Technical information supporting the 2020 water management (water allocation planning) Environmental Trend and Condition Report Card

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Technical information supporting the 2020 water management (water allocation

planning) Environmental Trend and Condition Report Card

Department for Environment and Water November, 2020

DEW Technical note 2020/12

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Department for Environment and Water Government of South Australia

October November 2020

81-95 Waymouth St, ADELAIDE SA 5000 Telephone +61 (8) 8463 6946

Facsimile +61 (8) 8463 6999 ABN 36702093234

www.environment.sa.gov.au

Disclaimer

The Department for Environment and Water and its employees do not warrant or make any representation

regarding the use, or results of the use, of the information contained herein as regards to its correctness, accuracy, reliability, currency or otherwise. The Department for Environment and Water and its employees expressly

disclaims all liability or responsibility to any person using the information or advice. Information contained in this document is correct at the time of writing.

With the exception of the Piping Shrike emblem, other material or devices protected by Aboriginal rights or a trademark, and subject to review by the Government of South Australia at all times, the content of this document is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Licence. All other rights are reserved.

ISBN 978-1-925964-50-9

Preferred way to cite this publication

The Department for Environment and Water (2020). Technical information supporting the 2020 water management (water allocation planning) Environmental Trend and Condition Report Card, DEW Technical note 2020/12,

Government of South Australia, Department for Environment and Water, Adelaide.

Download this document at https://data.environment.sa.gov.au

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the contributions that have enabled this report and associated report card possible. Consultation for this report has taken place with relevant DEW staff within the Water Science and Monitoring Unit and with the relevant staff in the Water and River Murray Division.

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Summary

This document describes the indicators, data sources, analysis methods and results used to develop the 2020 report card “Water Management (water allocation planning) Environmental Trend and Condition Report Card”. The reliability of information used to prepare the report card are also described.

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1 Introduction

1.1 Water management and water allocation planning

Water planning and management is fundamental to ensuring there is sufficient water resources for environmental, social and economic needs. Water planning and management can be defined as: ‘Those activities that support or fulfil the requirements of the Landscape South Australia Act 2019 (the Act) in the preparation, maintenance, and implementation of water allocation plans, water affecting activity policies in regional landscape plans, and actions undertaken by the Minister in the management of water resources.

1.2 Environmental trend and condition reporting in SA

The Minister for Environment and Water under the Landscape South Australia Act 2019 is required to 'monitor, evaluate and audit the state and condition of the State's natural resources, coasts and seas; and to report on the state and condition of the State's natural resources, coasts and seas' (9(1(a-b)). Environmental trend and condition report cards are produced as the primary means for the Minister to undertake this reporting. The Environment Protection Act 1993, also requires the development of a State of the Environment Report (SOE), and states that the SOE must:

 Include an assessment of the condition of the major environmental resources of South Australia 112(3(a))

 Include a specific assessment of the state of the River Murray, especially taking into account the Objectives for a Healthy River Murray under the River Murray Act 2003 112(3(ab))

 Identify significant trends in environmental quality based on an analysis of indicators of environmental quality 112(3(b)).

1.3 Purpose and benefits of SA’s trend and condition report cards

South Australia’s environmental trend and condition report cards focus on the State’s priority environmental assets and the pressures that impact on these assets. The report cards present information on trend, condition and information reliability in a succinct visual summary.

The full suite of report cards capture patterns in trend and condition at a state scale, and give insight to changes in a particular asset over time. They also highlight gaps in our knowledge on priority assets that prevents us from assessing trend and condition, and might impede our ability to make evidence based decisions.

Both the trend and condition are considered important, however, the report cards give particular emphasis to trend. Trend shows how the environment has responded to past drivers, decisions, and actions, and is what we seek to influence through future decisions and actions.

The recognised benefits of trend and condition report cards include to:

 Provide insight into our environment by tracking its change over time

 Interpret complex information in a simple and accessible format

 Provide a transparent and open evidence base for decision-making

 Highlight those knowledge gaps that will impede South Australia’s ability to make decisions

 Drive alignment of environmental reporting, ensuring we ‘do once, use many times’

 Identify opportunities for further investment and on-ground action.

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The initial development of the South Australian environmental trend and condition report cards was guided by the NRM State and Condition Reporting Framework (Government of South Australia 2012). The format, design and accessibly of the report cards has been modified and improved with each release. Environmental Trend and Condition Report Cards are designed to align with and inform both South Australian and National State of the Environment Reporting.

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2 Methods

2.1 Indicator

The indicator used for the Water Management: Water Allocation Planning report card is the percentage of inland prescribed water resources which are managed by water allocation plans (WAPs).

