18 Guttrum and Benwell State Forests Floodplain Environmental Works Project Victoria 19 Murray and Murrumbidgee Valley National Parks SDL Adjustment Supply Measure New South Wales 20 Gunbower Forest TLM Project Victoria / New South Wales / South Australia 21 Gunbower National Park Floodplain Management Project Victoria 22 Flexible of Fall in River Levels Downstream of Hume Dam Victoria / New South Wales 23 TLM environmental works and measures – Koondrook-Perricoota Forest Flood Enhancement proposal New South Wales / Victoria / South Australia 24 Barmah–Millewa Forest Environmental Allocation Victoria / New Wales 25 New Goulburn key focus area* Victoria 26 Yarrawonga to Wakool junction key focus area New South Wales 27 Improved regulation of the Murray** Victoria / New Wales 28 Hume to Yarrawonga key focus area Victoria / New South Wales 29 Hume Dam airspace management and pre- release rules Victoria / New South Wales 30 2011 Snowy Water Licence Schedule 4 Amendments to River Murray Increased Flows Call Out Provisions New Wales / Victoria 31 Enhanced environmental water delivery (Hydro Cues) New South Wales / Victoria / South Australia 32 Nimmie Caira Infrastructure Modifications Proposal New South Wales 33 Modernising Supply Systems for Effluent Creeks – Murrumbidgee River New South Wales 34 Improved Flow Management Works at the Murrumbidgee River – Yanco Creek Offtake New South Wales
different to consumptive users, and river management, which takes into account the needs of the environment can deliver significant benefits and efficiencies. Supply projects such as: “Enhanced environmental water delivery” aim to do this by reinstating more natural flow regimes and overbank flow events by aligning water for the environment delivery with natural flows, particularly in tributary streams. When applied in conjunction with the gradual relaxing of constraints, through constraints management projects, the benefits to the environment are substantial. Changed operating rules, combined with relaxed constraints, can also result in social and economic benefits. This is associated with being able to manage moderate flooding more effectively. Constraints projects Relaxing constraints allows the better delivery of water for the environment when and where it is needed to maximise environmental outcomes. Projects contribute towards achieving ecological targets and flows in the southern connected Basin, which were considered important during the development of the Basin Plan. In particular, relaxing constraints provides opportunities for environmental watering of large areas of floodplain in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. This improves the health of forests, fish and bird habitats, the connection between the river and the floodplain, and replenishes groundwater. It also works to improve the capacity of other supply projects to achieve their intended environmental outcomes. The effects of addressing constraints will vary across in different river catchments. A number of constraints projects have been notified as supply measures. Some key secondary benefits for communities include: increased pasture growth for floodplain graziers funding for on-farm infrastructure improvements, such as new bridges or crossings funding for upgrades to ageing public flood infrastructure, such as levees, roads and crossings better water quality as saline pools are flushed out and floodplain litter washed away to reduce the risk and severity of blackwater events recreation and tourism associated with the higher flows and healthy wetlands, such as fishing, kayaking and camping the opportunity to provide goods and services through the construction of water management structures. The circumstances and the triggers under which constraints projects may be operated by river operators are yet to be fully negotiated. State governments have committed to the principles below for constraint projects: extensive community consultation, including identifying the most effective way to mitigate adverse impacts
Assessment Reach Without Development Baseline Benchmark SDL 605 – Barmah-Millewa Forest 6935 4003 5100 5017 Murray – 7030 3405 5567 6376 Mid-Murray – Hattah 5577 2738 3387 3955 Lower-Murray - Chowilla 6080 2791 3970 4271 Edward Wakool 6292 3224 4169 4120 Darling 4271 2637 2791 2805 Mid- Murrumbidgee 6360 4163 4646 4495 Lower Murrumbidgee 7524 5094 6502 6331 Lower Goulburn Floodplain 8641 6814 8219 8038 Southern basin region score 6523 3874 4928 5045
