TY - JOUR
T1 - The three-infrastructures framework and water risks in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia
AU - Williams, John
AU - Colloff, Matthew J.
AU - Grafton, R. Quentin
AU - Khan, Shahbaz
AU - Paydar, Zahra
AU - Wyrwoll, Paul
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Engineers Australia.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Using a three-infrastructures (grey, soft, and green) framework, we examined key risks to water availability and quality in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia. These risks include increased irrigation efficiency, without a quantitative knowledge of the impact on water flow pathways, particularly return flows, growth in farm dams and floodplain harvesting, and unsustainable management of salinity. Critical to mitigating these risks are the metering, monitoring, and auditing of water flows, effective linkages between evidence and analysis, and accountability of decision-makers operating in the public interest. We contend that these approaches need to be supported by innovative risk assessments, which are fit-for-purpose under the MDB Plan, wherein the ‘who, what, when and where’ are assessed in relation to cumulative, systemic, and cascading risks from human actions.
AB - Using a three-infrastructures (grey, soft, and green) framework, we examined key risks to water availability and quality in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia. These risks include increased irrigation efficiency, without a quantitative knowledge of the impact on water flow pathways, particularly return flows, growth in farm dams and floodplain harvesting, and unsustainable management of salinity. Critical to mitigating these risks are the metering, monitoring, and auditing of water flows, effective linkages between evidence and analysis, and accountability of decision-makers operating in the public interest. We contend that these approaches need to be supported by innovative risk assessments, which are fit-for-purpose under the MDB Plan, wherein the ‘who, what, when and where’ are assessed in relation to cumulative, systemic, and cascading risks from human actions.
KW - Water audits
KW - climate change
KW - green infrastructure
KW - grey infrastructure
KW - risk analysis
KW - soft infrastructure
KW - water governance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85141183421&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13241583.2022.2151106
DO - 10.1080/13241583.2022.2151106
M3 - Article
SN - 1324-1583
VL - 27
SP - 47
EP - 67
JO - Australian Journal of Water Resources
JF - Australian Journal of Water Resources
IS - 1
ER -