2.2 Data sources

Water allocation plans and Regional Landscape Plans produced by regional Landscape Boards on behalf of the Minister for Environment and Water.

2.3 Analysis

2.3.1 Trend

The trend in water management across the state was determined using the change in the indicator (Table 2.1) over the past ten years.

Table 2.1. Definition of trend classes

Trend Description Getting

better

Over a scale relevant to tracking change in the indicator it is improving in status with good confidence

Stable Over a scale relevant to tracking change in the indicator it is neither improving or declining in status

Getting worse

Over a scale relevant to tracking change in the indicator it is declining in status with good confidence

Unknown Data are not available, or are not available at relevant temporal scales, to determine any trend in the status of this resource

Not applicable

This indicator of the natural resource does not lend itself to being classified into one of the above trend classes

2.3.2 Condition

The condition classifications used in DEW’s environmental trend and condition report cards are given in Table 2.2.

Condition categories are based on the percentage of prescribed inland water resources that have water allocation plans, in the current reporting year (2020).

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Table 2.2. Definition of condition classes

Condition Condition definition Threshold

Very good >90 per cent of prescribed inland water resource areas have water allocation plans

>90%

Good 60-90 per cent of inland prescribed water resource areas have water allocation plans

60-90%

Fair 30-60 per cent of inland prescribed water resource areas have water allocation plans

30-60%

Poor <30 per cent of inland prescribed water resource areas have water allocation plans

<30%

2.3.3 Reliability

Information is scored for reliability based on the average of subjective scores (1 [worst] to 5 [best]) given for information currency, applicability, level of spatial representation and accuracy. Definitions guiding the application of these scores are provided in Table 2.3 for currency, Table 2.4 for applicability, Table 2.5 for spatial

representation and Table 2.6 for accuracy.

Table 2.3. Guides for applying information currency Currency

score Criteria

1 Most recent information >10 years old 2 Most recent information up to 10 years old 3 Most recent information up to 7 years old 4 Most recent information up to 5 years old 5 Most recent information up to 3 years old

Table 2.4. Guides for applying information applicability

Applicability score Criteria

1 Data are based on expert opinion of the measure 2 All data based on indirect indicators of the measure

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Table 2.5. Guides for applying spatial representation of information (sampling design)

Spatial score Criteria

1 From an area that represents less than 5% of the spatial distribution of the asset within the region/state or spatial representation unknown

2 From an area that represents less than 25% of the spatial distribution of the asset within the region/state

3 From an area that represents less than half the spatial distribution of the asset within the region/state

4 From across the whole region/state (or whole distribution of the asset within the region/state) using a sampling design that is not stratified

5 From across the whole region/state (or whole distribution of the asset within the region/state) using a stratified sampling design

Table 2.6. Guides for applying accuracy information

Reliability Criteria

1 Better than could be expected by chance 2 > 60% better than could be expected by chance 3 > 70 % better than could be expected by chance 4 > 80 % better than could be expected by chance 5 > 90 % better than could be expected by chance

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3 Results

3.1 Trend

The total number of inland prescribed water resources which are managed by water allocation plans has increased over the past 10 years. In 2010 only 64% (23 of 36) of inland prescribed water resources were managed by WAPs in comparison to 86% (31 of 36) managed by WAPs in 2020 (Table 3.1). A WAP for the Central Adelaide and Dry Creek prescribed resources is currently being drafted.

It should be noted that the 2018 report for this card referenced the total number of prescribed resources as 38.

The discrepancy with the total number of actively managed inland water resources between 2018 (38) and 2020 (36) was due to two factors: firstly the 2018 report excluded the Morambro surface water area which is actually prescribed separately to the Morambro watercourse and as such should be identified as a separate prescribed water resource, and secondly the 2018 report card referenced 3 salt water intakes which are prescribed but which are not managed by water allocation plans, namely Chapmans Creek Intake, Salt Creek and Unnamed Creek (Middle Beach intakes), Swan Creek (Northern Intake).

These salt water intakes were previously utilised by Penrice and were managed under the Water Resources (Penrice Exemption) Regulations 1997, which expired on 1 September 2011. The regulation, specifically in relation to water taken for the purpose of producing brine or salt or for a purpose related to the production of brine or salt by Penrice, specified that the operations of the following provisions of the Water Resources Act 1997 were exempted:

 section 7(3) – requirement to hold a water licence to take water from a prescribed resource,

 section 7(8) – requirement not to take water contrary to the provisions of a water allocation plan,

 section 9(1) – requirement not to take water unless authorised to do so by a water licence under section 11 (equivalent of section 128 of the NRM Act), or the taking of water is for stock or domestic purposes,

 section 16 – subject to restrictions in water take in the case of inadequate supply or overuse of water,

 section 72(a) – ability of the Board to exercise power over the right of a person to take water,

 Part 8 Division 1 – payment of levies.

