The Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) has released a draft
of the proposed Basin Plan required by the Water Act 2007 (Cth)
(Water Act).
A 20-week consultation period has commenced with a final plan
expected to be adopted in 2012.
The draft Basin Plan relates to the management of water
resources in the Murray-Darling Basin and provides for limits on
the quantity of water that may be taken from the basin's
water resources.
In 2010, the MDBA released a guide to the proposed Basin Plan.
The guide proposed that maximum long-term annual average water use
be cut by 3000-4000 gigalitres. Now the draft Basin Plan proposes a
cut of 2750 gigalitres by 2019.
More than 1000 gigalitres has already been cut as a result of
government acquisitions of water rights. The Australian
Government intends to achieve the remaining cuts with further
purchases of water rights, in buybacks and water savings resulting
from infrastructure projects. In that case, it would not
