Sustainable Water Management - Investment in irrigation

This initiative supports a more productive, efficient and sustainable irrigation industry through the management of water used for irrigation on farms. Funding has enabled: 

Total EC3 investment: $3.92 m

2015-16 expenditure: $3.855 m
2016-17 expenditure: $0.065 m

Progress

Under this initiative, Catchment Management Authorities (CMAs) were allocated funding to progress a number of accountable action reviews, in line with expectations under the Basin Salinity Management Strategy.

The initiative also provided funding to support the collation, analysis and reporting of salinity and other water quality monitoring data. DELWP also provided funding to Mallee, Goulburn Broken and North Central CMAs to implement priority reviews to ensure that the state complies with the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement (MDBA) and manages salinity risk in Victoria.

Projects funded and being undertaken by the CMAs include:

Goulburn-Broken CMA

Mallee CMA

North Central CMA

This initiative has also contributed funding to on-farm grants programs, in conjunction with the Linking Farms to Irrigation Modernisation initiative , to enable delivery of whole farm planning, irrigation farm planning, and on-farm irrigation upgrades. These funds have positively supported irrigators in planning for and undertaking farm modernisation activities, in response to modernisation of the irrigation supply system.

The initiative also funded project management and governance activities for the Sunraysia Modernisation Project and the G-MW Connections  Project, which are continuing to deliver their objectives.