{"id":1450,"date":"2019-02-12T09:11:38","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T23:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/petaguy.info\/blog\/?p=1450"},"modified":"2019-02-27T10:50:29","modified_gmt":"2019-02-27T00:50:29","slug":"water-sharing-in-the-murray-darling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/petaguy.info\/blog\/sustainability\/water-sharing-in-the-murray-darling","title":{"rendered":"Water Sharing in the Murray-Darling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

… not a drop to drink<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This is a third article on MDB water and the most difficult to write. It is aimed at giving a fairly comprehensive background on water terminology and the constraints faced when trying to ration water in a very dry land with vocal lobby groups speaking to the rural heartland. A few bits of cross-checking to do. The button below has all the caveats <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MDB Page<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Sources<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Water as an economic good<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Water Account<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Murray-Darling Basin Authority<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

and generally, ABS and ABARES data for analyses<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MDB <\/span><\/strong>is short for Murray-Darling Basin. 

Gl <\/span><\/strong>means 1,000,000,000 litres of water - approximately the size of 400 Olympic swimming pools

Ml <\/span><\/strong>means 1,000,000 litres of water. This enough to cover a hectare to a depth of 10cm on a quarter acre block (~0.1 hectares or 1000 sq m) to 1 metre high.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tPiping hot water<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tRead This<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tWater Sharing in the Murray-Darling<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tRead This<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tWater Use in the Murray-Darling<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tRead This<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tDarling River water<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tRead This<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tThe Benefits of Rain in Canberra<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tRead This<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Water is special <\/h1>\n\n\n\n
If we can manage complex things like money that is a virtual commodity these days, why is water and its use so difficult? This article is intended to give some insight to a vital issue for people and the environment we live in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Water as a commodity <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Let’s look at what makes water so unique and why it is hard to manage this limited, highly variable and valuable resource. Then we can have a detailed look at the inhibitors and enablers for management of water in a dry land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/div><\/div><\/div>
Water is essential<\/strong>. <\/h3><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
 There is no life without water, no economic production, no environment.  There is no human activity that does not depend on water. It is a vital  resource. The same can be said about air, land, fuel and food. <\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
No water, no life, whether this is in the rivers or for river communities. When river species die, this is a forerunner to what can happen to communities. Fish kills are a complex thing and do occur naturally. However, when they can be prevented with a little foresight and care, there is no need for endangered species that are slow to breed and live a hundred years or more to die due to lack of attention to the basics of river management.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/div><\/div><\/div>
Water is non-substitutable<\/strong>. <\/h3><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
There is no alternative for water. Economic theory is based on the existence of choice. But what alternatives are there for water? There is no alternative, there is no choice. The only exception is coastal cities that could afford to produce fresh water from seawater through desalination.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Nothing else can take the place of water. If one energy source becomes scarce we can use another. Food can be substituted. Not water.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/div><\/div><\/div>
Water is finite.<\/strong>  <\/h3><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
 The amount of fresh water available is limited by the amount of water that  circulates through the atmosphere on an annual basis. All fresh water  stems from the rainfall. The amount of rainfall that falls on land is finite. <\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
You run out of water in Australia and you do not have many options. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/div><\/div><\/div>
 Water is fugitive<\/strong>   <\/h3><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
 Water flows under gravity. If we don’t capture it it’s gone. The  availability of the water varies over time and so does the demand for  water. It flows through our fingers unless we store it. Water is  different from air and land, because these goods don’t need to be  stored: they are stocks, whereas water is essentially a flux. There are  of course also stocks of water: groundwater aquifers and natural lakes.  But these lakes and aquifers only can be used sustainably if they are  replenished by the flux. We can store water artificially but then the  stock is small compared to the flux. Annual recharge rates determine  safe and sustainable yields, not the stocks. <\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Many people see water running to the sea or down a river past them as wasted. Until the environmental impact of building dams was understood, building a dam was a sure-fire way to win votes. Dams and irrigation are referred to as harnessing water – controlling it for human purposes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/div><\/div><\/div>
