrating that land affected by dryland salinity could often berehabilitated and used profitably, and for advocacy for the Productive Use and Rehabilitation of Saline Lands Group (PUR$L)

Dr Glen Walker of CSIRO Land and Water, for work on basic research andmodelling of groundwater quality, including FLOWTUBE, and for work onunderstanding salinity processes in floodplains

Dr Richard George, Salinity Program Manager with Agriculture WesternAustralia for expertise in combining vegetation and engineering solutions and for his work on airborne geophysics for salinity mapping

Dr Tom Hatton, CSIRO Land and Water for research into the use of water bytrees at a landscape scale and for developing models to predict the impact of human land uses on whole catchments

Above: Past winners of the National Dryland Salinity Program’s W. E. Wood Award for excellence in salinity research (from left) Dr Richard George, Dr Ed Barrett-Lennard and Dr Glen Walker. The annual award recognises a unique contribution to managing salinity over a sustained period of years. Image courtesy of National Dryland Salinity Program

NATIONAL DRYLAND SALINITY PROGRAM

BO

X 3

.07

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URS Australia with support fromAustralia’s National Dryland SalinityProgram and Land & Water Australia.It is the most comprehensivecollection of natural resource salinityand mapping tools available. TheCD-ROM contains over 90 tools,models and frameworks.

Airborne geophysics, includingmagnetics, radiometrics andelectromagnetics, have been evaluatedfor use in salinity management. TheNational Airborne Geophysics Projectprovides information on the economicbenefits of airborne geophysics forsalinity management.

The effectiveness of current farmingsystems in the control of dryland salinitywas investigated in a review of differentkinds of agriculture – grazing, cropping,native perennial grasses, agroforestryand plantation forestry – for severalcase studies covering different soils,geology and rainfall (Figure 3.06).APSIM was used to predict the effectsof alternative farming systems onleakage of water below the crop rootzone and calculate the allowableleakage from a catchment to avoiddryland salinity. Findings contradictthe popular belief that plants are ableto use large volumes of water fromshallow groundwater tables, butconclude that vegetation can interceptwater and minimise infiltration into theground and so can prevent problemsfrom becoming worse.

Salt encrustation of fence line near Snowtown in the mid north of South Australia. Image courtesy of ©CSIRO Land and Water

FIGURE 3.06 Walker et al. 1999


Innovation 4: Catchment management Many catchment groups and regionshave made excellent progresstowards re-shaping agriculturalenterprises to match land usecapability while retaining profitability.

The winners of the National ThiessRiverprize, presented at theInternational Riversymposium for ‘an outstanding river repair successstory’ over the last three years arethe Goulburn-Broken Catchment,Victoria; the Merri Creek CatchmentManagement Committee, Victoria;and the Hunter CatchmentManagement Trust, New SouthWales. In 2001 the InternationalThiess Riverprize for excellence inriver management was awarded tothe Blackwood Basin Group,Western Australia.

Heartlands

Heartlands (page 93) is an excitingand innovative demonstration of large scale landscape change(coordinator Hamish Cresswell,CSIRO Land and Water).

Blackwood Basin

The Blackwood Basin Group startedlife in 1992 as the BlackwoodCatchment Coordinating Groupfollowing community concern aboutdeclining water quality. Its objectivewas to coordinate the activities oflocal Landcare groups in order torestore the health of the river.

In 1995, the group acquired $AU2.5 million from the National

Landcare Program to develop best-practice demonstration sites,provide landowners with grants forrestoration activities, and develop acatchment information base. Over1,600 hectares of remnant vegetationwere protected, 1,200 hectares wererevegetated and 750 kilometres offencing was installed to protectsensitive areas. The governmentgrant was particularly successful instimulating private sector investment– over $AU1.4 million was used toaugment the government funds.

The group has been awarded a secondNatural Heritage Trust grant of $AU5.3million, most of which will be used tocontinue the protection and restorationactivities. The group’s success inenergising and coordinating the localcommunity was recognised with theaward of the 2001 Thiess InternationalRiverprize at the Brisbane Riverfestival.

Torbay

The Torbay Catchment near Albany in Western Australia, supported by Land & Water Australia’s RiverRestoration Program, is a goodexample of community, whole-ofgovernment planning and on-groundaction, with scientific support fromthe University of Western Australia.The status of remnant vegetation,groundwater pollution andremediation, and the dynamics ofalgal blooms, are features of targetedresearch and investigations.

A Geographic Information System(GIS) is of great value in assessingthe implications of current and futureland use planning. The WatershedTorbay project has a dedicated sitewithin the Western Australian LandInformation System (WALIS).

