Water connecting, people adapting : integrated surface water and groundwater management in the Murray-Darling Basin, Colorado and Idaho
Creators: name: Ross, Andrew James
Publisher: name: The Australian National University
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: TD321.N4 R67 2012
subject: Integrated water development Australia Murray-Darling Basin (N.S.W.)
subject: Water-supply Management Australia Murray-Darling Basin (N.S.W.)
subject: Groundwater Australia Murray-Darling Basin (N.S.W.)
subject: Water conservation Research
subject: Murray-Darling Basin (N.S.W.)

description: Integrated water management helps adaption to variable rainfall by using more groundwater during dry years and more surface water during wet years. Integrated water management techniques including water banking, and aquifer storage and recovery are extensively practiced in other dry regions such as the western USA and Spain. Yet these techniques are not used in the Murray-Darling Basin. This thesis explores factors which have affected integrated water management in the Murray-Darling Basin, and in the states of Colorado and Idaho in the USA. The most important contribution of this research is that it sets out the advantages of integrated cyclical water management, and points to the opportunities for aquifer storage and recovery and water banking. Integrated surface water and groundwater storage is the missing link in Australia's otherwise comprehensive water reform. This thesis uses a narrative synthesis approach for analysing factors that have affected integrated water management. This approach relies on qualitative analysis of findings from existing studies and documentary evidence, supplemented and cross checked by interviews. It is proposed that integrated water management may be considered as a process taking place in a complex social and ecological system. Fourteen key variables that affect integrated water management were selected drawing on Ostrom's framework for the analysis of social ecological systems, relevant scientific literature and discussions with water managers and experts. The relationship between these variables and integrated water management were explored in two comparative case studies. The first case study enabled a broad assessment of factors that have affected integrated water management at a jurisdictional scale in the Murray-Darling Basin. The second case study enabled a more detailed exploration of the impact of water entitlements, operational rules and management organisation(s) on integrated water management in tributary catchments in New South Wales, Colorado and Idaho. The development of integrated surface water and groundwater management, especially in the Murray-Darling Basin has been constrained by the surface water centric development of water resources and institutions, gaps in knowledge about surface water and groundwater connectivity, the lack of a comprehensive, flexible and balanced system of water entitlements and rules, and implementation difficulties. Further development of integrated water management requires better knowledge and improved management capacity. Further research and development needs to be devoted to the integrated management of water stocks and storages - a missing link in Australian water reform. Further research is required to improve understanding about surface water - groundwater connectivity and to develop strategies for managing long-term impacts of groundwater use. Ongoing development of flexible systems of water entitlements and rules is needed to enable cyclical surface water and groundwater management. Finally the capacity for the implementation of integrated water management at local and regional scales needs to be improved together with collaboration between higher-level governments and local organisations and stakeholders. -- provided by Candidate.