Wimmera-Mallee Long-term Watering Plan Minor Update September 2020 delwp.vic.gov.au Photo credit Wimmera River (source Wimmera Catchment Management Authority) Acknowledgment We acknowledge and respect Victorian Traditional Owners as the original custodians of Victoria's land and waters, their unique ability to care for Country and deep spiritual connection to it. We honour Elders past and present whose knowledge and wisdom has ensured the continuation of culture and traditional practices. We are committed to genuinely partner, and meaningfully engage, with Victoria's Traditional Owners and Aboriginal communities to support the protection of Country, the maintenance of spiritual and cultural practices and their broader aspirations in the 21st century and beyond. © The State of Victoria Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning 2020 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. You are free to re-use the work under that licence, on the condition that you credit the State of Victoria as author. The licence does not apply to any images, photographs or branding, including the Victorian Coat of Arms, the Victorian Government logo and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) logo. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ISBN 978-1-76105-281-1 (pdf) Disclaimer This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and its employees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication. Accessibility If you would like to receive this publication in an alternative format, please telephone the DELWP Customer Service Centre on 136186, email [email protected], or via the National Relay Service on 133 677 www.relayservice.com.au. This document is also available on the internet at www.delwp.vic.gov.au. Wimmera-Mallee Long-term Watering Plan Minor Update September 2020 Wimmera-Mallee Long-term Watering Plan i Minor Update Contents Abbreviations ..................................................................................................................... i Glossary ........................................................................................................................... iii Summary ......................................................................................................................... vii 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Context ....................................................................................................................................................... 2 1.1 Scope of the plan ....................................................................................................................................... 3 1.2 Purpose of the long-term watering plan.................................................................................................. 4 1.2 Basin-wide environmental watering strategy ......................................................................................... 5 1.3 Division 6 principles .................................................................................................................................. 5 1.4 Victorian frameworks ................................................................................................................................ 5 1.4.1 Entitlement framework ........................................................................................................................ 5 1.4.2 Waterway management framework .................................................................................................... 5 1.4.3 Environmental water framework ........................................................................................................ 6 1.4.4 Environmental water planning, prioritisation and delivery ............................................................. 7 1.4.5 Seasonally adaptive approach ........................................................................................................... 8 1.4.6 Delivery partners ................................................................................................................................ 10 1.4.7 Shared benefits .................................................................................................................................. 10 2. Water resource plan area – priority environmental assets and ecosystem functions .......................................................................................................................... 11 2.1 Features of the Wimmera-Mallee water resource plan area ................................................................ 11 2.1.1 Topography ........................................................................................................................................ 12 2.1.2 Geology, soils and land use ............................................................................................................. 13 2.1.3 Rainfall distribution ........................................................................................................................... 13 2.1.4 Working rivers .................................................................................................................................... 14 2.2 Priority environmental assets within the Wimmera-Mallee water resource plan area ..................... 14 2.3 Representativeness ................................................................................................................................. 22 2.4 Significant ecological values of the Wimmera-Mallee water resource plan area ............................. 27 2.4.1 Wimmera River ................................................................................................................................... 27 2.4.2 Terminal lakes .................................................................................................................................... 27 2.4.3 Wimmera-Mallee Pipeline wetlands ................................................................................................. 28 2.5 Ramsar-listed priority environmental assets ....................................................................................... 29 2.6 Priority ecosystem functions in the Wimmera-Mallee water resource plan area ............................. 30 3. Environmental watering requirements for priority environmental assets and ecosystem functions ............................................................................................... 31 3.1 Approach to developing objectives, targets and watering requirements ......................................... 31 3.2 Management goals for the Wimmera-Mallee water resource plan area ............................................. 32 3.3 Ecological objectives for the Wimmera-Mallee water resource plan area......................................... 32 3.4 Ecological targets for environmental watering in the Wimmera-Mallee water resource plan area ......................................................................................................................................................... 35 Wimmera-Mallee Long-term Watering Plan ii Minor Update 3.5 Watering requirements of the objectives .............................................................................................. 37 3.5.1 Watering requirements of river assets ............................................................................................ 37 3.5.2 Watering requirements for wetland assets ..................................................................................... 43 4. Provision of environmental water ............................................................................. 49 4.1 Regulated surface water systems .......................................................................................................... 49 4.1.1 Definition ............................................................................................................................................. 49 4.1.2 Environmental water in regulated systems ..................................................................................... 49 4.1.3 Regulated systems of the Wimmera-Mallee .................................................................................... 50 4.2 Unregulated surface water systems ...................................................................................................... 51 4.2.1 Definition ............................................................................................................................................. 51 4.2.2 Environmental water in unregulated systems ................................................................................ 52 4.3 Groundwater systems ............................................................................................................................. 52 4.3.1 Groundwater dependency of priority environmental assets ......................................................... 53 5. Cooperative arrangements ........................................................................................ 56 5.1 Context ....................................................................................................................................................