The Hume Weir outfall on the River Murray.

River Murray region: supporting a healthy working river

The Water for a Healthy Country Flagship is helping governments, industries and communities tackle complex water challenges in the River Murray region.

• 31 May 2005 | Updated 14 October 2011

Overview

• The River Murray region
• Water productivity for irrigation and the environment
• Research projects

The Water for a Healthy Country Flagship is providing research to help governments and communities balance the allocation of water to meet the demands of irrigation and improved river, floodplain and estuary health.

Our work supports the strategies of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, including the Living Murray, the National Water Initiative and state and catchment water plans.

The River Murray region

The River Murray and its tributaries form the largest and most developed river system in Australia. The changes faced by its people as they adapt to the physical limits of water availability are challenging.

Issues of concern include:

• the security of water entitlements and allocations for irrigation
• the health of important wetlands, floodplains and the estuary
• water quality, especially keeping salt levels low
• the jobs and livelihoods of local people.

Water productivity for irrigation and the environment

There are few prospects of the supply of water increasing, but there are still good opportunities for increasing the efficiency with which the water is delivered and used.  This applies to both water delivered for irrigation and water delivered for environmental benefit to wetlands, floodplains and the estuary.

Water for a Healthy Country research will deliver knowledge about the Murray water system as well as tools to predict how it responds to change.

These tools and knowledge will be delivered to the Murray-Darling Basin, governments, irrigation companies and catchment management agencies to help them achieve their water management aims.

Our research results in the Murray will provide lessons for other river systems in Australia as the national demand for water continues to grow.

Research projects

There are three core areas of research in the Murray region:

• Water smart irrigation: delivering combined on and off-farm water savings through efficiency, technology and engineering.
  
  
• River and floodplain renewal:
  • Ecological outcomes: designing the best use of environmental water along the Murray Valley
  • Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth: evaluating water management options to sustain environmental values and health.
    
• Murray Basin system:
  • Water budgets & benefits: developing options for using water more efficiently, equitably and sustainably across the River Murray region
  • River Murray uplands: predicting future water supplies and designing land management options that maximise agricultural profitability while reducing salinisation and protecting biodiversity.
  • Lower Murray futures: evaluating the combined impacts of the land and water plans of the Mallee Region and exploring alternative strategies for the future.
  • Revegetation strategies: developing cost-effective revegetation strategies to protect the environment and increase agricultural productivity.

Find out more about our research in Water for a Healthy Country Flagship.