Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities

Administration of Commonwealth environmental water

Directions given to the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder

No directions were given in 2012–13 to the CEWH by either the minister or the secretary of the department.

Australian National Audit Office report

In May 2013 the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) completed audit report No.36 2012–13 performance audit: Commonwealth environmental watering activities, which assessed the effectiveness of the office’s administration of environmental water holdings. The audit examined whether the office’s:

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  governance arrangements are appropriate to effectively manage and report on the office’s environmental watering activities
  
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  engagement of all relevant stakeholders effectively facilitates the management of the office’s environmental watering activities
  
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  arrangements to plan and target available Commonwealth environmental water at priority environmental assets are effective
  
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  arrangements to deliver Commonwealth environmental water to the designated environmental assets are effective and timely
  
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  monitoring and evaluation activities effectively identify the outcomes achieved from the office’s environmental watering activities, and influence future water use decisions.
  

The ANAO found that the strategies for managing Commonwealth environmental water are generally sound and made no formal recommendations for change, instead offering a number of suggestions for improvement. The office accepted those suggestions. Measures that the office is putting in place include:

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  improved stakeholder engagement through the employment of local engagement officers and the development of new communications and stakeholder engagement strategies
  
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  establishing a new water holdings register
  
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  engaging in longer term portfolio planning
  
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  undertaking more regular reviews of performance against the office’s business plan
  
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  implementing a standard framework for determining operational monitoring requirements and preparing a standardised acquittal report for each watering action.
  

Murray–Darling Basin Plan and environmental watering plan

In November 2012 the Basin Plan came into effect under the Water Act 2007. The CEWH must manage the Commonwealth’s environmental water holdings in accordance with the Basin Plan’s environmental watering plan.

The office worked closely with the Murray–Darling Basin Authority to successfully align the planning and use of Commonwealth environmental water with the requirements of the environmental watering plan, including:

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  updated the Framework for Determining Commonwealth Environmental Water Use (including revised criteria for assessing options for Commonwealth environmental water use) so that decisions on Commonwealth water use are consistent with the requirements of the Basin Plan
  
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  developed the Commonwealth Environmental Water Annual Use Options 2013–14 (published in June 2013) to contribute to achieving the environmental watering plan’s overall objectives
  
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  reported on how 2012–13 watering actions have contributed to achieving the environmental watering plan objectives (Appendix C, tables A3–A13).
  

Management of the portfolio of Commonwealth environmental water

In August 2012 the office published its first annual carryover report, which described Commonwealth environmental water carryover from 2011–12 into 2012–13. The annual Commonwealth Environmental Water Carryover Report for 2012–13 into 2013–14 has recently been published on the department’s website.

Statements related to management of the portfolio of Commonwealth environmental water were published on the office website in September and December 2012 and March 2013. Information about Commonwealth environmental water holdings was updated each month on the office website.

The office is developing protocols for water trading to ensure compliance with the Basin Plan trading rules. Water use planning documents for 2012–13 and 2013–14 were produced and made available on the office’s website.

Risk management for Commonwealth environmental water

In 2011–12 the office engaged the Australian Government Solicitor to identify and assess the sources of the office’s strategic legal and governance risks and identify appropriate treatments where current controls were considered insufficient to manage risks rated medium or higher. The assessment was finalised in June 2012 and in 2012–13 the office implemented and updated its risk mitigation and treatment plan for its activities in line with the Australian Government Solicitor’s recommendations.

Environmental water shepherding

Water shepherding relates to the protection of Commonwealth environmental water from extraction as it flows downstream. A key focus of water shepherding is to ensure that third-party interests are neither increased nor diminished. This includes irrigators within a particular catchment and downstream.

The report Proposed Arrangements for Shepherding Commonwealth Environmental Water in New South Wales Outcomes of Consultation was published by the New South Wales Office of Water in November 2012. A preferred option for shepherding Commonwealth environmental water in the Barwon–Darling River upstream of Menindee Lakes (including shepherding of Commonwealth environmental water sourced from Queensland and New South Wales regulated and unregulated tributaries) was identified. This work is expected to continue in 2013–14, with consideration of three options to shepherd Commonwealth environmental water through the

Menindee Lakes.

Providing information

The office remains committed to providing up-to-date information on its activities. The website www.environment.gov.au/ewater is the office’s primary tool for making information publicly available. It includes information about the holdings, management and use of Commonwealth environmental water in each Basin catchment, frameworks for making water use decisions and managing water, and monitoring projects and outcomes. It also provides an avenue for people to give suggestions on the potential use of Commonwealth environmental water and makes available reports drafted or commissioned by the office.

During 2012–13 the following reports on the activities of the office were produced:

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  Annual report 2011–12 Commonwealth environmental water (in Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities Annual Report 2011–12).
  
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  Commonwealth Environmental Water Office 2012–13 Business Plan.
  
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  Commonwealth Environmental Water Office 2011–12 Outcomes Report.
  
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  Murray–Darling Basin Environmental Water Holders’ Report.
  
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  Commonwealth Environmental Water Portfolio Management Statements.
  
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  Commonwealth Environmental Water Carryover from 2011–12 into 2012–13 Report.
  
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  Commonwealth Environmental Water Annual Water Use Options Planning Documents for 2012–13 and 2013–14.
  
