Water resources - Allocation and Use - South Australia
Basin and Surface Water Management Area: Eyre Peninsula
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.
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 | 380 | 593 | |
| Irrigation | 110 | no data | no data |
| - 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 | no data | |
| - vegetables | N/A | no data | |
| - other crop | N/A | no data | |
| - Cotton | N/A | no data | |
| Urban / Industrial | 60 | 593 | 888 |
| - municipal | N/A | no data | |
| - coal | N/A | no data | |
| - domestic unlicensed | N/A | no data | |
| - domestic | N/A | no data | |
| - mining | N/A | no data | |
| - industrial | N/A | no data | |
| - 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 | 230 | no data | no data |
| - 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 | no data |
PLEASE NOTE
Changes since 1985:
The assessments of yield are similar in both studies. A slight increase in the estimation of runoff is largely due to improved methodology. The current salinity assessment is based on in-stream observations representative of surface runoff; the earlier assessment was based on water in the distribution system that was a mixture of surface runoff and fresher groundwater.
What are the uses of surface water in Eyre Peninsula and to what is it allocated?
| Use type | Diversion Volume (ML/yr) | Allocation (ML/yr) | Diversion: Alloc (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 2,250 | 0 | |
| Urban / Industrial | no data | 2,250 |
Allocation for each SWMA represents the volume of the management area's surface water resources allocated for use both within the basin and for use in other SWMAs. The volume diverted is the total volume of the SWMA's surface water resources diverted for use both within the management area and for export to other management areas.
What are the sources of water within Eyre Peninsula?
| Total use | ML/yr | % |
|---|---|---|
| Surface water - from this area | 593 | 5 |
| Surface water - imported into this area | no data |
PLEASE NOTE :
Options for conjunctive use:
Water resource management strategies for this SWMA currently includes conjunctive use of surface and groundwater. Overall, groundwater tends to be fresher than surface water. High flows however, tend to be lower in salinity and, when below a predetermined threshold, water from the Tod River can be diverted to the water supply system.
There is potential also to artificially divert fresh surface flow to settlement ponds and thence to underground aquifers to supplement current groundwater extractions that are close to sustainable limits.
Conjunctive use inherently impacts on surface and groundwater regimes and strategies need to take environmental water requirements into consideration.
Further information
- South Australia Water Resources Assessment 2000 Report
- South Australia Water Resources Assessment 2000 Technical Report
- For more information about water and other natural resource issues link to www.dwr.sa.gov.au
- Link to data available for download on the Surface Water Management Areas
- Link to the Map Maker to make a map using this information.
Newsletter
What's new
New 'Land Use of Australia, Version 3' data showing irrigation, agriculture and landuse for the years 1992, 1993, 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2001 have been added to the Map Maker.
More on land use data....
Australian Water Resources 2005 data has been added to the Map Maker.
More on the water data...
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