1.3.1.2 Compiling assets and developing the water-dependent asset register


1.3.1.2.1 Ecological assets

Eight natural resource management organisations (NRMs) nominated assets through contribution of data to the Water Asset Information Tool (WAIT) database (Australian Government Department of the Environment, Dataset 2, Dataset 3). These NRM-nominated assets were added to the asset database. Contributing organisations are listed in Table 3.

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

  • areas with various designations of formal conservation at national or state level
  • ecosystem types with a threatened status recognised by national or state legislation
  • potential distributions of species with a threatened status recognised by national or state legislation
  • previously identified water-dependent ecosystem types or water-related topographic features, nominated regardless of any designated conservation status.

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


Organisation

Description in asset register

Elements

Assets

(asset list)

North Queensland Dry Tropics

WAIT_Burdekin

221

31

Desert Channels Queensland

WAIT_Desert Channels

25,635

214

Fitzroy Basin Association

WAIT_Fitzroy

7,532

36

Queensland Murray-Darling Committee

WAIT_QMDC

519

10

Queensland Murray-Darling Committee

WAIT_QMDC_ERIN

7

1

SA Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board

WAIT_SA

1,471

35

Southern Gulf Catchments

WAIT_Southern Gulf

6,743

113

South West Natural Resource Management Ltd

WAIT_SWQLD_ERIN

8

8

Additional data contributed by ERIN

WAIT_ERIN

204

38

Total

42,340

486

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


Dataseta,b

Organisation

Dataset citation

Elements

Assets (asset list)

Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database (CAPAD) 2012

Department of the Environment

Australian Government Department of the Environment (Dataset 4)

63

63

Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia (DIWA) Spatial Database

Department of the Environment

Australian Government Department of the Environment (Dataset 5)

52

39

Environmental Asset Database - Commonwealth Environmental Water Office

Department of the Environment (restricted access)

Australian Government Department of the Environment (Dataset 6)

3

3

Great Artesian Basin and Laura Basin groundwater recharge areas

Geoscience Australia

Geoscience Australia (Dataset 7)

520

10

National Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems (GDE) Atlas

Bureau of Meteorology

Bureau of Meteorology (Dataset 8)

110,320

2,265

Birds Australia - Important Bird Areas (IBA) 2009

Birds Australia

Birds Australia (Dataset 9)

13

13

Key Environmental Assets - KEA - of the Murray Darling Basin

Murray-Darling Basin Authority

Murray-Darling Basin Authority (Dataset 10)

7,724

149

Permanent and Semi-Permanent Waterbodies of the Lake Eyre Basin

Department of Science, Information, Technology, Innovation and the Arts, Queensland Government

Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (Dataset 11)

1,124

926

Communities of National Environmental Significance Database

Department of the Environment

Australian Government Department of the Environment (Dataset 12)

4,630

7

Australia - Species of National Environmental Significance Database

Department of the Environment

Australian Government Department of the Environment (Dataset 13)

641

39

QLD DSITIA Galilee LGA Species List

Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, Queensland Government

Queensland Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts (Dataset 14)

227,171

78

Biodiversity status of pre-clearing and remnant regional ecosystems - South East Qld

Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, Queensland Government

Queensland Herbarium, Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts (Dataset 15)

4,143

43

Ramsar Wetlands of Australia

Department of the Environment

Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (Dataset 16)

1

1

Total

356,405

3,636

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

bTypology and punctuation are given as provided in the metadata for these datasets.

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 water-dependent asset register, along with associated maps and data, was presented to experts and organisations with local knowledge at workshops in Longreach and Richmond in September 2014, and in Brisbane in October 2014, for comment and feedback. The attendees were given two weeks to review the preliminary water-dependent asset register 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), economic assets in Queensland are classed either as a 'basic water right' (stock and domestic) or a 'water access right':

  • basic water right (stock and domestic) - this is the right to take water for domestic and stock purposes only. A basic right for 'take of groundwater' requires approval for any works that may be involved (e.g. a bore), but does not require a licence for the extraction of the water. A basic right for 'take of surface water' does not require approval for any works or for the extraction of the water.
  • water access right - this requires a licence both for the works and the extraction of the water. The extraction of the water can be for a range of purposes including irrigation, commercial, industrial, farming, dewatering, mining and intensive agriculture.

Licensing data were sourced from the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM). Bores were also nominated by two NRM organisations (Desert Channels NRM and Southern Gulf NRM) through the WAIT database.

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 the nine water management zones or areas) to create assets.

Table 5 Data sources for economic assets in the Galilee subregion


Dataseta,b

Organisation

Dataset citation

Elements

Assets

(asset list)

Groundwater Entitlements linked to bores and NGIS v4 28072014

Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Queensland Government

Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 17)

4863

96

Surface Water Licences linked to Spatial Locations - v1 20140313

Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Queensland Government

Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 18)

149

33

Total

5012

129

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.

bTypology and punctuation are given as provided in the metadata for these datasets.

1.3.1.2.3 Sociocultural assets

Sociocultural assets were sourced from the Australian Heritage Database which includes assets sourced from the World Heritage List, National Heritage List and the Register of the National Estate (Australian Government Department of the Environment, Dataset 19, Dataset 20, Dataset 21).

Meetings have been held with Indigenous knowledge holders in the Galilee subregion to gain further understanding of Indigenous cultural water-dependent assets. Where possible and appropriate, and with the agreement of Indigenous knowledge holders, these additional Indigenous sociocultural water-dependent assets will be published in a separate report. Identified assets will be incorporated into an updated water-dependent asset register and/or incorporated into later technical products.

Table 6 Data sources from the Australian Heritage Database for sociocultural assets in the Galilee subregion


Dataseta,b

Organisation

Dataset citation

Elements

Assets

(asset list)

Australia World Heritage Areas

Department of the Environment

Australian Government Department of the Environment (Dataset 19)

1

1

National Heritage List Spatial Database (NHL) (v2.1)

Department of the Environment

Australian Government Department of the Environment (Dataset 20)

9

9

Australia, Register of the National Estate (RNE) - Spatial Database (RNESDB) Internal

Department of the Environment

Australian Government Department of the Environment (Dataset 21)

96

96

Total

106

106

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.

bTypology and punctuation are given as provided in the metadata for these datasets.

1.3.1.2.4 Duplicated or overlapping assets

Some specific areas within the Galilee PAE were nominated several times, from different databases. For example, Edgbaston Springs and the immediate surrounding areas (north-east of Aramac, in the north-eastern part of the PAE) were nominated as:

  • a protected area (CAPAD)
  • an important wetland (DIWA)
  • an area of heritage significance to the National Estate (RNE)
  • part of a national threatened ecological community (EPBC TEC)
  • a Desert Channels NRM asset (WAIT).

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:

  • areas of heritage significance to the Register of the National Estate (RNE)
  • groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDEs)
  • threatened ecological community distributions listed in the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act)
  • potential habitats of federal or state-listed threatened species.

Duplicate and overlapping assets are treated as entirely separate assets for the purposes of compiling the register of water-dependent assets for the Galilee subregion. Such an approach means 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 is paid to all stakeholders’ asset nominations and contributed databases.

Last updated:
6 December 2018