Irrigation upgrades of parks and storm water harvesting are among efficiency measures being considered by the ACT government as it clambers to make up its contribution to the Murray-Darling Basin environmental water recovery target.
The ACT is tasked with recovering its entire 4.9 gigalitre allocation ahead of June 2024, after the Commonwealth ruled its previous contribution to its Bridging the Gap policy wouldn't count.
Reducing public water consumption, retrofits of residential and industrial buildings, integrating water-sensitive design into urban developments - including rainwater harvesting and appliances with higher water efficiency ratings - have been put forward and are subject to Commonwealth funding.
The buybacks now under way in NSW and Queensland have not been proposed for the ACT, which allocates about one-quarter of its licensed surface water take to irrigators, the rest going to Icon Water.
ACT Water Minister Shane Rattenbury said the federal government's recent water recovery strategy provided broader opportunities for jurisdictions to achieve their water recovery targets.
Mr Rattenbury said funding guidelines under the previous government had focused on delivering water savings through off-farm efficiency measures designed for the irrigation and industry sectors.
"The ACT required bespoke arrangements to deliver urban water efficiency projects," Mr Rattenbury said.
"The new strategy is supported by the ACT government and aligns with ACT project proposals."
Asked whether the ACT government was negotiating with the federal government to have its target reduced, Mr Rattenbury said the ACT would meet its commitment under the Murray Darling Basin Plan.
"There is flexibility in how the ACT may meet this commitment to maintain Canberra's water security and this is being discussed with the Australian government," he said.
It is understood the ACT government had returned excess of its 4.9GL target in 2014, however, the Murray Darling Basin Authority reneged its acceptance years later, citing legal advice.
Maryanne Slattery, a whistleblower and former director of the Murray Darling Basin Authority, has publicly criticised water efficiency measures that involved the previous federal government.
The Slattery and Johnson director said projects in NSW and Queensland had lacked transparency regarding cost and water-saving, meaning work was done which didn't see improved environmental outcomes.
She said while water efficiency measures had been problematic in the past, it was unclear whether this federal government had "tightened things up".
Ms Slattery said the ACT's current growth and subsequent increase in roads and cement would serve to increase runoff and generate more water out of the territory.
"It is also unique in that it doesn't actually get any benefits out of the Basin Plan," she said.
"None of the water recovery is upstream of the ACT, so any contribution it gives to the environment happens downstream."
A campaign is currently under way to have Snowy Hydro operations included in the Basin Plan operations, potentially capping what can be captured upstream at Tantangara Dam.
Ms Slattery said it seemed perverse to be trying to get water out of small-scale irrigators upstream and from within the ACT under the current arrangement.
"That is really the source of water we should be looking at to get better outcomes for the ACT," she said.
Mr Rattenbury said the operation of the Snowy Hydro Scheme had a significant effect on achieving the outcomes of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and water security within the upper Murrumbidgee region.
He said an opportunity to bring Snowy Hydro operations into the Commonwealth's water management framework, to achieve an environmentally sustainable level of take, will occur through the Productivity Commissions' inquiry into the Basin Plan in 2023, review of the Water Act 2007 in 2024 and review of the Basin Plan in 2026.
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