1.3.3.1 Description


The total number of economic water-dependent assets in the preliminary assessment extent (PAE) of the Cooper subregion is seven (comprising 19 elements). These are:

  • one asset comprising three surface water access entitlements in SA (the water supply for the town of Innamincka)
  • six assets comprising 16 groundwater access entitlements grouped according to type and management zone or area in both Queensland and SA.

All assets are water dependent.

A water access right is defined as a perpetual or ongoing entitlement to exclusive access to a share of water from a specified consumptive pool as defined in the relevant water plan (Queensland Water Act 2000; Council of Australian Governments, 2004). Water access rights are tradeable with land in a bundled system, or may be tradeable without land in an unbundled system. The consumptive pool may be a body of groundwater or an interconnected set of surface water bodies. For a groundwater pool, access is by bores for domestic, stock, irrigation and/or other commercial uses, or for town water supplies. For surface waters, access is direct by pumping from a river or lake. Pool size and access right allocation of consumptive rights are subject to planning and management within zones, as used here to group the individual elements representing single bores and pumping locations into assets. Within the Cooper subregion, all water access rights are bores that supply pastoral stations and almost all are in the Queensland portion of the subregion.

A basic water right (stock and domestic) is a water right held by a rural landowner for domestic, on-farm purposes (Department of the Environment, 2015). Stock purposes are watering stock of a number that would normally be depastured on the land on which the water is used, including pets. Domestic purposes include use within a house and for irrigation of a garden not exceeding 0.25 ha that is cultivated for domestic use rather than sale. Stock and domestic do not include use for dairies, piggeries, feed lots, poultry or any other intensive or commercial use. They may apply to domestic and farm bores, or to pumps in rivers and lakes. In the Cooper subregion, all basic water rights are for bores on pastoral stations.

Table 11 shows the breakdown of water access entitlements (economic elements) for groundwater and surface water in the Cooper preliminary assessment extent (PAE). The locations of the groundwater economic assets are shown in Figure 20 .

Table 11 Summary of the water-dependent economic assets in the Cooper preliminary assessment extent (PAE)

All assets are water dependent.


Subgroup

Asset class

State or territory

Number of assets

Number of elements

Groundwater management zone

Basic water right (stock and domestic)

Queensland

4

14

Water access right

Queensland

1

1

Water access right

South Australia

1

1

Surface water management zone

Surface water feature used for water supply

South Australia

1

3

Total

7

19

Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 1)

Figure 20

Figure 20 Location of groundwater economic assets in the preliminary assessment extent (PAE) of the Cooper subregion

Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 1)

Last updated:
28 September 2018