Resource -
The Water Act 2007 (Cth) (the Water Act) provides the legislative framework for ensuring that the Murray–Darling Basin – Australia’s largest water resource – is managed in the national interest.
The Water Act aims to:
- improve water security for all uses of water resources in the Basin
- promote the use and management of the Basin’s water resources in a way that optimises economic, social and environmental outcomes
- ensure the return to environmentally sustainable levels of extraction for water resources that are overallocated or overused
- protect, restore and provide for the environment of the Basin
- maximise the economic returns to the Australian community from the use and management of the Basin’s water resources
- implement relevant international agreements to address the threats to the Basin’s water resources
- ensure that the management of the Basin’s water resources takes into account the broader management of natural resources in the Basin
- achieve efficient and cost-effective water management and administrative practices in relation to the Basin’s water resources
- to provide for the collection, collation, analysis and dissemination of information about: a) Australia’s water resources and b) the use and management of water in Australia.
