Australian country paper: Integrated approaches to irrigation management in the future

Abstract

Irrigation in Australia expanded dramatically during the early to mid‐twentieth century under an economic and social development regime of government. This led to overallocation and overuse of many of the country's water resources to the detriment of the rivers and riverine environments. To address this degradation federal and state governments have come together to implement a range of reforms at national, basin and catchment level to return water to the rivers but not at the expense of rural communities and a range of policy reforms to implement water resource best management practice including cost recovery pricing, accuracy in measurement (resource availability and extraction). The three most significant components of these reforms are the Murray–Darling Basin Plan, the National Water Initiative and the Sustainable Rural Water Use and Infrastructure Programme (SRWUIP). These actions are complemented by infrastructure and management improvements at on‐ and off‐farm levels and examples are documented.