Federal and state Murray-Darling Basin water ministers have agreed to a 2024 deadline for new water-saving projects.

Federal Water Minister Keith Pitt claims an independent report into all of the Sustainable Diversion Limit Adjustment Mechanism (SDLAM) projects.

These efforts are aimed at lowering the overall water recovery target, by delivering the environmental outcomes equivalent to 605GL of water buybacks.

Mr Pitt said the report concluded two-thirds of the projects were on track to be completed by 2024.

This led Acting Victorian Water Minister, Richard Wynne, to issue a statement claiming that the projects would not be totally complete by 2024.

This may have been due to Murray Darling Basin Plan conditions for the projects, which considers all of the projects incomplete if just one is unfinished by 2024. 

If this were the case, more water would need to be recovered from farmers.

But the Federal Government says it will not engage in further water buybacks.

Mr Wynne says the government is risking having buybacks back on the table for Basin communities.

Mr Wynne called for “legislative flexibility” for the 2024 deadline, but Mr Pitt denied the call.

“The Commonwealth has no plans to change the timeline,” Mr Pitt said.

At their meeting last week, the state and federal ministers pledged to re-examine two controversial water savings projects at Menindee Lakes and Yanco Creek.

The Menindee project was aimed at deepening the important water resource and reducing its surface area, but it stalled earlier this year following community resistance.

There was also the Yanco Creek Offset Project, which sought to upgrade the Yanco Wier, north of Narrandera.

The ministers reportedly agreed to re-examine the projects, and a publish a report into their new scope within two months.