Water Act 2007

The purposes of the environmental watering plan are:

to safeguard existing environmental water; and

to plan for the recovery of additional environmental water; and

to coordinate the management of:

existing environmental water; and

the additional environmental water that is recovered;

protect and restore the wetlands and other environmental assets of the Murray‑Darling Basin; and

protect biodiversity dependent on the Basin water resources and achieve other environmental outcomes for the Murray‑Darling Basin.

The environmental watering plan must specify:

the overall environmental objectives for the water‑dependent ecosystems of the Murray‑Darling Basin; and

targets by which to measure progress towards achieving the environmental objectives specified in accordance with paragraph (a); and

an environmental management framework for planned environmental water and held environmental water; and

the methods to be used to identify environmental assets in the Murray‑Darling Basin that will require environmental watering; and

the principles to be applied, and methods to be used, to determine the priorities for applying environmental water (including applying that water to environmental assets that are identified using the methods specified under paragraph (d)); and

the principles to be applied in environmental watering.

Without limiting paragraph (2)(b), the environmental watering plan may specify targets for one or more of the following:

water resource health;

water flows;

water pressure;

water levels.

In preparing the environmental watering plan, the Authority must have regard to any other programs for water recovery and environmental watering in the Murray‑Darling Basin.