ACT $58.8m 'bridging the gap' deal struck under Murray-Darling Basin Plan

The ACT is the smallest jurisdiction in the basin plan but still needs to recover 4.9 gigalitres of water every year through efficiency measures as part of a more than 49 gigalitres a year water recovery plan target covering seven catchments. The agreement, to be announced on Wednesday, also has the ACT adding an extra 1.46 gigalitres a year in the "national interest."

This is separate to the basin plan's controversial 450 gigalitres of environmental water that the Albanese government has promised to deliver in full, but only a small fraction has been recovered.

Under the deal funded from previous budgets, the ACT will receive $58.8 million to deliver water efficiency and demand management projects.

The agreement comes as the federal government works on similar pacts with NSW and Queensland, and the river system is already expected to get an additional 26.25 gigalitres a year through buybacks and voluntary measures.

"Unlike the Liberals and Nationals, we are determined to deliver the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in full," Water Minister Tanya Plibersek said in a statement.

"With another drought around the corner, we are getting straight to work to put the Basin Plan back on track by providing more time, more funding, more options, more accountability and more transparency."

The extra funding is on top of the $50.5 million upper Murrumbidgee River health package secured by independent ACT senator David Pocock to pass the government's proposed Murray Darling Basin overhaul in Parliament.

According to the government, the 6.36 gigalitres a year recovered by the ACT takes the recovered water to around 31 gigalitres a year, more than halfway to the remaining total target of 49.2 gigalitres a year.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said it was an important day for water projects across the ACT, with a total of 6.36 gigalitres a year saved.

"Our waterways are not bound by borders; we know that our actions in the ACT will positively contribute towards the health of the river systems across our region and further afield," he said.

"Restoring river flows within the upper Murrumbidgee River catchment supports improved catchment health and water security that is integral for the prosperity of communities in the ACT and surrounding region."

The Murray-Darling Basin Plan states have made significant progress towards achieving "sustainable diversion limits" for towns, industries and farmers under the plan with the federal government expecting the gap to be bridged in three of the six catchments in NSW and Southern Queensland.

ACT Greens leader and territory Water Minister Shane Rattenbury said progress under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan has been too slow.

"The Murray Darling Basin is our country's lifeblood, but for years it has been dying, thanks to corporate greed and political failures," he said.

"We know that we need to do much more to rebuild river and wetland health, improve water quality, deliver cultural flows and water for First Nations, and address shortages in water supply for critical human water needs.

"We will continue working with the Australian Government to ensure that the full outcomes of the Basin Plan are realised. We will also continue working to protect the health of the upper Murrumbidgee River which has been starved of flows for too long."