Supporting documents

The Murray–Darling Basin Authority has published a suite of reports and summaries of the research and studies which have been undertaken to support the development of the draft Basin Plan.

The major documents and sources of information include:

The Environmental Watering Plan

As part of the draft Basin Plan – the Environmental Watering Plan provides a framework, objectives, principles and methods to guide how environmental water is planned and managed. The overall environmental objectives of the Environmental Watering Plan are:

• to protect and restore water-dependent ecosystems
• to protect and restore the ecosystem functions of water-dependent ecosystems
• ensure that water-dependent ecosystems are resilient to risks and threats

The proposed "environmentally sustainable level of take" for surface water of the Murray–Darling Basin: Method and Outcomes

Sustainable Diversion Limits will replace the existing cap on water use and are set at both a catchment and Basin-wide scale. The Water Act 2007 requires that these new limits are determined based on an assessment of the environmentally sustainable level of take – the Authority has to assess how much water can be taken from the Basin without compromising the environment. This report outlines the methods and modelled outcomes of the Environmentally Sustainable Level of Take process.

Download the report [PDF 4.5MB]

Summary Information on draft Basin Plan proposal and water recovery achieved

Schedule 2 of the Plain English Summary sets out the proposed reductions in surface water diversions under the draft Basin Plan and the extent to which water recovery to achieve these targets has already been achieved prior to the 2009 baseline and since this time through to September 2011. 

Download the Summary of the reductions proposed [PDF 47KB]

Download further information on the water recovery volumes achieved prior to and since 2009 [PDF 92KB]

The proposed Groundwater Baseline and Sustainable Diversion Limits: methods report

The Water Act 2007 requires that sustainable diversion limits for all Basin water resources are determined based on an assessment of the environmentally sustainable level of take.  This report contains a summary of the methods and assessments used to determine the groundwater sustainable diversion limits for the proposed Basin Plan. As well as the sustainable diversion limits, the Authority has determined a baseline against which sustainable diversion limits are compared. Known as the baseline diversion limit, it represents the Authority’s determination of the limits on groundwater use under existing water management arrangements. The proposed Basin Plan sustainable diversion limits and baseline diversion limits reflect the different aquifer characteristics, levels of management and knowledge of the groundwater resources across the Basin.

[PDF 1.26MB] [Word 4.75MB]

Fact Sheets

These fact sheets have been developed to cover the work of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and the approaches taken to develop the draft Basin Plan. Examples include: Flooding and the Basin Plan, Climate Change and the Basin Plan, All about the barrages and Hydrological modelling.

View more Fact Sheets.

Questions Answered

These 20 items canvas those issues where we have received questions and explain some of the approaches the Authority has taken to developing the draft Basin Plan.
View all answers.

River Management and Opportunities

Central to the implementation of the Basin Plan in the lead-up to the 2015 review point is consideration of how existing river management arrangements and environmental works and measures could be addressed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of delivering environmental water.

This discussion paper was developed by the MDBA to stimulate discussion on potential for changes in river management arrangements to achieve better consumptive and environmental outcomes, including potential changes to the Basin Plan's SDLs.

Read more