Canberra
Administration

ACT
The Water Resources Act 2007 (ACT) provides for the management of surface water and groundwater resources within the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) state boundaries through the issuing of Water Access Entitlements (WAEs) and water licences.

The Territory Plan 2008 (ACT) provides the policy framework for the administration of planning in the ACT. It also details the management policies for each environmental value for each catchment and serves as an umbrella document for the 2006 Environmental Flow Guidelines.

Lake Burley Griffin is a Commonwealth Government responsibility and is administered under the Lake Ordinance 1976.

NSW
The Water Management Act 2000 governs the management of majority of surface and groundwater resources within New South Wales. Canberra is not yet covered and remains managed by the Water Act 1912 (NSW).

ACT
The Canberra region is divided into 14 separate water management areas (WMAs) managed by the ACT Government's Environmental and Sustainable Development Directorate (ESDD). Within these 14 water management areas are 32 sub catchment areas. Each of these WMAs is consistent with the planning framework of the Territory Plan 2008. The first Territory Plan came into effect in October 1993. Some of these water management areas fall outside the ACT state boundaries; however, the ACT Government has an interest in these areas as they supply water to, or flow through, the ACT.

The ACT Government manages the sections of these WMAs that fall within ACT boundaries. The NSW Government manages the sections that fall outside the ACT boundaries. The WMA boundaries are shown in Figure A1.

Figure A1  Map of water management areas in the Canberra region

WMAs cover both surface water and groundwater resources. Within each WMA, maximum surface water plus groundwater abstraction was set. The management of WMA is dictated by the primary environmental value of the subcatchment. Subcatchments within the ACT boundaries are assigned one of three potential primary environmental values:

• conservation
• water supply
• drainage and open space.

The management policies for each type of catchment are detailed in section 11.8 of the Territory Plan 2008 (ACT).

Table A1 shows the WMAs in the Canberra region, their associated maximum surface water and groundwater abstraction threshold, and their primary environmental value.

 

Table A1  Water management areas in the Canberra region during 2011–12

Water management area	Maximum surface water plus groundwater available for abstraction (ML)2	Maximum groundwater available for abstraction (ML)1	Sub-catchment areas1	Primary environmental Value
Upper Murrumbidgee3	2,5174	640	Michelago3	Conservation
			Tharwa	Conservation
			Kambah	Conservation
			Guises	Conservation
			Tennent	Conservation
Lower Murrumbidgee	29,925	189	Uriarra	Conservation
			Woodstock	Conservation
Naas	2,641	855	Naas	Conservation
Gudgenby	3,558	1,170	Gudgenby	Conservation
Cotter	111,408	2,050	Corin	Water supply
			Bendora	Water supply
			Lower Cotter	Water supply
Paddys	2,905	909	Paddys	Drainage
Tuggeranong	1,461	190	Tuggeranong	Drainage
Upper Molonglo	102	24	Upper Molonglo	Conservation
Central Molonglo	7,832	685	Kowen	Conservation
			Fyshwick	Conservation
			Jerrabomberra	Drainage and open space
			Lake Burley Griffith	Conservation
			Woolshed	Drainage and open space
			Sullivans	Drainage and open space
Lower Molonglo	3,304	297	Coppins	Conservation
			Wooden	Drainage and open space
			Weston	Drainage and open space
Lower Queanbeyan	7	0	Lower Queanbeyan	Conservation
Jerrabomberra headwaters	0	0	Jerrabomberra headwaters	n/a5
Googong catchment	98,914	0	Tinderry	n/a5
			Googong	n/a5
			Burra	n/a5
Ginninderra	5,352	239	Gungahlin	Drainage and open space
			Lake Ginninderra	Drainage and open space
			Parkwood	Drainage and open space
Total	269,926	7,248

Table Notes:

¹ National Water Commission (NWC) 2011, Australian Water Markets Report 2010–11.
² ACT Government, Water Resources Act 2007.
³ Only part of this area or subcatchment is contained within the Canberra region.
⁴ This maximum abstraction includes an allowance for those parts of the WMAs that lie outside the Canberra region.
⁵ It is not covered by ACT Government water management plans.

NSW

The NSW Government has yet to finalise its water sharing plans for the Canberra region.

The Groundwater Management Areas (GMAs) in the NSW part of the Canberra region are currently subject to embargoes that do not allow for new groundwater licences to be issued unless exemption criteria are met.

Table A2  Groundwater embargoes impacting the Canberra region

Groundwater management area	Embargo
Lachlan Fold Belt GMA	New South Wales Inland Groundwater Shortage Zones Order No. 2 2008
Mid and Upper Murrumbidgee Fractured Rock GMA, Yass Catchment	New South Wales Inland Groundwater Shortage Zones Order No. 1 2008

 

ACT

Environmental water within the Canberra region is managed by the ACT Government, Environmental and Sustainable Development Directorate (ESDD). The Water Resources Act 2007 (ACT) provides for the identification and management of water for ecosystems which are identified in the 2006 Environmental Flow Guidelines.

Environmental water in the Canberra region is delivered in two ways:

• releases from storages
• restrictions on the volume of water that can be abstracted from a catchment (National Water Commission 2012).

The 2006 Environmental Flow Guidelines provide guidance on ecological objectives, environmental flow components and environmental flow requirements for the region.

NSW

The Water Management Act 2000 recognises the following classes of environmental water:

• environmental health water: water that is committed for fundamental ecosystem health at all times, and may not be taken or used for other purposes
• supplementary environmental water: water that is committed for specified environmental purposes at specified times or in specified circumstances, but may, at other times and in other circumstances, be taken and used for other purposes
• adaptive environmental water: water that, pursuant to an access licence, is committed for specified environmental purposes, either generally or at specified times or in specified circumstances.

