National Water Commission

The Burnett WMA incorporates the catchments of five rivers: the Burnett, Kolan, Elliott, Isis and Gregory. The plan encompasses five different Water Supply Schemes: the Upper Burnett, Three Moon Creek, Barker/Barambah, Boyne River & Tarong and Bundaberg Water Supply Schemes. This area also covers four groundwater areas: Bundaberg, Monto, Cattle Creek GMUs and a large unmanaged area. The Bundaberg and Monto GMUs are actively managed, although they are not managed to a specific level while Cattle Creek is currently unmanaged.

Groundwater discharge is a major contributor to baseflow in the Elliott River and parts of the Gregory. Relative to surface water flow, the contribution of groundwater is insignificant in the Burnett and Kolan Rivers. There are two aquifers in the region – the Fairymead Beds (confined) and the Elliott Formation (unconfined). 



Figure 1 Burnett water management area locality map

Download high resolution Map:

(this document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader)
 

Management of Water Supply

Natural Resources and Water (QNRW) [http://www.nrw.qld.gov.au/] is the licensing authority responsible for un-supplemented surface water diversions and groundwater extractions. They develop and manage the Water Resource Plans and Resource Operation Plans

Sunwater is the bulk water supplier in the area. Sunwater manages the five Water Supply Schemes under Interim Resource Operation Licenses (IROLs) issued by QNRW.

The Tarong and Tarong North Power Stations source water from the Moreton catchment via a pipeline from Wivenhoe Dam. Cooling Tower Blowdown water is either discharged directly to Tarong Engergy’s Meandu Creek Dam or supplied to the nearby Tarong Mine owned by Rio Tinto Coal Australia. Excess water from the mine is discharged back to Meandu Creek Dam. Releases from Meandu Creek Dam supply downstream irrigators on Meandu Creek.

Equigold owns and operates the Perry River Weir at its Mt Rawdon Gold Mine. Local Government is responsible for retail water supply. Kingaroy Shire Council owns and operates Gordonbrook Dam and supplies Kingaroy from this source. All other LGAs in the area source water from Sunwater Water Supply Schemes.

Management of waterways

QNRW are responsible for waterway management upstream of the tidal zone including in stream and riparian works and extractions. The Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (QDPIF) are responsible for maintaining marine habitats, incorporating riparian works in the tidal zone. The Environmental Protection Agency (QEPA) are responsible for establishing environmental values and water quality objectives for waterways, licensing discharges and monitoring water quality.

Related Water Management Areas

The climate of the area is subtropical with the majority of rainfall from December to March (Figure 3). The long term average annual rainfall is 847 mm, however during 2004 05 rainfall for the region was below average at 711 mm (BOM, 2006) (Figure 2). The rainfall for the 2004 05 year was 84% of the long term average and the 10 year average was 90% of the long term average (Table 1). Total evapotranspiration over the area in 2004 05 was 615 mm (BRS, 2006).

Table 1 Summary of Burnett water management area contextual information

Figure 2 Annual rainfall for the Burnett water management area (modified from BOM, 2006)




Figure 3 Monthly rainfall and evaporation for the Burnett water management area (modified from BOM, 2006 & Climate Atlas)




Figure 4 Representative streamflow hydrograph for the Burnett water management area for Burnett River at Yarrol (gauge 136112A)

Summary of the total water resources in the basin

Table 2 Summary of water balance for Burnett water management area, 2004-05

Figure 5 Water balance summary diagram for the Burnett water management area

Outcomes from the water cycle report

The following information becomes apparent from Table 2.

• There was about 30% less surface water available in storage at the end of 2004-05 than at the start (no data for groundwater).
• There was a large surface water error term (59%), likely due to the extremely large runoff figure.
• The groundwater error term was also large (57%), likely due to the absence of data on opening and closing volumes for the aquifers.
• The recharge and runoff estimates used in the water balance were based on the BRS Water 2010 project and were not verified by QNRW. These estimates could have high errors associated with them, but were used in the absence of other data.
• The water balance was dominated by runoff and recharge, with the total diversions and extractions making up only 15% of total runoff and recharge volumes.
• Based on the data available, about 94% of water used in the Burnett catchment was sourced from surface water, with the remainder from groundwater sources. However, most groundwater extractions were from self-extracted water (e.g. private groundwater bores) which were not metered and therefore the actual proportion of groundwater usage is likely to be higher than 6%.
• Approximately 30% of surface water runoff was discharged to the ocean.
• Water use was predominantly for irrigation in the catchment as there are few urban areas.
• Data could not be obtained for the following items in the water balance:
• Onstream and offstream minor catchment and farm dams
• Groundwater storage volumes (renewable and non-renewable)
• Soil - unsaturated zone storage volumes
• River channels storage volumes
• Irrigation drainage returns and irrigation channel outfall returns
• Conveyance losses (seepage from channels)
• Seepage from streams to groundwater and vice versa
• Seepage from surface water features (dams, wetlands)
• Inflow to groundwater from aquifers outside of entity
• Self extracted water from minor catchment dams
• Evaporation from open water and wetlands
• Losses from minor catchment dams
• Groundwater discharge to ET

Download 2004-05 water cycle report: