1.3.1.2 Compiling assets and developing the water-dependent asset register

1.3.1.2.1 Ecological assets

One natural resource management organisation (NRM) nominated assets through contribution of data to the Water Asset Information Tool (WAIT) database (Australian Government Department of the Environment, Dataset 2). These NRM-nominated assets were added to the asset database (Table 3). There were no NRM-nominated assets in the NT.

Additional assets were nominated from analysis of data provided by national, state and regional databases (Table 4). These datasets included:

Table 3 Natural resource management organisations that contributed data to the Water Asset Information Tool database for the Arckaringa subregion

Data: Australian Government Department of the Environment (Dataset 2)

Table 4 Federal, state and regional data sources for ecological assets in the Arckaringa subregion

^aThe asset database (Bioregional Assessment Programme, Dataset 1) is a collation of all these source datasets. Some assets may be captured in multiple databases. These replicates are retained in the asset register as boundaries may differ between databases.

The asset database includes a wide range of information about each asset, including unique asset identifier (AID), name, type and geographic location. Geographic location is specified as ‘shapes’ in the sense of geographic information systems (GIS). A shape may be a polygon (for an area of land), a line (for a linear feature such as a watercourse) or a point (for a specific location whose area is smaller than the areal resolution of the geographic information (e.g. a spring). Many nominated assets are composed of several geographic parts. For example, a national park may comprise several blocks of land separated by road or railway reserves, the potential habitat of a threatened species of bird may include patches of remnant habitat separated by agricultural land, and the potential habitat of a threatened species of fish may be restricted to the artesian springs scattered widely across a landscape. To accommodate assets composed of many parts, the asset database specifies each shape as an ‘element’ and one or more elements are then grouped to create assets. A detailed description of the process for classifying and aggregating elements to assets is presented in the companion submethodology M02 (as listed in Table 1) for compiling water-dependent assets (Mount et al., 2015).

A preliminary version of the asset list, along with associated maps and data, was presented to experts and organisations with local knowledge at workshops in Adelaide in March 2015, for comment and feedback. The meeting was attended by representatives from the South Australian Department of the Environment, Water and Natural Resources (DEWNR), Outback Communities Authority and South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resource Management Board. The attendees were given two weeks to review the asset list and preliminary assessments of water dependence, and to return comments and suggestions.

1.3.1.2.2 Economic assets

As described in the companion submethodology M02 (as listed in Table 1) for compiling water-dependent assets (Mount et al., 2015), formal economic assets are classed as either a ‘basic water right’ (stock and domestic) or a ‘water access right’ in the BA asset classification (subclass level):

Licensing data were sourced from the DEWNR and the Northern Territory Department of Land Resource Management (DLRM) (Table 5).

Within the asset database, every ‘water access right’ and ‘basic water right (stock and domestic)’ is an element, and elements are grouped by type and spatial location (according to water management zones or areas) to create assets.

Two other, less formal subclasses of economic assets occur in the Arckaringa subregion:

Assets that are classed as ‘groundwater features used for a water supply’ were nominated by the Northern Territory Department of Land Resource Management (DLRM). Assets that are classed as ‘water supply and monitoring infrastructure’ were nominated through datasets from the Bureau of Meteorology and SA Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board (SA WAIT data) (Table 5).

Table 5 Data sources for economic assets in the Arckaringa subregion

^aThe asset database (Bioregional Assessment Programme, Dataset 1 ) is a collation of all these source datasets. Some assets may be captured in multiple databases. These replicates are retained in the asset register as boundaries may differ between databases.

1.3.1.2.3 Sociocultural assets

Sociocultural assets were sourced from the Australian Heritage Database (Australian Government Department of the Environment, Dataset 19, Dataset 20), which includes assets sourced from the National Heritage List and the Register of the National Estate.

In the Arckaringa subregion, the Bioregional Assessment Programme has funded the DEWNR to research cultural values associated with water assets, including Indigenous values. Reports from this study will be available at the Bioregional Assessment website (http://www.bioregionalassessments.gov.au) when finalised.

Table 6 Data sources from the Australian Heritage Database and Water Asset Information Tool database for sociocultural assets in the Arckaringa subregion

^aThe asset database (Bioregional Assessment Programme, Dataset 1) is a collation of all these source datasets. Some assets may be captured in multiple databases. These replicates are retained in the asset register as boundaries may differ between databases.

1.3.1.2.4 Duplicated or overlapping assets

Some specific areas within the Arckaringa PAE were nominated several times from different databases. For example, Kati Thanda – Lake Eyre and the immediate surrounding areas (in the eastern part of the PAE) were nominated as:

Likewise, some assets sourced from different datasets overlie each other, as they consider slightly different aspects of the same geographic area. For example, a national park may include springs, wetlands, and groundwater-dependent woodlands, and therefore the park may partially overlap assets describing:

Duplicate and overlapping assets were treated as entirely separate assets for the purposes of compiling the register of water-dependent assets for the Arckaringa subregion. Such an approach meant that no judgment need be made of the priority of one asset or asset type over another asset or asset type, and thereby that equal respect and attention was paid to all stakeholders’ asset nominations and contributed databases.