Focus catchments

Focus catchments of the CRC forCatchment Hydrology include:

The Brisbane and Yarra Rivers – to reduce impacts of stormwateron Moreton Bay and Port PhillipBay respectively

The Fitzroy River – to manage highsediment and nutrient loads afterrapid clearing, and water allocationfor maintaining river health (page 99)

The Goulburn-Broken River – to manage salinity and nutrientloads, afforestation and waterallocation under tradeable waterrights (page 116)

The Murrumbidgee River – to manage dryland salinity in themiddle reaches and afforestation in the mid and upper catchments

Estuaries and shore-line

The National Land & Water

Resources Audit describes thethreats to many estuarine and near-shore areas. The CRC forCoastal Zone, Estuary and WaterwayManagement conducts research inthis area, including focused researchin several estuaries including theFitzroy River (page 99).

Protecting the Great Barrier Reef is a focus for CSIRO’s Water for a

Healthy Country Flagship (page 39).CSIRO Land and Water studiesinclude the Gippsland Lakes, PortPhillip Bay and other estuariesthroughout Australia (page 94).

The Blackwood Basin Group Chairperson DerekDilkes with the Thiess Riverprize on the banks ofthe Blackwood River in Bridgetown WesternAustralia. Image courtesy of The Blackwood BasinGroup. Photograph by Rebecca Harnett

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LAND USE PLANNING – THE HEARTLANDS INITIATIVEThe Heartlands initiative aims to improve land use in the Murray-Darling

Basin thereby preserving land and water resources and sustaining

commodity production.

Integrated land use planning

Research guides on-ground works such as tree planting, protection

of remnant vegetation, establishment of perennial pastures and erosion

protection. There are project teams working in four different catchments

in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Heartlands’ outputs include maps to help rank revegetation activities in

catchments, for use by catchment management authorities to increase

the benefits derived from public investment.

The Heartlands land-use planning process recognises multiple objectives

in the management of agricultural catchments, including ecosystem

function (such as hydrology, nutrient cycling, and maintenance of habitat).

This methodology provides an often-missing link between the different

research disciplines. It affords a means of improving current catchment

planning processes and therefore the effectiveness of investment in natural

resource management.

Mosaic farming – a key to future agricultural landscapes

Mosaic farming creates agricultural landscapes comprising patches

of annual crops and pastures interspersed with deep-rooted perennial

vegetation such as lucerne or trees. Planting of deep-rooted perennial

vegetation in carefully targeted locations could provide environmental

benefits even though the vegetation may not be economically viable for

use on a wider scale. A dryland farm in southern New South Wales has

shown variations in paddock yield through several years, which are linked

to possible management zones. Crop production in each of the zones was

predicted for current and alternative land uses using a simulation model.

The model incorporates climate data over several decades, soil properties

and crop management practices. A useful feature of the approach is the

ability to consider the impact of seasonal variability, which is difficult to

assess from just a few years of yield maps.

Good planning, initial investment, early local participation and a sound scientific

base are the ingredients that start positive on-ground action.

Partners

CSIRO Land and Water, CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products, CSIRO

Sustainable Ecosystems; Murray-Darling Basin Commission; New South

Wales Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources;

Victoria Department of Sustainability and Environment; Foundation for Rural

and Regional Renewal; Natural Heritage Trust; Murray Riverina Farm

Forestry; North East Catchment Management Authority; Murray Catchment

Management Board; Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Board;

Charles Sturt University; Goulburn-Broken Catchment Management

Authority;and six Landcare Groups.

Example of an integrated land use planning scenariodeveloped through Heartlands for Simmons Creekcatchment, New South Wales. Image courtesy of©CSIRO Land and Water and MDBC

Heartlands land use planning photo of forestry mosaic

Murrumbidgee River with lucerne and wheat crops nearWagga Wagga, New South Wales. Image courtesy of©CSIRO Land and Water

Heartlands is developing and applying the knowledgerequired to target revegetation works for maximum benefit.Image courtesy of MDBC. Photograph by Jiri Lochman

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LegendCurrent remnant vegetation type

Dry Foothill ForestGrassy Box WoodlandRiverine Forest/Woodland

Revegetation TypeGrassy Box WoodlandFarm Forestry in currentcropping areasFarm Forestry in currentgrazing areasWater courseRoads


CSIRO LAND AND WATER: REGIONAL PARTNERSHIPSThe Lower Burdekin Initiative is a partnership between CSIRO and some15 organisations and research institutes, representing government, primaryproducers, the community and scientists. It provides a framework forcoordinating water-related research activities in this major irrigation area. Bybetter understanding the links between on-farm management practices and theirimpacts on underlying groundwater systems, this venture contributes toimproved water management outcomes at both the regional and farm level.

