Status of groundwater caps
The status of groundwater caps in Australia is not consistent across Australia
. Tasmania , for example, has no caps (the resource is not currently licensed
and only slightly developed). In contrast, Western Australia has caps on all
its groundwater management units. The other states and territories have a combination
of capped and uncapped groundwater management units or unincorporated areas.
There are no caps (provisional or absolute) on three unincorporated areas in
Victoria, 18 groundwater management units in Queensland, all 17 groundwater
management units in Tasmania, three in the Northern Territory and 31 in South
Australia. These are generally areas where the aquifer is uneconomical to develop
or which have a low level of development.
Australia-wide, approximately 80 per cent (291 of 367) of groundwater management
units have caps. Of those, 169 (58 per cent) have absolute caps and 121 (42
per cent) have provisional caps.
The majority of groundwater management units in Australia (252 of 291 with
caps) have a groundwater cap that represents the sustainable yield. Groundwater
management units with a final or draft management plans in operation generally
have an absolute cap. In some parts of Western Australia and the Northern Territory
, provisional caps are also used where additional work is planned to assess
the absolute cap.
Western Australia and Northern Territory —groundwater caps
Unincorporated areas in Western Australia and the Northern Territory have
provisional caps that are based on analytical assessments. In unincorporated
areas in other states and territories, there is no cap on groundwater extraction,
although there are many rules that are either statewide or regionally based
to ensure that groundwater extraction does not impact on other groundwater
users or other environmental water requirements. In general, unincorporated
areas include aquifers of poor quality water or low yields, or exist in areas
where there is little demand for resources and so the resource has not been
developed. For this reason, the fact that there is no cap in these areas does
not mean that the resource is not being managed sustainably.
New South Wales and Victoria —groundwater caps
In New South Wales and Victoria there are some groundwater management units
where entitlements are being restructured to ensure that the cap represents
the sustainable yield. In some groundwater management units this is based on
reducing entitlements by removing sleeper licences and by reducing licenses
to actual extracted volumes if they are not being wholly used. In other areas,
entitlements are being gradually reduced to bring groundwater use (not necessarily
the groundwater entitlement volume) back to a more sustainable regime.
South Australia —groundwater caps
In South Australia the sustainable yields and caps are subject to review every
five years and may be adjusted at that time. In one instance, the Southern
Basins Prescribed Wells Area on Eyre Peninsula , an annual provisional cap
is based on the previous five years of recharge to the groundwater resource.
Tasmania —groundwater caps
No caps on groundwater extractions exist due to the current low level of groundwater
development.
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