Unfortunate diversions: a policy discourse analysis on the adjustment of the volume of water returned to the environment in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia

ABSTRACT

The Murray–Darling Basin Plan, a major initiative to return water from irrigators to the environment, has been lauded as world-class water reform. The enabling legislation for the Basin Plan, the Water Act, gains its constitutional legitimacy from international treaties such as the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. This Act mandated that water be returned from consumptive uses to the environment. An allocation of 2,750 GL/yr was set but has been reduced by the ‘Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism’ (SDLAM), intended to achieve equivalent environmental benefits with less water. We present a synthesis of changes in decision contexts that have led to water reforms being ‘watered down’. We analysed the policy discourse of water reform to assess whether SDLAM projects will achieve outcomes congruent with Australia’s international treaty obligations. We found little or no alignment between the purpose of the SDLAM projects and the principles of the treaties and the Water Act. As water scarcity increases under climate change, attempting to conserve wetlands (including rivers) with less water while maintaining or increasing irrigation diversions is likely to prove maladaptive. A major reframing of environmental water policy and management is required to enable meaningful and effective adaptation to climate change.

KEYWORDS:

• Water reform
• environmental policy analysis
• wetlands
• policy discourse
• governance
• environmental water

Acknowledgments

We thank Celine Steinfeld, Eytan Rocheta and Emma Carmody from the Wentwoth Group of Concerned Scientists for helpful discussions and advice.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13241583.2022.2077685

Additional information

Funding

The authors reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Isobel Bender

Isobel Bender is a student at the Australian National University, primarily studying at the Fenner School of Environment and Society. Her research has focussed on the administration of environmental policy, with a special interest in water policy.

Matthew J. Colloff

Matthew Colloff is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University. His research interests include adaptation to climate change, water reform, ecosystem ecology, natural resources policy and management and environmental history. He is a founder member of the Transformative Adaptation Research Alliance.

Jamie Pittock

Jamie Pittock is a Professor at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University. His research interests include sustainable management of freshwater ecosystems and resources to conserve biodiversity while producing energy and food with a changing climate. He leads research projects in Africa, Asia and Australia.

Carina Wyborn

Carina Wyborn is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Water Futures and the Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University. Her research examines the science, policy and politics that underpin how land and water management agencies make decisions about the future. Her research primarily focuses on Australia and the United States.