CSIRO has led major collaborative projects aimed at sustainable management of coastal waters and their associated catchments:

In South Australia, the Adelaide Coastal Waters Study is developingknowledge and tools for sustainable management by identifying causes of ecosystem modifications and the actions required to halt and reverse the degradation

The Western Port Bay Study in Victoria pinpointed the sediment sources as the basis for action plans to improve the health of the Bay

In Queensland, a study into the delivery of nutrients and sediments by theFitzroy River has helped regional planners understand potential impacts on the estuarine system and the Great Barrier Reef

As part of the Ord-Bonaparte Program, a 5-year multi-agency R&D programdesigned to support regional governance in the East Kimberley region inWestern Australia, research has identified the role of tides and river flows onprimary production in the estuary

Above left: Canola crop during harvest on a farmnear Binalong, New South Wales.

Above: Check valve to control the flow of irrigationwater to a sugar cane crop at Brandon (near Ayr)in the Burdekin Irrigation Area, South East ofTownsville, Queensland.

Below: Aerial view of Euwen’s Ponds dischargechannel where it enters the Southern Ocean nearMt Gambier, South Australia.

Images courtesy of ©CSIRO Land and Water

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Blueprint for a National Water Plan

Water is crucial to Australia’s naturaland economic wealth. Australiansconsume more than 24,000 gigalitresof water a year, of which more than70 percent is used for irrigation. Manyof Australia’s rivers have highly variableflows. Droughts and floods are common,so Australian pioneers developed majordams for storage and regulation.

In 2003, Australians were confrontedwith a serious drought. Simultaneously,the need for environmental water tomaintain river health was confirmedby the CRC for Freshwater Ecologyin a report for the Murray-DarlingBasin Commission’s Living Murrayinitiative (pages 21-22, 96). Industrygroups, such as the irrigation watersuppliers, commodity and growerorganisations, were also workingtowards significant change and reform.

The Wentworth Group of concernedscientists published A Blueprint for a

National Water Plan to inform thenational debate on the balancebetween the needs of consumptiveusers and the environment. The Groupproposed the following three principlesfor water sharing between consumptiveusers and the environment to ensurethe long-term health of river systems:

Protect river health and the rights

of all Australians to clean water

Establish a new, nationally consistent

water entitlement and trading system

that provides security to both

water users and the environment

Engage local communities and

ensure a fair transition

COAG developed and agreed on theNational Water Initiative (page 19-20)which sets the scene for arevolutionary change in watermanagement.

River classification

Preventing environmental damage is much cheaper than remediation. A national program, comparable tothe national reserve system, is beingdeveloped to classify the rivers andgroundwater systems that remainunspoilt and to develop managementstrategies to protect them.

The Wentworth Group described the benefits of such a program. They include giving future generationsthe opportunity to enjoy healthyAustralian rivers; supportingrecreation and tourism; providing abaseline for assessing working riverswith altered flow regimes; andprotecting native plants and wildlifethat can be reintroduced elsewhereto improve the health of other rivers.

It is proposed that:

Rivers with less than 5 percent of their water extracted for humanuse should be classified asHeritage Rivers

Rivers with 5-15 percent water extracted should be classified as Conservation Rivers

Rivers with more than 15 percentextraction will require largeinterventions to restore theirecological health to pristinecondition, even if extraction werereduced, but could earn the statusof Healthy Working Rivers

Rivers and estuaries of tropicalAustralia need special considerationbecause many are important fisheries and are internationallysignificant for conservation.

Heritage Rivers

Many of the concepts for heritage andwild rivers proposed by the WentworthGroup are built into the reform programfor the recently-elected Beattiegovernment in Queensland. Someseventeen wild rivers will come underlegislated protection.

Australia’s greatest river systems lie in the northern half of the continentand nurture at least 70 percent ofAustralia’s water resources includingwetlands, estuaries and coastalecosystems. Methods to assess andmanage rivers of high conservationvalue are being developed throughthe National Rivers Consortium ofLand & Water Australia.

The Snowy River

The Snowy River is an icon ofAustralian folklore. Its natural flowsouth-eastwards to the ocean wasdiverted inland to the west by theSnowy Mountain Scheme, and itswaters used for hydroelectricityand irrigation. The Snowy Water

Inquiry and other reports led to aGovernment agreement to restore 21 percent of the Snowy’s originalflow within ten years – the minimumflow that scientists say is needed torestore the river to a sustainablecondition. The first 210 gigalitres of environmental entitlement will beshared – two thirds to the SnowyRiver and one third to the RiverMurray. The adjustment will beexpensive – estimated to cost$AU600,000 per kilometre of riverbank – and indicates the strength ofAustralian commitment to restorationand conservation.

