News Latest News Emerging practice in active environmental water management in Australia
Emerging practice in active environmental water management in Australia
In February this year, a workshop on environmental water management co-hosted by the eWater CRC and the National Water Commission brought together 30 professional practitioners to discuss the priorities and future challenges of this growing field of practice. The report, which includes findings from eight case study investigations, is now available online.
The one-day workshop of environmental water managers from each state and territory were joined by observers from the National Water Commission, eWater CRC, the Australian Water Association (AWA) and SKM Pty Ltd. In four discussion sessions, each of which comprised operational staff from several states and organisations, the participants discussed:
- how environmental water allocations are prioritised in the face of continuing drought,
- the knowledge, data and tools (software) that managers use in their work,
- ways in which existing situations could be improved, and
- how practitioners could learn from each other.
The core aim of the workshop was to Its aim was to highlight and record the technical, scientific and social issues faced by practitioners in the emerging field of environmental water management. The report recognises the early stages of environmental water management:
In 2004, under the National Water Initiative (NWI), all governments in Australia committed to integrated management of environmental water. This includes the establishment of accountable and well resourced environmental water managers who have the ability to participate in water markets. Prior to 2004, there were only a handful of rivers and places in Australia where ‘active’ environmental watering had been practised for more than a few years — the Macquarie Marshes and the NSW Murray Wetlands being two of the better known examples.
Compared to other areas of water management, environmental water management is a very young profession. There is little operational experience that can be drawn on to guide individuals and organisations as they increasingly take on the role of ‘environmental water manager’. On top of this, continuing water scarcity has created an even greater challenge for this nascent profession, striving to protect and restore crucial environmental assets under conditions of very low or zero environmental allocations.
On the basis of the outcomes of the workshop, the National Water Commission is funding a ‘community of practice’ project for environmental water managers, and eWater is using the feedback from practioners as a means to develop applications, models and decision support tools to inform planning and practice.
