Conjunctive water management and Victorian water policy
The Victorian Water Act (1989) has been designed to enable integrated management of surface water and groundwater and to eliminate inconsistencies in the treatment of surface water and groundwater resources and waterways. The mechanism to achieve this is through the development of water management plans and through licensing provisions.
Under the Act a Water Supply Protection Area may be declared to protect the groundwater resources in the area or the surface water resources in the area or both. Once an area has been declared, a water management plan is prepared. The object of a management plan is to make sure that the water resources of the relevant Water Supply Protection Area are managed in an equitable manner, so as to ensure the long-term sustainability of those resources.
A management plan may prescribe restrictions on the taking of groundwater or surface water to prevent groundwater level declines and to ensure maintenance of stream flows and the protection of the environment. Currently there have been no management plans that have dealt with groundwater and surface water in a holistic way, as legislation to enable this to occur was only passed in 2002.
In Victoria licences are needed for irrigation and commercial use of water taken from waterways, springs, soaks or dams and groundwater. In considering licence applications, licensing authorities take into account such things as water availability, quality, adverse impacts on other people, waterways and aquifers and the needs of the environment. Licence conditions may also be set to manage potential adverse impacts. The Minister may also declare a total annual volume of water for an area that may be taken whether surface water, groundwater or both and licensing decisions and management plans are limited by a declaration.
In terms of water trade, there have been innumerable transfers of surface water licences particularly in northern Victoria, which is subject to the Murray Darling Basin Cap. There have been less than 20 groundwater transfers but these are occurring more and more frequently in capped groundwater systems as the water market develops. There have been no instances of interchangeable transfers between groundwater and surface water licences and a policy position on this issue is yet to be developed.
The Victorian Government has prepared a White Paper "Our Water Our Future" where connectivity issues such as surface water/groundwater caps and surface water/groundwater transfers are discussed.
Relevant Links
Department of Sustainability & Environment (Vic)
Victorian Water Legislation
Victorian White Paper: Our Water Our Future
References
NGC, 2004. Surface water-groundwater integration and legislative constraints. National Groundwater Committee