Restoring Our Rivers Framework
The Australian Government has made funding programs available to basin communities to help recover an additional 450 gigalitres of water. This water aims to deliver enhanced environmental outcomes throughout the Murray system, including floodplains in New South Wales and Victoria, and is particularly important for maintaining the health of the Coorong and Lower Lakes.
In December 2023, the Parliament of Australia passed the Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Act 2023. The Act made changes to the Water Act 2007 and Basin Plan 2012. One of the key reforms in this new legislation is the provision of additional funding to support basin communities, while still ensuring the full implementation of the Basin Plan.
Restoring Our Rivers: Framework for delivery the 450 GL sets out how the Australian Government plans to recover the 450 GL and includes three programs to help meet the target:
Before the implementation of the Restoring Our Rivers Framework, Efficiency Measures projects were the only mechanism to recover water towards the 450 GL. These projects were part of the Basin Plan's Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism, designed to benefit both the environment and communities across the Murray-Darling Basin.
Efficiency measures
Efficiency measures are an agreed component of the Basin Plan to recover 450 gigalitres of water. As well as benefiting irrigators, communities and the environment, this funding better prepares irrigators and communities to manage the impacts of a changing climate by improving water use practices and saving water.
Importantly, projects need to have positive or neutral socio-economic impacts on Murray Darling Basin communities and industries. In South Australia, investments in water saving infrastructure through the Basin Plan have resulted in increased individual and community productivity and the return of water to the environment.
The South Australian Government has also been investigating and delivering innovative urban projects which could return water towards the 450 gigalitres of efficiency measures through state-led projects. State-led projects are developed and submitted by the South Australian Government and, if agreed, will be delivered and funded in accordance with an agreed Commonwealth – State project agreement.
