Access to Surface Water

Water Use Rights and Transferability

Water supply in the North East catchment has been complex in the past because it embraces many different types of water use and consumption and many ways of delivering water which are superimposed on social and environmental issues. These factors have been compounded by climatic variability and a general mismatch between seasonal resource availability and demand. Therefore, the water supply system has relied upon both subjective rules, based on experience, as well as objective economic rules. The need to allocate, manage and use water, in a way which balances consumptive and environmental requirements, has only been recognised as recently as the late 1980s. This recognition is based on an increased community awareness of environmental degradation occurring in the region, as a result of past management of water resources. One of the major problems encountered with respect to water usage in the North East catchment in the past century was defining both consumptive and non-consumptive entitlements, resulting in demand for water outstripping its scarce supply. For example, although the basic commitment for irrigation water is generally well defined, the quantity of water available for allocation at any given time in the future is not well defined. Furthermore, consideration of the environmental water requirements has often played a minor role in water allocation.

Lake Dartmouth retarding basin

As a result of these inefficiencies the Victorian Water Act 1989 introduced a new form of Bulk Water Entitlement (BWE), designed to specify with certainty the bulk entitlement to be allocated to each water authority. Under the Act the environment is recognised as a user of water and, as such, a bulk entitlement may be granted to it. This form of entitlement ensures that:

• water authorities are confident that water can be supplied to a particular user as and when required,
• water authorities have greater flexibility with respect to water resource development decision-making and the provision of services available,
• more efficient use of existing resources and assets are enabled, and
• conflict between users is minimised

Licenses to individual users can now take one of two possible forms. The first is a long-term license, granted for periods of one to fifteen years. The second is an annual license, issued for one year. Both may be used to divert water for a variety of uses, including irrigation, domestic and stock, dairy, industrial and commercial. This system specifies the volume and timing of diversion, replacing the previously ad hoc and inflexible system of one-off diversions.

Bennett (1992)

Following these changes brought about by the Water Act 1989, the Victorian Government announced the creation of nine Catchment Management Authorities (CMAs) to implement Regional Catchment Strategies in each of the then existing rural Catchment and Land Protection regions. The inception of these CMAs was via the Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994. The role of the North East Catchment Management Authority (external link) is to co-ordinate management of floodplains, rural drainage, runoff, pollution, wetlands, irrigation and dryland salinity. The North East CMA undertook this role previously under the jurisdiction of Waterway Management Authorities.

In the light of Victorian Government deregulation of the water supply industry, farmers and other users of rural water now have more flexibility with respect to accessing water. However, they still face issues related to water access, including water rights and transferability (ie. irrigation allocations and restrictions), as well as environmental requirements of the Act.

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