Sustainable Rural Water Use and Infrastructure Program

This schedule will support NSW to deliver Detailed Assessments of potential new supply measures. Supply measures are part of the Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism (SDLAM) of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan 2012. They are designed to enhance water infrastructure and river operations and enable Basin Plan environmental outcomes to be achieved with less recovery of water for the environment.

This Schedule will fund the River Murray in South Australia Constraints Measure Stage 2 (the Project). The South Australian (SA) River Murray Measure will manage the impacts of flows proposed under the constraints measure and include improving access roads and tracks and installing and modifying infrastructure.

This schedule will support delivery of the Shorebird and Wetland Habitat Project in South Australia.

This Schedule will support the delivery of the Pindari Dam Cold-Water Pollution project and the Fish-Friendly Water Extraction project which have been approved for implementation as part of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan Northern Basin Toolkit Measures. 

This Schedule will support the delivery of elements of the Reconnecting River Country Program to be operable by 31 December 2026.

The Program comprises river constraints alleviation measures for the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, which form part of the Sustainable Diversion Limits Adjustment Mechanism:

• NSW Murray River (Hume to Yarrawonga and Yarrawonga to Wakool reaches)
• the Murrumbidgee River.

This Schedule will support the Australian Capital Territory in delivering its Shared Reduction Amount of 4.9 gigalitres per year Long Term Diversion Limit Equivalence to meet the Sustainable Diversion Limit under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

This Schedule will support the delivery of three New South Wales projects in the Gwydir Valley that have been approved for implementation, as part of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan Northern Basin Toolkit Measures: Gingham watercourse, Lower Gwydir watercourse and Lower Mehi River. 

This Schedule will support the delivery of three New South Wales projects that have been approved for streamlined delivery as part of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan Northern Basin Toolkit Measures. 

This Schedule will fund the River Murray in South Australia Constraints Measure Early Works Project (the Project) which will fast-track the upgrade of some sites for the South Australian (SA) River Murray Constraints Measure.

The upgrades will manage the impacts of flows proposed under the constraints measure and include improving access roads and tracks and installing and modifying infrastructure.

The Project builds on the preconstruction activities undertaken under the Project Agreement for Stage 1 Funding for Sustainable Diversion Limits Adjustment Supply and Constraints Measures in the Murray-Darling Basin (Schedule C). Preconstruction activities include design work, site assessments, community engagement and the development of an implementation proposal, expected in June 2022, for the Constraints Measure.

The SA River Murray Constraints Measure is part of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan's Sustainable Diversion Limit (SDL) adjustment mechanism, which enables the Plan's SDLs to be increased by 605 gigalitres (GL).

The Schedule supports the delivery of the Queensland Fish-friendly Water Extraction Project: Condamine-Balonne and Border Rivers (the Project), as part of the Northern Basin Toolkit Measures.

This Project will :

• screen offtake pumps and diversion infrastructure to ensure fish are not removed from northern Basin rivers and so increase native fish populations in relevant catchments. The demonstration sites are located in reaches of the Lower Balonne River, the Queensland Border Rivers and the Condamine River.
• increase the uptake of screening technology by irrigators more broadly across the northern Basin.