The Murray Darling Basin Authority is officially up and running, with a new board meeting for the first time last week and now the release of a "concept statement".
Murray Darling Basin Authority chairman, Mike Taylor, lauched the concept statement in Canberra this morning to give an overview of the authority's "thinking" and its "overall approach" to developing a plan for the basin.
That basin plan will be developed within the next 12 months, but won't be operational until 2014.
Today's statement says once the plan is in place, Australians will see improved water security for all users, more natural flow regimes in the rivers, key forests, floodplains, rivers, streams and wetlands being restored to a sustaimable level of health and improved water quality for users and the environment.
Dr Taylor believes there will be a future for irrigation in the Murray Darling Basin when the new plan starts operating, but there will be "greater clarity" about what water will be available and the risks associated with holding a water entitlement in future.
One of the key elements of the new plan, once operational, will be the definition of basin-wide trading rules.
The concept statement says the new plan is required to incorporate trading rules.
It says while such rules are currently the responsibility of the States, the new plan will address a range of issues including the removal of barriers of trading rights, the terms for trading water rights, the way trades occur and the availability of information to enable trading to take place.
The statement says the basin plan must describe the social and economic circumstances of Basin communities that depend on the Murray Darling's water resources.
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