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- 1.3 Water-dependent asset register for the Maranoa-Balonne-Condamine subregion
- 1.3.1 Methods
- 1.3.1.2 Compiling assets and developing the water-dependent asset register
Seven natural resource management organisations (NRMs) contributed data to the Water Asset Information Tool (WAIT) database for the Maranoa-Balonne-Condamine subregion (Table 3). These NRM-nominated assets were added to the asset database. The Maranoa-Balonne-Condamine subregion falls predominantly within Queensland. This is consistent with the source of the NRM datasets, with six of the seven NRMs being from Queensland and only one from NSW.
Table 3 Natural resource management organisations that contributed data to the Water Asset Information Tool database
In addition to data provided by the NRM organisations, data were obtained from national, state and regional databases to complement the coverage of assets for the subregion.
Within the asset database, each surface water, groundwater and vegetation polygon, line or point is an element and elements are grouped according to class and spatial location to create assets. Each asset has a unique asset identifier (AID). A detailed description of the process for aggregating and classifying elements to assets is presented in the companion submethodology M02 (as listed in Table 1) for compiling water-dependent assets (Mount et al., 2015).
1.3.1.2.1 Ecological assets
The majority of the datasets used in compiling the ecological assets for the Maranoa-Balonne-Condamine subregion (Dataset 1) are shown in Table 4.
Table 4 Data sources for ecological assets for the Maranoa-Balonne Condamine subregion
Dataseta |
Organisation |
Dataset citation |
Elements |
Assets (asset list) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database (CAPAD) |
Department of the Environment |
Australian Government Department of the Environment (Dataset 2) |
61 |
61
|
A directory of important wetlands in Australia (DIWA) |
Department of the Environment |
Australian Government Department of the Environment (Dataset 3) |
13 |
6 |
Environmental Assets Database (EAD; Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder) |
Department of the Environment (restricted access) |
Australian Government Department of the Environment (Dataset 4) |
6 |
6 |
Great Artesian Basin groundwater recharge |
Geoscience Australia |
Geoscience Australia (Dataset 5) |
90 |
5 |
National atlas of groundwater dependent ecosystems |
Bureau of Meteorology |
Bureau of Meteorology (Dataset 6) |
Surface: 10,528 Subsurface: 32,751 |
Surface: 209 Subsurface: 66 |
Important Bird Areas (IBA) |
Birds Australia |
Birds Australia (Dataset 7) |
3 |
3 |
Key Environmental Assets of the Murray-Darling Basin (KEA) |
Murray-Darling Basin Authority |
Murray-Darling Basin Authority (Dataset 8) |
Streams: 7,308 Waterbodies: 521 |
Streams 324 Waterbodies: 521 |
Threatened ecological communities listed under the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) |
Department of the Environment |
Australian Government Department of the Environment (Dataset 9) |
16,284 |
8 |
Threatened species listed under the EPBC Act |
Department of the Environment |
Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 10) |
2,286 |
99 |
Threatened species listed under Queensland’s Nature Conservation Act 1992 (Nature Conservation Act) |
Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, Queensland Government |
QLD Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (Dataset 11) |
168,394 |
66 |
Threatened regional ecosystems listed under Queensland’s Nature Conservation Act 1992 (Nature Conservation Act) |
Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, Queensland Government |
Queensland Herbarium, Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts (Dataset 12) |
12,551 |
42 |
Queensland wetland mapping |
Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts, Queensland Government |
Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts (Dataset 13, Dataset 14, Dataset 15) |
Springs: 187 Streams: 102,548 Wetlands: 12,514 |
Springs: 56 Streams: 1 Wetlands: 83 |
Queensland groundwater-dependent ecosystem mapping and classification |
Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts, Queensland Government |
Queensland Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts (Dataset 16) |
Surface areas: 4,993 Surface lines: 63,171 Terrestrial areas: 27,106 |
Surface areas: 17 Surface lines: 23 Terrestrial areas: 33 |
Permanent and Semi-Permanent Waterbodies of the Lake Eyre Basin (Queensland and South Australia) (DRAFT) |
Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, Queensland Government |
Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (Dataset 17) |
30 |
26 |
Total |
 |
 |
461,345 |
1,655 |
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.
