The Murray-Darling Basin faces increasing challenges related to water variability, especially in its northern basin; but how does this variability and changing access to water impact rural communities? Dr Vicki Martin from Mosaic Insights, a partner with the One Basin CRC under Alluvium Consulting, aimed to investigate these impacts through a QuickStart project concluded this year.

This project set out to explore how these variations in water availability and access—whether due to droughts, floods, or managed river flows—impact communities in the northern basin.

“We wanted to understand what the current state of knowledge is about how different levels of water availability impact people in the northern basin,” Dr Vicki Martin said.

“We’re social researchers, all from academic backgrounds, which made us well-placed to conduct this research project,” Dr Martin said.

“The project took a two-step approach. We started by doing a comprehensive review of academic and grey literature published since the start of the Millenium drought in 2000, to gather information on the social impacts of water variability across the entire Murray Darling Basin. This helped us determine the nature and volume of studies that have been conducted in the northern basin compared to the southern basin,” she said.

“We looked at research that explored how communities were impacted by both natural events, such as floods and droughts, and by human-driven factors, including water management practices and policies.”

“The next step of the project involved an online workshop with local stakeholders, which served as a sense-checking exercise. We compared what was found in existing research and asked the stakeholders, what are the gaps? Who or what isn’t being heard?” Dr Vicki Martin said.

While the workshop provided useful insights, it wasn’t without its challenges.

“Water variability in the Basin is understandably a complex topic, and communities have decades of positive and negative experiences with water in their region. The short workshop was intended to ground-truth the findings of the literature review with key stakeholders, but it was not long enough to adequately acknowledge all of the challenges communities have faced. It is clear that future projects will need more resources to do similar exercises with stakeholders and communities.” Dr Vicki Martin said.

However, the workshop discussions highlighted important issues for further research, such as flooding impacts in the northern basin, and the social and cultural impacts of water variability for First Nations communities.

“Research on the impacts that water variability has on First Nations communities need to be First Nations-led. It is exciting to see that the One Basin CRC has a new First Nations Research Lead, Troy Meston, and we look forward to continuing these discussions with him through our partnership with the CRC,” Dr Martin said.

“We’re also keen to find ways to keep going with this project and to delve deeper,” Dr Vicki Martin said.

“While there has been a significant amount of work on water management in the southern parts of the Basin, social impacts in the northern areas remain relatively under-studied,” Dr Martin said.

“We hope that future research can better address the unique challenges faced by these communities and help them prepare for a changing future when it comes to water,” she said.

Avril Hogan, Director of Partnerships and Engagement at the One Basin CRC, echoed these aspirations.

“This project highlights the increasing need for collaboration across our regional communities and demonstrates that these conversations are critical to understand where we are in the water sector; and what needs to be done together,” Avril Hogan said.

“With increasing scarcity on the horizon, industry, researchers, and communities working together is the only viable solution to these complex problems,” Ms Hogan said.

“The work Vicki and her project team have done continue to lay the foundation for the conversations the One Basin CRC have, understanding community aspirations and where pressure points may arise,” she said.

“Incorporating First Nations knowledge and the broader community is one of the most powerful tools we have available to improve water security in our regions.”

As the One Basin CRC kicks off on its First Nations-led research, overseen by Professor Troy Meston, future collaborative projects will be able to delve further into the social and community impacts, and the indigenous science of water across the northern basin. 

To access the final report for this project please go to: State of knowledge about water variability effects on northern Murray–Darling Basin communities – Final Report

Learn more about the project: Equity and vulnerability in a drying basin: water sharing policy and quality of life in towns – One Basin CRC