Team
RMCG has been engaged to complete a social research review to understand the constraints and opinions on resource management felt by groundwater and surface water entitlement holders in the Upper Ovens. A suite of qualitative and quantitative survey methods will be used to allow open discussion to gain a rich picture of the key drivers and constraints on licence holders and allow data from a range of sources to be aggregated and compared across licence holder types.
The study is part of the review process for the update of the Water Management Plan (the Plan) in the Upper Ovens Water Supply Protection Area (WSPA). There is a particular focus on how far there is demand for greater flexibility in water trading rules for transfers up-stream within the catchment.
The review also feeds into DELWP’s larger program review of trading rules for unregulated surface water entitlements in Victoria’s waterways.