Burdekin
Physical information
General description
Area: 133,600 km2
Population: 26,000 (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS] 2011)
The Burdekin region lies within the northeast coast drainage division and is located in the drier part of the Queensland tropics, as shown in Figure P1.
Figure P1 The Burdekin region within Australia
The boundary of the region is physically defined by two surface water catchments: those of the Burdekin River and the Haughton River. This is shown in Figure P2.
The Burdekin region's landscape varies from the wet tropical rainforests of Eungella and the Paluma Range in the north to the drier areas of the upper catchments of the Belyando and Cape rivers (in the south and west) and the plains of the lower Burdekin River in the east. The main vegetation types in the region are eucalypt-dominated savannah woodlands and grasslands, interspersed with acacia forests and vine thickets. The wetter uplands support rainforest and wet sclerophyll (tall eucalypts with soft leaf undergrowth) formations.
Major water systems in the region include the Burdekin, Bowen-Broken, Cape and Suttor–Belyando rivers, and Lake Dalrymple, created by the Burdekin Falls Dam. The Burdekin River is one of Australia's largest rivers by dischrge volume and is generally the biggest single source of sediment and fresh water to the Great Barrier Reef lagoon.
Key groundwater stores in the region include the Burdekin River lower delta aquifers.
Figure P2 Contextual map of the Burdekin region
Region definition
The Burdekin region is physically defined by the Burdekin River and the Haughton River catchments (Figure P2) and represents the water resource plan area of the Burdekin basin, as established by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM).
For the purposes of this report, the region includes water stored in:
- surface water storages
- groundwater aquifers
- the Giru Benefited Area
- pipes and infrastructure as part of the town water supply, wastewater collection, and irrigation water supply systems.
The region excludes water stored in:
- off-channel water storages, such as farm dams and private commercial water storages used to harvest runoff or collect rainwater, although water from overland flow is regulated in the catchment
- the landscape, such as soil moisture.
For more information regarding items in this water accounting report, please refer to the Water accounting policies.
Land use
The Burdekin region contains several small urban centres, including:
- Ayr: population 8,800
- Charters Towers: population 8,500
- Home Hill: population 3,200 (ABS 2011).
Other urban centres in the region include Collinsville and Glenden. Urban areas make up less than 0.3% of the region.
The major land uses in the Burdekin region include:
- pastoral grazing
- conservation and natural environments.
These two land use categories make up approximately 90% and 5% of the region, respectively. In addition, irrigated agriculture is concentrated around the Ayr area. The relative area and location of major land use in the Burdekin region is shown in Figure P3 (Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences 2014).
Figure P3 Land use in the Burdekin region
Most irrigated agriculture is sugarcane farming and horticulture products, which occurs primarily in the Burdekin River delta around Ayr (Figure 3). The irrigated land makes up approximately 1% of the region.
Mining is also an important industry in the region and makes up approximately 0.1% of the land use area in the region.
Significant aquatic ecosystems
The Burdekin region includes the Bowling Green Bay National Park, which is a Ramsar-listed wetland of international importance. It contains examples of rich coastal habitats that are typical of northeast Australia's coastal wet-dry tropics. It is home to abundant and varied birdlife, including migratory birds. A protected area management plan is applied for this area.
P4 Significant wetlands within the Burdekin region
The Burdekin region also includes 28 nationally important wetlands that are listed in the Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia (Figure P4). Further information on these sites can be found on the Queensland Government WetlandInfo website. These wetlands cover an area of more than 4,400 km² and are predominately riverine systems (69%). The remaining systems are lakes (lacustrine) and inland marsh (palustrine) environments (14%), artificial and highly modified (9.5%), and estuarine (7.5%) (WetlandInfo).
Water resources
Surface water is the primary water source in the Burdekin region. There are two primary surface water resources in the Burdekin region:
- Lake Dalrymple (Burdekin Falls Dam)
- Lake Eungella (Eungella Dam).
These surface water resources support the main water users in the region, including irrigation for sugarcane and horticulture, mining, and urban supply. The above two major storages operate in conjunction with smaller storages and weirs downstream of the lakes which are used to divert water to customers via distribution channels and pipelines.
The groundwater resources of the lower Burdekin aquifers are regionally significant and support the irrigation of sugarcane and horticulture as well as domestic and urban supply.
Surface water
Storages
Surface water storages within the Burdekin region are shown in Figure P5; details of these storages are listed in Table P1.
Figure P5 Surface water storages within the Burdekin region
Water supply scheme (Figure P10) | Storage | Total storage capacity (ML) | Dead storage capacity (ML) |
Burdekin Haughton | Blue Valley Weir | 3,820 | 320 |
| Lake Dalrymple (Burdekin Falls) | 1,860,000 | 7,860 | |
Clare Weir | 15,900 | 10 | |
Giru Weir | 1,026 | 223 | |
Charters Towers Weir | 5,227 | 282 | |
Gorge Weir | 9,095 | 350 | |
Val Bird Weir | 615 | 15 | |
Bowen Broken | Bowen River Weir | 943 | 0.5 |
Lake Eungella | 112,476 | 1,233 | |
Gattonvale Offstream Storage | 5,233 | 160 | |
Paluma–Crystal Creek | Paluma Dam | 11,496 | 80 |
Lake Dalrymple, formed by Burdekin River Dam, is one of the largest storages in Queensland. The storage operates in conjunction with the other smaller storages and weirs of the Burdekin Haughton Water Supply Scheme. The scheme primarily provides water to irrigators within the lower Burdekin region. Water is also diverted outside of the region to the headwaters of Ross River for town water supply to Townsville.
