South East Queensland: Water access and use
More than 80% of the region's surface water allocations are for urban water supply, primarily for residential use. Surface water and groundwater allocations remained similar to the previous year.
For further information on water rights and water use within the region during the year scroll down this page or click on the links below:
Water rights, entitlements, allocations, and restrictions
Surface water rights
Figure S11 Surface water access allocations and diversions in the South East Queensland region for the last six years
- Allocations for surface water diversion to the urban water system decreased slightly from the previous year, reflecting the relatively low surface water availability in the region at the start of the 2016–17 year when storages were 82% full.
- Actual diversions to the urban water system increased by 14% over the previous year. This increase primarily reflects improvements in urban water reporting rather than an actual increase in demand. Improvements introduced this year allow for the accounting of raw water delivered to customers, which could not be reported in previous years.
- Allocations for individual users were similar to the previous year; however, actual diversions to individual users decreased by 17%, likely due to low surface water availability from dry conditions.
Groundwater rights
Figure S12 Groundwater access allocations and extractions in the South East Queensland region for the last six years
- Allocations for groundwater extraction to individual users remained unchanged; however, actual allocated extractions to individual users increased by 23% from the previous year. This increase in water use could be attributed to the poor rainfall experienced across the region that increased users’ reliance on water supplied directly from aquifers.
Water market activity
| Water trade | Volume (ML) |
No. of trades |
| Trade of surface water entitlement within region | 3,576 | 49 |
| Lease of surface water entitlement within region | 0 | 0 |
| Surface water allocation trade within region | 1,555 | 36 |
- All trade or lease of water access entitlements or allocations is for surface water only.
- The volume of surface water allocation and entitlement traded represented about 1% of the total surface water allocation.
Water use
Economic, social and cultural benefit
- Water resources within the South East Queensland region are used for public 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 Gold Coast, Moreton, Mary Basin and Logan Basin water plans define general and ecological outcomes, and outline strategies to achieve these outcomes. This includes water for social and cultural benefits.
- Surface water stores are managed through a rules-based system outlined in the four water plans mentioned above, as well as associated water management protocols, resource operating licences, and operations manuals.
Environmental benefit
Introduction
- Water for environmental benefit in the South East Queensland region is provided according to two different water management scenarios: planned, partly regulated surface water and planned, unregulated surface water.
Environmental water provisions
- Environmental water provisions in all four water plan areas (Gold Coast, Moreton, Mary Basin, and Logan Basin) include the protection of low, medium to high and seasonal flow components of the flow regime. These components of the flow regime are all important for maintaining the natural ecological processes in the region.
- For these components, environmental flow requirements have been established through modeling and were designed to maintain the specific ecological objectives provided in:
- Schedule 5 of the Water Plan (Gold Coast) 2006.
- Schedule 6 of the Water Plan (Mary Basin) 2006.
- Schedule 5 of the Water Plan (Logan Basin) 2007.
- Schedule 5 of the Water Plan (Moreton) 2007.
- Environmental water provisions under the partly regulated scenario are in place for the following water supply schemes:
- Gold Coast water plan area: Nerang Water Supply Scheme, as detailed in the Nerang Water Supply Scheme Resource Operations Licence.
- Mary Basin water plan area: Baroon Pocket Water Supply Scheme, as currently detailed in the Mary Basin Resource Operations Plan (ROLs for this WP area are still in preparation).
- Logan Basin water plan area: Logan Water Supply Scheme, as currently detailed in the Logan Basin Resource Operations Plan (ROLs for this WP area are still in preparation).
- Moreton water plan area: Central Brisbane River, Stanley River, and Cressbrook Creek water supply schemes, as currently detailed in the Moreton Resource Operations Plan (ROLs for this WP area are still in preparation).
- Environmental water provisions under the unregulated scenario are in place for all four water plan areas, as detailed in the water plans listed above.
- Although the Moreton Water Plan area includes several groundwater management units, environmental objectives specific to the groundwater resource are not described in the Water Plan (Moreton) 2007. Therefore, it is considered that there are no environmental water provisions for groundwater in this area.
Environmental water outcomes
- The environmental outcomes under the four water plans listed above have been derived in consideration of the current state of the water resources in the respective plan areas, recognising that the natural state of the water courses, lakes and springs has changed because of water infrastructure, flow supplementation and water use.
- Environmental outcomes are generally assessed over a longer time frame and combine streamflow, water supply scheme and ecological research data.
- No information on environmental water releases was provided for the 2016–17 year.