Water trade is a valuable tool for Murray-Darling Basin communities, says NWC report

Released this week, the report, Impacts of water trading in the southern Murray-Darling Basin between 2006-07 and 2010-11, produced by the National Water Commission shows that selling water to the Commonwealth buyback program has not negatively impacted production.

In fact, regional communities in the southern Murray-Darling Basin have remained productive even during drought, said Commissioner Laurie Arthur at a launch of the report at the Australian Water Congress 2012.

"Australia's water markets have allowed water to be reallocated to where the need is greatest and reduced the impact of the drought on regional production. Water trade is playing a major role in achieving the National Water Initiative objective of maximising the economic, social and environmental values of scarce water resources.

"It is increasingly valued as a business tool and is now supported by the majority of the irrigators surveyed by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences for this report," said Commissioner Arthur.

The report is a follow-up to the Commission's Impacts of water trading in the southern Murray–Darling Basin: an economic, social and environmental assessment report and was produced by the commission to fulfil its National Water Initiative obligation to monitor the impacts of interstate trade in the southern Murray-Darling Basin.