Table . Ecological element, ecological class scores and overall reach score for each reach Ecological Element Without development Baseline Benchmark SDL 605 Upper Murray – Barmah-Millewa Forest EE score EC score Reach Score EE score EC score Score EE score EC score Reach Score EE score EC score Reach Score Bird Waterbirds – health 6685 5301 6935 2463 1657 4003 4456 3485 5100 4017 3232 5017 Bitterns, crakes and rails 5439 781 2868 2719 Colonial-nesting waterbirds 4395 1623 3140 2930 Waterbirds – breeding 4684 1763 3474 3263 Vegetation River Red Gum forests 7806 7442 4304 4271 5371 4986 5254 5073 River Red Gum woodlands 7858 4859 4534 4671 Blackbox forests and woodlands 7873 4531 4335 4822 Shrublands na na na na Tall grasslands, sedge and rushlands 6408 3543 4426 4625 Benthic herblands 7263 4120 6263 5991 Fish Short-lived fish 8097 8063 6048 6081 6961 6831 6834 6745 Long-lived fish 8030 6114 6701 6655 Class Ecological Element Without development Baseline Benchmark SDL 605 Mid-upper Murray – Gunbower-Koondrook EE score EC score Reach Score EE score EC score Reach Score EE score EC Reach Score EE score EC score Reach Score Bird Waterbirds – health 7198 5009 7030 2183 1161 3405 4637 3161 5567 5981 3752 6376 Bitterns, crakes and rails 4706 417 2947 3247 Colonial-nesting waterbirds 3816 754 2351 2172 Waterbirds – breeding 4316 1289 2711 3610 Vegetation River Red Gum forests 8177 7911 3809 3555 6568 6396 7783 7590 River Red Gum woodlands 8111 3528 6422 7984 Blackbox forests and woodlands 8503 3381 7263 8073 Shrublands na na na na Tall grasslands, sedge and rushlands 6853 3502 5332 6520 Benthic herblands na na na na Fish Short-lived fish 8197 8170 5532 5498 7233 7142 7958 7785 Long-lived fish 8143 5464 7051 7613
Class Ecological Element Without development Baseline Benchmark SDL 605 Mid Murray – Hattah Lakes EE score EC score Score EE score EC score Score EE score EC Reach Score EE score EC score Reach Score Bird Waterbirds – health 4267 3913 5577 1073 1217 2738 1797 1853 3387 2318 2349 3955 Bitterns, crakes and na na na na Colonial-nesting waterbirds 3342 1053 1500 1747 Waterbirds – breeding 4132 1526 2263 2981 Vegetation River Red Gum forests 6434 5876 2095 2313 3500 3186 3435 3895 River Red Gum woodlands 6588 2026 3333 3666 Blackbox forests and woodlands 6547 1752 2733 3218 Shrublands 6274 3262 3671 3956 Tall grasslands, sedge and rushlands 4548 2321 2850 3234 Benthic herblands 4865 2423 3029 5858 Fish Short-lived fish 7027 6942 4742 4683 5250 5122 5833 5622 Long-lived fish 6858 4623 4995 5410 Class Ecological Element Without development Baseline Benchmark SDL 605 Lower Murray - Chowilla EE EC score Reach Score EE score EC score Reach Score EE score EC score Score EE score EC score Reach Score Bird Waterbirds – health 4491 4856 6080 1031 1281 2183 2611 2398 2792 Bitterns, crakes and 5794 794 2399 2666 Colonial-nesting waterbirds 4219 1456 2570 2608 Waterbirds – breeding 4921 1842 3289 3495 Vegetation River Red Gum forests 6244 6256 1628 2324 3456 3725 4042 4118 River Red Gum woodlands 6682 1574 3881 4170 Blackbox forests and woodlands 6483 1613 2704 3308 Shrublands 6340 3161 4115 4529 Tall grasslands, sedge and rushlands 5332 2686 3705 3898 Benthic herblands 6454 3284 4488 4759 Short-lived fish 7363 7128 4987 4767 5916 6356
Long-lived fish 6894 4547 5234 5449 Class Ecological Element Without development Baseline Benchmark SDL 605 Edward Wakool EE score EC score Score EE score EC score Reach Score EE score EC score Reach Score EE score EC score Reach Score Bird Waterbirds – health 4719 5447 6292 1874 1690 3224 2306 3401 4169 2039 3255 4120 Bitterns, crakes and rails 7886 1044 5746 5219 Colonial-nesting waterbirds 3921 1553 2026 2158 Waterbirds – breeding 5263 2289 3526 3605 Vegetation River Red Gum forests 6173 6078 2081 2773 3248 3495 3154 3389 River Red Gum woodlands 6333 2029 3099 3016 Blackbox forests and woodlands 6917 3026 3155 2718 Shrublands 6505 3737 3897 4091 Tall grasslands, and rushlands 5213 2966 3635 3523 Benthic herblands 5327 2799 3936 3833 Fish Short-lived fish 7574 7351 5410 5209 5973 5611 6075 5717 Long-lived fish 7129 5008 5248 5359 Class Ecological Element Without development Baseline Benchmark SDL 605 Lower Darling EE score EC Reach Score EE score EC Reach Score EE score EC score Reach Score EE score EC score Reach Score Bird Waterbirds – health 2361 3312 4271 961 1309 1040 1467 1095 1416 Bitterns, crakes and na na na na Colonial-nesting waterbirds na na na na Waterbirds – breeding 4263 1658 1895 1737 Vegetation River Red Gum forests 3829 3696 1729 2009 2028 2010 River Red Gum woodlands na na na na Blackbox forests and woodlands 2958 1569 1788 1793 Shrublands 4520 3110 3176 3333 Tall grasslands, sedge and rushlands 4314 1993 2185 2314