Innovation 5: Water reform

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A working river – the Living Murray

One of the greatest challenges for

Australians is to return the River

Murray to the status of a healthy

working river. Since development

of the Murray for water supply in

the early 1900s, the amount of

water diverted for consumptive

use has steadily increased.

An audit of water use in the

Murray-Darling Basin was conducted

in 1994 to assess the long-term

sustainability of ever-increasing

development and water diversion.

An interim moratorium on water

diversions (the ‘Cap’) from the rivers

of the Murray-Darling Basin was

introduced in 1995 in response to

findings of the audit. A long-term

‘Cap’ is now in place to arrest

declining sustainability of the water

resources and to balance the needs

of industry and communities that

depend on the rivers of the Basin.

At the time that the audit was being conducted, it became widelyacknowledged that the health of the River Murray and its environs had degraded to a precarious state. Of particular concern was thedestructive impact that modified flowpatterns (Figure 3.10) were having on

the riverine environment. Somescientists believe that cold waterreleased into the rivers from thestorages, and other non-flow factorsare prime causes of stress for nativefish and aquatic ecology.

The Murray-Darling Basin Commission

responded to these concerns by

asking a working group of state

representatives to develop a flow

management plan for the River

Murray that considered the long-term

sustainability of the riverine

environment and the needs of

existing users. Striking a balance

between consumptive demand and

the demands of the environment

would not be a trivial exercise. Only

through the cooperative efforts of the

states, river operators, water users,

the community and environmental

groups can a balance be struck to

achieve a sustainable River Murray.

Central to restoring river health

has been the identification of six

significant ecological assets or icon

sites (page 22) that are the priority

targets for restoration activity,

particularly the use of increased

environmental flow. The assets

are of regional, national and

international importance for their

ecological values.

Water-sharing in New South Wales

Water-sharing plans are a criticalcomponent of integrated catchmentplans prepared in New South Walesunder the Water Management Act

2000. Other states have similararrangements. The water-sharingplans establish:

Environmental water rules

Requirements for basic landholder rights

Requirements for water extraction under access licences

How much water will be available for extraction by licenced water users

The plans must consider:

The effect of climatic variability on the availability of water

Water sharing measures for the protection and enhancement of the quality of water in thecatchments and their dependentecosystems

Operation of water accounts for the area involving monitoringand reporting requirements for the catchment

Types of water supply works that could be constructed, such as fish ladders to improveenvironmental benefits, or thatneed to be removed, such asredundant weirs

This comprehensive approach towater planning aligns well with theinnovative policy work of state andnational governments in developingthe COAG Water Reform Framework

and aligns well with the WentworthGroup Blueprint for Water Reform.

40,000

35,000

30,000

25,000

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

0Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Month

FIGURE 3.10 Median monthly flowsRiver Murray downstream of Yarrawonga Weir

Current conditionsNatural conditions

FlowML/day

In the mid reach of the River Murray current flow conditions are much less than before development (natural) and thespring seasonal increase in flow has been dampened. Source: Interstate Working Group on River Murray Flows.

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The Murrumbidgee and irrigation demand

Water sharing in the Murrumbidgee catchment is particularlycontentious because the river is highly regulated to providewater for irrigation that underpins regional wealth andemployment. Water is also required to maintain the ecologicalfunction of the river and its floodplains, to support a Ramsarconvention wetland and endangered fisheries, and to providewater for catchments downstream. The issue is not simplyone of more water for the environment but of ‘anti-drought’,with a reversal in the pattern of natural flow. The river flowsbank-full in summer to supply the needs of irrigation areasand districts several hundred kilometres downstream.

A hierarchy of rights to water access

The Murrumbidgee Water Sharing Plan establishes ahierarchy of rights for access to shares of the availablewater resource. Environmental water has priority, followedby holders of basic landholder rights, then stock, domesticand utilities, then high security, and lastly, general securitylicence holders. Native title claims, still to be registered, are part of basic rights. Under the plan town water supply(local water utilities) can be varied every five years to reflectchanges in population and associated commercialactivities, but water for new industry must be purchased.

The actual volume or share of consumptive water dependson the announced allocation, storage volumes and climaticconditions. Consequently, any reduction in supply, for exampleas a result of reduction of catchment run-off throughafforestation or climate change, is reflected in a reductionof share to general security licence holders, as they havethe lowest priority of access.

