The economic water-dependent assets mainly consist of various water access rights and some water-associated infrastructure. Data are sourced from various national and state databases and then compiled into an assets database. The economic assets for the Clarence-Moreton bioregion are obtained by spatially filtering the assets database using the PAE boundary of the Clarence-Moreton bioregion. The analyses in this section are based on the assets database for the Clarence-Moreton PAE (Bioregional Assessment Programme, Dataset 1).
There are 752 economic water-dependent assets in the Clarence-Moreton PAE. The assets are categorised into a 'Surface water’ subgroup and a ‘Groundwater’ subgroup (Table 10) (Mount et al., 2015) with each subgroup consisting of four classes. There are 650 economic assets in the ‘Surface water management zone or area’ economic asset subgroup and 102 economic assets in the ‘Groundwater management zone or area’ subgroup (Table 10). Every asset is comprised of a number of elements. An element may be either a point, a line or a polygon spatial feature. The distribution of each class is mapped in the following sections. According to the hydrological and hydrogeological characteristics of the Clarence-Moreton PAE and feedback obtained from relevant local experts in various organisations and councils, all of the 752 economic assets were included in the water-dependent asset register.
Table 10 Classification of the economic assets in the Clarence-Moreton bioregion preliminary assessment extent (PAE)
Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 1)
1.3.3.1.1 Surface water features
There are 460 economic surface water assets classed as 'A surface water feature used for water supply'. They are mostly in the NSW part of the Clarence-Moreton PAE (Figure 9) and comprise catchments and some national parks with the latter being mainly in the Queensland part of the Clarence-Moreton PAE. Access to water in these catchments is managed through water access entitlements. Ten dams and their declared catchments are classed as 'Water supply and monitoring infrastructure' and are all located in the northern part of the Clarence-Moreton PAE, with the exception of one asset about 30 km north of Grafton in NSW (Figure 10).
Water access entitlements are divided into two classes: basic water right and water access right (Mount et al., 2015) with both classes registered in the asset list (Table 10). The basic water right allows owners and land users to access water for domestic and stock purposes from rivers, estuaries and lake frontages without a licence. The water access right applies to all the other water usages such as irrigation, commercial, industrial, farming, mining etc. The distribution of these water access entitlements is shown in Figure 11 and Figure 12, respectively. Figure 11 shows a combination of points, lines and polygons spatial features. The points represent locations for water extraction from a surface water body. The lines represent regulated streams. The polygons depict the covered area of the water sharing plans. Figure 12 only contains point features indicating access locations from the surface water bodies.
1.3.3.1.2 Groundwater features
Although the companion submethodology M02 for compiling water-dependent assets (Mount et al., 2015) listed four classes for the economic groundwater assets, only three of them are present in the Clarence-Moreton PAE. The basic water right allows land owners and users to extract groundwater from aquifers within their land boundary without a licence, although the associated infrastructure still requires an approval. Similar to the economic surface water assets, the water access right includes all other licences for various groundwater usages. The distribution of the groundwater basic water rights in the Clarence-Moreton PAE is shown in Figure 13 and all are located in the NSW part of the Clarence-Moreton PAE. Although the Queensland part of the Clarence-Moreton PAE includes hundreds of functioning bores, there is no available information regarding their purposes and associated entitlements. In this study, they were categorised as groundwater bores with water access rights. Figure 14 demonstrates the distribution of the groundwater water access rights and the groundwater infrastructure in the Clarence-Moreton PAE. Similar to the surface water basic water right, most groundwater access entitlements appear around Casino, Lismore and Grafton in NSW. The groundwater infrastructure are made up of a number of borefields in the Queensland part of the Clarence-Moreton PAE.
Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 1)
There are notable differences in the quantity of the data between the two states in the map as the State agencies involved supplied different data sources.
Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 1)
There are notable differences in the quantity of the data between the two states in the map as the State agencies involved supplied different data sources.
Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 1)
There are notable differences in the quantity of the data between the two states in the map as the State agencies involved supplied different data sources.
Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 1)
There are notable differences in the quantity of the data between the two states in the map as the State agencies involved supplied different data sources.
Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 1)
There are notable differences in the quantity of the data between the two states in the map as the State agencies involved supplied different data sources.
Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 1)
There are notable differences in the quantity of the data between the two states in the map as the State agencies involved supplied different data sources.
