Sustainable Agricultural Drainage Drivers, Benchmarking and KPIs as part of IWRM Willem F. Vlotman Chairman Working Group on Drainage Assistant Director Basin Plan Modelling Murray-Darling Basin Authority, Canberra, Australia

Outline Drivers of Drainage Integrated Water (Resource) Management Triple Bottom Line, whats that? Tools and SMART Indicators Eflow?, Climate Change & Risk Management in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia Conclusions on drivers and KPIs and where we are heading

Drivers

Drainage

Drivers of Drainage

Drainage to achieve sustainability of a water management development Historic drivers of drainage Generic agricultural level National policy level, and Farm/project level Future drivers of drainage Drainage of rain fed land Drainage of salinity control Drainage driven by environmental aspects Recently drivers of drainage can be grouped in: Satisfy ecological objectives Sustainability of diversions for consumptive use Integration & risk management

Modernisation = a driver An opportunity to do it right this time! BUT Modernise ON TIME WITHIN BUDGET, and above all TAKE YOUR TIME TO DO THINGS RIGHT

IWRM

Sustainable IWRM Sustainable IWRM encompasses the aspects of true integrated water management in a sustainable manner by using Triple Bottom Line (TBL) Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure achievements. Sustainable development is development that needs to meet the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs and aspirations. Integration is defined as considering the whole of the hydrologic water cycle on catchment scale quantitatively and qualitatively

drainage IWRM

Integrated WRM Meteorology Surface Water Hydrology Groundwater

Sustainability

TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE

Triple Bottom Line 1 Environmental 2 Economic 3 Social & Cultural Sustainable Development

Triple Bottom Line Reporting 1 Environmental 2 Economic 3 Social & Cultural Common TBL reporting is through the annual report of the organisation, but is it Sustainable Development?

Catchment area for the Murray and Darling Catchment area for the Murray and Darling rivers and their tributaries Total of 23 river valleys Total of 23 river valleys Basin area over 1 million square Basin area over 1 million squarekilometres 14% of total area of Australia 14% of total area of Australia Population >2 million Population >2 million Annual average rainfall 530,618 gigalitres Annual average rainfall 530,618 gigalitres 94% of rainfall evaporates; 2% drains into the ground; 4% ends up as runoff 94% of rainfall evaporates; 2% drains into the ground; 4% ends up as runoff Basin generates 39% of the national income derived from agricultural production Basin generates 39% of the national income derived from agricultural production Produces 53% of Australian cereals grown for grain, 95% of oranges, and 54% of apples Produces 53% of Australian cereals grown for grain, 95% of oranges, and 54% of apples Supports 28% of the nations cattle herd, 45% of sheep, and 62% of pigs. Supports 28% of the nations cattle herd, 45% of sheep, and 62% of pigs. QLD NSW SA VIC ACT The Murray-Darling Basin

47 surface and groundwater models used in the 18 MDB reporting regions Paroo IQQM Warrego IQQM Nebine IQQM Condamine MODFLOW Middle Condamine IQQM St George SGCS13NT Lower Balonne IQQM Upper Condamine IQQM Border R. and Mac B. IQQM Border Rivers MODFLOW Moonie IQQM Gwydir IQQM Lower Gwydir MODFLOW Eastern Mt Lofty Ranges 6*WATERCRESS Daily Weekly Monthly Barwon-Darling IQQM Menindee IQQM Peel IQQM Upper Namoi MODFLOW Namoi IQQM Lower Namoi MODFLOW Macq-Castlereagh 6*IQQM Macquarie MODFLOW Wimmera REALM Lachlan IQQM Mid-Lachlan MODFLOW Lower Lachlan MODFLOW Ovens REALM GSM REALM Avoca REALM Snowy SIM_V9 Murray BigMod Murray MSM Southern Riverine Plains MODFLOW Upper Bidgee IQQM ACTEW REALM Mid Bidgee MODFLOW Bidgee IQQM Lower Bidgee MODFLOW

Season: what time of year (start and end day) Spell definition: duration, number, single longest: Threshold: flow above or below this level Minimum duration: –what is the minimum number of days for a partial spell to be considered Return period: –every year or some multiple Independence criteria: –how long between spells Ecological Objectives and Functions

Back to flow diagram

SRA Hydrological Indicators (HI) Indicators combined into a single Hydrological Index (HI) – expert rules. Measured at 469 sites. MetricsIndicatorIndex HI High-Flow Events (HFE) High-flow Magnitude (HF) Low/Zero Flow Events (LZFE) Low-Flow Magnitude (LF) Proportion of Zero Flow (PZ) Variability (V) Monthly Flow Variation (CV) Seasonality (S) Seasonal Period Shift (SP) Gross Volume (GV) Mean Annual Discharge (MNAQ) Median Annual Discharge(MDAQ)

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Environment Environmental health; meet ecological objectives and functions Water quantity & quality Bird breeding events, fish propagation, etc. Economic Maintain productivity of region Economic viability and change in regional wealth Financial soundness Social & cultural Stakeholder involvement Safety issues Cultural acceptance

SMART

Simple Measurable Accessible Relevant Timely Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time-framed

Guidance with selection of KPIs Separate internal and external indicators INTERNAL is for SHAREHOLDERS, staff and direct customers EXTERNAL is for the remaining stakeholders; the indirect customers, those that are affected by our products and services INTERNAL: business performance EXTERNAL: TBL

Tools Benchmarking: last major action in 2007 Balanced ScoreCard TBL GRI

Achilles Heel Large amount of data to be collected for a few KPIs for instance: Australian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (ANCID) Benchmarking study: 69 irrigation industry performance indicators (3-4 drainage related), but covering all TBL aspects Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) performance indicators 79 (49 core and 30 additional but each indicator built up from various supporting parameters/indicators BSC has 40+ indicators

Conclusions on KPIs INTERNAL INDICATORS (BSC) 12 KPIs 4 of each of categories EXTERNAL INDICATORS (TBL) 3 economic 9 environment (health, quantity, quality) 6 social/cultural

Conclusions Change in paradigm from socio-economic to Triple Bottom Line: environmental-economic-social/cultural Did we do the right thing? Generally no Drivers of drainage Modernisation (aging water supply system) Climate changes (anthropogenic and natural weather cycles shorter than commonly perceived) Sustainability of physical environments IWRM at basin level Environmental Health of river systems and dependent eco systems Increased property values (urbanisation/industrialisation) Select appropriate KPIs using the Balanced Scorecard system for internal performance indicators and the Global Reporting Institute Triple Bottom Line approach for external performance indicators

Questions