Publication type

non-fiction

Summary

This paper describes the water audit which has been carried out in the Murray-Darling Basin. It highlights that diversions have increased significantly since 1988 and will continue to increase unless water management arrangements are amended. This increase in diversion will have an adverse impact on river health. It concludes that the most urgent priority is to define the appropriate balance between water for consumptive uses (i.e. irrigation, domestic and industrial) and that required to be left in rivers (environmental flows) to ensure that the consumptive uses are sustainable and that the rivers remain in a healthy state. This water audit does not attempt to strike the balance between consumptive and instream water use. Rather it provides a sound body of knowledge on which to base the necessary community discussions which will lead to decisions about an appropriate balance between consumptive and instream uses.