Water markets and trade

Water trade allows for the efficient redistribution of water and is an important mechanism for managing the Murray-Darling Basin’s scarce water resources.

South Australia is part of the southern-connected Murray-Darling Basin water market which is a connected water resource covering parts of South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria.

There are two main types of water rights traded in the Basin - entitlements and allocations:

• Water access entitlements are rights to an ongoing share of the total amount of water available in a system.
• Water allocations are the actual amount of water available under water access entitlements in a given season.

Water trade dashboards

Water trade dashboards have been developed to provide better information about water allocation and entitlement trading in the South Australian River Murray.

The dashboards include data on the volume and price of water traded through time.

Water market reform

On 11 October 2022, the Minister for the Environment and Water, released the Water market reform: final roadmap report. The Roadmap includes 23 recommendations to drive water markets reforms. The Roadmap addresses the findings of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Murray–Darling Basin water markets inquiry final report, published in March 2021.

On 07 December 2023, the Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Act 2023 was enacted. The Australian Government is working with all Basin jurisdictions to implement the water market reforms. Information about the water market reforms and consultation can be found here.

More information

For more information on water trade:

• Water trading rules for the Murray-Darling Basin.
• Water licensing and your local Trade Approval Authority who will support you with your trade application.
• Water market products also referred to as tradeable water rights.
• Water Announcements including allocation and carryover announcements, and the River Murray Flow Report.
• Data on water trade in South Australia is available on via the Water Register.