Careful planning is critical to get the most out of every drop of water for the environment. We seek to be efficient, effective and transparent when it comes to this planning.
Planning to meet environmental objectives
The Basin Plan sets out the environmental objectives and targets that guide the use of water for the environment. The Basin-wide Environmental Watering Strategy sets out the next level of detail on the objectives and targets.
The CEWH's job is to deliver water to achieve these objectives and targets. We do this through the careful planning and use of our 3 management tools:
- Use: Deliver water to a river, wetland or floodplain to meet an environmental demand.
- Carryover: Leave water in storage so that it's available to meet environmental demands in the next year.
- Trade: Sell or buy water for equal or greater environmental benefit.
Our job is to plan the best mix of use, carryover and trade to maximise environmental outcomes.
For more information, see the Environmental Water Outcomes Framework.
Planning is based on supply and demand
Commonwealth environmental water planning is driven by:
- Supply – how much water is available
- Demand – the environmental needs of the rivers, wetlands and floodplains
When planning for the new water year (1 July to 30 June), we need to prepare for all scenarios, from very dry to very wet conditions.
Depending on water availability and environmental demand, there are 4 different purposes for managing water:
- Avoid damage to the environment
- Protect and ensure capacity for recovery
- Maintain ecological health and resilience
- Improve ecological health and resilience
If water availability is very low and demand is high, we aim to avoid damage to the environment. If water availability is very high and demand is low, we aim to improve ecological health and resilience.
Water availability and demand can change, so it's important we adapt and adjust our plans.
Annual water management plan
We prepare a water management plan each year. It outlines planning at both the valley and Basin-scale. It considers:
- how much water is expected to be available
- the seasonal rainfall outlook
- plant, animal, river and wetland health.
For more information visit Water Management Plan.
From planning to implementation
Once we've completed planning, we need to make decisions on the use of Commonwealth environmental water. Many local factors influence the decisions on whether we use, carryover and trade water. For example:
- environmental demands and opportunities at specific sites
- anticipated environmental demands in coming years
- climatic conditions across a range of scenarios and current dam storage levels
- physical and operational constraints to water delivery
- environmental and operational risks
- cost versus benefit assessment of each option, within and across catchments
- water account rules and carryover limits
- water market conditions.
Frameworks help guide decisions on the use of water for the environment. For more information, see A Framework for Determining Commonwealth Environmental Water Use.
Reporting
We must follow several reporting requirements outlined in the Basin Plan.
We're required to complete annual reporting on:
- use of local knowledge
- use of environmental water
- implementation of the environmental watering plan
- implementation of the water quality and salinity management plan.
We must also report every 5 years on the achievement of environmental outcomes at a Basin-scale.