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David Dole and Brian Haisman
The Murray-Darling Basin Commission recently created River Murray Water, an internal business unit, as a step towards the micro-economic goals of the COAG Water Reforms.
The assets which regulate the River Murray, have a replacement value around $1.4 billion. They range from the 4000 gigalitre Dartmouth Dam in the headwaters, to the 7.5 kilometres of barrages near the Murray mouth and are presently held in trust for the Contracting Governments of the Basin Initiative by one or other of the three riparian states. River Murray Water is bringing the assets together into a single, integrated business with the aim of securing long-run sustainability, funded through pricing for services provided. Broad institutional and pricing principles are described along with the special challenges of an inter-government environment.
These challenges are being met by adopting clarity and simplicity as driving principles, supported by best practice asset information. The paper describes the upfront development of explicit guiding principles and policies, including risk management and dam safety; coordination of activities; generation of life cycle information; and introduction of contestable service provision for the business.
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1998 Papers
1998 – The Emerging River Murray Water Business – Developing Asset and Risk Management in an Inter-Government Context
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David Dole and Brian Haisman
The Murray-Darling Basin Commission recently created River Murray Water, an internal business unit, as a step towards the micro-economic goals of the COAG Water Reforms.
The assets which regulate the River Murray, have a replacement value around $1.4 billion. They range from the 4000 gigalitre Dartmouth Dam in the headwaters, to the 7.5 kilometres of barrages near the Murray mouth and are presently held in trust for the Contracting Governments of the Basin Initiative by one or other of the three riparian states. River Murray Water is bringing the assets together into a single, integrated business with the aim of securing long-run sustainability, funded through pricing for services provided. Broad institutional and pricing principles are described along with the special challenges of an inter-government environment.
These challenges are being met by adopting clarity and simplicity as driving principles, supported by best practice asset information. The paper describes the upfront development of explicit guiding principles and policies, including risk management and dam safety; coordination of activities; generation of life cycle information; and introduction of contestable service provision for the business.
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1999 Papers
1999 – Finding The Balance – A Community-led Review of the Operation of Hume and Dartmouth Dams
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Brian Haisman, Clarke Ballard and Neville Garland
In early 1997 the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council instigated a review of the operations of its primary reservoirs, the Hume and Dartmouth Dams, in response to concerns of floodplain communities below the dams, coupled with changing community values in relation to the in-stream environmental effects of dams. The review, completed in May 1999, achieved a consensus between parties advocating what are on the surface irreconcilable objectives for the management of the water resource. Foremost competing objectives were flood mitigation, consumptive water use, and environmental health of the river system, plus subsidiary objectives related to recreation, hydro-electric generation, salinity management, tourism and the like. The keys to success were firstly, creation of a community-based Reference Panel which took on a steering role coupled with extensive consultation, and secondly a determination to describe situations wherever possible by means of factual information. The paper describes the identification and evaluation of issues, the consensus building process, the intensive hydrology and economic modelling undertaken, and the development of a comprehensive set of flow parameters which could be viewed as surrogates for environmental outcomes. Conclusions and recommendations are drawn for future reviews of similar dams.
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2000 Papers
2000 – Hume Dam Rehabilitation – An Owner’s Perspective
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David Dole and Brian Haisman
The $75 million remedial works at Hume Dam on the Murray River near Albury have been of national significance. The rehabilitation program associated with the structure itself and with its appurtenant works is now in the final steps of construction. The authors summarise this program with an emphasis not on technical details, but on decision processes. Equity in this dam is, in effect, held in equal parts by three State governments and by the Commonwealth government. At the same time, in response to the national water reform agenda, the governments have agreed upon new cost sharing arrangements that more nearly reflect the value of services to each government. The particular problems of decision-making within this evolving inter-State environment are discussed.
Lessons from experiments with application of risk analysis are discussed. Finally, the matter of adequacy of the structure for extreme floods is still under consideration. Hume Dam will presently pass the Design Flood developed in accord with Book VI (1999) of Australian Rainfall and Runoff, and the Dam Crest Flood has been estimated to have an annual exceedance probability of 1:110,000. _ Retrofitting a spillway to pass the estimated Probable Maximum Flood will double the cost of remedial works and is estimated at 10 times the cost of similar capacity built into original construction. The authors discuss the public policy elements of this pending decision.
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