March 2015

Message from the Northern Basin Advisory Committee Chair

The Northern Basin Advisory Committee appreciated the opportunity to hear about the concerns of people in the Brewarrina district firsthand during our first committee meeting for the year. The district is still firmly in the grip of a very severe drought and we thank the people who gave their time to come and meet us and tell us their concerns about water.

Once again we heard people ask for information about: what are the environmental assets that the Basin Plan is trying to protect; and has there been progress in achieving that aim with the environmental water strategy the MDBA has in place.

Community members raised a range of issues and also put forward some good suggestions for opportunities to sell water licences to the Commonwealth. They were also concerned about a number of issues that sit

outside our committee’s remit, such as state water licencing, and state development and regulatory practice matters. The committee has taken action to make sure these matters are passed on to the relevant state and Commonwealth agencies.

A fair amount of our committee meeting was spent being updated by MDBA staff on the progress of the Northern Basin Review, which is what we were set up to provide advice on. Through the review, the northern basin is being given the unique opportunity to revisit a couple of the Basin Plan’s water extraction limits (sustainable diversion limits).

In short, the review has three main areas of work: socio-economic work to look at how recovering water from different parts of the river system is likely to affect communities and industries; scientific work to get clearer information about the water needs of the environment in the north and to see if that might lead to changes to extraction limits for a couple of catchments; and water modelling to get a better understanding of what the effects are when water is recovered from different parts of the river.

From this, we expect to be able to make recommendations about: whether the extraction limits in those catchments should change; how to fairly divide up the volume of water (143GL) needed to meet downstream needs between the northern catchments; and to give advice to the federal environment department about how it can best go

about its water recovery in the north to limit any effects on communities and industries.

Although the committee is frustrated at the time taken to complete these major pieces of work we are encouraged by the progress that’s been made. MDBA staff have been getting out and talking with farmers on their properties, and speaking with local businesses to better understand how they’re affected by changes to irrigated agriculture.

We were also pleased to see the progress made on the water modelling and from some preliminary findings − the early results are promising − and to learn of how the scientific work could be applied through water modelling in the Northern Basin Review.

Our visit to Brewarrina was also a good opportunity to tour the Ngemba Old Mission billabong where we saw some ancient fish traps and heard about Aboriginal values and cultural flows—cultural flows remain a topical issue so it was good to hear about the important role of water in indigenous culture firsthand. We also welcomed our new Indigenous representative Jason Wilson to his first NBAC meeting.

I’m sure Jason will be a constructive and positive addition to our team.

As I mentioned in my previous Chairman’s message, our committee is continuing to look for more ideas and smarter ways to recover the water and still get good environmental outcomes, but avoid putting unnecessary hardship on people in the basin. This means we’ll continue to call on the governments to make every effort to explore all options and recover water through means other than just buyback. We’re now in the process of pulling together ideas we’ve heard with the intention of providing it to basin governments.

Key meeting outcomes

A key outcome of the session with the Brewarrina community was strong support for the option being promoted by our committee, for the Commonwealth to recover small licences held by graziers in the Intersecting Streams and Barwon-Darling. There were many issues raised that sit outside the committee’s role, however, the committee will ensure those matters are passed on to the relevant state and Commonwealth agencies.

The committee was pleased to received reports from the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office (CEWO) about discussions underway with entitlement holders in the lower Balonne and options around using temporary trade in the coming season.

The committee welcomed an update from the Queensland government about the local

engagement with the CEWO and floodplain graziers to get improved environmental benefits from low flows. This involves looking at options around using environmental water and using bifurcation weirs to help get low flows into creeks and to reach the Barwon–Darling.

The committee was advised on progress of the social and economic consultations currently underway across the northern basin. These are helping to improve the tools used to assess the effects of water reform changes on businesses, both irrigation agriculture and non-farming businesses. This work will feed into the options being looked at for changes to a couple of the extraction limits in the northern basin. The committee agreed that this work is invaluable as it brings to light some of the issues communities are currently feeling, but where there is not yet any supporting data. More information about social and economic consultation follows.

The committee was briefed on the results of hydrologic modelling it had requested which assesses some of the scenarios from recovering water in different areas of the northern basin. This will help us to better understand how much flexibility there is to recover water from different parts of the river. The committee feels that while further work is needed on this option, the early results look promising. The committee acknowledged that as work progresses, particularly with determining the downstream contributions, there will need to be additional

meetings in the northern basin to update communities and seek feedback.

NBAC will be seeking opportunities to meet with state and Commonwealth agencies to discuss options for protecting environmental water as it flows through the system. The aim is to make sure the outcomes in the Basin Plan are achieved, while recognising the need to avoid any effects this will have on third parties.

An NBAC member updated the committee on progress on the NSW floodplain harvesting project. The committee has asked for clarification from the states about their differing use of definitions and language in relation to floodplain harvesting, overland flows and interceptions, to avoid confusion and misinterpretation.