Lake Eungella, Bowen River Weir, and Gattonvale Offstream Storage make up the water stores for the Bowen Broken Water Supply Scheme. The scheme primarily provides water for urban water supply to towns, including Collinsvale and Glenden, and for industrial use, including mining and the Collinsvale power station. Some water is also diverted to irrigation farms downstream of Bowen River Weir.
Water stored in the Paluma storage is diverted outside of the region to the headwaters of Crystal Creek to supplement Townsville's urban water supply.
Rivers
Seasonal flow characteristics of rivers within the Burdekin region reflect the region's annual rainfall pattern. Most of the rainfall occurs during the wet season between November and March. Consequently, most of the streamflow within the region occurs between December and April (Figure P6). The location of four gauging stations used to represent the general seasonal flow patterns of the Burdekin region in Figure P6 are shown in Figure P7.
Upstream of Lake Dalrymple (e.g., Cape and Suttor rivers), flows in the streams are very low or cease to flow during the dry season between April and October. The flows below Lake Dalrymple (Burdekin River) and Lake Eungella (Bowen River) are regulated by releases from the dams for water supply during the dry season. Consequently, flows in these lower river reaches are generally perennial.
Figure P6 Mean monthly flows along the Bowen, Burdekin, Cape and Suttor rivers and mean monthly rainfall for the Burdekin region
Figure P7 Key flow gauging stations along the main rivers within the Burdekin region
Groundwater
Groundwater resources in the region are currently regulated in three subartesian areas (Figure P8):
- Greater Western (in the western section of the Cape–Campaspe and the Suttor–Belyando subcatchment)
- Highlands subartesian area (Suttor–Belyando area)
- Burdekin subartesian area, also known as the Burdekin groundwater management area (GMA) which comprises 13 subareas associated with the Burdekin Haughton Water Supply Scheme.
The Lower Burdekin Water
The Water Resource (Great Artesian Basin) Plan 2006 and Great Artesian Basin Resource Operations Plan 2006 also apply in the western sections of the Cape-Campaspe and the Suttor–Belyando subcatchments. These components, however, do not feature as part of this account as the Great Artesian Basin falls under its own management arrangement and is specifically excluded from the Burdekin region.
Figure P8 Groundwater management areas in the Burdekin region
The groundwater system within the Burdekin River Delta is generally considered to be unconfined due to the presence of sandy to loamy soils and the discontinuous extent of underlying clay layers. Recharge to the aquifer occurs via a range of mechanisms, including rainfall infiltration, channel seepage, percolation through artificial recharge facilities, overbank flood flows, and irrigation return flows.
Groundwater is extracted from the Burdekin GMA and the Lower Burdekin region and is used primarily for agriculture (predominantly sugarcane production), domestic water supply, town water supply, and industrial purposes.
Lower Burdekin Water manages the groundwater system in the Lower Burdekin region. This scheme uses the Burdekin River to replenish the coastal aquifer via artificial pits. Groundwater replenishment in the region is used to manage seawater intrusion and improve the quality of water supplied for agriculture, domestic and industrial purposes. This coastal aquifer replenishment scheme is considered to be one of the largest in Australia.
Please refer to Lower Burdekin Water website for more information.
Other water resources and systems
Burdekin River Irrigation Area
The Burdekin River Irrigation Area comprises an open channel network that is used to distribute water for irrigated agriculture. The irrigation area is located around the lower reaches of the Burdekin and Haughton rivers (Figure P9).
Figure P9 Irrigation area in the Burdekin region
Irrigation water is diverted from the Burdekin River via pump stations within the Clare Weir. The pump stations divert water into three main distribution channels on each side of the Burdekin River. On one side of the river, water is diverted to the Haughton and Barratta main channels, which provide water to customers between the Burdekin and Haughton rivers; on the other side of the river, water is diverted into the Elliot main channel, which provides water to the Leichhardt Downs area.
Water supply schemes
There are two water supply schemes in the Burdekin region (Figure P10):
- Burdekin Haughton
- Bowen Broken.
Figure P10 Water supply schemes in the Burdekin region
These schemes are managed and operated by SunWater and provide surface water to irrigators within the Burdekin River Irrigation Area (Figure P9), for town water supply (e.g., Collinsvale and Glenden), for industrial use (including mining), and for supplementing town water supply to Townsville, located outside the region boundary.
Both schemes comprise a series of storages and weirs (see Table P1 in 'Surface water'), and pipelines that are used to divert and distribute surface water to users. Refer to the SunWater website for more information on the water supply schemes within the Burdekin region.