Environmental flow rules

Environmental water is managed through a series of flowrules which include:

A minimum low flow from the two major storages

Dam ‘translucency’ that returns some of the natural variabilityin the release pattern to scour build-up of sediment, preventalgal blooms caused by low flow, and restore some ofthe early spring flows that are important for fish breeding

An environmental health allowance – a volume of waterset aside in storage for opportunistic release forenvironmental benefit

Water for ‘end-of-system’ flow to ensure connection with the River Murray downstream

Novel aspects of the flow rules include:

The use of the environmental health allowance to raise riverheight to inundate wetlands, especially in the middle reachesof the river, by supplementing or ‘piggy-backing’ damreleases onto surge peaks from tributary inflows

The use of ‘provisional storage’, a volume of water that isretained in the dam and increases with general securitywater allocation. This increases the probability of dam spillin winter and spring, and the level of storage at the startof the following year, effectively sharing environmentalwater in wetter times to reduce the highest year impacton irrigators and improve early season allocation levels

WATER-SHARING

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Illustration courtesy of ©CSIRO Land and Water. Copyright Bruce Wroth

Teamwork and extensive ecological knowledge contributedby river scientists across eastern Australia enable theCooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology tobring innovation to the large-scale management of rivers.

An international first

An Australia-wide comparison of the condition (or ‘health’) ofrivers and streams was the challenge taken on by the CRCfor Freshwater Ecology, with CSIRO Land and Water, for theNational Land & Water Resources Audit. A team led from theUniversity of Canberra used creative thinking and theexperience and data-access that result from cooperativepartnerships to achieve an ecology-based assessment ofkey aspects of river condition in all river reaches in the 3.3million square kilometres used for intensive agriculture – in a little over one year. The team’s approach is aninternational first, and highly relevant to the many countriesof the world that are now focusing on river health.

Guiding the sustainable management of the River Murray

In another first, a team of over 60 scientists led by theCRC for Freshwater Ecology applied a new decision-support tool to predict expected habitat responses bybirds, fish and plants to potential ‘environmental flow’allocations across the River Murray System in eastern

Australia. The Murray-Darling Basin Commission contractedthe CRC for Freshwater Ecology to lead a scientific referencepanel comprising river ecologists and geomorphologistsfrom six Australian jurisdictions to achieve the objective.The panel used CSIRO-built software, the Murray FlowAssessment Tool, to assess river flows and ecologicaloutcomes to guide the sustainable management of theriver. The panel’s appreciation of managers’ needs resultedin an innovative, thorough and transparent process,interpreting decades worth of scientific data on the Murray.


CRC FOR FRESHWATER ECOLOGY: INNOVATIVEAPPROACHES IN LARGE-SCALE RIVER MANAGEMENT

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All rivers (blue) assessed for the first National Land & Water Resources Audit bya team from CRC for Freshwater Ecology and CSIRO Land and Water. Imagecourtesy of the river assessment team.

Market forces and water security

The need for investment security is a strong and consistent message during public consultation. TheWentworth Group have proposed a ‘robust separation’of entitlement, allocation and use licence and a nationallyconsistent approach to trading – potentially a way out forthose farmers who are no longer profitable and who wishto cash in licences or consider retirement.

A reduction in run-off is foreshadowed as a result of catchment revegetation and forestry and recent analysis suggests that rainfall variability is increasing in the Murrumbidgee. These factors are foreshadowed in the National Water Initiative (NWI) which is explicit about assignment of risks and reductions in future water availability. Water access entitlement holders are expected to bear the risks associated with natural events, such as climate change and drought, whereasgovernments are to bear the risks for new policy such as increased environmental allocations.

A framework will be established for coping with water

interception through changes in land use. The NWI also

promises to return over-allocated surface and groundwater

to environmentally sustainable levels of extraction. In the

Murrumbidgee, this will be important in managing the previously

unused ‘sleeper’ and seldom used ‘dozer’ licences that are

likely to be taken up as the value of water increases.

The move to water trading and the recent drought have

highlighted the measurement of water-use efficiency in Australia

(for example by Aquatec consultants and the Warren Centre,

University of Sydney). There is an increasing emphasis on

the concept of virtual water (water required to produce a

given product) and on valuing water through accounting

that includes generation of wealth and measures of human,

manufacturing and natural capital.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (Trewin, 2004) have

recently used the System of Integrated Environmental and

Economic Accounting to compile one of the few water

accounts that exists world-wide.CA

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CRC FOR COASTAL ZONE, ESTUARYAND WATERWAY MANAGEMENT: FITZROY RIVER STUDY The Cooperative Research Centre for Coastal Zone, Estuary and Waterway

Management (Coastal CRC) partnered with the Fitzroy Basin Association (FBA) and

other stakeholders to understand and mitigate the impacts of variable water flows

on coastal areas and communities in central Queensland’s Fitzroy River Catchment.

Their aim was to develop solutions for managing variable water flows in Australia’s

second largest coastal catchment.

Understanding of nutrient dynamics within the Fitzroy estuary has been enhanced

through intensive monitoring and the development of water quality models.

Research on water quality, complemented with studies on water flows, has shown

that the estuary requires large floods in summer to maintain stocks of aquatic

species such as barramundi and prawns.

