Grou n dwater as a “ - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Grou

n

dwater as a “drought reserve” in a drying climate

Presentation to the University of Melbourne Law SchoolWorkshop on Water Governance for ResilienceAlex Gardner Faculty of Law, UWA

25/

0

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4

Overv

iew:

Reforms for groundwater

drought reserveOrienting South West Western AustraliaNational water policy reformsPlanning for climate change adaptati

o

n

Ent

i

tl

e

m

e

nt

h

o

ld

e

rs savi

n

g

wat

e

r

Concl

u

sions

-

gr

o

u

n

dwa

t

er

b

a

sed

s

y

stem

1. O

rienting South West WA

Surface water yield 1/4 of 1970

Groundwater makes up around three quarters of water useTotal groundwater use around 850GL/yr (2009 estimate)Self-supply for gardens, public open space, horticulture, mining, industry is around 700GL/yr

important

for

public water supply (~150GL/yr and 40% of IWSS)New alternative sources:Desalination 150 GL/yr (from 2006)Recycled water; GWR  28 GL/yrDemand management

environmental water allocationsfrequently breached

Source: CSIRO 2009

3

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Rainfall trend since 1987

- predicted

vs actual4

Pu

blic water su

pply strategy

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R

A

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D SCHEME (I

W

SS)

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ro

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a

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r

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c

urity

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trat

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gy

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uth

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rn

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e

awat

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r

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e

salin

a

t

i

o

n Plant

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e

r

t

h

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e

awat

e

r

De

salination

Plant

G

ro

u

nd

w

a

t

e

r

S

up

p

l

y

Sur

f

a

c

e

Wat

e

r

(

i

n

c

lu

d

i

n

g trad

e

)

Source:

W

ater

C

orporati

o

n

(2013)

Groun

dwater resources declin

ingGnangar

a SuperficialGnangara ConfinedSW Ramsar wetland: declining water table impacts water quality

Conf

i

ned

a

qu

i

f

er well

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n

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yst

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ver

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f

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lay

ial

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i

ni

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ed

t l

au

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vi

l

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q

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ng

arli

ed

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In

d

ian

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n

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d

er

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ed

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agadee

a

q

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u

pe

r

fic

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e

r

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oa

s

tal

Limestone

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l

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nd

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a

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nf

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ll

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up

erfi

c

ial

a

qu

i

f

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well

B

as

s

e

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e

an

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a

n

d

C

a

ves

25/09/

1

4

2. National

Water Policy Reforms

RiWI Act turns 100

, 22 Sept 2014Current Law (since 2001)Landholder eligibility to hold licenceNo statutory plans or consumptive

p

o

ol

– non-statutory allocation limits10 yr licences with tradable entitlementsEntitlements = maximum annual volumePoor water accoun

ting & enforcementLegal environmenta

l water all

ocations u

nder EIA

l

a

w

or

w

at

e

r

l

i

ce

n

ce

co

n

d

i

tio

n

s

N

a

tion

a

l

W

ater

Initiative

r

efor

m

s

pr

o

p

o

sed

b

u

t

co

n

sta

n

tly d

e

l

a

y

ed

si

n

ce

2

0

0

6

:

Statutory

al

location

limits a

nd p

lans

forc

onsum

ptive pool(

s)

Trad

able

perpetual

share e

ntitlements

Environment

al wate

r holder

3. Cl

imate change andgroundwater planning

Currently no requirement in the

RIWI Act to consider climate change risks in groundwater planning (cf Water Act 2007 (Cth))In practice, limited use of climate changescenarios in non-statutory allocation plansThis is changing - DoW has new GIS tool to produce ‘futu

r

e climate’

scenarios

for any part of WA, to be used in future water planning.25/09/149

Law reform

proposal:duty

to address climate change

The new water resource management legislation should require the Minister to consider climate change risks in the preparation of statutory water a

l

l

o

cati

on plans and to address those risks in the plan provisions: for example,declining allocation limits over plan lifezoning areas for no consu

mptive use,including by domestic bores

25/09/1

4 10

4.

Groundwater as a

‘drought reserve’Can groundwa

ter be sustainably used as adrought reserve in a drying climate?What regulatory arrangements would best support this?Case study: groundwate

r

as a

d

roughtreserve for the IWSS public water supplyRegulatory options for entitlements saving water30/07/1411

The

Variable GroundwaterExt

raction Rule (VGAR) for IWSS25/09/14

12

Fail

ure of the VGAR

in a drying climateProblem: In a declining rainfall trend

the VGAR results in sustained high groundwater abstraction, compounding the effects of low recharge on the groundwater system (DoW, 2013)DoW solution: 5 year, 110GL/yr average extraction for the Integrated Water Supply Scheme.25/09/1413

Groun

dwater

as a ‘drought reserve’:- regulatory options for entitlementsEntitlement

holders have:carryover and borrowing rights in suitable aquiferscompulsory ‘banking’ (eg 10% of entitlement) accessible only on ministerial declarationDepartment reserv

e

s wa

t

er

and auctions shortterm licences on ministerial declarationIndependent water holder retains water entitlements in suitable aquifers that it auctions in extreme droughtManaged Aquifer Recharge of recycled water should include a restoration share

26/09/14 14

Conclusions

for a Groundwater based syst

emInformation

challenges – especially modelingNWI reforms – they are not enoughLong term water resources assessment and climate a

d

a

pt

a

tion planningNWI flexibility of share entitlements with obligations to plan for clima

te change- statutory du

ties to model,

zone

and s

a

ve

Urban

water

sup

p

ly

–

al

t

er

n

at

i

ve

sources

Social

a

n

d cu

l

tur

a

l

valu

e

s