 Water is a system.<\/strong>  <\/h3><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
 The annual water cycle from rainfall to runoff is a complex system where  several processes (infiltration, surface runoff, recharge, seepage,  re-infiltration, moisture recycling) are interconnected and  interdependent with only one direction of flow: downstream. If the flow  is interfered with upstream, downstream impacts result, and  externalities and third party effects occur. Many downstream users  depend on the return flows of (inefficient) upstream users; increasing  the efficiency of those upstream uses will decrease return flows and  impact downstream. If groundwater is abstracted from an aquifer, further  down in the cycle at some later point in time less water will flow in  the river. If waste is discharged at some point, damage is incurred  somewhere downstream. A catchment is one single system and not the sum  of a large number of subsystems that can be added-up or optimised in a  regular economic model. <\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Not just the water cycle. The water cycle is integral to the environment we live in and yet, only part of it. The local environment we lived in once provided all we needed to become the dominant species on Earth. We still need clean air and water, food and shelter to live – regardless of how different all that looks to what it did 10,000 years ago. We are organic and the world we live in is the only place we can live for any length of time. Destroy an important part of it and we can destroy ourselves by destroying other parts of the ecosystem.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Complex adaptive systems in nature are very robust. They can withstand a wide variation in temperature and other factors that impact life. However, the capacity to adapt will at some point break down and there is an Environmental Collapse. Water seems to be one of the most critical factors in collapse scenarios studied by Jared Diamond and others.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/div><\/div><\/div>
 Water is bulky.<\/strong>  <\/h3><\/div>
<\/div><\/div>
 Although water is essential for almost any economic activity, there are  not many examples of water being transported over any considerable  distance, particularly not against the force of gravity. Where these  transfers nevertheless occur, they concern water destined for high value  uses (for the domestic and industrial sectors) and, in some exceptional  cases, for highly subsidised agricultural purposes. Although normal  commodities are shipped and wheeled throughout the globe, we do not send  super tankers with water to drought stricken areas. We transport the  produce instead: grains, textiles, dried fruit, etc.; commodities that  house more than 1,000 times their weight in virtual water, the water  required to produce it. <\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Water carriage consumes large portions of the lives of people living without reticulated water. Its weight and difficulty finding suitable vessels for carrying it create significant social and economic pressures. Rivers handle the transport of water very well. That is what they are, water transport. Irrigation copies nature and builds channels to transport water in a controlled way and in large volumes needed to support industry, agriculture and domestic uses. If you have none within easy access, then you need to build the infrastructure needed to transport it in channels or pipes, frequently needing to pump it as well. Any method of transporting water up hill will be very expensive. Transport by truck is even more expensive.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Water is a problem for Economists<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Until recent times, water was just part of the environment we lived in. What we did was constrained by available water and there was nothing much we could do about it. With the advent of water storage and distribution and especially irrigation, water has become a commodity that can be used for many competing purposes. Because water is so useful for so many purposes, there is competition for it. Wars have and will again be fought over it.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Water is also a problem for people<\/strong>. Almost everyone is aware of the need to diversify an investment portfolio. To manage economic risks – hoping for the best and planing for the worst. Money can be stored (bank accounts, investment instruments) and magically grows when stored for 98% of the time. The Great Depression and Great Recession were exceptions. Withdrawing money hardly reduces the amount, given small transaction fees charged. You have to earn money, it does not grow on trees or fall from the sky. It allows trading without the messy business of finding someone who wants to trade exactly what you have for exactly what they want to trade in return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dams store water but, unlike money, water disappears from storage (evaporation and seepage). Water does fall from the sky and you can collect it on your own land, even store it in dams. Water is hard to value and comes in different grades. Pure water is more valuable than polluted water and it is more valuable when scarce – its value varies due to Externalities<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two competing economic approaches to managing water:- The free market<\/strong> approach focused on individuals maximising benefits to themselves has been the path of least resistance<\/em>  until scarcity forced alternative ways of thinking. Water as a common resource<\/strong> to be shared for greatest nett benefit to a whole economic unit requires a Paradigm Shift<\/strong> in thinking before it can succeed.<\/p><\/div>
\"avatar\"\/<\/div><\/div>
 
Free market or a commonly owned resource?  <\/h2><\/small><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
