1. Murray-Darling Basin – A Living Landscape Lawrie Kirk Manager Communication MDBC lawrie.kirk@mdbc.gov.au 02 6279 0107 Presentation to Geography Teachers Association of Victoria December Conference

2. Murray-Darling Basin 15% of Australia Over 2 million people

3. Murray-Darling Basin A Snapshot ›The Basin covers 1 million sq. km (equivalent to the size of South Africa) ›Major river system by world standards »River Murray 2530 km »River Darling 2740 km »Basin produces 40% of total gross value of Australia’s agricultural production – including 70% of irrigation production

4. Average Annual Rainfall in Murray-Darling Basin

5. Global water resources Australia Africa Asia Europe North-central America Oceania South America FAO AquaStat Data

6. Flow Variability

7. Ratio of maximum annual flow to minimum annual flow for selected rivers COUNTRYRIVERRATIO BETWEEN THE MAXIMUM and the MINIMUM ANNUAL FLOWS BRAZILAMAZON1.3 SWITZERLANDRHINE1.9 CHINAYANGTZE2.0 SUDANWHITE NILE2.4 USAPOTOMAC3.9 SOUTH AFRICAORANGE16.9 AUSTRALIAMURRAY15.5 AUSTRALIAHUNTER54.3 AUSTRALIADARLING4705.2

8. “to promote and coordinate effective planning and management for equitable, efficient and sustainable use of land, water and other environmental resources” Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council Charter

9. SIX GOVERNMENTS Aust. Govt NSW Vic SA Qld ACT MURRAY-DARLING BASIN MINISTERIAL COUNCIL Up to 3 Ministers from each Government representing land, water and environment Community Advisory Committee 21 expertise based representatives Commission Office Technical and administrative secretariat MURRAY-DARLING BASIN COMMISSION 1 Independent President 2 Commissioners from each Government

10. 26 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 Barrages Weirs/Locks Lake Victoria Menindee Lakes 15 Euston Weir Torrumbarry Weir Yarrawonga Weir Hume Reservoir Dartmouth Reservoir SA NSW Vic River Murray Murrumbidgee River Edward Wakool System Lachlan River Redbank Weir Maude Weir Interface with Snowy Mountains Scheme Goulburn River Darling River Barmah- Millewa Forest River Murray System

11. DARTMOUTH DAM – On the Mitta Mitta PHOTO: Michael Bell

12. LAKE HUME – Mitta Mitta Arm PHOTO: Michael Bell

13. LAKE MULWALA – Yarrawonga Weir PHOTO: Michael Bell

14. DARETON - Photo Credit: Michael Bell DARETON – On the Murray Photo: Michael Bell

15. LOCK & WEIR NINE – Kulnine PHOTO: Michael Bell

16. LAKE VICTORIA PHOTO: Michael Bell

17. MURRAY MOUTH - Dredge PHOTO: Michael Bell

18. MURRAY MOUTH PHOTO: Michael Bell

19. Water trading From this.... To this ….

20. Turning water into wealth (by Commodity) Source: ABS 2000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000 Water used (GL) Pasture Vegetables Sugar Fruit Grapes Cotton Rice Source: ABS 2000 0 500 1000 1500 2000 Gross Margin $ / ML Gross value of irrigated agriculture $7.3 billion per annum

21. Murray Mouth Barrages

22. MURRAY MOUTH – Goolwa Barrage PHOTO: Michael Bell

23. The six ecological assets

24. Murray Mouth, Coorong and Lower Lakes ›Open Murray mouth ›More frequent estuarine fish spawning ›Enhanced migratory wader bird habitat in the Lower Lakes Healthier lower lakes and Coorong estuarine environment

25. River Murray Channel Increase the frequency of higher flows in spring that are ecologically significant Overcome barriers to migration of native fish species between the sea and Hume Dam Maintain current levels of channel stability

26. Commissioner, Sir Ronald East straddling the River Murray at Nyah, Victoria during the drought of 1923 The Challenges Water Flow Murray mouth - Flowing Murray mouth - Closed, April 1981 Photos: Courtesy SA Govt

27. Our youth our future..