This information, combined with that published in a Central Queensland

Information Paper, was used by the FBA to prepare regional resource targets

in a strategy for sustainability. It has also been reported in a Healthy Waterways

community awareness campaign driven by the Coastal CRC. The campaign’s

success was demonstrated by a survey showing most residents valued

waterways and catchments very highly.

A remotely sensed imaged of the Fitzroy River entering the Great Barrier Reef region. Image courtesy of CRC for Coastal Zone, Estuary and Waterway Management

UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN SYDNEY:ECOLOGY OF RIVERS Historically, a range of animals played a role in the maintenance of wetlands andwater quality. For example, thousands of mussels were natural cleaning agents inour waterways, syphoning turbid water in and releasing it as clean water.

Other species that helped to maintain water quality (eg turtles), or those thatprovided food for others (eg frogs that provide a super-abundance of eggs andtadpoles to be consumed by others) are also in decline. Their demise signals thedegradation of waterways, while their loss may increase the rate of degradationof local ecosystems.

Associate Professor Shelley Burgin and her team from the University of WesternSydney, focus on the ecology of waterways. Studies investigate the use ofaquatic species (eg macroinvertebrates, turtles, mussels and frogs) asbioindicators of water health. A greater understanding of the ecology of thesespecies will provide the basis for their incorporation into constructed wetlands or degraded water bodies to act as natural cleaning agents and monitors of theecosystem’s health.

Currently the team is surveying the ecology and distribution of mussels so thatthey can be introduced to constructed wetlands in the Penrith and Hawkesburylocal government areas of Sydney to act as natural bioremediators.

Images courtesy of Water Futures Institute, University of Western Sydney. Photograph by Associate Professor Shelley Burgin


Innovation 6: Ways of sharing the costCatchment care principle

Australia faces major challenges inmaking the transition to sustainablenatural resource management. Manyregions need significant changes inland use and new income strategiesthat support social and environmentalsustainability. Unfortunately, progresshas been blocked by disagreementover who should bear the cost.

CSIRO economist, Steve HatfieldDodds, has proposed a possiblesolution (Figure 3.15) that movesbeyond the conflicting approaches of ‘beneficiary pays’ and ‘polluterpays’ to a burden-sharing approach.The catchment care principle combinesdisincentives, cost sharing bylandowners, transitional assistance formandatory public-good conservation,and incentives for voluntaryconservation, resulting in higheroverall environmental standards thancould be achieved by land-holdercost-sharing alone.

Ecosystem services and stewardship

Currently in Australia, ‘ecosystemservices’ (such as the production ofclean water, sequestration of carbondioxide, and production of oxygen) are not valued, let alone paid for. The challenge is to define ecosystemservices that could be paid for bystakeholders and beneficiaries, bothprivate and public.

The approach has developed rapidlyin Australia. In Victoria, the Rural Land

Stewardship Program is led by theVictoria Department of Sustainabilityand Environment and the VictorianCatchment Management Council and funded by the National Action

Plan for Salinity and Water Quality.The project is exploring ways ofmanaging private rural land in Victoria by rewarding landholders for providing ecosystem services.

The catchment care principle (diagram below) focuses onthe shared interest of the users of renewable naturalresources in the maintenance of ecosystem integrity. Thisapproach improves investment security for landholders by:

Separating their personal responsibilities from changes in community attitudes

Preventing one farmer’s actions from undermining theoverall value of the natural resource base

FIGURE 3.15 Catchment care principle

The principle was a critical part of the Wentworth Group’smodel for vegetation management in New South Wales,which resulted in the protection of all remnant nativevegetation and selected regrowth.

enterprise level or ‘on farm’ benefits

benefits to naturalresource users or thefarming community

benefits to thegeneral communityor ‘public goods’

Classifying the potential incidence of benefits from resource management policies

Source: Steve Hatfield Dodds (2003)

envi

ronm

enta

l sta

ndar

d or

qua

lity

reform point

community preferences

incentives for voluntary conservation(may involve some unmet demandfor environmental quality)

transitional assistance for mandatory‘public good’ conservation

costs of maintaining landscapefunction shared by land owners

disincentives to protect resourcebase and support compliance

mandatory standards

‘catchment care’ benchmark(varies with scientific knowledge)

time

Cost sharing and transitional assistance under the Catchment Care Principle

The Rural Land Stewardship Program is aninnovative approach aimed at bringing aboutsustainable agricultural activity, increasingenvironmental outcomes and invigorating ruralcommunities. Images courtesy of VictoriaDepartment of Sustainability and Environment

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Agricultural Business Research Institute