There is a kind of industrial water cycle of inflow, extraction and return<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Opportunity Cost<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Opportunity cost is another important consideration in economics. Any use of a resource produces a return (profit or similar) and there is a corresponding lost opportunity for other activities that could have used that resource. Therefore a farmer using a Ml of water to improve pasture might make a personal gain of $214 but the nursery downstream could have used the water to generate $17,000((See Water use in the Murray Darling<\/a>.)).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tragedy of the Commons<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
In the 19th century it became clear that common resources with an economic value would almost inevitably be taken over by those who could exploit them to the detriment of others. The English Common was the prime example, where an individual could consume or destroy what was supposed to be for the common good – especially for the poor. Tragedy of the Commons is the economic term to describe this and it is evident in fisheries, shared land and even air and water now.  Then there is the associated economic assumption that there are no limits to natural resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Notable counter examples are evident with the traditional Aboriginal owners of Australia and other indigenous custodians1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Losses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Losses are a kind of Externality in economic terms. Sources of loss include evaporation, absorption, diversion and unauthorised extraction. Keeping in mind that we are talking about a managed Basin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Water Markets & Entitlement <\/h1>\n\n\n\n
The environment does not compete with economic and community beneficiaries for the use of water. The environment enables them to have <\/strong>water<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Water in a dry land<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Water is Finite<\/span>. Water <\/span>is essential. It opens up the dry interior to the west of the Great Dividing Range. The issue of who owns the water has been a vexed question. Federation could not solve the ownership of the Murray River and its water. When water flow slowed to a trickle in 1914, the rivers were no longer navigable and rail transport replaced riverboats for transport to the coastal cities. The following year saw the first water agreement with signing of the River Murray Waters Agreement in 1915, focused on resource sharing between the States. The response in 1918 was to build locks to ensure that the river would remain navigable. Those locks extend from below the confluence of the Darling up to Yarrawonga. Until the mid 1990s there were minor changes to the agreement, relating to the construction of dams and weirs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lots of detail about the basin and its characteristics here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prehistory2<\/a><\/sup>extract  <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Gondwana<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The Basin is made up of many geological units formed  when Australia was part of Gondwana and long before it separated from  other land masses (about 500 million years ago). Other units developed  more recently (around 2 million years ago) as Gondwana split into its  eastern and western halves; others developed about 140 million years ago  when Australia and Antarctica split from India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over 400 million years, the tectonic units that form the foundation \nof the Basin eroded to a relatively flat land surface, however outcrops \nof the original rock remained in some regions. Volcanic activity, \nsometimes extreme, also created distinctive features on the landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Basin development<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"Harsh
Lake Mungo, NSW<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Over this ancient landscape the Murray Groundwater Basin formed  around 60 million years ago.  The  southern part of the Great Artesian Basin underlies much of the northern  Murray?Darling Basin, where the Darling River and its tributaries flow. The Murray Groundwater Basin underlies the riverine plains associated with the River Murray and its tributaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Basin facts<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Ongoing erosion and weathering resulted in sedimentary rocks \ninfilling the basins, while the ancient basement rocks continued to fold\n and change (metamorphose) at the perimeters and beneath the basins, \nforming the mountain ranges and outcrops that form the eastern and \nsouthern areas of the land surface of the Basin. The south-western rim \nof the Basin is basement rocks just beneath the surface, which form the \nPadthaway Ridge in South Australia and separates the Basin from the \nSouthern Ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The climate of 40\u201360 million years ago was much wetter than present. \nThe basins contained large swamps and bogs, and thick sediments that \nwere laid down in broad valleys. As streams and rivers ran from the \neastern highlands, new valleys were eroded and sand and gravel were \ndeposited as rivers fanned out across the plains. Great quantities of \nwater accumulated in the Great Artesian Basin, which maintained \nconnections to the ground surface or shallow aquifers. Up to 600 m of \nsediment was deposited in the Basin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rising and retreating sea levels<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
