Supporting material/reports
South East Queensland Regional Water Supply Strategy
Desk Top Review of Identified Dam and Weir Sites
Report to the Bulk Supply Infrastructure Task Group - June 06
This report was prepared as a preliminary working document only, for use within the South East Queensland Regional Water Supply Strategy Project, as a basis to progress more detailed and accurate assessments.
Due to the high level of public interest in this report and a commitment to remain open and transparent in its decision making processes, the Queensland Government directed that, in the best interests of the South East Queensland community at large, the report be released.
The GHD report should be read in the context that it is a desk top investigation only and addresses specific terms of reference. More detailed information on the purpose and limitations of this report is contained within sections 1.3 and 1.4 of the report.
You can order a CD copy of the report online.
South East Queensland Regional Water Supply Strategy Stage 2 interim report
The South East Queensland Regional Water Supply Strategy Stage 2 interim report, released in January 2006, outlines the approach we need to take to ensure water supplies meet our short and medium-term water needs and lists projects that will be fast tracked to address future needs.
South East Queensland Regional Water Supply Strategy Stage 1 report
The South East Queensland Regional Water Supply Strategy Stage 1 report has been released as a basis for further progressing the development of a regional water supply strategy for South East Queensland. The draft South East Queensland Regional Plan, released in October 2004, has implications for the outcomes and information contained within the Stage 1 report as further outlined in the foreword to the report. These implications will be addressed as future stages of the strategy are progressed.
The supporting material for this report, as listed in Figure 3 of the report, is available for review at:
Department of Natural Resources and Mines Information Centre
Level 2 Mineral House
41 George Street
Brisbane
The Information Centre is open from 8.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday.
Water - The precious new resource
The 'Water - The precious new resource - Planning, management and allocation Queensland style' (PDF, 300 kB)* paper was presented at the 2003 Water in Mining conference in Brisbane, by the General Manager for Water Planning and Water Management and Use, Department of Natural Resources and Mines. It describes how water is being planned, managed and used in Queensland as both a precious natural resource, vital for healthy ecosystems, and as a valuable tradeable commodity, necessary to secure economic prosperity.
Making better use of South East Queensland's water
We are currently experiencing one of the worst droughts on record. Natural Resources and Mines has complied a brochure, 'Making better use of South East Queensland’s water'.
Fact Sheets
- Rural Water Task Group (PDF, 54 kB)*
- Water planning (PDF, 67 kB)*
- Bulk Supply Infrastructure Task Group (PDF, 55 kB)*
- Implementation, Information Systems, Communication and Coordination Task Group (PDF, 58 kB)*
- Integrated Urban Water Managemment and Accounting Task Group (PDF, 59 kB)*
- Water Availability and Entitlements Task Group (PDF, 58 kB)*
- Water Balance Task Group (PDF, 59 kB)*
Commonly Asked Questions
What is the SEQRWSS and what makes it different to the normal activities of water reform and planning?
The South East Queensland Regional Water Supply Strategy is a coordinated project that seeks to ensure that all local governments in South East Queensland will be able to meet their water supply needs until at least the middle of the century. In order to achieve this goal, a two-pronged approach will be adopted:
- a demand management strategy to ensure that water is used efficiently and effectively without waste
- a water supply strategy that ensures that the necessary infrastructure will be in place to meet the demands as they occur.
The strategy is intimately linked with water reform and water resource planning, but also addresses practical measures for managing supply and demand.
Who is behind the strategy?
The strategy has been implemented as a partnership between the State Government and the 18 councils which comprised the South East Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils (SEQROC). The major water service providers of the region are also represented in the partnership.
Does the public have a role?
The public will have a role, particularly in the review and implementation phases of the strategy. Once the options have been formulated it will be possible to seek public comment on their preferences and, of course, the public will be vital in implementing vital elements such as demand management.
Why not just build more dams to capture more water?
There are only a limited number of dam sites in the region that are likely to be economically, environmentally and socially acceptable. Other options such as demand management, pressure reduction, waste water reuse, groundwater and perhaps desalination also need to be considered against the triple bottom line. Diversification of supply sources has the additional advantage of being able to meet demands during droughts worse than have occurred before.
When will the strategy detail its report and when will projects actually start to happen?
The strategy is due to be delivered towards the end of 2006. The draft document will describe the recommended policies and projects necessary to deliver the water supply together with a recommended implementation timetable. Some policies and projects will be implemented almost immediately whereas others will not be commenced until much later when population growth warrants their implementation.
Bulk Supply Infrastructure
What does Bulk Supply mean in plain English?
