Regional water resources assessments - Surface Water Management Area Groote Eylandt

Regional Water Resource Assessment – SWMA

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Groote Eylandt

Groote Eylandt Surface Water Management Area is within Northern Territory and is 2,362 km2

This page provides high level performance indicators of water management for the Groote Eylandt surface water management area (SWMA) based on information provided by the government of Northern Territory. It provides answers to a range of questions of relevance to the National Water Initiative (NWI), specifically in relation to:

Surface water management framework
Water resources caps
Surface water / groundwater interaction
Surface water sustainable yield
Environmental water requirements
Surface water diversions
Surface water entitlements
Protected terrestrial areas

Please note that a dash means that either the data was not available, not provided or that the question was not relevant for a particular area.

Surface water management area	Groote Eylandt
Project ID	NT_SW_929
Size of surface water management area	2,362 km²
NWC drainage division code	929
Drainage Division	Gulf of Carpentaria
State	Northern Territory

Surface water management framework

What is the status of the water management plan for this surface water management area?	Statewide policy
If a final or draft plan has been written, what year was it completed?	-
If a final or draft plan has been written, does it consider groundwater explicitly?	-
If yes, how is groundwater considered?
Technical assessment	-
Management decisions	-
What percentage of the surface water management area is covered by the water management plan(s)?	-
Does your water plan specify water quality objectives to meet environmental and other public benefit outcomes?	-
Other items included in the management framework are:
Metering program for this area	-
Effluent recycling	-
Climate change	-
Aquifer storage and recovery	-
Household rainwater tanks	-
Efficient irrigation systems	-
Other	-
Management plan available at:

Water resource caps

Has a cap been placed on surface water usage / abstraction in this surface water management area?	Yes
Is the cap an absolute limit to allocation or provisional limit?	Provisional
If there is a cap, what year was it implemented?	2000
If there is a cap, is it considered to represent the sustainable surface water yield?	Yes
The following water usage types are included/not included under the cap:
Irrigation	Included
Urban supply	Included
Commercial / Industrial	Included
Minor catchment storages	Included
Minor on-stream storages	Included
Minor extracted water storages	Included
Stock and domestic	Included
Mining / Oil and gas	Included
Forestry	Included
Floodplain harvesting	Included
Drought supply	Included
Greywater use	Included
Effluent recycling	Included
Aquifer storage and recovery	Included
Does auditing of compliance with the cap occur?	No
Compliance report available at:

Surface water / groundwater interaction

Are surface water and groundwater managed as an integrated water resource in this surface water management area?	No
Reason or method:	Integration has not been assessed
Integrated management plan available at:

Surface water sustainable yield

The sustainable yield within this surface water management area for 2004/05 was:	130000 ML
The method used to determine the sustainable yield was:	As per the 80/20 rule noted in question 6
Was the sustainable yield determined for the combined (i.e. surface water and groundwater) water?	No
Is the cap considered to be at or below the sustainable yield of surface water?	At
What is the level of entitlements relative to the sustainable yield?	Low level of development

Environmental water requirements

Have environmental water requirements been determined for this surface water management area?	No
If yes, what year were they completed?	-
For regulated areas, how much of the mean annual flow is not available for allocation and provided for the environment? (percentage of mean annual flow at locality of river regulation)	-
Are there formal environmental water provisions for regulated rivers?	-
If so, what method was used to determine environmental water provisions for regulated rivers?	-
For what percentage of the rivers are provisions made?	100%
Maps illustrating which rivers have provisions available at:
Do the environmental water provisions consider groundwater?	No
If yes, how?	-
Completed Environmental Flows Reports available at:

Surface water diversions

The total surface water diversion in the surface water management area for 2004/05 was:	<%DataBinder.Eval(Container.DataItem, "SSDVOLML_C", " {0} ML") %>
What percentage of surface water diversion is determined from metered data?	Unknown
What is the level of diversions relative to the sustainable yield?	Low level of diversions (0 - 29%)
For surface water diversion that is NOT metered, how was the surface water diversion determined for 2004/05?
Estimated from irrigated areas	-
Estimated from licence volume	Yes
Estimated from power usage for pumps	-
Estimated from models	-
Other	-

Surface water entitlements

Entitlements for surface water are required/not required for the following usage types:
Irrigation	-
Urban supply	-
Commercial / Industrial	-
Minor catchment storages	Not required
Minor on-stream storages	-
Minor extracted water storages	Not required
Stock and domestic	Not required
Mining / Oil and gas	-
Forestry	-
Floodplain harvesting	-
Drought supply	-
Greywater use	-
Effluent recycling	-
Aquifer storage and recovery	-
Other	-

Protected terrestrial areas

Each of the following protection types cover a percentage of the surface water management area as detailed:
Habitat/species management area	-
Managed resource protected areas	-
National park	-
Natural monument	-
Protected landscape/seascape	-
Strict nature reserve	-
Wilderness area	-
Total	0.00

National Water Commission