On the western side of the Murray Groundwater Basin, sea levels rose \nand retreated several times from 26 to 2.5 million years ago. The \nsouth-western corner of the basin became a sea, which at its peak (about\n 6 million years ago) reached Balranald and Kerang. Marine materials \nwere deposited across the landscape in sand sheets until the sea \nretreated completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Compared with other continents, Australia has been remarkably free of\n volcanic or mountain-building activity in recent time. The Great \nDividing Range in eastern Australia, the Flinders Ranges in South \nAustralia and the extensive plains in between have been present for at \nleast 20 million years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earth moving changes<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Localised activity in the earth’s crust in ‘recent’ geological time \nhad significant influences on soil characteristics, groundwater quality \nand the modern courses of the rivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Around 3 million years ago, the uplift of the Pinnaroo Block, near \nSwan Reach on the lower River Murray, blocked the flow of the river and \nover time created the massive but shallow Lake Bungunnia. The lake is \nthought to have covered 50,000 km\u00b2, from Blanchetown in South Australia,\n to past Lake Mungo in the north, to Boundary Bend on the Murray in the \neast and arms extending southwards to near Sea Lake in the Victorian \nmallee. Salt lakes through the region, such as Lake Tyrrell, are \nbelieved to be remnants of the ancient Lake Bungunnia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lake Bungunnia existed for 2 million years during a time when the \nclimate was much wetter or there was considerably less evaporation, \nconditions were humid and the landscape was heavily vegetated. About \n600,000 years ago, the Pinnaroo Block was breached and the ancient and \nmuch wider River Murray cut a deep gorge through sediment to makes its \nway to the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main sedimentary rock deposited in Lake Bungunnia, and underlying\n much of the Mallee \u2014 the Blanchetown Clay \u2014 provides a barrier between \nsurface water and underlying saline aquifers in modern times. In many \nareas, the layer slows down leakage of irrigation water into the river. \nHowever, as the river carved a new course, new aquifers formed that \nprovided a direct connection between the salt store in the soil and the \nMurray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the central catchment, the course of the Murray and several other \nrivers changed about 25,000 years ago as a result of an uplift of land \nfrom Echuca to Deniliquin, called the Cadell Tilt \u2014 effectively a large \nblock that stopped the Murray and Goulburn rivers and two very large \nlakes formed. Over time and with the melting of glaciers in the Great \nDividing Range about 20,000 years ago, water headed north to create the \nEdward River, and the Murray created a new course to the southwest (now \ncalled the Barmah Choke), to follow its current course, created by the \nancient Goulburn River, to Swan Hill. Green Gully, west of Mathoura is \nbelieved to be the former course of the Murray, as are the lower reaches\n of the Wakool River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Barmah Choke has resulted in regular flooding of a large area of \nthe floodplain in the area, enabling the establishment of the largest \nstand of river red gums in Australia in the Barmah\u2013Millewa Forest. The \nchoke provides a challenge for water management as it limits flow to 10 \nML\/day, so downstream supply of irrigation or urban water needs to be \nscheduled to avoid unseasonal flooding of the red gum forests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
River formation<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The most significant period in the formation of the rivers, dunes and\n alluvial plains of the Basin was during the glacial cycles of 10,000 to\n 100,000 years ago, when melting glaciers carried vast amounts of water \nand sediment from the mountains that formed the eastern highlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Australia\u2019s general flatness and mostly arid climate means that the \nriver systems are generally slow flowing, and in some cases, ephemeral. \nRather than flowing directly from source to sea, the Basin’s rivers \ngenerally meander across the giant floodplains of the interior, making \nmany twists and turns on their way to the ocean<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Recent History<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Aboriginal people have lived in the lower Darling and Murray river basins for at least 40,000 years. They managed to do so sustainably and had agricultural practices that were in advance of most of the rest of the world, especially Europe. Some 75,000 Aboriginal people live in the area. They have something to say, via  The Murray, Lower Darling River Indigenous Nations (MLDRIN<\/a>) :<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over 150 years of land clearing, water extraction, physical disruption of waterways and devaluing of Indigenous knowledge have seen the environment of the Basin severely degraded. Recent research highlights the critical condition of many Basin ecosystems and threatened species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Basin waterways are impacted by high levels of salinity, poor \nwater quality, toxic blue-green algae outbreaks and infestations of \ninvasive European carp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iconic native fish such as the Murray Cod and Macquarie Perch suffer \nfrom reduced river connectivity, cold water pollution from dam-releases \nand altered flow patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2012, the Australian Government implemented The Murray Darling \nBasin Plan to address some of these issues. The Basin Plan is supposed \nto return the equivalent of 3200 gigalitres (GL) of water back to the \nriver, as environmental flows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Murray-Darling Basin has also undergone a significant loss in the surface of land occupied by wetlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MLDRIN identify five key issues impacting the ecology:<\/p>\n\n\n\n