Communiqué No. 3, March 2008

Development of the Wide Bay Burnett Regional Water Supply Strategy is now underway. The strategy will identify options for how the region’s urban, industrial, mining and agricultural water demand will be met over the next 50 years.

The strategy is being developed in partnership between the Queensland Government and local governments, with the department as the lead agency. Regional Councils, major water service providers, and key water user groups in the region are represented on a strategy management committee that provides strategic policy direction throughout the process.

The fifth meeting of the Strategy Management Committee was held on 27 February 2008. This communiqué provides a summary of the matters discussed at this meeting and the overall progress of the strategy.

Short term water supply situation

• As a result of the recent critical water supply situation across the Wide Bay Burnett, a drought status report was prepared to provide information regarding the supply status for all towns in the Wide Bat Burnett region. This report identified towns with estimated depletion dates of less than 12 months if no further inflows occur. This report is periodically updated to ensure that towns approaching a critical situation are identified and alternative sources can be located.
• Prior to the recent summer rainfall, 12 towns were identified as having less than 12 months supply in reserve. Fortunately significant inflows into storages across the Wide Bay region has significantly improved this situation with only two towns still categorised as critical. These towns rely solely on groundwater reserves. The Department will continue to work with Regional Councils to achieve short and long term solutions for maintaining urban water supplies throughout the region.
• Recent rainfall across the region has restored water levels in storages across the region. A summary of current water storage levels is attached.
• Due to storage level recovery, critical water supply arrangements that had been activated for the Bundaberg, Upper Burnett, Barker Barambah, and Boyne River and Tarong Water Supply Schemes are no longer in force.

Urban and industrial demand study

• The department engaged MWH consultants to carry out an assessment of the existing water demands for urban and industrial purposes. They will also estimate the additional urban and industrial water demand anticipated to support regional growth for the next 50 years.
• MWH have collected and collated the raw data from all of the councils within the region. MWH have developed future demand scenarios based on population projections provided by local governments and the Planning Information and Forecasting Unit (PIFU) considering the implementation of proposed future efficiency initiatives.
• Seven representative local government areas (based on council boundaries prior to amalgamations) were modelled as case studies to inform the process of assessing demand management options for inclusion in appropriate water savings scenarios. Three scenarios are being developed as follows:
  • Low Savings Scenario – including current state and local programs together with current legislation and the Water Efficiency Labelling Scheme.
  • Medium Savings Scenario – including further demand management measures that have been identified by the department as being opportunities for state wide implementation.
  • High Savings Scenario – including actions that could be implemented by a council that is actively pursuing water demand management.
• These scenarios highlight the most appropriate and/or required demand management options for use by the councils in order to achieve an appropriate level of reduction in demand, depending on the costs and benefits relating to reducing future capital works and increasing reliability of the water supply
• A technical working group has been established to provide feedback on the draft report provided by MWH. This group includes technical water engineering staff from local governments, water service providers and other state agencies (Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Infrastructure and Planning).
• A draft report of the study is due to be submitted to the department in April 2008. The demand management scenarios proposed in this report will be considered as part of the Water Supply/Demand Balance and Future Bulk Supply Option Study in developing strategies for meeting estimated future demands.

Rural demand study

• The department has engaged consultant Psi Delta to conduct an assessment of existing rural water use and forecast demands over the next 50 years for the region.
• The assessment will include:
  • identifying existing use and allocation of water for agricultural and mining purposes in the region
  • projected growth and diversification of agricultural industries in the region
  • identifying international trends and possible industry shifts in the future
  • identifying impacts on water demand from:
    • on farm water efficiency gains in the future and
    • water service provider plans to improve delivery efficiency in water supply schemes.
• A number of scenarios for rural water demand forecasts in the region are being developed and a statistical model will be used to predict future demand for the next 5, 15, 25 and 50 years by commodity and by region. The model will be capable of:
  • ‘What-if’ enquiries such as changes to growth rates, on farm water efficiency, changes in crop mix etc
  • providing forecast demand volumes by catchment and by industry
  • changes to assumptions in the model to examine the sensitivity of the overall future demands.
• Psi Delta surveyed irrigators across the Wide Bay Burnett region to seek their views about potential changes to the agricultural industry in the (short term) future. The survey was issued randomly, although consideration was given to ensuring all sectors and geographic locations within the agricultural industry were represented. The survey sought information regarding existing crop types and water use as well as predicted changes to water requirements in the future ( 5-20 years) - taking into account changing crop types and potential improvements in irrigation efficiency.
• A technical working group has also been established for this study and were consulted in drafting the irrigator survey and will review the draft report prepared by Psi Delta.
• The rural demand report is due for submission to the department in May 2008.

Water supply/demand balance and bulk water supply options study

• Following on from the rural and urban demand studies, the department intend to engage a consultant to complete a water supply/demand balance assessment. They will compare projected demands against existing water availability and propose a range of measures to ensure that both sides of the supply / demand equation are in balance into the future.
• A technical working group has been established to ensure the needs of various stakeholders, including local government, industry and agriculture are considered in developing proposed water supply options for the future.
• An economic, social, environmental and cultural technical working group will be established to assist in developing the multi criteria analysis. This will ensure the needs of the community and the environment are properly considered in assessing future water supply options.
• The results of this study will be used to establish proposed future water supply scenarios in the draft strategy.

Climate variability and climate change assessments

• The Strategy will consider the potential impacts of climate variability and change on available water supplies in the future.
• The Queensland Climate Change Centre of Excellence (QCCCE) is the State Government’s appointed expert body for climate change matters and has access to leading research and climate modelling work both nationally and internationally.
• The QCCCE has been engaged by the department to prepare a report on the:
  • historic climate trends, averages and extremes
  • climate change predictions using CSIRO predictions for climate averages and extreme events in the region and considering a range of emission scenarios
  • general circulation cycles that can be used in hydrological modelling to test the performance of existing and new water sources.
• The potential implications of climate variability and change on available water supplies across the region will be taken into consideration when comparing projected demands against existing available supplies in the water supply/demand balance assessment.

Current storage volumes in water supply schemes as at 4 April 2008

Water Supply Scheme	Storage	Storage capacity (ML)	Current volume in storage	% of capacity
Boyne River and Tarong	Boondooma Dam	204,200	104,100	51
Upper Burnett	Wuruma Dam	165,400	3,840	2
	John Goleby Weir	1690	1290	76
	Kirar Weir	9540	7,000	73
	Jones Weir	3720	3,180	76
	Claude Wharton Weir	12800	11,700	92
Bundaberg	Kolan Barrage	4020	4020	100
	Bucca Weir	11,600	7,090	61
	Fred Haigh Dam	562,000	204,700	36
	Ben Anderson Barrage	22,000	30,300	73
	Ned Churchward Weir	29,500	29,500	100
	Paradise Dam	300,000	135,700	45
Barker-Barambah	Silverleaf Weir	620	620	100
	Joe Sippel Weir	710	710	100
	Bjelke-Petersen Dam	134,900	22,200	16
Three Moon Creek	Cania Dam	88,500	10,500	12
Mary River	Tinana Barrage	4750	4750	100
	Mary Barrage	12,000	12,000	100
	Cedar Pocket Dam	730	730	100
	Borumba	46,000	46,000	100

Last reviewed 23 March 2011
Last updated 5 June 2008

Wide Bay Burnett Regional Water Supply Strategy

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