
Australian Country Paper: Integrated Approaches to Irrigation Management in the Future
Author: Irrigation Australia's Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (IACID)
Year: 2022,
Type: NC Publication, Format: PDF
Australia is the driest inhabited continent. Our use of water in irrigation has reaped great
rewards in terms of the development of rural industries, the growth of the economy and the
modernisation of Australia. Water resource policies since European Settlement were, like
those relating to other resources, focused on promoting economic and population growth, and
creating jobs.
The formative years of irrigation in Australia were in the 19th Century and the major irrigation
developments occurred initially in the Murray-Darling Basin, where the conditions were the
most conducive to such development. The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw a dramatic
increase in irrigation development both in the Murray Darling Basin and elsewhere as
governments attempted to overcome a natural water scarcity. Drought was always of concern.
Australia has now moved well away from the economic/social development thinking, attitudes
and actions which underpinned Australia’s use of water since European settlement. It has
become clear that this previous approach did not serve Australia well from a sustainability
perspective. Over the past 25+ years there has been a dramatic change in the way water is
managed, both as a resource and in irrigation. Perhaps the most dramatic of these changes
was the 1995 Cap on Diversions in the Murray Darling Basin. Climate Change is also impacting
water management policy and use through reduced water availability, greater variability of
rainfall and increased periods of drought.
The recognition that the environment is entitled to primary access to water, together with other
structural reforms such as the unlinking of water licenses from specific land holdings and the
related capacity to trade, has dramatically changed the way water is valued and used in
Australia. Government action to redress over-allocation of the water resource, particularly for
irrigation, is an important component of Australia's commitment to water reform, the National
Water Initiative (NWI).
This Paper provides a brief overview of integration and innovation of irrigation (and water)
management in contemporary Australia