Bulk supplies refer to large volume supplies to say reservoirs servicing residential areas or major industrial sites such as power stations. Bulk supplies would generally be delivered via a trunk main and would not include distribution pipework from the reservoirs to residential consumers for instance.
What Is the Bulk Supply Infrastructure Task Group examining?
The key role of the Bulk Supply infrastructure task group is to assess possible new infrastructure developments such as desalination plants, groundwater infrastructure, new dams and weirs and the necessary delivery systems such as pipelines that might be used to supplement water supplies available to the SEQ Region.
Integrated Urban Water Management
Is the Integrated Urban Water Management and Accounting Task Group focused only on issues affecting urban water use?
The IUWM&A task focuses mainly on urban water issues. However, rural water needs analysis is included within this tasks scope.
I hear a lot about potable reuse and that Queenslanders may have to reuse sewage water? Is this true and what is the IUWM looking at in this regard?
Treated wastewater, referred to as recycled water, is already used extensively around Queensland for various uses, such as golf course irrigation. Some new developments, such as the Pimpama Coomera area of the Gold Coast, are also being designed to deliver recycled water to homes for uses such as toilet flushing. This water is treated to a very high standard and if used appropriately is a very safe alternative to using drinking water for things like watering gardens or flushing toilets. The IUWM&A task will examine the potential for recycled water around SEQ as part of the solution to meeting our long term water supply needs and reducing our impact on the environment.
I have heard the term ‘demand management’. What does this mean?
Demand management involves behavioural and technological approaches and techniques that reduce water consumption. A key goal is to defer the need to expand water supply infrastructure and costs that are associated with population growth. Tactics can be grouped under the “5Es” of demand management:
Economic – user pay pricing structures provide financial incentives for residents and businesses to save water;
Education – community, industry and school education programs raise awareness about the need to conserve water to bring about long term changes in water consumption behaviour;
Enforcement – judicious use of regulatory mechanisms and water use restrictions combined with an appropriate compliance and enforcement regime are a highly effective way to target water misuse;
Encouragement – incentive schemes and targeted marketing persuade the public to increase the uptake of water saving products; and,
Engineering – new ways of planning and managing water and wastewater infrastructure including leakage control, pressure reduction and source substitution achieve more efficient use of water.
Water Allocation and Entitlement
How does this Task Group’s work differ from that of the BSI Group?
The WA&E Task Group assesses how much water is available from our existing storages and what amount could be sustainably extracted from both surface and groundwater sources to meet the future needs of the Region. Both existing and new water sources will be investigated. This Group will also deal with the issue of urban entitlements, review of institutional arrangement across the south east and provides a link to the water resource planning process which is carried out by the Department of Natural Resources and Mines.
This Group will be working closely with the BSI Group to ensure that any new infrastructure proposed by the BSI Group will be assessed in accordance with the methodology developed.
Who holds an entitlement? Is it a town, a business or an individual home owner?
Any person or entity who extracts water from a watercourse or groundwater from a declared subartesian area needs an entitlement from the Department of Natural Resources & Mines. NR&M website provides further details. Entitlements can be held by a local government to supply its residents with water, a water service provider, a business, or an individual.
What is an ‘entitlement’ and are people’s water entitlements at risk?
An entitlement is a water allocation, interim water allocation or a water licence granted to a holder to take water from a particular location with some conditions attached.
The Department of Natural Resources and Mines is developing water resource plans for the state that aim to more accurately establish how much water is available within particular areas and to also cater for environmental needs. Such plans are completed in several catchments around the state. The outcome of this process is to ensure that existing entitlement holders are protected and cannot be impacted by future developments.
Rural Water Supply
Reliable water supplies are the lifeblood of many businesses in the rural area. What is this Task Group doing to protect these supplies?
A number of water planning initiatives, such as the development of Water Resource Plans, are being progressed in South East Queensland that will influence matters relating to the security of water supply. It is intended that the rural water task group will seek to draw from these various initiatives such that rural water users are positioned, as best as possible, to benefit from secure supplies of water and more importantly to ensure that the best use of available water is being made.
Who sits on the Rural Water Task Group? Does this guarantee the bush has a say?
The Rural Water Task Group has representation from State Agencies, Water Service Providers, and Industry Peak Bodies. The Task Group is lead by a Queensland Irrigators Councils representative and includes membership of several representative irrigators throughout the South East Region.
Is this task group examining using treated waste water for crops and irrigation?
All reasonable rural water supply options will be considered in context, from a regional perspective, in the development of a rural water strategy that achieves optimum outcomes in social, environmental and economic terms.
* Requires Acrobat Reader
updated August 11, 2006