In addition to the datasets listed above, 56,220 elements (757 assets) were added to the MBC asset list sourced from the NRM WAIT databases (Dataset 18, Dataset 19). In total there were 517,565 elements grouped into 2412 assets in the asset list. These were then subjected to the water-dependency test to produce the 2200 assets in the water-dependent asset register. 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 a workshop in Toowoomba in December 2014 for comment and feedback. The attendees were given two weeks to review the preliminary water-dependent asset register and return comments and suggestions. This consultation identified four additional datasets that were added to the asset database:
- Queensland threatened regional ecosystems listed under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 (Nature Conservation Act) (Queensland Herbarium, Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts, Dataset 12)
- Queensland wetland mapping (Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts, Dataset 13, Dataset 14, Dataset 15)
- Queensland groundwater-dependent ecosystem mapping and classification (Queensland Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts, Dataset 16)
- Queensland permanent and semi-permanent waterbodies of the Lake Eyre Basin (Queensland and South Australia) (DRAFT) (Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management, Dataset 17).
1.3.1.2.2 Economic assets
The datasets used in compiling the economic assets for the Maranoa-Balonne-Condamine subregion are shown in Table 5.
Table 5 Data sources for economic assets in the Maranoa-Balonne-Condamine subregion
Dataseta |
Organisation |
Dataset citation |
Elements |
Assets (asset list) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Queensland groundwater access entitlements linked to bores and NGIS |
Bioregional Assessment Programme |
Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 20) |
9,968 |
104 |
Queensland surface water access entitlements linked to spatial locations |
Bioregional Assessment Programme |
Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 21) |
811 |
168 |
Queensland regulated rivers |
Bioregional Assessment Programme, NSW Office of Water, Department of Primary Industries |
Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 21), NSW Office of Water (Dataset 22) |
1 |
1 |
NSW groundwater licensing linked to spatial locations |
Bioregional Assessment Programme |
Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 23) |
1 |
1 |
NSW surface water licensing linked to spatial locations |
Bioregional Assessment Programme |
Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 24) |
10 |
2 |
NSW surface water sharing plans |
NSW Office of Water, Department of Primary Industries |
NSW Office of Water (Dataset 22) |
6 |
6 |
NSW groundwater macro plans |
NSW Office of Water, Department of Primary Industries |
NSW Office of Water (Dataset 22) |
8 |
8 |
NSW regulated rivers |
NSW Office of Water, Department of Primary Industries |
NSW Office of Water (Dataset 22) |
1 |
1 |
WAIT_Border Rivers Maranoa-Balonne |
Queensland Murray-Darling Committee |
Australian Government Department of the Environment (Dataset 18) |
3 |
3 |
WAIT_South East Queensland |
South West Natural Resource Management Ltd |
Australian Government Department of the Environment (Dataset 18) |
16 |
16 |
Total |
 |
 |
10,825 |
310 |
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.
As described in the companion submethodology M02 (as listed in Table 1) for compiling water-dependent assets (Mount et al., 2015), all economic assets in the Maranoa-Balonne-Condamine subregion are a form of water access entitlement and are classed either as a 'water access right' (referred to as 'water access licences' in NSW or 'Water Allocation' in Queensland), or a 'basic water right' (stock and domestic):
- 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, intensive agriculture, etc.
- basic water right (stock and domestic)Â - this is the right to take water for domestic and stock purposes only. A basic right for 'take of groundwater' requires approval for the works (bore) but does not require a licence for the extraction of groundwater. A basic right for 'take of surface water' does not require an approval for the works or approval for the extraction of surface water.
Basic landholder rights (i.e. a type of basic water right), including riparian rights, maintain the right of those adjacent to rivers, estuaries, lakes or aquifers underlying the land to extract water for domestic and stock use without a water access licence. Basic landholder rights are defined by the jurisdiction based on the location of the water source and include an estimated volume of use based on the number of landholders with adjacent water sources.
As the Maranoa-Balonne-Condamine subregion spans the Queensland-NSW border, data from both states have been included in the Maranoa-Balonne-Condamine economic asset list, however it is important to note that due to the location of the subregion, predominantly the data are from Queensland. Water access entitlements for Queensland are described in different units of measure, depending on the purpose. Some licences specify water access entitlements in hectares per year (an area unit of measure) for irrigation and other licences specify an amount in megalitres per year (a volume unit of measure) for extraction. Consequently, the data for water access entitlements have not been able to be standardised and contain variable volume information. The WAIT database for Queensland 2013 has been included in the analysis separately (Table 11). The 13 elements in the 'Groundwater management zone or area (surface area)' subgroup are from borefields providing information on the class 'Water supply and monitoring infrastructure' rather than individual licences. A further six elements from the 'Surface water management zone or area (surface area)' subgroup and the class 'Water supply and monitoring infrastructure' were also incorporated. Although they do not include volume they show the location of water dependent infrastructure.
