Water reform on track but new push needed

A national plan to save water has worked but needs a new focus in areas such as urban planning and coal seam gas mining (CSG) if the savings are to continue, governments have been told.

The National Water Commission on Wednesday released its third biennial report into water reform since the federal, state and territory governments signed the landmark 2004 National Water Initiative.

Seven years on, it gave the plan the tick of approval, noting the positive steps forward in how water is shared, stored, secured and more efficiently used - and the fact that Australia is seen as a world leader in water management.

But commission chair Chloe Munro warned there was still a way to go and urged all governments to re-pledge their commitment to the initiative and to mark out the path ahead.

It's given the Council of Australian Governments 12 recommendations to improve the score, including setting new objectives for urban water management, examining the impacts of mining on water resources and putting more money into scientific research.

"Just because rain gave parts of the country a reprieve by refilling dams and by replenishing rivers, that doesn't mean we can afford to stop the clock on water reform," she told reporters in Canberra.

Many important actions were not complete.

"In extreme conditions, water plans have been set aside and the environment has drawn the short straw.

"Accountability for environmental outcomes remains weak."

The cultural values of water for indigenous Australians are still not being properly acknowledged, while governments have made no moves to improve the problem of over-use and over-allocation.

"Some governments remain reluctant even to identify explicitly their over-allocated and over-used systems - surely a necessary first step towards restoring those systems to sustainable levels," Ms Munro said.

She believes managing increasing urban water demands will be a key test of the future, as will the expected Murray-Darling Basin plan.

The commission urges governments to engage more with their constituents about water needs, update the national water agenda with an eye to improving water quality, better management and climate change mitigation.

The Australian Conservation Foundation welcomed the report, saying governments had been sent a clear message to address the underlying problems of reform.

"Over-extraction is the great unfinished business of water reform," the foundation's rivers spokeswoman said in a statement, urging COAG to deal with it at their next meeting.

National Irrigators Council chief Danny O'Brien agreed COAG needs to a new push to continue the reforms of the 2004 initiative, which irrigators back even though they don't agree with certain elements.

"It should be seen through," he said.

Mr O'Brien shared the commission's concerns about CSG development and the potential impacts on groundwater resources - an issue that is troubling farmers and being considered by a Senate committee.

He pressed all governments to commit to the triple bottom line principles of the initiative, arguing that economic, social and environmental needs must be considered equally if water reform is to be successful, especially for the Murray-Darling Basin.