Framework

Roles and Responsibilities

A primary function of the conjunctive water management framework is to identify who does what, where and how. It seeks to clarify and recognise the scales of involvement and complementary roles for participants at catchment and regional levels, and within Commonwealth, State and Territory, and local government in Australia. These roles are not new or constructed, but they are a reflection of existing and emerging roles.

The framework also promotes strong and effective partnerships between the various stakeholder groups in the catchment. Such partnerships are needed for conjunctive water management to become an effective tool for achieving integrated water management goals and bringing practical benefits to water users.

Role of Water Users

The framework enables water users to view their activities in a catchment sense. Users can support the progressing of conjunctive water management through:

1. representation of local (community and environmental) needs and objectives;
2. development of locally applicable conjunctive water management options (eg water trade);
3. identifying potential trade-offs (eg less water if there are more licence flexibilities) at the regional level;
4. management options that reflect an understanding of how communities will be affected by different options (local environment and socio-economics); and
5. local critique and quality assurance to technical outputs (eg identifying where poor reporting/monitoring of water usage may skew resource modelling) (Fullagar, 2004).

Role of catchment and regional groups

Catchments and regions are increasingly recognised as the most appropriate operational scale for managing natural resource issues. Governments have focused on this scale to achieve tangible environmental improvements over the medium to longer term. Examples include the Murray-Darling Basin Commission (MDBC) Integrated Catchment Management Strategy and a range of regional-specific State plans and strategies which have been funded through NAP and NHT. As a result, most efforts at natural resource management priority setting and monitoring are being undertaken at the catchment level.

Catchment planning should be based on the best available science and be inclusive of the needs of the community that lives within the region or catchment. It should also be responsive to the expectations of the communities that live outside. Catchment groups can:

1. participate in catchment conjunctive water planning that is cooperative, makes effective use of best science information, is inclusive of all stakeholders, and fully integrates social, economic and environmental objectives;
2. support the delivery of community-agreed objectives for integrated groundwater-surface water management outcomes;
3. support capacity-building activities and ensure the necessary resources are in place to enable goals to be met;
4. form strategic partnerships and encourage industry to participate in and deliver on planning processes and outcomes for conjunctive water management;
5. actively seek information and support from reliable sources (including relevant biophysical and economic expertise) and apply it to the catchment water resources planning and management process;
6. prepare catchment integrated water management plans in sufficient detail to enable private landholders to link to catchment-scale outcomes; and
7. regularly monitor and publish the progress towards meeting catchment goals and objectives.

The framework enables landholders to view their farm-based activities in a catchment sense. It enables communities to be confident in regional water planning and its ability to address broad national issues of integrated water management and natural resource management outcomes.

Role of governments

The conjunctive water management framework is consistent with the objectives of the National Water Initiative (NWI). The NWI was brought about by governments recognising that water availability has always been important in Australian life and management of water resources is extremely challenging. The initiative foreshadows expanded water trading across State borders, increased security of water entitlements for land owners, introduction of new arrangements for environmental flows and greater recognition of the connectivity between surface water and groundwater resources. The framework seeks to build on these existing water resources management initiatives and to facilitate the development and implementation of conjunctive water management.

Australian, State and Territory governments share a range of roles that support conjunctive water management. The role of governments should be consistent with existing legislation and with intergovernmental initiatives, such as the NWI and other water reforms. This is the case even for activities that do not rely on legislation. Assessment against National Competition Policy principles is useful in considering whether government intervention is applied in a consistent manner that does not impinge on private enterprise.

Table 1 summarises the proposed roles of governments into five main categories:

1. providing and facilitating water user access to education and information on conjunctive water management;
2. coordination;
3. developing integrated water management policy;
4. research and development; and
5. monitoring and evaluation.

There are also some roles that are unique to a particular sphere of government depending on the responsibilities and scale at which the action is needed, for example:

The Australian Government has a strong role in:

1. providing leadership, coordination and support through a mixture of policies and incentives to drive the widespread adoption of conjunctive water management;
2. supporting regional bodies to engage water users to contribute to integrated water management that supports natural resource and environmental outcomes;
3. promoting a consistent intergovernmental approach to conjunctive water management in agriculture that is consistent with major natural resource policy direction in other sectors such as mining, fisheries, forestry and urban;
4. assessing and supporting national natural resource management priorities;
5. promoting a coordinated approach to conjunctive water management across industry sectors;
6. assessing the impact on water resources and management of decisions in other policy sectors (such as immigration, defence, transport, regional development);
7. actively participating in water resource issues that cross jurisdictional boundaries; and
8. promoting Australia's approach within the international water arena.

