This line item represents the groundwater allocation announcement in the Benefitted Area of the Central Lockyer water supply scheme (WSS).
Although there are more than one groundwater management area (GMA) within the South East Queensland (SEQ) region, only Lockyer Valley GMA information has been included within the Water Accounting Statements. This has resulted in only allocation announcements, allocation extractions and forfeiture for the Central Lockyer WSS being included in the Water Accounting Statements.
Information for the Cressbrook GMA was available but as the asset could not be quantified accurately due to a lack of available data, it was decided not included it in the Water Accounting Statements.
Metered extraction information was not quantifiable for the following GMAs, and thus allocation announcements, allocation extractions and forfeiture were not included in the Water Accounting Statements:
There were no groundwater licences in the Upper Lockyer (Flagstone Creek alluvium, Ma Ma Creek alluvium, Tenthill Creek alluvium, Upper Lockyer Creek alluvium and Upper Laidley Creek alluvium) or Lower Lockyer (Lower Lockyer Creek alluvium and Buaraba Creek alluvium) during the reporting period. Unlicensed extraction information for these areas could not be quantified accurately due to a lack of available data and was not included in the water accounting statements.
In the Central Lockyer WSS, there are two types of area for which groundwater licences are available: Benefitted areas and Non-Benefitted areas.
Benefited areas are the equivalent of a regulated surface water resource. The Benefitted Area uses managed aquifer recharge via discharge of water from reservoirs to watercourses to recharge the groundwater. Although this is volumetrically not included in the water accounting statements, further information on the managed aquifer recharge can be found at line item 20.5.2 Managed aquifer recharge.
Non-Benefitted Areas are areas of the aquifer that do not benefit from managed discharges from reservoirs for the purpose of recharging the groundwater. Non-Benefitted Areas are the equivalent of unregulated surface water resources.
Currently, interim groundwater entitlements exist within the Central Lockyer WSS. These do not have volumetric limits, and therefore announced allocations cannot be made for individual entitlement holders. However, there is a nominal groundwater entitlement for the entire Central Lockyer WSS. Under the interim resource operation licence (IROL), the water-sharing rules provide for extraction up to the Central Lockyer WSS groundwater limit, with a provision that when individual allocations are set, groundwater announced allocation rules should be used.
The table below shows the groundwater allocation carryover reconciliation.
| Allocation category | Opening balance (ML) | Announcement (ML) | Allocation diversion (ML) | Forfeiture (ML) | Closing balance (ML) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Lockyer Water Supply Scheme Benefitted Area groundwater | 0 | 9,340 | 2,834 | 6,506 | 0 |
Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM), water resource plan (WRP) and Central Lockyer IROL.
DERM.
Although no formal groundwater allocation announcement occurred, the Central Lockyer WSS groundwater limit of 9,340 ML for the Benefitted Area has been used as the groundwater allocation announcement value. This was obtained from the Central Lockyer IROL.
There are no GMAs in the Gold Coast or Logan Basin WRP areas; therefore, groundwater limits are not applicable.
Certain.
The inclusion of only the Central Lockyer WSS in the estimate of allocation announcements, allocation extractions and forfeiture results in a significant underestimation of the groundwater resource usage within the SEQ region. In future years, reporting metered groundwater use within current GMAs where metered licensed use exists may result in a better representation of groundwater use.