Water Recovery

Water recovery program aims to provide water to contribute to the achievement of ecological objectives under The Living Murray. One of the key objectives of the Intergovernmental Agreement is a cost effective, permanent recovery of water to achieve the environmental outcomes of The Living Murray program’s First Step decision. More than $500 million is being invested to recover 500GL of water for the environment.

There are a number of ways in which this water can be recovered, including:

• Infrastructure improvements 
  Water can also be recovered by improving or installing new infrastructure to allow better measurement and control of flows, or reduce evaporation and seepage. Sometimes this process involves removing outdated or superceded infrastructure. These types of projects generally lead to efficiency gains.
• On-farm Initiatives 
  Incentives can be offered, or programs facilitated to encourage land owners to improve the use of water on their properties.
• Market-based measures
  This involves the purchase of water from willing sellers. Often refferred to as a "buy back" of water from users, these projects can be implemented quickly. There are currently several types of market-based measures being considered through The Living Murray.
• Urban improvements
  Water can be recovered from urban areas as well as rural areas through improved use of water. This can be acheived through demand management (reducing reliance on water), permanent water conservation measures, or water recycling projects.

The process of water recovery:

Although most proposals have come from Governments, water recovery projects can be proposed to The Living Murray by anyone at any time. Guidelines have been developed to assist those who would like to propose a new project, and are available for download through the Water Recovery Guidelines page. The guidelines include references to the original and Supplementary Inter Governmental Agreement, along with The Living Murray Business Plan. More information on these documents is available on the 'background' page of this site.
Once a water recovery project is shown to be feasible it may be listed on the Central Register of water recovery measures.  This register is made up of three parts (Developmental, Eligible Measures, Environmental Water).  The process of water recovery, including the three parts of the register, is illustrated in the following graphic: 

Further information on water recovery:

• Water Recovery Progress Report
• Guidelines for Proposing a water recovery project
• Feasibility assessments of new water recovery projects
• Central register of water recovery measures
• Pilot Environmental Water Purchase project

Links to The Living Murray's Other Programs

• Water Recovery
• Water Application
• Environmental Works and Measures
• Communication and Community Consultation
• Indigenous Partnerships