State and Territory governments, with constitutional responsibility for water resource management, are in a primary position to influence natural resource management at the catchment level and to support integrated water management by:

1. providing leadership and support through a mixture of State water policies and incentives to drive the widespread adoption of conjunctive water management;
2. provide research and development support to primary producers for designing more sustainable production systems and practices;
3. supporting regional bodies to engage water users to contribute to landscape natural resource and environmental outcomes through integrated water management linked to sufficiently detailed natural resource management plans;
4. assessment of, and support for, state and regional natural resource management priorities; and
5. working across state boundaries where catchments dictate.

Local governments are the sphere of government 'closest to the people' and can facilitate the voluntary adoption of conjunctive water management by:

1. acting as local information brokers for community and landholders on conjunctive water management;
2. being a local facilitator and advocate by providing meeting rooms, secretarial support, administrative support and facilitating negotiations;
3. assessing and supporting local natural resource management priorities and working with regional and catchment bodies to enable them to link conjunctive water management to landscape natural resource and environmental outcomes; and
4. where agreed and resourced, providing infrastructure or undertaking capital works to support local actions and changed management practices arising from integrated water management plans.

References

Fullagar I, 2004. Rivers and Aquifers: Towards conjunctive water management. Workshop Proceedings, Adelaide 6-7 May, 2004. Bureau of Rural Sciences.

Table 1: Five areas in which governments can play a role in conjunctive water management approach

Australian Government	State/Territory governments	Local governments
1. Education and information
Provide relevant conjunctive water management supporting information (Connected Water website, National Land and Water Resources Audit, State of the Environment reports, and other data and reports) Collate, disseminate and update conjunctive water management information for all stakeholders Facilitate and coordinate conjunctive water management training opportunities through existing regional model Inform international water agencies about Australian initiatives on sustainable water management	Identify case studies and promote benefits of conjunctive water management to growers and catchment authorities Provide information on environmental risks, standards and best practice for water use Facilitate conjunctive water management training opportunities Provide supporting regional data and reports	Use Landcare and catchment networks to promote conjunctive water management
2. Coordination
Coordinate establishment of national standards and guidelines in partnership with States, industries, research organisations and communities Provide information on relevant national and international integrated water management developments Undertake national reviews of Australia's water resources	Contribute to development of integrated water management standards and guidelines Coordinate establishment of local and regional water management objectives and targets in partnership with research organisations and communities Ensure stakeholders are up-to-date with relevant regional and State conjunctive water management developments	Participate in the establishment of local and regional integrated water management objectives and targets in partnership with regional and catchment bodies Help coordinate local groups that are addressing issues of sustainable water management in farming
3. Facilitation
Support the application of this conjunctive water management framework Establish and maintain institutional arrangements to foster voluntary conjunctive water management adoption Catalyse conjunctive water management development and adoption through expert-led workshops with interested stakeholders	Support conjunctive water management framework appropriate to all levels of government and industry Establish and maintain institutional arrangements to foster voluntary conjunctive water management adoption Assist incorporation of conjunctive water management with State Water Planning	Support conjunctive water management framework appropriate to all levels of government and industry Support local establishment of sustainable water management objectives and targets
4. Conjunctive water management policy development
Focus conjunctive water management to address critical issues of water management Lead by example through implementation of sustainable water management as a policy in all government businesses and properties	Develop incentives for voluntary conjunctive water management adoption, e.g. reduced water fees Provide input to conjunctive water management to address critical water planning and management issues Lead by example through implementation of conjunctive water management as a policy in all government businesses and properties	Support a community culture of conjunctive water management adoption Lead by example through implementation of conjunctive water management as a policy in all government businesses and properties
5. Research and Development
Collate and publicise information on current national research and development projects through Connected Water website Develop a framework for collaborative and integrated national groundwater-surface water interaction research and development between funding agencies	Ensure coordination to reduce potential for overlap/duplication between State agencies, CSIRO, universities and industry to maximise research and development benefits	Use regional planning frameworks such as catchment water management plans to ensure better strategic focus for conjunctive water management research and development and development of regional conjunctive water management Ensure local coordination of research and development activity to reduce potential for overlap and duplication, and maximisation of research and development benefits