Burdekin
Water access and use
Water rights, entitlements, allocations and restrictions
Introduction
This note provides information about the water access rights granted by jurisdictions to the users of the region's water resources and the associated allocation announcements and abstractions.
The 2014 Account acknowledges that the legislative water resource management frameworks relating to Australian water rights vary greatly across jurisdictions, sometimes making comparisons difficult. To facilitate meaningful comparisons between the 2014 water accounting reports, the Bureau of Meteorology has developed and applied an accounting concept to classify and report water entitlements within a water asset/water liability framework.
According to that framework, water rights for the Burdekin region for the 2013–14 year have been classified as shown below.
Surface water rights
In the Burdekin region, surface water allocations for individual users, the urban water system, the irrigation scheme, and inter-region supply are equal to 100% of the water access entitlement. No allocations are associated with water access entitlements for non-allocated diversions to individual users.
The volumes of surface water entitlements, corresponding water allocations and volumes of diversions for the 2013–14 year are shown in Figure 1. The percentage shows the ratio of abstraction to the water access entitlement.
Figure 1 Surface water access entitlements, allocations and diversions in the Burdekin region for the year ending 30 June 2014
Groundwater rights
In the Burdekin region, groundwater allocations for individual users and the urban water system are equal to 100% of the water access entitlement. No allocations are associated with water access entitlements for non-allocated extractions to individual users. Water access entitlement information related to the irrigation scheme could not be quantified due to a lack of available data.
The volumes of groundwater entitlements, corresponding water allocations and volumes of extractions for the 2013–14 year are shown in Figure 2. The percentage shows the ratio of extraction to the water access entitlement.
Figure 2 Groundwater access entitlements, allocations and extractions in the Burdekin region for the year ending 30 June 2014
Water restrictions
There were no water restrictions in the Burdekin region during the 2013–14 year.
Water market activity
In the Burdekin region, trade or lease of surface water access entitlements or allocations do not occur between water supply schemes but can occur within them. Trade or lease of surface water access entitlements or allocations between the region and outside the region does not occur.
There is no trade or lease of groundwater in the region.
Regulated water access entitlements are separate from land rights and are tradeable and registered on the Queensland DNRM water allocation register. Within the Burdekin region there are currently markets for surface water only but markets for groundwater may be developed in the future. The rules for trade of water access entitlements and allocations are detailed in the Burdekin Basin resource operation plan.
Table 1 shows the surface water trades that occurred in the Burdekin region during the 2013–14 year. These transactions include the surface water trades within the Burdekin Haughton and Bowen Broken water supply schemes, and the Bowen River Water Managment Area. In addition to the trade of water separate from land, water access entitlements can also be traded together with land as a ‘going concern’. Values for such 'land and water' trade are also provided below.
| Transaction | Volume (ML) | No. of trades |
Regulated (supplemented) surface water access entitlement trade: water only | 12,034 | 26 |
Regulated (supplemented) surface water access entitlement trade: land and water | 4,196 | 14 |
Unregulated (unsupplemented) surface water access entitlement trade: water only | 317 | 1 |
Unregulated (unsupplemented) surface water access entitlement trade: land and water | 0 | 0 |
Total | 16,547 | 41 |
Source: DNRM 2014a, 2014b
Water use
Environmental benefit
Introduction
Water for environmental benefit in the Burdekin region is provided according to two different water management scenarios:
- planned, partly regulated surface water
- planned, unregulated surface water.
Planned, partly regulated and unregulated surface water
The dominant feature of environmental water management in the planned, partly regulated scenario is the ability to control or influence flow by operational releases from storages. The dominant feature of environmental water management in the planned, unregulated scenario is the prescription of rates of water take and any specific conditions that must be complied with by the licence holder.
The ecological and environmental flow objectives detailed in the Burdekin Basin water resources plan apply to both water supply schemes and unsupplemented water allocations; however, the operating and environmental management rules applicable to the water supply schemes are different from the access rules applicable to unsupplemented water allocations.
Environmental water legislation
Environmental water provisions in the region are outlined in the Burdekin Basin water resources plan. The plan identifies general ecological flow objectives for the region, such as the maintenance of natural flow variability to support natural ecological processes in the region. Specific ecological objectives for particular river reaches within the region are provided in Schedule 4 of the plan.
The flow regime required to achieve these specific ecological objectives are provided in Schedule 5 of the plan.
Environmental water provisions
Environmental water provisions in the Burdekin region include the protection of both the low flow and medium to high flow components of the flow regime. Both components of the flow regime are important for maintaining the natural ecological processes in the region.
For both components of the flow regime, environmental flow requirements have been established to maintain the specific ecological objectives provided in Schedule 5 of the plan.
Environmental water provisions under the planned, partly regulated scenario are in place for the two water supply schemes in the region (Table 2).
Water supply scheme | Storage | Release period or trigger | Storage release |
Bowen Broken | Bowen River Weir | 1 April–30 June | up to 40 |
1 July–30 September | up to 60 | ||
1 October–31 December | up to 40 | ||
Gattonvale offstream | <123.61ML | <180 | |
Burdekin Haughton |
| minimum stream flow at the outlet of the Burdekin River is equal to the cumulative daily flow recorded in the Burdekin River at Sellheim station and in the Bowen River at Red Hill Creek station | up to 360 ML/day |
minimum stream flow at the outlet of the Haughton River is equal to the cumulative daily flow recorded in the Haughton River at Mount Piccaninny station and in the Major Creek at Major Creek station | up to 40 ML/day |
Environmental water provisions under the planned, unregulated scenario that apply to water entitlements in the Burdekin basin water resources plan area are provided in Chapter 6 of the plan and include:
- water is abstracted at a rate not exceeding the maximum rate on the allocation
- the allocation holder complies with any special conditions on the allocation.
Environmental water outcomes
Information on monitoring environmental water outcomes is provided in Chapter 10 of the Burdekin Basin water resources plan; however, no information about the environmental water outcomes for the 2013–14 year was available for inclusion in the 2014 Account.
Economic, social and cultural benefit
Surface water and groundwater resources within the Burdekin region are used for irrigation scheme supply, town water supply, as well as private water supply for purposes such as agriculture, industry, and mining. For a summary of the water volumes allocated for various economic purposes within the region, including the actual volumes abstracted, refer to Surface water rights and Groundwater rights above.
The Burdekin basin water resources plan requires that water be managed for general, ecological, and specific ecological purposes. This includes social and cultural benefits; however, there are no formal entitlements held for social or cultural purposes in the plan area. Surface water stores are managed through a rules-based system outlined in the Burdekin basin water resources plan and the Burdekin Basin resource operation plan. Groundwater stores are managed through a rules based system outlined in the Burdekin groundwater management area water sharing rules.
In Queensland, entitlements and allocations do not have intended use as an attribute, and all metered abstractions do not have entitlement priority or use as attributes. Water held for cultural, social, or economic purposes cannot be differentiated explicitly.