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  Reports on Monitoring and Evaluation of Commonwealth Environmental Watering Commissioned by the Office.
  

The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office 2012–13 Outcomes Report is anticipated to be published by January 2014.

A subscription email database is another mechanism the office uses for providing interested parties with the latest information on Commonwealth environmental water management.

Working with and obtaining advice from others

In 2012–13 the office continued to focus on a range of stakeholder engagement activities, including:

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  determined hosting arrangements for placing six Commonwealth Environmental Water Office local engagement officers, who are expected to be recruited in 2013–14
  
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  actively sought input and feedback from stakeholders on governance, processes and decision making
  
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  participated in planning processes, including regularly met with local partners and landholders on a catchment-by-catchment basis
  
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  released publications and engaged in targeted consultation on issues including water use, water trade, carryover, and monitoring and evaluation.
  

The CEWH’s decisions are informed by two advisory groups: the Commonwealth Environmental Water Scientific Advisory Panel, which met four times during 2012–13; and the Commonwealth Environmental Water Stakeholder Reference Panel, which met twice during 2012–13. More information about these panels and their members is available from the office’s website.

The office also proposed establishing a Commonwealth Environmental Water Advisory Council during 2012–13. It is currently considering whether a committee or some alternative approach would provide the most efficient and effective access to specialist advice.

The office is looking to increase its engagement with Indigenous people in order to progress the potential opportunities for achieving mutual environmental and cultural outcomes, including engaging with groups such as the Northern Basin Aboriginal Nations and the Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations. The office is engaging with the National Native Title Council to support the National Cultural Flows Research Project. This multi-year project is expected to provide information on water requirements to meet cultural values and will help to inform the office as to how environmental water could be applied to help contribute to achieving mutual environmental and cultural outcomes.

The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder and Commonwealth Environmental Water Office respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Owners, their Elders past and present, their Nations of the Murray–Darling Basin, and their cultural, social, environmental, spiritual and economic connection to their lands and waters.

The office remains committed to effective collaboration, engagement and sharing of information with a broad range of partners within the Basin community in relation to Commonwealth environmental water planning, management and monitoring, to improve environmental water outcomes. The office engages with many stakeholder groups and individuals including state government bodies, river operators, catchment management authorities, local environmental watering advisory groups, not-for-profit water and land management organisations, other holders of environmental water, landholders and the Murray–Darling Basin Authority.

The engagement activities outlined in this section are part of the office’s approach to localism in the Basin. The office relies on input from Basin communities to inform its operations and is committed to improving the ability of local communities to become involved in environmental water management.

Business and information systems

Two new key information management systems are in the process of being established and rolled out to improve the efficiency the office’s business activities, including Basin Plan reporting requirements:

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  The Environmental Water Management System manages Commonwealth environmental water holdings information, providing financial and volumetric tracking of watering actions.
  
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  The Environmental Assets Database, developed jointly by the office and the Murray–Darling Basin Authority, holds information on the management and health of environmental assets in the Basin and the use of Commonwealth environmental water to protect and restore the health of these assets.
  

Both databases are being integrated into the daily operations of the office.

Monitoring and evaluating the use of Commonwealth environmental water

In 2012–13 the office continued work on implementing the Commonwealth Environmental Water Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Improvement Framework that will support the efficient and effective use of Commonwealth environmental water and demonstrate the achievement of environmental outcomes over the long term. Key elements of the framework are now in place and it will continue to be implemented as more water is delivered. The framework has been aligned with the Basin Plan’s environmental watering objectives.

Each Commonwealth environmental watering action is monitored and reviewed from an operational perspective to ensure that water is delivered as planned and to help manage risks such as unintended inundation.

Targeted intervention monitoring is undertaken by scientists commissioned by the office to help understand environmental outcomes and inform water use (see ‘Monitoring of Commonwealth environmental watering’). The focus of this monitoring is currently transitioning from short-term (one-year) projects to long-term (five-year) projects, which will commence in 2014–15.

The approach has a sound scientific basis. It will allow the office to interpret and translate the results of monitoring to other areas and identify the contribution of each project to the long-term Basin Plan objectives.

Environmental Water Holdings Special Account 2012–13

The Environmental Water Holdings Special Account is established under the Water Act 2007 for the payment of costs, expenses and other obligations incurred in managing Commonwealth environmental water holdings. At the start of 2012–13 the special account balance was $36.132 million. Funding of $24.7 million was credited from the Sustainable Rural Water Use and Infrastructure Program to the account at the end of the financial year. As it was a high-use year, $13.93 million was expended on annual water entitlement fees, allocation trading and delivery costs. At 30 June 2013 the special account balance was $43.824 million (of which $15.091 million has been committed for environmental watering actions and other projects). The key expenditure in 2012–13 is shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Environmental Water Holdings Special Account expenditure

Category of expense	Total costs ($ million)
Fees and charges for holdings and allocations and for maintaining and providing for the replacement of rural water infrastructure^1	13.930
Monitoring and evaluation	1.486
Development of environmental registers and other systems	1.586
Portfolio management	0.006
Total	17.008

Note:

1. Fees and charges include $8.491 million for annual water entitlement fees and $5.439 million for allocation use fees. No pumping costs were incurred by the office to deliver environmental water in 2012–13.