Federal efforts of restoring the environmental health of Murray-Darling Basin suffered a setback on Tuesday with the decision of the area's authority chair to quit his post amidst the ongoing controversies hounding the program.

In a released statement, Taylor said that his resignation was his way of giving the government a free hand to ponder its next move on ways to restore the river water flows of the Murray-Darling Basin.

He also advised Federal Water Minister Tony Burke that the whole task of implementing water reform in the area could prove to be a daunting task in light of the current framework of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, which he said was insufficiently empowered to take on its duties.

The authority has encountered backlash form the area's communities on its decision to cut back water supplies sourced from the basin and to buy back water from regional irrigators, which prompted the Water Ministry to advise Taylor to fine tune his authority's reform approach.

Burke emphasised the need for a balance consideration on the authority's program of restoring the river flows to the basin, reminding Taylor that his office needs to take into account the socio-economic impacts of the Murray-Darling Basin water reforms.

However, Taylor argued that such measures could compromise the program of rehabilitating the area's environmental well-being as he admitted that balancing the social and economic aspect of the water reform initiatives could prove too much of a challenge for the authority.

He also cited that the water program being pushed by the authority fully complies with the provisions of the Water Act and enjoys the support of the Australian government solicitor, stressing that "a sustainable plan for the basin would require far more than a decision by the authority on how much water should be transferred from human uses to the environment."

Taylor asserted too that collective effort is crucial to ensure that the water reforms achieve the goals it has set for restoring the Murray-Darling Basin and the lack of that or much less cooperation from the area's community could limit the efficiency of the authority.

In that light and considering the extensive requirements of the program for the next 12 months, Taylor is making way for new inputs to be introduced and is extending his full support for the federal government's next reform plan in the area, which he noted must be fully capable of implementation.