South East Queensland
Future outlook

Table 1 shows that there is a surplus of available water assets over water liabilities and future commitments that are expected to be settled within 12 months of the reporting date.

The expected diversions and extractions are based on abstractions made during the current reporting period 2011–12, which may be lower than normal due to the wet year, and decreased irrigation and outdoor urban demand. Record floods occurred in January 2011, which combined with the very wet year in general (refer to the Climatic overview) resulted in a large volume of water stored within the surface water storages within the region.  If high storage volumes persist into 2012–13, it is expected that the water sharing rules in the Moreton, Logan Basin and Gold Coast resource operations plan will result in 100% allocation announcement for all water supply schemes within the region for the 2012–13 year.

The purpose of this note is to report on possible water assets and possible water liabilities for the South East Queensland region. Possible (or contingent) water assets and water liabilities arise from past events and may be confirmed if future events not fully under the control of the management of the region occur.

Desalinated water

The Gold Coast Desalination Plant officially became part of the South East Queensland water grid on 30 September 2011 when it was handed over to WaterSecure (part of Seqwater since July 2011). Desalinated water from the Gold Coast Desalination Plant, in Tugun, is blended with other water supplies before it joins the South East Queensland water grid. The South East Queensland Water Grid Manager works closely with all entities to determine the demand on the desalination plant through a grid instructions process. Under normal operating conditions, it was planned for the desalination plant to operate at a minimum of 33% capacity (44 ML/day) in accordance with rules outlined in the South East Queensland System Operating Plan v3.1. With the region's storages full or near full, the South East Queensland water grid has been operating in 'hot stand–by' mode to minimise operating costs since December 2010. Under this mode of operation, the plant will typically produce around 25 ML/day of water two days a week, with no production in between. This small amount of production is needed to keep the membranes wet and the water in the pipes fresh, while retaining the capacity to ramp up to produce 44 ML/day (33%), 88 ML/day (66%) or 133 ML/day (100%) within hours whenever required.

The plant may be called on if there are interruptions to supply in other parts of the South East Queensland water grid, as occurred in the January floods and in lighting strikes that temporarily knocked out the Mount Crosby Water Treatment Plant. The plant will also cover production when other parts of the water grid are offline for routine maintenance or due to water quality issues.

The contingent water asset associated with the Gold Coast Desalination Plant is the difference between the maximum operating capacity (133 ML/day) and the minimum operating rate (7 ML/day average based on hot–standby mode) and equates to 126 ML/day.

The non–extractable portion of groundwater

The groundwater management area (GMA) of the Lockyer Valley located within the Moreton Water Resource Plan (WRP) area was the only aquifer included as a store in the water accounting statements. Within the Benefitted Area of the Central Lockyer Valley Water Supply Scheme (WSS), a groundwater limit exists, which defines the entitled maximum volume that can be extracted from the Benefitted Area of the aquifer as 9,340 ML.

The remaining portion of the groundwater within the Lockyer Valley and all other groundwater within the South East Queensland region is considered a contingent water asset.

A model was developed within the former Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) to estimate the total volume of water in Implementation Area 1 of the Lockyer Valley GMA. This model is now managed by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM) and/or the Queensland Department of Energy and Water Supply (DEWS). The total volume of water in Implementation Area 1 was computed by the model to be 102,345 ML at 30 June 2011, an increase of 24,466 ML on 30 June 2010 total volume of 77,879 ML.

Groundwater aquifers do occur elsewhere within the South East Queensland region. DNRM is investigating methods to estimate aquifer storage volumes and it is anticipated that estimates will become available in future water accounts.

It is possible that a change in circumstances, including legislative or regulatory changes that alter the extraction limits, such as the setting of volumetric extraction limits within the Non-Benefitted Area of the Lockyer Valley groundwater aquifer, would result in further portions of the groundwater being included as an asset. There is no estimate available of the total volume stored in groundwater aquifers of the region.

Inter-region claim on water sources within the SEQ Water Grid

The South East Queensland water grid extends outside the National Water Account's 2012 Account SEQ region in the north and east. It includes part of the Mary WRP area (Sunshine Coast) and Stradbroke Island. Although entitlements for both supplemented and unsupplemented surface water and groundwater are controlled by the South East Queensland Water Grid Manager (merged with Seqwater from 1 July 2013) in the Mary WRP area and Stradbroke Island, the volume of water to be transferred is beyond control.

Water diverted or extracted based on these entitlements may, after treatment, be transferred into the South East Queensland region. As the volume transferred into the region will be determined by region resources, consumer demand and operational policy of the South East Queensland water grid, water diverted or extracted on these entitlements would be considered a contingent water asset for the region. As it is unknown what proportion of the entitlements can or may be transferred into the region, an estimate of the contingent water asset can not be made.

Water for urban use (243,211 ML)

Urban retailers within the South East Queensland region, including Allconnex Water, Queensland Urban Utilities, Unitywater and various regional councils, supply potable water to residential customers throughout the region. The water supply system received 216,735 ML from surface water, 149 ML from groundwater, 3,427 ML from desalinated water and 22,902 ML imported water totalling to 243,211 ML. These urban retailers maintain water within their distribution pipes for the delivery of water to customers but the actual delivery of water is determined by the customers when they turn on the tap. Therefore, the delivery of potable water to customers within the South East Queensland region is considered a contingent liability. During the 2011–2012 year, 236,449 ML of potable water was delivered to customers of the South East Queensland water grid. In addition, 22,590 ML of recycled water was supplied to customers within the region and 2,007 ML of recycled water was supplied to customers outside the South East Queensland region.

Notwithstanding any major changes, it is estimated that a similar volume of water will be required to be delivered in the next reporting period.

Surface water and groundwater water for private use (7,678 ML)

The resource operation licence holders (Seqwater and Toowoomba Regional Council) allocate water to non–urban supplemented entitlement holders. However, the actual delivery of the water is contingent on the customers when they divert the water. Therefore the delivery of non-urban supplemented water to customers within the South East Queensland region is considered a contingent liability. During both the 2010–11 year  and 2011-12 year 5,905 ML of supplemented surface water was delivered to customers. During the 2011–12 year, 1,773 ML of groundwater was delivered to the Benefitted Area of the Central Lockyer WSS, compared to 1,113 ML in the 2010–11 year.