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 2015 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 2015 water accounting reports, the Bureau 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 2014–15 year have been classified as shown below.
Surface water rights
Surface water rights in the Burdekin region during the 2014–15 year refer to surface water supply to:
- individual users: non-allocated—115,336 ML
- individual users: allocated—464,916 ML
- urban water system—12,318 ML
- irrigation scheme—641,286 ML.
Individual users in the region primarily source water for industrial and mining purposes. The urban water supply licences relate to town supply for Collinsvale, Scottville, and Glenden. The irrigation scheme licences relate to the Burdekin River and the Bowen River irrigation areas.
In the Burdekin region, surface water allocations were equal to 100% of the water access entitlement.
The volumes of surface water entitlements, corresponding water allocations and volumes of diversions for the 2014–15 year are shown in Figure N16. The percentage shows the ratio of abstraction to the water access entitlement.
Figure N16 Surface water access entitlements, allocations and diversions in the Burdekin region for the 2013–14 and 2014–15 years
Figure N16 shows that during the 2014–15 year, allocation announcements (for surface water diversion) to individual users, the urban water system, and irrigation schemes remained relatively unchanged from the previous year. Surface water diversions to individual users decreased, whilst diversions to the urban water system and irrigation scheme increased during the 2014–15 year compared with the previous year.
During the 2014–15 year, surface water diversions to the irrigation scheme exceeded the allocation volume (Figure N16). However, it can be assumed that a portion of the carryover volume from the previous year was used to increase water availability for the irrigation scheme. See Supporting information note for more details.
Groundwater rights
Groundwater rights in the Burdekin region during the 2014–15 year refer to groundwater supply to:
- individual users: non–allocated—37,010 ML
- individual users: allocated—56,441 ML.
In the Burdekin region, groundwater allocations for individual users are equal to 100% of the water access entitlement.
The volumes of groundwater water allocation and extraction for the 2014–15 year, compared with the 2013–14 year, are shown in Figure N17. The percentage shows the ratio of extraction to the allocation announcement.
Figure N17 Groundwater allocations and extractions in the Burdekin region for the 2013–14 and 2014–15 years
Figure N17 shows that the total volume of non-allocated groundwater allocation to individual users increased by 1,938 ML (approximately 6%) compared with the previous year. Only 31% of the total allocation to allocated users was extracted during the 2014–15 year.
The volumes for allocated groundwater allocation to individual users for the 2013–14 year were estimated due to a lack of available data.
Water restrictions
There were no water restrictions in the Burdekin region during the 2014–15 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 do 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 Department of Natural Resources and Mines 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 ROP.
Table N22 shows the surface water trades that occurred in the Burdekin region during the 2014–15 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 | 4,374 | 15 |
| Regulated (supplemented) surface water access entitlement trade: land and water | 9,233 | 34 |
| Unregulated (unsupplemented) surface water access entitlement trade: water only | 2 | 1 |
| Unregulated (unsupplemented) surface water access entitlement trade: land and water | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 13,609 | 40 |
Source: Department of Natural Resources and Mines 2015a, 2015b
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 (WRP). 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 (WRP).
The flow regime required to achieve these specific ecological objectives are provided in Schedule 5 of the WRP.
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 WRP.
Environmental water provisions under the planned, partly regulated scenario are in place for the two water supply schemes in the region (Table N23).
| Water supply scheme | Storage | Release period or trigger | Storage release ML/day |
Bowen Broken | Bowen River Weir Gattonvale offstream | 1 April–30 June 1 July–30 September 1 October–31 December <123.61ML | up to 40 up to 60 up to 40 <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. 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 360 ML/day up to 40 ML/day |
Environmental water provisions under the planned, unregulated scenario that apply to water entitlements in the Burdekin Basin WRP area are provided in Chapter 6 of the WRP and that:
- water is abstracted at a rate not exceeding the maximum rate on the allocation; and
- 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 WRP; however, no information about the environmental water outcomes for the 2014–15 year was available for inclusion in the 2015 National Water 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 WRP 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 WRP and the Burdekin Basin ROP. 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.