Provision of Water Resource Management and Ecological Services under a Panel arrangement

The MDBA requires the provision of a broad range of water resource management and ecological service, associated with the Basin Plan, including;

1. Water resources planning and management including:

• statutory planning, including for both surface water and groundwater and in particular the requirements of the Water Act 2007 (Cth);
• institutional arrangements for the delivery and management of water;
• the distribution and characteristics of Australian water resources;
• assessment of, and treatments for, risks to quality and/or quantity of water resources, including from acid sulphate soil hazards and its risks to wetlands and water quality;
• services related to water markets within the Murray-Darling Basin (which includes the trade/ transfer of water entitlements and allocations between states and within states).

2. Hydrological services including:

• system dynamics, categorisation, connectivity;
• environmental flow determination, delivery mechanisms and planning,
• resources systems modelling;
• hydrological and water quality data analysis;
• data management, storage and manipulation.

3. Ecological services with respect to:

• environmental assets;
• ecosystem function;
• ecosystem modelling;
• ecology of water-dependent ecosystems;
• environmental watering;
• hydrology and ecohydrology;
• limnology;
• geomorphology;
• ecological prioritisation techniques;
• ecological monitoring and evaluation
• Field sampling and characterisation, laboratory analysis, interpretation and assessment.

4. Climate services including the implications of future climate change and variability and the inter-relationships with hydrological and ecological processes (including water balances).