Benthic herblands 2861 1642 1764 1827 Fish fish 6079 5804 4668 4593 4820 4716 4812 4744 Long-lived fish 5529 4517 4613 4677 Ecological Element Without development Baseline Benchmark SDL 605 Mid-Murrumbidgee EE score EC score Reach Score EE EC score Score EE score EC Score EE EC score Score Bird Waterbirds – health 4285 4361 6360 1744 1809 4163 1690 2723 4646 1812 2407 4495 Bitterns, crakes and rails 5632 1780 4861 3658 Colonial-nesting waterbirds 3526 1684 2000 1895 Waterbirds – breeding 4000 2026 2342 2263 Vegetation River Red Gum forests 7182 7307 4214 4747 4603 5008 4665 4993 River Red Gum woodlands 7878 4765 5122 5485 Blackbox forests and woodlands 8067 5991 5881 5672 Shrublands na na na na Tall grasslands, sedge and rushlands 6101 4017 4427 4149 Benthic herblands na na na na Fish Short-lived fish 7701 7411 6152 5934 6596 6207 6440 6086 fish 7122 5717 5819 5733 Class Ecological Element Without development Baseline Benchmark SDL 6050 Murrumbidgee EE score EC score Reach Score EE score EC score Reach Score EE score EC score Reach Score EE score EC score Score Bird Waterbirds – health 7807 7034 7524 4319 3311 6117 5340 5980 4940 Bitterns, crakes and 6807 1420 3890 3309 Colonial-nesting waterbirds 6367 3130 4811 4493 Waterbirds – breeding 7153 4376 6541 5976 Vegetation River Red Gum forests 8256 7529 6161 5363 7462 7336 River Red Gum woodlands 8107 5454 7210 6843 Blackbox forests and woodlands 8407 5836 7515 7235 Shrublands 7277 5297 6369 6279
Tall grasslands, sedge and rushlands 7678 5487 6929 6927 Benthic herblands 5451 3940 5146 5066 Fish Short-lived fish 7887 8009 6799 6608 7505 7394 7563 7438 Long-lived fish 8131 6417 7284 7314 Ecological Element Without development Baseline Benchmark SDL 605 Lower Goulburn Floodplain EE score EC score Reach Score EE score EC score Reach Score EE score EC score Reach Score EE score EC score Reach Score Bird Waterbirds – health 8898 8238 8641 6946 5749 6814 8419 7604 8219 8297 7267 8038 Bitterns, crakes and rails na na na na Colonial-nesting waterbirds na na na na Waterbirds – breeding 7579 4553 6789 6237 Vegetation River Red Gum forests 8989 8781 7657 6981 8765 8413 8728 8301 Red Gum woodlands 9000 8014 8816 8928 Blackbox forests and woodlands 9000 7852 8914 8896 Shrublands na na na na Tall grasslands, sedge and rushlands 8404 5812 7875 7666 Benthic herblands 8512 5572 7697 7285 Fish Short-lived fish 8907 8903 7696 7711 8651 8639 8545 8546 fish 8898 7727 8627 8547
1999-2009 average HRWS allocation in February 84% 80% 78% 1999-2009 average LRWS allocation in February 19% 37% 35% Loddon reliability Baseline Benchmark SDL 605 Percentage of years with full HRWS allocation in February 92% 97% 94% Percentage of years with full LRWS allocation in February 43% 68% 60% Percentage of years with LRWS allocation in February > 0 75% 91% 86% Minimum February allocation 0% 0% 0% Long term average HRWS allocation in February 96% 97% 96% Long term average LRWS allocation in February 59% 81% 75% 1999-2009 average HRWS allocation in February 66% 73% 67% 1999-2009 average LRWS allocation in February 0% 7% 5% Murrumbidgee reliability Baseline Benchmark SDL 605 Long term average of %-age allocation at the of year (GS) 33% 37% 38% Long term average of %-age allocation in September (GS) 45% 48% 50% Long term average of %-age allocation at the end of year (GS) 73% 77% 79% Minimum %-age allocation at the end of year (GS) 2% 2% 8% 1999-2009 average of %-age allocation at the end of year (GS) 39% 45% 43% NSW Murray reliability Baseline Benchmark SDL 605 Long term average of %-age allocation at the start of year (HS) 97% 94% 97% Long term average of %-age allocation in February (HS) 99% 99% 99% Long term average of %-age allocation at the end of year (HS) 99% 99% 99% Minimum %-age allocation at the end of year (HS) 97% 97% 97% 1999-2009 average of %-age allocation at the end of year (HS) 98% 98% 98% Long term average of %-age allocation at the start of year (GS) 45% 52% 51%