Thanks again to the Brewarrina community. Our next gathering will be held in Texas in May and we look forward to meeting the local community.

Mal PetersNorthern Basin Advisory Committee Chair

Dates to note

March – Basin Plan Annual Report to be published on MDBA web site

22 March – World Water Day

26 March – March – May Climate Outlook to be published by the Bureau of Meteorology

Parliamentary Secretary Mr Bob Baldwin tour of the northern basin (from late March)

20 – 21 May – Northern Basin Advisory Committee meeting, Texas, Queensland

May – Australian Government response to the Independent review of the Water Act 2007

Talking to communities

Northern basin communities are currently facing the impact of drought, technological change, market fluctuations, the effects on employment and other factors. Understanding how these issues affect people in the northern basin is important before we develop any proposals to amend the Basin Plan.

For the Northern Basin Review we are seeking the input and advice of northern basin community representatives and stakeholders as well as technical experts. Engagement with the Northern Basin Advisory Committee and the Northern Basin Intergovernmental Working Group are the primary source of advice.

The review has the Condamine−Balonne as one of its focus areas due to the relative size of its water extraction reduction. A locally based key stakeholder group, the Lower Balonne Working Group, has convened to work with MDBA on the best approach to achieve the outcomes of the review.

Additionally, we plan to hold targeted workshops in 2015 and 2016 to obtain and exchange local input and knowledge for all the Northern Basin Review projects.

Engagement and consultation has already started for the social and economic impact assessment. Discussions with local business and community representatives is a key component. More than twenty towns have been visited or are due to be visited. These are St George, Dirranbandi, Hebel, Moree, Collarenebri, Walgett, Bingara, Coonabarabran, Gilgandra, Gunnedah, Chinchilla, Boggabri, Narrabri, Wee Waa, Bourke, Brewarrina, Trangie, Narromine, Warren and Nyngan, Goondiwindi and Mungindi.

An example of the type of information we are receiving is from Dirranbandi where a strong relationship between water, farms and town businesses was highlighted. Business representatives said they were struggling with the impact of the

drought and a general lack of information about what the recovery of water will achieve.

The project work is being done by MDBA with the help of Deloitte Access Economics. Feedback from the meetings is used to inform modelling work aimed at better understanding the effects of different water recovery options in the northern basin.

We are doing other socio-economic work. A project on floodplain grazing includes local input as a key component (see the following Grazing the floodplain story).

There have been several calls for the MDBA to also have a broader community engagement strategy for the northern basin, and work on this has already commenced.

More about the Northern Basin Review

New information about the Northern Basin Review is available on our website: http://www.mdba.gov.au/media-pubs/publications/the-northern-basin-review

Grazing the floodplain

The Northern Basin Review work program includes two social and economic studies - the social and economic impact study (covered in the last Northern Basin Update), and a second study to look into floodplain grazing.

The floodplain grazing project is about to commence and will be conducted by independent consultants. Given that key knowledge gaps exist for the lower Balonne, this is the main focus area for the project.

The aim is to build and test a model that will help to understand the benefits and impacts from different water flows across floodplains. Graziers will be

interviewed to gather historical information about how productivity and profits are affected by flows across floodplains. Graziers will also be integral to the testing of the model.

As this project progresses, more information will be made available.

Fishy business…

Native fish health and abundance are good indicators of the health of the environment. Changes in water flow greatly influence the life-cycle of native fish and therefore their abundance and health. The size, timing and duration of flows are triggers for maturing, migration and spawning of fish.

We know that more information is needed about native fish in the northern basin, including:

• where species are found • how they respond to water flows • what other factors (such as alien species)

affect native fish.

The Northern Basin Science Review will improve our understanding of how different species of fish respond to different levels and timing of river flows, and to help to increase our understanding of the habitat needs of native fish.

When fish habitats are overly disturbed and degraded, pest fish often move in and gain an unfair advantage over native fish. This work will help give native fish the best chance against alien species such as carp.

Field work is currently underway. You might spot two people in a boat (with umbrellas for solar protection) upstream of Bourke. Their work includes taking measurements of the river and anabranch benches, recording snags and other features. Equipment used includes side scanning sonar and laser to measure the height of different fish habitats as well as the

behaviour of flows. More information about the project will be provided as work progresses.

Northern River Blackfish (Gadopsis marmoratus)

A booklet on fish in the Murray−Darling Basin is available from the website at: http://www.mdba.gov.au/sites/default/files/pubs/MDBA-Fish-species-book.pdf

Opportunities for schools

The MDBA has resources available for schools that are interested in participating in river health investigation. Schools in the northern basin are invited to register for the Basin Champions program, and can do so via our website or by email to education@mdba.gov.au

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 the 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