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Water resources - Allocation and Use - Queensland

Specify a region: -- select region -- Archer River Baffle Creek Barron River Black River Border Rivers Boyne River Brisbane River Bulloo River Burdekin River Burnett River Burrum River Calliope River Coleman River Condamine-Culgoa Rivers Coopers Creek Curtis Island Daintree River Diamantina River Don River Ducie River Embley River Endeavour River Fitzroy River (Qld) Flinders River Fraser Island Georgina River Gilbert River Haughton River Hay River Herbert River Hinchinbrook Island Holroyd River Jacky Jacky Creek Jardine River Jeannie River Johnstone River Kolan River Lake Frome Leichhardt River Lockhart River Logan-Albert River Maroochy River Mary River (Qld) Mitchell River (Qld) Moonie River Morning Inlet Mornington Island Mossman River Mulgrave-Russell River Murray River (Qld) Nicholson River Noosa River Norman River Normanby River O'Connell River Olive / Pascoe Rivers Paroo River Pine River Pioneer River Plane Creek Proserpine River Ross River Settlement Creek Shoalwater Creek South Coast Staaten River Stewart River Stradbroke Island Styx River Torres Strait Islands Tully River Warrego River Water Park Creek Watson River Wenlock River Whitsunday Island Arunta Clarence-Morton Coen Georgina Great Artesian Laura Mcarthur Mt Isa-Cloncurry New England Tasman Albert River Balonne / Condamine Barker / Barambah Barratta Belyando / Suttor Bokhara River - Distributary Area (Qld) Bowen / Broken Boyne Brisbane River Bulloo River (Qld) Burdekin River Burrum River Callide Cooper Creek (Qld) Dawson River Diamantina River (Qld) Elliott Fitzroy River (Qld) Georgina River (Qld) Gregory Haughton River Hay River (Qld) Horne Island Isis Lake Frome (Qld) Lockyer River Logan River Macintyre / Dumaresq Rivers Macintyre Brook Maranoa Moonie River (Qld) Mulgrave River Nicholson River (Qld) Nogoa / Mackenzie Paroo River (Qld) Russell River Settlement Creek (Qld) St George Three Moon Creek Thursday Island Upper Burnett River Upper Condamine River Wallum / Nebine / Mungallala (Qld) Warrego River (Qld)

Drainage Basin: Border Rivers

Introduction

The National Water Reform Framework requires the development of comprehensive systems of water allocations or entitlements, backed by separation of water property rights from land and clear specification of entitlements in terms of ownership, volume, reliability, transferability and, if appropriate, quality. In addition State and Territory agencies are required to undertake formal determination of water allocations or entitlements, including allocations for the environment as a legitimate user of water.

Water use estimates have been derived from a number of different methods including the use of licencing systems, information provided as part of the Australian Bureau of Statistics water account (with provider consent) and other information gathered from the State and Territory water agencies. In some cases water use was assumed to be the same as the allocation. For groundwater systems, it is well known that this assumption is often invalid (e.g. typically where use exceeds allocation significantly).

Options for conjunctive use are also described.

Please note: The tables set out below detailing Level 1 and Level 2 water use categories. The sum of the Level 2 water use volumes will not necessarily equal the total Level 1 water use volumes. This is primarily due to lack of more detailed water use data. However, where Level 2 use = Level 1 use then blank cells in the table does not indicate water use unaccounted for in these categories.

This drainage basin comprises the following Surface Water Management Areas:

(SWMA) - Border Rivers (NSW Part Only)	New South Wales
(SWMA) - Border Rivers (NSW) - Regulated	New South Wales
(SWMA) - Macintyre / Dumaresq Rivers	Queensland
(SWMA) - Macintyre Brook	Queensland

Further information about surface water use and allocation may be found, by selecting one of these regions, or clicking on the map above.

How has water used changed since 1985?

Use type	1983-84 surface water use (ML/yr)	1996-97 surface water use (ML/yr)	% change
Total	76,810	289,997
Irrigation	67,700	285,981	322
- fruit	N/A	no data
- grape	N/A	no data
- system loss	N/A	no data
- sugar	N/A	no data
- other	N/A	no data
- pasture	N/A	no data
- cereal	N/A	17,405
- vegetables	N/A	no data
- other crop	N/A	74,731
- Cotton	N/A	no data
Urban / Industrial	7,720	2,988	-61
- municipal	N/A	no data
- coal	N/A	no data
- domestic unlicensed	N/A	no data
- domestic	N/A	1,780
- mining	N/A	no data
- industrial	N/A	33
- power	N/A	no data
- comercial	N/A	no data
- system loss	N/A	no data
- industrial commercial	N/A	no data
- other	N/A	no data
- recreation	N/A	no data
Rural	3,590	1,028	-71
- aquaculture	N/A	no data
- system loss	N/A	no data
- other	N/A	no data
- water supply	N/A	no data
- stock domestic	N/A	248

PLEASE NOTE

Changes since 1985:

There are several areas where there are differences between data

1. In the 1985 report in the inland areas the figures were combined for the whole basin. For this report the basins have been divided into regulated and unregulated areas.

2. Water usage figures were provided by the Department for the 1985 report. However the Department stopped collecting water usage data in unregulated areas in 1994/5 and no accurate data was available to be included in this report for the unregulated area.

3. Water allocation figures were provided by the Department for the 1985 report. However the Department is currently undertaking a major study to convert licenses from an areal basis to a volumetric basis. This data is not yet available in the unregulated areas and no accurate allocation data could be provided for this report.

4. Catchment areas for basins will differ between reports. In 1985 catchment areas for basins were obtained from hand planimetering the best available large scale maps. The latest catchment areas have been obtained from the Departments GIS system. As well as part of its Stressed Streams analysis and as better topographical information has become available in the arid western zones of the state the boundaries between adjacent catchments have been better defined.

Major changes have occurred in assessment methods and quality of data.

1. From 1987 to the present NSW water agencies have progressively introduced new digital technology for the monmitoring of water resources data. this has included the introduction of data loggers and telemetry (SCADA, telephones, and satellites) for real time data collection.

2. The management and processing of the data have also changed significantly with the introduction of the HYSDYS software package in 1989. The shift from mainframe based computers to networked linked PC's has dramatically improved the access to data and the availability for review and quality control.

3. There has also been siginificant advances made with the dissemination of data to a much wider audience external to the Department with the corresponding increase in the use and review of the data. The Departments first CD containing a complete copy of the surface water archive was made available in 1990. Version 6.1 is currently available and a new Millenium version is being developed. Data is also being made available via the Internet as a direct service to various community groups.

 

Further information

• Queensland Water Resources Assessment 2000 Report
• Queensland Water Resources Assessment 2000 Technical Report
• Link to data available for download on the Surface Water Management Areas
• Link to the Map Maker to make a map using this information.