AGY-5306 | Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority

Full description

Catchment Management Authorities (CMAs) were established across the state in January 2004 under the Catchment Management Authorities Act 2003 as part of broad Natural Resources Management reforms. (1)

Each Catchment Management Authority board consisted of a chairperson and up to six board members, who together provided a range of experience, skills and knowledge in areas such as primary production, cultural heritage, biodiversity conservation, business administration and governance. Each Catchment Management Authority also had a general manager and a small team of professional staff. (2)

The functions of each Catchment Management Authority were:

to develop catchment action plans and to give effect to any such approved plans through annual implementation programs
to provide loans, grants, subsidies or other financial assistance for the purposes of the catchment activities it is authortised to fund
to enter contracts or do any work for the purposes of the catchment activities it is authorised to carry out
to assist landholders to further the objectives of its catchment action plan (including providing information about native vegetation)
to provide educational and training courses and materials in connection with Natural Resource Management, and
to exercise any other function relating to Natural Resource Management as it is prescribed by the regulations. (2)

Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority
The Murrumbidgee Catchment has one of the most diverse climates in NSW, ranging from the alpine areas of Kosciusko National Park and the Monaro plains, through to the rich grazing and grain belts of the South West Slopes and Plains and the shrublands and grasslands of the semi-arid western Riverina. Covering an area of 84 000 square kilometres, the Murrumbidgee Catchment is home to more 1/2 million people. Australia's capital, Canberra with 314,000 people and NSWs' largest inland city, Wagga Wagga with 57,000 people, are both situated within the catchment.

Other major urban centres in the catchment include Balranald, Coleambally, Cooma, Cootamundra, Griffith, Gundagai, Hay, Henty, Junee, Leeton, Narrandera, Queanbeyan, Yass and Tumut. Situated in the lower-Murrumbidgee Catchment were the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area and the Coleambally Irrigation Area. More than 10,000 kilometres of irrigation channels supplied by Burrinjuck Dam near Yass and Blowering Dam near Tumut provide these irrigation areas with water. (4)

In 2007 the Head Office of the Murrumbidgee CMA was located at Wagga Wagga. It also had offices at Coleambally, Cooma, Cootamundra, Harden, Hay, Henty, Junee, Leeton, Queanbeyan, Tumut and Yass. (5)

The Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority was abolished on 1 January 2014 by the Local Land Services Act 2013 which replaced it with Riverina Local Land Services and South East Local Land Services. (6)

Endnotes
1. Combined Catchment Management Authorities Annual Report, 2003-2004, p.1; Catchment Management Authorities Act 2003 (Act No.104, 2003), s.6.
2. Catchment Management Authorites website http://www.cma.nsw.gov.au/index.html (cited 25 May 2007).
3. Ibid., p.3; Catchment Management Authorities Act 2003, s.15.
4. Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority website http://www.murrumbidgee.cma.nsw.gov.au/index.php?id=6 (cited 25 May 2007).
5. Catchment Management Authorities website http://www.cma.nsw.gov.au/contact_cma.html (cited 25 May 2007).
6. Local Land Services Act 2013 (Act No.51, 2013) Schedule 6, cl. 4 (1) (a).