Under accountability arrangements for the Basin Salinity Management Strategy, there are four levels of assessment to ensure river salinity targets are being met and will continue to be met: assigning all major actions salinity credits or debits; annual reporting of the progress of works and measures; five-yearly audits of the impacts on river salinities; and review of the Strategy itself. All Governments share the same accountabilities from 1 January 2000.

WHY IS IT NEEDED?

A key feature of the BSMS is Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council’s adoption of end-of-valley salinity targets for each tributary valley and a Basin target at Morgan in South Australia. An important feature of the Basin salinity target at Morgan is that it is supported by a system of salinity credits and debits. Setting end-of-valley targets and establishing their contribution to the Basin salinity target will provide the basis for Basin-wide application of Commission credits and debits. It generates a consistent currency through which trade-offs and Basin-wide accountability can be accommodated, and by convention the currency is EC at Morgan.

EC is Electrical Conductivity (µS/cm) is a measure of salinity concentration

The BSMS will incorporate transparent accountability arrangements, similar to the Cap on diversions, whereby progress towards targets will be monitored and reported to Ministerial Council annually. Each year States will collate data on all actions undertaken or proposed, and will report these firstly against the agreed end of valley targets and subsequently against Commission registers. Monitoring and reporting arrangements for the BSMS will be consistent with the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality (NAP) and state of environment reporting needs.

WHAT IS PLANNED?

In addition to advising of works and measures that may have a significant effect at Morgan, each State has agreed to complete annual report cards for each of their tributary valleys. The valley report cards will include details of end-of-valley baseline conditions (1 January 2000), predicted impacts from historical developments (‘legacy of history’), agreed end-of-valley targets; and assessed effects of in-valley actions undertaken to date. Each State will prepare annually a consolidated report card for all of its valleys for reporting to the Commission, which can be assessed in terms of salinity credits and debits contributing towards the Morgan target.

The system of credits and debits for achieving the Basin target at Morgan will be managed through the Commission ‘A’ Register (for tracking SDEs) and the Commission ‘B’ Register (for actions to address the ‘legacy of history’). The Commission registers will keep account of all significant actions undertaken within the Basin after agreed baseline dates, as follows:

• 1 January 1988 for accountability for future actions by New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia (1 January 2000 for Queensland); and;
• 1 January 2000 for responsibility to address the legacy of history effects by partner Governments.

The effect of actions will be assessed with models using an agreed climatic/hydrologic sequence (otherwise known as the ‘benchmark period’). The benchmark period is from July 1975 to June 2000. An action will be considered as significant and included in the Commission Registers if it is assessed to cause a change in average EC at Morgan of 0.1 EC or higher within 30 years.

Under this Strategy, the current Salinity & Drainage Strategy Register will be translated directly into the Commission ‘A’ Register. The Commission ‘B’ Register is being established to track legacy of history impacts and to assess the effects of actions to address it, for example revegetation. The Commission registers will operate together using the common currency of Equivalent EC at Morgan, which recognises the economic impact on the shared rivers, and is a continuation of current practice.

Basin monitoring and reporting arrangements required for this strategy will be consistent with NAP and other catchment and state of environment reporting needs. Synchronisation of these reporting requirements is a priority in the early years of Strategy implementation.

Reporting to the Commission and Council by the States will consist of:

• an annual report detailing progress with implementation of works and measures and a progressive estimate of salinity effects (at end-of-valley or Morgan or both as appropriate) of those works and measures actually implemented to date; and
• a rolling five-year review and audit for each valley and Commission register entry, of the assessed effect on river salinity (at end-of-valley or Morgan or both as appropriate) due to actions implemented to date, as well as an update of the expected change in the future flow, salt load and salinity regime due to the ‘legacy of history’ (and any other emerging effects such as climate change).

WHO IS INVOLVED?

The monitoring, assessment, reporting and auditing arrangements for the BSMS will require significant input from catchment organisations, State and Commonwealth agencies and the MDBC.

The states will keep the total of the Commission ‘A’ Register as well as the cumulative total of both Commission Registers in balance, or in surplus. Each year States will collate data on all actions undertaken or proposed, and will report these against the agreed end-of-valley targets and against the Commission ‘A’ and ‘B’ Registers.

If a State is found to be in deficit on the Commission ‘A’ Register, it will be deemed to be in breach of the terms of Schedule C to the Agreement. The States will be directly answerable to Council for any breaches of the Commission ‘A’ Register.

Should the total of the Commission ‘A’ and ‘B’ registers for a State go into deficit, Council will receive an exception report from the Commission, with a proposed course of action to correct the situation.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Murray-Darling Basin Commission
Level 5, 15 Moore St Canberra ACT 2601
ph (02) 6279 0100
email: website:www.mdbc.gov.au

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