Client: Department of Sustainability and Environment DG Consulting’s Garry Smith (who was at that time working for Goulburn-Murray Water) was appointed as part of the multi-agency project team responsible for developing the Victorian Water register. This was one element of a large change program covering the unbundling of water entitlements in Victoria. Other element s of the project included preparing drafting instructions to enable the unbundling of water entitlements, and establishing the legislative role of the Victorian water Registrar. The development of the water register involved the creation of the entitlement structures and characteristics and then design of the transactional...

Client: Goulburn-Murray Water In the late 1990s, water market growth was being limited by a lack of transparency and limited availability of market information on price and market volumes. Customers of Goulburn-Murray Water (G-MW) asked it to establish water broking options to address these constraints. G-MW negotiated funding from DSE, and with the support of DSE and the other Victorian water authorities, established the WaterMove water exchange. DG Consulting’s Garry Smith was working for G-MW at that time and was appointed Project Director. The project involved development of the business model and trading process, using the experience gained through operation...

Client: Department of Sustainability and Environment The Northern Region Sustainable Water Strategy discusses threats to water availability and quality over the next 50 years, and outlines actions to manage the consequences of prolonged drought and climate change. The strategy includes innovative measures such as a new framework for adaptive decision making for managing environmental assets, enhanced reserve policy for major systems to ensure operation of the distribution system in all years, enhanced rules for the carryover of water allocations, and the development of spillable water accounts. Denis Flett of DG Consulting made significant contributions as Chair of the Consultative Committee...

Client: Murray-Darling Basin Authority The Independent Audit Group (IAG) conducts annual audits and prepares independent reports on progress, performance or compliance by jurisdictions in the implementation of agreed policy and associated administrative and management arrangements. The IAG was initially established to provide independent audits and advice in relation to the establishment and compliance with long term caps on the diversion of water from streams within designated valleys of the basin.  The IAG provides advice on Cap proposals prepared by the States and Territory prior to approval by the MDBA and then audits implementation. Cap implementation arrangements are generally dependent on...

Client: Department of Sustainability and Environment Denis Flett of DG Consulting was contracted by the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment to provide independent advice regarding the sources of water to be used to commission the Sugarloaf Pipeline and to meet the Government’s commitment to supply water to Melbourne via the pipeline in 2010. The advice on the sources of water specifically related to whether or not these sources complied with all aspects of a nominated condition of the approvals granted for the Sugarloaf Pipeline under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth). This assignment involved the careful...

Client: Murray-Darling Basin Authority Garry Smith and Denis Flett of DG Consulting were part of a team which undertook a technical review of submissions in response to the Issues Paper – Development of Sustainable Diversion Limits for the Murray-Darling Basin. The review provided advice on the technical merit of ideas and proposals from the submissions about the setting of sustainable diversion limits (SDLs), for consideration by the MDBA in preparing the Proposed Basin Plan. The review team were also briefed on the approaches being taken by MDBA staff in the development of SDLs, identified key issues associated with setting and...

Client: Department of Water DG Consulting planned and facilitated a workshop and prepared a report on the workshop outcomes in August 2010 for the Department of Water, Western Australia, on behalf of state environmental water accounting practitioners. The workshop built on jurisdictional experience with environmental water account reporting and focussed on general purpose water account reporting for typical environmental water management situations involving planned regulated surface water, planned unregulated surface water, and planned groundwater. The conclusions in the final workshop report included a preferred approach for the extent of note disclosure information to be included in general purpose water accounting...

Client: National Water Commission DG Consulting was contracted by the National Water Commission to conduct a peer review of the Australian Environmental Water Report being prepared to set out the status of environmental water management and reporting within all jurisdictions as at 30 June 2010. The report follows on from findings in the Commission’s 2009 Biennial Assessment, is to promote better understanding of environmental water management, and provide a clear, agreed baseline for future reference. The peer review is to identify any significant issues with the conceptual basis on which the report is based, help ensure internal consistency, identify any...

Client: Murray-Darling Basin Authority The Independent River Operations Review Group (IRORG) is an independent three-member group established by the MDBA. Garry Smith of DG Consulting has been appointed as a member of IRORG. IRORG recently completed its first review of the MDBA’s performance in relation to river operations activities, covering the 2009/10 water year. IRORG’s terms of reference required it to assess the Authorities performance in relation to meeting the provisions contained in the Objectives and Outcomes for River Murray operations document developed by the Basin Officials Committee. IRORG reviewed submissions from each jurisdiction involved in River Murray operations and...

Client: National Water Commission The NWC commissioned this project to provide a clear picture of the current regulatory and water accounting environment for groundwater, within the context of the NWI agreement. This was achieved by reviewing groundwater metering and licensing arrangements across Australia at the legislative, policy and operational scale to understand the similarities and differences between groundwater metering and licensing practices in each of the states and territories.   The report also explores the available methodologies and best practices for estimating groundwater extraction and the conditions where they are appropriate and provides recommendations on a framework for a nationally consistent...