Water reform within the Murray-Darling Basin has given rise to opportunities for private environmental water trusts to be established using corporate and private investment. In late 2015, The Nature Conservancy and Murray Darling Wetlands Working Group began a 10 year partnership through joint ownership of the Environmental Water Trust, which aims to deliver water to stressed wetlands and rivers within the Murray-Darling Basin. This unique model is funded through the Murray-Darling Basin Balanced Fund, the first water fund in Australia with the objectives of generating financial, social and environmental returns. Traditional capital markets investors can support large-scale, long-term conservation works while diversifying their portfolio and earning income through investment in the water market. Annual allocations from water entitlements will be traded on a ‘counter-cyclical’ basis such that in the dry years when water is scarce and demand is higher, more water is made available to agriculture. In the wet years when water is abundant and agricultural demand is lower, more water is made available to wetlands. The Environmental Water Trust provides opportunities for public / private sector complementarity and watering will complement and integrate with government supported and run programs being undertaken by CEWO, MDBA and regional NRM organisations. Watering objectives include aboriginal social and cultural benefits and a range of conservation benefits are expected at both a landscape scale (flows to ‘harder to water’ wetlands on private land or floodplain forests) and local scale (improved health of key assets including tree canopy and frog, fish and waterbird habitat).