Australian Association of Agricultural Consultants

Birchip Cropping Group

FarmStar

FM 500

FSA Consulting

Jonathon Sobels & Co

Kondinin Group

Otto Agribusiness

Planfarm

Rinex Technology

Scholefield Robinson HorticulturalServices Pty Ltd

Smart Viticulture

SST Australia

University of Sydney

Wesfarmers Landmark

University of New England. Livestock and international consultants

A membership register assists clients in choosing a consultant most appropriate to their needs

Membership of 500 farmers across four states

Comprehensive precision farming software

Aims to create a global network of farmers using the Internet to access quality information

Agricultural, environmental and engineering services

Precision farming with satellite imagery

Publisher of Farming Ahead

Whole-farm planning, risk management and advice through the Farm Help Program

Farm management and agronomy in Western Australia

Specialists in precision farming and global positioning applications

Viticulture, horticulture and agribusiness

Viticulture

Precision farming. Joint venture with SST Development Group Oklahoma USA

The Australian Centre for Precision Agriculture

Leading suppliers of agronomic products and services operating from more than 400 outlets

CSIRO LAND AND WATER

Providing innovative tools to supportresource management decisions

As regional communities and catchment managers aroundAustralia decide how to meet water quality and otherenvironmental targets, CSIRO Land and Water is contributingvital expertise, and a range of predictive models andDecision Support Systems to guide decision making andinvestment. These toolkits enable regions to evaluate land-useoptions, assess water allocation strategies and tradeoffs,identify ecosystems at risk and set targets for waterquality.

The SedNet (Sediment Network) suite of computerprograms was developed by CSIRO, with support fromthe National Land & Water Resources Audit (NLWRA), tohelp assess the movement of sediment and nutrientsacross Australia. In a joint industry and governmentinitiative in the 130,000 square kilometre BurdekinCatchment in Queensland, SedNet has been used toidentify and target erosion hotspots, and predict theimpacts of different management strategies

The Murray Flow Assessment Tool (MFAT) was built by CSIRO, with inputs from a broad network of Australianaquatic ecologists, to provide a Decision-Support Systemfor evaluating the potential ecological benefits andimpacts of different environmental flow scenarios for theRiver Murray System. MFAT is being used in the Murray-Darling Basin Commission’s Living Murray initiative

A new risk assessment tool – the Groundwater Flow

Systems (GFS) Framework – has provided a breakthroughfor salinity science and management. By better predictingthe behaviour of groundwater in response to recharge,resource managers working at local and regional scales nowhave a means for achieving a consistent approach tomanaging and preventing salinity. The GFS was developedwith collaboration and support from a host of agencies,including Geosciences Australia, the Murray-Darling BasinCommission, the National Dryland Salinity Program andthe National Land & Water Resources Audit

Burdekin River south of Townsville in far north Queensland. Image courtesy ©CSIRO Land and Water

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A range of technologies, models andDecision Support Systems underpinbetter decision making and investment.

Weather forecasting

Agricultural practice and planningdepends on the weather. The AustralianBureau of Meteorology (page 62)provides weather forecasting, short andlong-term predictions, warnings ofstorms and drought, and informationtailored to specific regions.

Predictive models andDecision Support Systems

A range of software packages hasbeen developed, most of which arepublicly available. They are used by arange of consultants andagronomists. Examples include theCatchment Modelling TOOLKIT fromthe CRC for Catchment Hydrology,the Environmental ManagementSupport System (EMSS) usedsuccessfully in South East

Queensland to optimise land-useplanning, and the AgriculturalProduction Systems Simulator(APSIM) and Pesticide Impact RatingIndex (PIRI) from CSIRO.

PIRI assesses the risk of water pollutionfrom run-off, spray drift or leaching andhas been used by several Australianagencies, including the South AustraliaDepartment of Water, Land andBiodiversity Conservation, the GoulburnMurray Rural Water Authority and

Innovation 7: Aids for better decision making

Market-based instrumentsand investment leverage

In recent years, the AustralianGovernment has encouraged thedevelopment of markets that demandgoods be produced in environmentallybenign ways and has invested in arange of pilot programs (Table 3.18).

The urgent need for funds forrepairing landscapes has broughttogether industry and theenvironmental movement to find the

optimum mix of public investmentand market-driven approaches.

The Allen Consulting Group identifiedstrategies to release nearly $AU13 billionover ten years from the private sector.The recommended package includesimproved access to private capitalthrough tax-preferred statutoryinvestment vehicles, a land repair fundto administer a range of programs andtax concessions, and accreditationfor plans to ensure coincidence withnational priorities. The group was

commissioned by the BusinessLeaders Round Table and includedSouthcorp, Elders Ltd, Berri Ltd, ABNAMRO, Macquarie Bank, the AustralianConservation Foundation and CSIRO.

