mmg.com.au

A parliamentary committee has called on the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to work on the way it presents complicated information to people concerned about the health of the vital river system.

The committee last Wednesday handed down its report into the management of the Murray-Darling Basin, making 23 recommendations to the Federal Government and the MDBA.

It said the tabling of the final basin plan late last year was one of the ‘‘most significant water reforms’’ in Australia’s history.

But the plan was an ‘‘imperfect compromise’’ and community concerns remained.

The plan aims to balance the water needs of the basin’s natural environment, its 2.1million residents and the farmers who produce more than one-third of the country’s food.

It starts with a benchmark 2750Gl of environmental water but includes funding to pump an extra 450Gl into the system through improved water-efficiency projects.

In one recommendation, the committee said it remained concerned about how the MDBA came to the 2750Gl target, even though the authority released large amounts of information on the subject.

The MDBA needed to develop ‘‘a concise and non-technical explanation’’ of its modelling around this issue to present to stakeholders and the Australian public, it said.

The Senate committee welcomed calls for a boost to water infrastructure projects to help improve water efficiency in the basin, but urged the government to assist basin states in reaching their targets.

The possible negative effects of pumping extra water into river systems, such as flooding rural towns, should also be considered.

Other recommendations included maintaining high levels of community consultation and improving research and development assistance.

The committee urged the government to consider the recommendations as part of the adaptive management framework that will be used to implement the basin plan in the coming years.