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A Regulatory Framework for Groundwater Management in a Drying South West: Draft Report for Consultation 27 March 2014

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A Regulatory Framework for Groundwater Management in a Drying South West: Draft Report for Consultation 27 March 2014 DRAFT A Regulatory Framework for Groundwater Management in a Drying South West: Draft Report for Consultation 27 March 2014 Michael Bennett and Alex Gardner Faculty of Law, The University of Western Australia DRAFT NATIONAL CENTRE FOR GROUNDWATER RESEARCH & TRAINING GPO Box 2100 ADELAIDE SA 5001 Australia p: +61 8 8201 5509 f: +61 8 8201 5635 [email protected] www.groundwater.com.au DRAFT Contents Preface to Draft Report ................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... vii Executive summary ...................................................................................................................... viii Part I: Setting the Scene 1. Groundwater policy and regulation ............................................................................................. 1 1.1 Policy objectives for groundwater management ..................................................................... 1 1.2 Legal models for groundwater management .......................................................................... 3 1.3 Western Australia’s regulatory framework.............................................................................. 4 1.4 Water law reform in Western Australia ................................................................................. 15 2. Groundwater challenges in a drying South West ...................................................................... 17 2.1 Water resources of the South West ..................................................................................... 17 2.2 The drying trend and its impacts on water resources ........................................................... 17 2.3 Future scenarios for groundwater in the South West ........................................................... 26 Part II: Elements of an Improved Regulatory System 3. Overview of regulatory issues and reforms ............................................................................... 28 4. Broader regulatory coverage .................................................................................................... 30 4.1 Unlicensed water use in a drying climate ............................................................................. 30 4.2 Basic landholder rights - domestic garden bores ................................................................. 30 4.3 Commercial plantations ....................................................................................................... 32 5. Better groundwater planning ..................................................................................................... 36 5.1 Statutory water plans and sustainable extraction limits ........................................................ 36 5.2 A duty to consider and address risks from climate change .................................................. 38 5.3 Sharing groundwater with the environment in a drying climate ............................................ 41 5.4 Links between groundwater planning and other planning processes ................................... 46 6. Flexible water entitlements ....................................................................................................... 49 6.1 The need for flexibility in a drying climate ............................................................................ 49 6.2 Problems with the existing entitlements system ................................................................... 49 6.3 An alternative approach: share-based entitlements ............................................................. 55 6.4 Risk assignment and compensation .................................................................................... 59 6.5 Improved water accounting .................................................................................................. 61 7. Greater use of water markets ................................................................................................... 65 7.1 Water markets and climate change adaptation .................................................................... 65 7.2 Allocating groundwater ........................................................................................................ 66 7.3 Trading groundwater ........................................................................................................... 72 iii DRAFT 8. Other issues ............................................................................................................................. 77 8.1 Regulation of managed aquifer recharge ............................................................................. 77 8.2 Administrative reforms ......................................................................................................... 77 Appendix A ................................................................................................................................ 79 Appendix B ................................................................................................................................ 80 Appendix C ................................................................................................................................ 81 Appendix D ................................................................................................................................ 82 Appendix E ................................................................................................................................ 84 Appendix F ................................................................................................................................ 86 Appendix G ............................................................................................................................... 87 Appendix H ................................................................................................................................ 89 References ................................................................................................................................... 91 List of figures Figure 1: Water resources of the South West ............................................................................... viii Figure 2: When is a licence required to take groundwater?............................................................. 9 Figure 3: Rainfall trend in Western Australia (1970-2012) ............................................................. 18 Figure 4: Annual rainfall in SWWA (1900-2013) Figure 5: Winter rainfall in SSWA (1900-2013) ............................................................................. 18 Figure 6: Streamflow to Perth Dams (1911-2011) ......................................................................... 20 Figure 7: Water sources for the Integrated Water Supply System (1940-2023)............................. 21 Figure 8: Gnangara Mound (superficial aquifer) depletion (1979-2009) ........................................ 23 Figure 9: Yarragadee Aquifer (deeper aquifer) pressure levels (1973-2011) ................................. 24 Figure 10: Water table trend in the southern Perth Basin (1980-2007) ......................................... 24 Figure 11: Projected water table trend in the southern Perth Basin (CSIRO mid-range scenario) . 27 Figure 12: Unlicensed use crowds out licenced use in a drying climate ........................................ 30 Figure 13: Comparison between 1987 CSIRO scenario for Perth and average rainfall ................. 39 Figure 14: Non-compliant sites on the Gnangara Mound (% of total sites) .................................... 43 Figure 15: Recognising over-allocation: adjustment to allocation limits in a drying climate ........... 49 Figure 16: The Variable Groundwater Abstraction Rule ................................................................ 53 Figure 17: Current entitlements vs NWI entitlements .................................................................... 56 List of tables Table 1: Examples of provisions in South West groundwater allocation plans ................................ 5 Table 2: Common conditions on groundwater licences in the South West .................................... 10 Table 3: Recognised over-allocation in South West groundwater management areas (2014) ....... 25 Table 4: Factors affecting watertable decline on the Gnangara Mound ......................................... 33 Table 5: Existing regulatory mechanisms to address over-allocation ............................................ 50 iv DRAFT Table 6 : Over-allocation in Collie Groundwater Area (2009-2014) ............................................... 52 Table 7 : Gnangara groundwater system: licenced entitlements in over-allocated areas .............. 54 Table 8: Contributions of major water sources to the Perth metropolitan area water supply.......... 54 Table 9: Licenced entitlements in over-allocated areas, Wanneroo .............................................. 54 Table 10: Examples of NWI-consistent water access entitlements ................................................ 56 Table 11: Examples of rules for water allocations against water access entitlements ................... 57 Table 12: Availability of third party appeals against decisions to grant water licences in Australia 78 v DRAFT Preface to Draft Report The South West of Western Australia – which we define broadly to include
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