Rules for the identification, establishment and maintenance of each class of environmental water (environmental water rules) are to be established for all of the water sources in the State, by means of a management plan, as soon as practicable after the commencement of the Act.

For groundwater, the Water Sharing Plan for the NSW Murray–Darling Basin Porous Rock Groundwater Sources was established under the Water Act and commenced on 16 January 2012.

ACT

Environmental water provisions are the responsibility of the relevant ACT Minister and are administered and managed through the ACT Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). 

The 2006 Environmental Flow Guidelines is the primary document which outlines environmental water provisions in the ACT. The purpose of the guidelines is to identify the components of flow from the variable flow regime that are necessary to maintain stream health (National Water Commission 2012).

The 2006 Environmental Flow Guidelines categorise each of the 14 WMAs and 32 subcatchments outlined in the Territory Plan 2008 as one of four possible aquatic ecosystem types and assigns each an environmental management goal. The ecosystem categories and their environmental management goals are described in Table A3 below.

Table A3  Ecosystems categories and ecological objectives in the ACT

Category of aquatic ecosystem	Description	Management goal	Water bodies in this category
Natural ecosystems (conservation catchments)	Ecosystems that persisted in a relatively pristine condition	Primary goal: maintain aquatic ecosystems in their pristine state Secondary goals: range of functions including recreation	Water bodies in Namadgi National Park, except the Cotter River catchmentWater bodies in Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve
Water supply ecosystems (water supply catchments)	Ecosystems in catchments designated to provide the ACT water supply	Primary goal: provide water supply Secondary goals: range of functions including conservation and recreation	Water bodies in the Cotter River catchment, Googong foreshore area and Queanbeyan River downstream of Googong Reservoir
Created ecosystems (drainage and open space catchments)	Ecosystems in urban lakes, ponds and streams that developed as a result of urbanisation	Range of functions including recreation, conservation and irrigation	Water bodies within the urban area excluding the Molonglo River
Modified ecosystems (conservation catchments)	Ecosystems modified by catchment activities (land use change, discharges) or by changes to the flow regime	Range of functions including recreation, conservation and irrigation	All water bodies not included in the other three categories, includes Murrumbidgee and Molonglo rivers and Lake Burley Griffin

 Source: 2006 Environmental Flow Guidelines, ACT Government 2006b

The 2006 Environmental Flow Guidelines also identify four components of environmental flow to be maintained within these ecosystem types. These are provided below in Table A4.

 

Table A4  Environmental flow components for the Canberra region

Environmental flow component	Description	Example flow requirement
Base flow	Quantity of water that flows down a waterway during periods between rainfall events	Specified flow volume or percentile flow (e.g. 80th percentile monthly flow) Groundwater extraction limited to a percentage of the long-term recharge
Flooding flows	Increases in streamflow following storm events that are important for maintenance of aquatic ecosystems and channel structure. These include: riffle maintenance flows pool maintenance flows channel maintenance flows	Specified volume and duration   Protection of nominated percentage of volume in events greater than a nominated percentile flow (e.g. 90% of volume in events above 80th percentile flow)
Special purpose flows	Volumes of water designed to meet specific ecosystem requirements, for example, the inundation of a wetland	Nominated flow volume during a nominated timeframe (e.g. 50th percentile monthly flow during spring months)
Maintenance of impoundment levels	Maintenance of water levels in lakes, ponds and reservoirs to protect the ecosystem of the waterbody	Limited drawdown range for waterbodies

Source: 2006 Environmental Flow Guidelines, ACT Government 2006b

NSW

The Water Management Act 2000 (section 8) defines environmental water. In addition to environmental water defined under section 8, NSW Office of Water recognises that a significant number of water access licences are purchased and/or held for an environmental purpose. This type of licensed environmental water is described in the Environmental Water Register as having a 'non-statutory' environmental purpose. A licence is classified as having a 'non-statutory' environmental purpose by agreement between  NSW Office of Water and the holder of the respective licence.

This register provides a record of:

• licensed environmental water
• environmental water set aside as 'rules' in water sharing plans
• environmental water use plans approved by the Minister.

The register also provides reports on:

• the assignment of water allocations to and from adaptive environmental water access licences and
• changes in the share component of adaptive environmental water access licences over time.

The organisations that are responsible for water management within the Canberra region are detailed in Table A5.

 

Table A5  Organisations responsible for water management in the Canberra region during 2011-12

Organisation	Role	Major storage managed by organisation
ACT Government, Environmental and Sustainable Development Directorate (ESDD)	Water resource management in ACT Approve trades of water within and external to ACT Grant water entitlements Manage and monitor environmental flows	n/a
ACTEW Corporation (trading as ACTEW Water)	Urban water supply Manage and maintain water supply infrastructure Water distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, and wastewater recycling infrastructure operator	Corin Reservoir Cotter Reservoir Bendora Reservoir Googong Reservoir
NSW Office of Environment and Heritage	Environmental management Water quality, water pollution and treatment Wetland conservation and management Securing water for the environment	n/a
NSW Office of Water	Setting policy, necessary legal instruments and overseeing mechanisms to manage water in the region	n/a
ACT Government, Department of Territory and Municipal Services	Planning and management of ACT's parks, reserves, forestry plantations and public domains (ACT Government 2006a)	Lake Ginninderra Lake Tuggeranong
National Capital Authority	Manage Lake Burley Griffin	Lake Burley Griffin
Queanbeyan City Council	Urban water distribution in Queanbeyan region	n/a
Palerang Council	Urban water distribution in Captains Flat	n/a