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Community committee to advise on Murray Darling water plan
A new Murray Darling Basin community committee has been formed to advise on the development of the plan to regulate the use of water.The committee will provide expertise on a range of issues, including irrigated agriculture, basin communities, indigenous matters, environmental management and water use, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong told reporters in Sydney on Friday.
According to Minister Wong:
The most important task of the Murray Darling Basin Authority is to create a new basin plan.
People want to have a say in the way in which their water resources are managed. This basin community committee will perform a critical task which is to ensure that this consultation takes place.
The 16-member committee, to be chaired by Joan Burns from Victoria, includes members from all Basin states and the ACT.The Murray Darling Basin Authority will be represented by four different board members on a rotational basis. The committee will form three subcommittees on irrigation, environmental water and indigenous matters.
Its first meeting will be held in July.
The plan will set a legally binding, sustainable cap on how much water can be taken out of the basin. A draft plan will be ready in a year's time and it will come into effect in 2011.
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