National Water Account 2016

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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 2016 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 water accounting reports included in the 2016 Account, 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 2015–16 year have been classified as shown below.

Surface water rights

Surface water rights in the Burdekin region during the 2015–16 year refer to surface water supply to:

• individual users: non-allocated—158,744 ML
• individual users: allocated—440,725 ML
• urban water system—11,973 ML
• irrigation scheme—681,079 ML
• inter–region transfer—31,425

Individual users in the region primarily source water for industrial and mining purposes. The urban water supply licences relate to town supply for Collinsville, Scottville, and Glenden. The irrigation scheme licences relate to the Burdekin and Haughton River and the Bowen and Broken River irrigation areas.

The volumes of surface water allocations and volumes of diversions for the 2015–16 year are shown in Figure S6. The percentage shows the ratio of diversion to the water allocation.

Figure S6 Surface water allocations and diversions in the Burdekin region for the 2014–15 and 2015–16 years 

Figure S6 shows that, during the 2015–16 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 and irrigation schemes decreased during the 2015–16 year. This is likely to be a result of improved rainfall conditions experienced through the year. Increased data availability this year, has also allowed for the inclusion of an inter-region transfer for 2015–16.

Non-allocated surface water to individual users (158,744ML) represents an aggregation of water licences (97,750ML), water permits (9,200ML) unsupplemented water harvesting (34,831ML) and an area licence volume (16,963ML). Increased data availability with regards to non-allocated surface water use does not allow for meaningful comparisons with the previous year. For the purposes of this report, it is assumed that 100% of this volume is diverted annually.

Groundwater rights

Groundwater rights in the Burdekin region during the 2015–16 year refer to groundwater supply to:

• individual users: non–allocated—51,999 ML
• individual users: allocated—55,715 ML.

Non allocated groundwater for individual users represents an entitlement volume associated with the Burdekin Groundwater Management Area.

The volumes of groundwater water allocation and extraction for the 2015–16 year, compared with the 2014–15 year, are shown in Figure S7. The percentage shows the ratio of extraction to the allocation.

Figure S7 Groundwater allocations and extractions in the Burdekin region for the 2014–15 and 2015–16 years

Figure S7 shows that the total volume of non-allocated groundwater to individual users was 51,999 ML for the 2015–16 year. This volume represents an entitlement volume associated with the Burdekin Groundwater Management Area and, for the purposes of this report, it is assumed that 100% of this volume is abstracted annually.

Allocated groundwater to individual users was 55,715 ML. The volume represents an annual supplemented allocation from SunWater, and the associated extraction of 28,434 ML represents the total volume of water take from the Giru Benefited Area. The increase in allocated extraction shown in Figure S7 reflects data availability and direct comparisons with the previous year is not recommended.

Water restrictions

There were urban water restrictions in Ayr, Home Hill and Brandon, in the Burdekin Shire Council for part of the reporting period. The announced allocation for Medium Priority Burdekin Haughton water allocations was below 100% for part of the reporting period (Sunwater).

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. There is potential to trade water in/out of the (SunWater) Eungella Pipeline that diverts water inter-basin.

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 Resource Operations Plan (Burdekin Basin ROP).

Table S7 shows the surface water trades that occurred in the Burdekin region during the 2015–16 year. These transactions include the surface water trades within the Burdekin Haughton and Bowen Broken water supply schemes, and the Bowen River Water Management 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.

 Source: Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines 2015a, 2015b

Water use

Economic, social and cultural benefit

Supplemented surface water and groundwater is managed as surface water in the Giru Benefited Area (as part of the Burdekin Haughton Water Supply Scheme). Supplemented water is used for irrigation, industrial and urban supply. Unsupplemented water including groundwater is also used for similar purposes. 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 Resource Plan (Burdekin Basin WRP) requires that water be managed for general, ecological, and specific ecological purposes. This includes social and cultural benefits. There are no formal entitlements held for social or cultural purposes; however they are considered under Part 3: Outcomes' of the plan for sustainable management of water under section 12 ('General outcomes') and section 13 ('General ecological outcomes'). Surface water stores are managed through a rules-based system outlined in the Burdekin Basin WRP and the Burdekin Basin  ROP. Groundwater stores in regulated areas 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.

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 annual volumetric units, rates of water take, and any specific flow conditions that must be complied with by the licence holder.

The ecological and environmental flow objectives detailed in the Burdekin Basin WRP apply to both water supply schemes (supplemented water entitlements) and unsupplemented water entitlements, however, the operating and environmental management rules applicable to the water supply schemes are different from the access rules applicable to unsupplemented water entitlements.

Environmental water legislation

Environmental water provisions in the region are outlined in the Burdekin Basin 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 Burdekin Basin WRP.

The flow regime required to achieve these specific ecological objectives are provided in Schedule 5 of the Burdekin Basin 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 through modeling and were designed to maintain the specific ecological objectives provided in Schedule 5 of the Burdekin Basin WRP.

Environmental water provisions under the planned, partly regulated scenario are in place for the two water supply schemes in the region (Table S8).

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 Burdekin Basin ROP.

Environmental water outcomes

The environmental outcomes under the Burdekin Basin ROP have been derived in consideration of the current state of the water resources in the plan area, recognising that the natural state of the water courses, lakes and springs has changed because of water infrastructure, flow supplementation and water use. The plan seeks to achieve the ecological outcomes through maintaining natural flow variability and connectivity, maintaining the freshwater and sediment delivery to the sea, and promoting improved understanding of how flow effects ecosystem health.

Environmental outcomes are generally assessed over a longer time frame and combine streamflow, water supply scheme and ecological research data.