In another approach, Greening Australiaand CSIRO are piloting an investmentfund or ‘green bank’ with a mix ofpublic and private capital. The fundbrokers invest in enterprises thatprovide an environmental dividend to public and altruistic investors.

ProjectUsing an auction approach to valuingintervention in the landscape (including salinity,water quality, water quantity and biodiversity)Tradeable net recharge contracts inColeambally Irrigation AreaFarming finance: creating positive land-usechange with a natural resource managementleverage fundAuction for landscape recovery (south-westAustralia) Adoption of new land management practicesthrough conservation insurance Cap and trade for salinity: property rightsand private abatement activities, a laboratoryexperiment market Catchment care: developing an auctionprocess for biodiversity gains and waterquality outcomes Green offsets for sustainable regionaldevelopmentEstablishing east-west landscape corridors in the southern desert uplands Establishing the potential for offset trading in the lower Fitzroy River

Lead OrganisationDepartment of Primary Industries, Victoria

CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems andCSIRO Land and WaterGreening Australia

WWF (formerly World Wildlife Fund)AustraliaSouth Australia Department of Water, Land,and Biodiversity ConservationVictoria Department of Primary Industries

Onkaparinga Catchment WaterManagement Board

New South Wales Environment ProtectionAuthorityDesert Uplands Build-up and DevelopmentCommitteeCentral Queensland University

National Action Plan Region (page 87)Goulburn-Broken, Victoria

Lachlan-Murrumbidgee, New South Wales

Lachlan-Murrumbidgee, New South Wales/South Coast, Western Australia

Avon, Western Australia

Lower Murray, South Australia

Lower Murray, Victoria/South Australia

Mount Lofty, Kangaroo Island South Australia

Nmoi-Gwydir/Macquarie-Castlereagh/Murray, New South WalesBurdekin-Fitzroy, Queensland

Burdekin-Fitzroy, Queensland

Table 3.18 Use of market-based instruments

Source: DEH/DAFF September 2003

SummaryAustralian rivers and landscapes

face a slowly emerging crisis –

but crisis also spells opportunity,

resilience and imaginative

solutions. In barely twenty years

one third of human kind will face

severe water shortages through soil

erosion, salinisation and pollution of

rivers and groundwater. Food

production and freshwater and

estuarine fisheries, which provide

much-needed protein, are also at risk.

Australians are developing solutions

to these complex matters and are

keen to share their experience

internationally. Shared solutions

can alleviate poverty and contribute

to a peaceful and secure future.

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Forestry SA. Overseas it has beenused by ACIAR in partnership withthe University of the Philippines andin Ecuador by the IAEA/FAO

Pesticide Program.

Several other useful Decision SupportTools are described by CSIRO (page101). SedNet has been used in severalcatchments including the Burdekin andthe Murrumbidgee to target ‘hotspots’for erosion control and to optimiseinvestments when establishing riparianvegetation for intercepting erodedsediments and associated nutrients.

Tracer methods

Fallout radionuclides (Caesium 137and Lead 210) are used to determinethe origin of sediments in streams.The radionuclides are concentrated in the soil surface so that sedimentsderived from surface soil throughsheet and rill erosion have highconcentrations of nuclides, whilesediments from gullies, channels andriverbanks contain low concentrations.

These techniques can aid themanagement of catchment remediationby revealing the source of thesediments. For example, in a recent study on the Wingecarribeesub-catchment for the SydneyCatchment Authority (SCA) it wasfound that gully and stream erosiondominated, rather than surface run-off. The study of contaminantbudgets was coordinated by ECOWISEEnvironmental using a multi-disciplinaryteam from CSIRO Land and Water(contact: Jon Olley), The AustralianNational University and SCA (page 89).

The CSIRO Land and Water IsotopeAnalysis Service (contact: Fred Leaney)provides stable isotope analysis andhydrological expertise to track surfacewater and rainfall retention times incatchments. Chlorfluorocarbons haveonly been in the atmosphere for thepast fifty years, so their presence ingroundwater reflects recent rechargefrom rainfall. Uranium decay isotopescan be used to identify groundwaterentry into streams.

Tracer isotopes have been used by Ann Henderson-Sellers of theAustralian Nuclear and ScienceTechnology Organisation (ANSTO) totrack the effects of deforestation andclimate change on water resources.

Mapping technologies

Environmental remote sensingexpertise available in CSIRO Landand Water enables high resolutionmapping of sensitive coastalecosystems, such as forest and crop condition, using satellite andairborne systems.

The Australian Government Office of Spatial Data Management, located in Geoscience Australia,supports the growth of a privatesector spatial information industryand facilitates community access to spatial data.

Late afternoon. River Murray at Renmark, SouthAustralia. Image courtesy of ©CSIRO Land and Water

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