As these resources were managed under the regulation, a water allocation to manage them was not deemed necessary. Further, these resources are salt water intakes and not inland water resources which this card reports on, and as such these intakes have not been included in the 2020 report.

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Table 3.1. The change in the number of actively managed inland prescribed water resources with WAPs in the period 2010-2020

# Inland Waters Prescribed Areas

Type of Prescription Prescribed Resources

Current WAP which manages Prescribed Resource

Managed by WAP in

2010

Managed by WAP

in 2020

1 River Murray Prescribed Watercourse Watercourse River Murray WAP Y Y

2 Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges

Prescribed Water Resources Area Groundwater Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges WAP N Y

3 Watercourses N Y

4 Surface Water N Y

5 Angas-Bremer Prescribed Wells Area Groundwater Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges WAP Y Y

6 Marne Saunders Prescribed Water Resources Area Groundwater Marne Saunders WAP Y Y

7 Watercourses Y Y

8 Surface Water Y Y

9 Peake, Roby and Sherlock Prescribed Wells Area Groundwater Peake, Roby and Sherlock WAP N Y

10 Mallee Prescribed Wells Area Groundwater Mallee WAP Y Y

11 Northern Adelaide Plains^a Prescribed Wells Area Groundwater Northern Adelaide Plains WAP Y Y

12 Dry Creek Prescribed Wells Area Groundwater No current WAP N N

13 Central Adelaide Prescribed Wells Area Groundwater No current WAP N N

14 Barossa Valley^b Prescribed Water Resources Area Groundwater Barossa WAP Y Y

15 Watercourses Y Y

16 Surface Water Y Y

17 McLaren Vale Prescribed Wells Area Groundwater McLaren Vale WAP Y Y

18 Little Para Prescribed Watercourse Watercourse Western Mount Lofty Ranges WAP N Y

19 Western Mount Lofty Ranges

Prescribed Water Resources Area Groundwater Western Mount Lofty Ranges WAP N Y

20 Watercourses N Y

21 Surface Water N Y

22 Musgrave Prescribed Wells Area Groundwater Southern Basins & Musgrave WAP Y Y

23 Southern Basins Prescribed Wells Area Groundwater Southern Basins & Musgrave WAP Y Y

24 Padthaway Prescribed Wells Area Groundwater Padthaway WAP Y Y

25 Tatiara Prescribed Wells Area Groundwater Tatiara WAP Y Y

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# Inland Waters Prescribed Areas

Type of Prescription Prescribed Resources

Current WAP which manages Prescribed Resource

Managed by WAP in

2010

Managed by WAP

in 2020

27 Morambro Creek Prescribed Surface Water Area Surface Water Morambro Creek WAP Y Y

28 Prescribed Watercourse Watercourse Y Y

29 Lower Limestone Coast Prescribed Wells Area Groundwater Lower Limestone Coast WAP Y Y

30 Far North Prescribed Wells Area Groundwater Far North WAP Y Y

31 Clare Valley Prescribed Water Resources Area Groundwater Clare Valley WAP Y Y

32 Watercourses Y Y

33 Surface Water Y Y

34 Baroota Prescribed Water Resources Area Groundwater No current WAP N N

35 Watercourses N N

36 Surface Water N N

a. Includes the Kangaroo Flat region b. Includes Greenock Creek

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3.2 Condition

86% (31 out of 36) of South Australia's actively managed inland water resources have WAPs in place. Based on the condition thresholds set out in section 2 (Table 2.2), the condition of water management at the state-wide scale was allocated the score of ‘good’.

3.3 Reliability

The overall reliability score for this report card is 5 (Table 3.2). The methodology used to determine the reliability score is provided in section 2.4.3.

Table 3.2. Information reliability scores for water management

Indicator Applicability Currency Spatial Accuracy Reliability The areal extent of water resources

management undertaken through regional landscape plans

5 5 5 5 5

The number of vulnerable or at-risk surface water and groundwater resources that are being managed by water allocation plans

5 5 5 5 5

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4 References

Government of South Australia (2012). Natural Resource Management State and Condition Reporting Framework SA. Report. Adelaide. Available at:

https://www.waterconnect.sa.gov.au/Content/Publications/DEWNR/91913%20NRM%20Reporting%20Framework%202012%20 Final%20Draft%20v7.pdf

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Technical information supporting the 2020 water management (water allocation planning) Environmental Trend and Condition Report Card