National Water Account 2017

South East Queensland: Water rights

The Queensland Water Act 2000 (Water Act) is the primary statutory legislation governing the sourcing and supply of water in Queensland. The Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy administers licences and allocations for consumptive use.

Diagram of the South East Queensland region describing water entitlements, water allocations, and water trading within the region.

For further information about the region's water rights scroll down this page or click on the links below:

 

Operating rules and constraints

Control of the abstraction of water is exercised by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy through allocation planning and water licensing arrangements. Water can only be abstracted from designated areas within the region when a water authorisation (water allocation, license or permit) is issued.

There are two types of surface water licences (associated with the operation of water supply schemes or the distribution of water to a water allocation holder) issued in Queensland: resource operations licences (ROLs) and distribution operations licences (DOLs). Holders of either of these licences must comply with the supply and operating requirements contained in the relevant resource and distribution operations licence and resource operations manual referred to in the four water plans within the region (Gold Coast, Moreton, Mary Basin, and Logan Basin). Surface water licences are also issued for unsupplemented water, including water licences to take, licences to interfere and licences to divert.

Groundwater sources within the Lockyer Valley, Warrill Bremer Alluvial area, Watercourse Buffer Zone and Cressbrook Alluvial area are managed as groundwater management areas under the Moreton water plan. Groundwater resources within the Cooloola Sandmass are managed as groundwater management areas under the Mary Basin water plan.

Water restrictions are managed by the bulk water supply authority, Seqwater, the South East Queensland council water businesses (distributor-retailers), and the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy. Further information can be found on the Queensland Government water restrictions website.

 

Water entitlements and other statutory water rights

The Water Act 2000 is the primary statutory legislation governing the sourcing and supply of water in Queensland. Under the Water Act, authorisation to abstract water is generally via either:

  • a statutory authorisation: the Water Act allows taking water for certain purposes or uses (e.g. riparian landholder watering of stock or for domestic purposes) without an entitlement
  • a water entitlement: there are various types of licences or authorities to abstract water under the Water Act, each with different conditions attached to them.

The terminology used in Queensland for water management differs slighly from that used in the National Water Account. Table R3 provides a mapping between several important terms related to water entitlements.

 

Table R3 Comparison of 2017 Account and Queensland terminology
2017 Account Equivalent Queensland terminology
Water access entitlement water allocation
interim water allocation
water licence
Water allocation announced allocation
Regulated supplemented
Unregulated unsupplemented
Entitlement trade allocation trade
Allocation trade seasonal water assignments
Security priority

 

Types of water access entitlements

The Water Act 2000 recognises three types of water access entitlement: water allocations, interim water allocations and water licences.

Water allocations: this type of water access entitlement defines its holder's share of the water resource that is not attached to land and can be traded within the trading rules in the relevant plan. Water allocations do not expire. They may comprise a volumetric maximum rate of abstraction, nominal volume (representing the share of the available resource), volumetric limit (entitlement volume limit), flow conditions and other access conditions.

Interim water allocations: this type of water access entitlement defines its holder's share of the water resource that is attached to land and can not be traded unless specified in the Water Regulation 2016. Interim water allocations do not expire. They may comprise a volumetric limit, flow conditions and other access conditions.

Water licences: this type of water access entitlement attaches to land and is for a period of up to 99 years. The Chief Executive may issue a water licence for a shorter period. Conditions attached to the water licence may include flow conditions, maximum rates of abstraction, maximum pump sizes, storage conditions or any other conditions that may be applied. Each licence is assigned to a specific location and is generally not tradable. Water licences are progressively converted into water allocations through the water planning process.

 

Water allocations

Limits (expressed as a percentage) are announced against entitlements at the start of a water year (generally from 1 July–30 June unless otherwise specified). This is used to determine the maximum volume of water that may be abstracted by a water access entitlement holder in a water year. Additional announcements may be made during the year if additional water becomes available. Urban holders of regulated entitlements have the same announced limit applied to their entitlement as other regulated entitlement holders of the same priority entitlements.

A water allocation is announced for water access entitlements on a seasonal basis depending on how much water is available in the water resource from which the allocation is drawn. The Water Act 2000 recognises two different types of water allocations:

  • water allocations which are supplied from a water supply scheme  known as supplemented allocations
  • water allocations to take water from the natural flow of the river or from groundwater known as unsupplemented allocations.

Supplemented and unsupplemented water allocations are managed and administered separately. The annual volume able to be abstracted under a supplemented water entitlement will vary from year to year and is referred to as an 'announced allocation'. The announced allocation is based on the sharing rules and formulae noted in the resource operations licences and associated instruments for the water supply schemes and the availability of water within the scheme.

The announced allocation percentage varies between priority groups and between water supply schemes, and is announced on the first day of the water year by the resource operations licence holders. If an announced allocation percentage is initially below 100%, subsequent announcements may be made to increase the percentage. The percentage cannot be reduced during a water year and once the announced allocation percentage reaches 100%, no further increases to the limit can occur.

 

Trades and water rights transfers

There are three active water markets in Queensland: water allocations, seasonal water assignments and relocatable water licences. The water allocation market concerns the trading of regulated water access entitlements; the seasonal water assignment market deals with the seasonal (temporary) assignment of water allocations and other entitlements; and the relocatable market concerns the relocation of water licences from one parcel of land to another. Currently the South East Queensland region only conducts trade that involves surface water but markets for groundwater trading may be developed in the future.

 

Water market rules: interstate trading

There is no interstate trading between the South East Queensland region and New South Wales. More information on trading during the 2016–17 year can be found in the Water rights, entitlements, allocations and restrictions section.

 

Water market rules: inter-valley and within-valley trading

Water allocations in Queensland are separate from land rights, and are partly or wholly tradeable and registered on the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy water allocation register. Relocatable licences can be partly or wholly traded after assessment and are specific to a water plan or zone within a water plan area.

The rules for water allocation trading (temporary trades referred to as 'seasonal water assignment') are detailed in the Water Regulation 2016, the four water plans for the region, and associated instruments.

Water trading occurred within the South East Queensland region during the 2016–17 year on both the water allocations market (entitlements) and seasonal water assignments market (allocations). Information on water rights trading in the region during the 2016–17 year can be found in the Water market activity note.

There was no trade between the South East Queensland region and any other part of Queensland during the 2016–17 year. More information on water markets in Queensland is available on the Business Queensland website.

 

Restrictions on trade

No restrictions on trade other than the rules listed in the four water plans for the region exist. The rules specify geographic limits for trading that ensure water allocation security objectives and environmental flow objectives are achieved.