In NSW, water access entitlements from groundwater management plans and water sharing plans were also included in the total volumes.
Licensing data were sourced from the NSW Office of Water 2013 and from the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines 2013 to determine economic assets. These datasets are currently not publicly available and were obtained by special request. Consistent with how water licensing information is published under the Commonwealth’s Water Act 2007, these data will be published in an aggregated form.
Data were obtained for groundwater and surface water access licences, and their corresponding works locations. Data about basic landholder rights were sourced online from the publicly available water sharing plans in NSW (DPI, 2014). No equivalent for basic landholder rights was obtained for Queensland as volumes were either not published or not currently available at the time of obtaining the data.
In Queensland, the Queensland Water Act 2000 provides the legislative framework for the allocation and management of Queensland's water resources (NWC, 2014). This legislation has the following implications for the data:
- take of surface water does not require an entitlement for stock and domestic purposes and other low-risk activities prescribed in the Water Regulation 2002
- take of groundwater does not require an entitlement unless it is in a water resource plan, Wild River Declaration, moratorium area or the Water Regulation 2002 states that there is one.
This means that there may be many economic elements without an entitlement volume attached and there may be many not included in the analysis.
In collating the economic elements, surface water and groundwater access entitlements that were not ‘current’ or ‘active’ as at 2013 were disregarded. As basic water rights do not have to be renewed on a frequent basis, it is unknown if all the basic water rights are in use. Consequently volumes of basic water rights may be overestimated. The works (locations) data were linked to the particular surface water or groundwater access entitlements. A count was added to show how many works are associated with each water access entitlement. The volume of the water access entitlement was then equally split among the works to ensure that the entitlement volumes were not double-counted. A geographic information system (GIS) layer was derived using the spatial coordinates provided with the licensed work approvals. This spatial layer was clipped with the PAE for the Maranoa-Balonne-Condamine subregion so that only works and associated licences within the PAE were included
The class of asset (as described in the companion submethodology M02 (as listed in Table 1) for compiling water-dependent assets (Mount et al., 2015)) was aggregated using the NSW Office of Water 'purpose' field, which records the purpose for which water is used. For Queensland, an equivalent field 'AuthorisedPurposeList' was used. Any purpose that was listed as 'Domestic' and/or 'Stock' was included in the class 'Basic water right'. Where 'Stock' and/or 'Domestic' was listed with another licensed purpose, it was listed as a 'Water access right'. 'Water access right' was based on anything that had an extractive use purpose such as, for example, commercial, irrigation, farming, industrial or dewatering.
Each water access entitlement can have one or multiple works associated with it, where the works is the location where the water is extracted through a bore or pump. It was assumed that each of the works associated with a licence extracts an equal share of the volume. For example, if there is one groundwater access entitlement of 80 ML/year that has four works (bores) associated with it, then 20 ML/year is assigned to each of those works. It is not possible to validate this assumption. It is possible that most extraction could occur at a single works location and is not evenly distributed across all works associated with the licence. However, entitlement data does not allow us to resolve volume down to discrete location.
Groundwater elements that were not classified as a basic water right or a water access right were classed as 'null'. These include test bores, bores installed for groundwater remediation, exploratory bores, exploratory research and monitoring bores. These elements are 'flagged' in the asset database and are not included in the water-dependent asset register.
1.3.1.2.3 Sociocultural assets
Sociocultural assets were sourced from the Australian Heritage Database (Department of the Environment, 2013), which includes assets sourced from the World Heritage List, National Heritage List and the Register of the National Estate (Table 6). Meetings have been held with Indigenous knowledge holders in the Maranoa-Balonne-Condamine 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 water-related values 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 for sociocultural assets in the Maranoa-Balonne-Condamine subregion
Dataseta |
Organisation |
Dataset citation |
Elements |
Assets (asset list) |
---|---|---|---|---|
World Heritage List (WHL) |
Department of the Environment |
Australian Government Department of the Environment (Dataset 25) |
1 |
1 |
National Heritage List (NHL) |
Department of the Environment |
Australian Government Department of the Environment (Dataset 26) |
2 |
2 |
Commonwealth Heritage List (CHL) |
Department of the Environment |
Australian Government Department of the Environment (Dataset 27) |
0 |
0 |
Register of the National Estate (RNE) |
Department of the Environment |
Australian Government Department of the Environment (Dataset 28) |
124 |
124 |
Total |
 |
 |
127 |
127 |
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.