© Australian Capital Territory, Canberra 2019 Photos taken by David Jenkins, Mark Jekabsons, Danswell Starrs and Antia Brademann This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission from: Director‑General, Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate, ACT Government, GPO Box 158, Canberra ACT 2601. Telephone: 02 6207 1923 Website: www.environment.act.gov.au Accessibility The ACT Government is committed to making its information, services, events and venues as accessible as possible. If you have difficulty reading a standard printed document and would like to receive this publication in an alternative format, such as large print, please phone Access Canberra on 13 22 81 or email the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate at [email protected] If English is not your first language and you require a translating and interpreting service, please phone 13 14 50. If you are deaf, or have a speech or hearing impairment, and need the teletypewriter service, please phone 13 36 77 and ask for Access Canberra on 13 22 81. For speak and listen users, please phone 1300 555 727 and ask for Access Canberra on 13 22 81. For more information on these services visit www.relayservice.com.au B ACT WatER RESOURCE PLAN CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE 4.5 Part 5—Interception activities 17 TRadITIONAL CUSTODIANS D 4.6 Part 6—Planning for environmental watering 17 4.7 Part 7—Water quality objectives 17 1. INTRODUctION D 4.8 Part 8—Trade of water access rights 18 1.1 Overview of the ACT Water Resource Plan 1 4.9 Part 9—Approaches to addressing risks to water resources 18 2. THE ACT WatER RESOURCE PLAN AREA 3 4.10 Part 10—Measuring and monitoring 19 2.1 Description of the ACT 4.11 Part 11—Reviews of water resource plans 19 Water Resource Plan area 3 4.12 Part 12—Information used to prepare the 2.2 Water resource development in the WRP area 8 ACT Water Resource Plan 19 2.3 Water for the environment in the WRP area 11 4.13 Part 13—Extreme events 19 4.14 Part 14—Indigenous values and uses 19 3. ACT WatER PLANNING FRAMEWORK 12 3.1 The ACT Water Resources Act 2007 12 5. INDEXES FOR SURFacE WatER ANd GROUNDWatER 20 3.2 Water quality 13 5.1 Introduction to the indexes 20 Glossary of abbreviations and acronyms 21 4. SUMMARY OF THE ACT WRP AGAINST BASIN PLAN CHaptER 10 14 Water resource plan – surface water 22 4.1 Preliminary 14 4.2 Part 2—Identification of water resource WATER RESOURCE PLAN – GROUNDWATER 112 plan area and other matters 14 4.3 Part 3—Incorporation and application of long‑term annual diversion limit 14 ACT WATER RESOURCE PLAN APPENDICES FOR SURFacE WatER AND 4.4 Part 4—The sustainable use and GROUNDWatER PLANS 188 management of water resources 16 C ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE TRADITIONAL CUSTODIANS We would like to acknowledge the Ngunnawal people The approach of Traditional Custodians to caring and Ngunnawal Country. The ACT Government for the natural landscape, including water, can be acknowledges the Ngunnawal people as Traditional expressed in the words of Ngarrindjeri Elder, Tom Custodians of the ACT who have a strong connection Trevorrow: “Our traditional management plan was to culture and Country for thousands of years including don’t be greedy, don’t take any more than you need the Birragai Rock Shelter which is an old camp site and respect everything around you. That’s the dated back as far as 25,000 years ago. Ngunnawal management plan—it’s such a simple management Country is the northern end of the Australian Alps plan, but so hard for people to carry out.”1 where many ceremonies were conducted and is part of the Murray‑Darling Basin that is a traditional This traditional philosophy is widely held by Traditional pathway to neighbouring Aboriginal Nations. Custodians and respected and supported by the ACT. We also pay our respects to other Aboriginal Nations The preparation and implementation of the ACT Water who have cultural connections to the ACT region Resource Plans recognises the unique and distinct and surrounds including the Wolgalu, Ngarigu, cultural rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Gundungurra, Ngambri and Yuin. The ACT recognises peoples contained in s27(2) of the ACT Human Rights and acknowledges that the Traditional Custodians Act 2004. and their Nations in the ACT have a deep cultural, social, environmental, spiritual and economic The above is a critical and vital element of the ACT connection to their lands and waters. The ACT Water Resource Plan. understands the need for recognition of Traditional Custodian knowledge and cultural values in natural resource management associated with the ACT. Further research is required to assist in understanding Please Note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and providing for cultural flows. The ACT supports people should be aware that this report may the belief that cultural flows will provide beneficial contain images or names of deceased persons outcomes for Traditional Custodians. in photographs or printed materials. 1 Tom Trevorrow (2010) Murrundi Ruwe Pangari Ringbalin “River Country Spirit Ceremony: Aboriginal Perspectives on River Country”. 1. INTRODUctION This document and its package of supporting The introduction of the ACT Water Resource Plan instruments and texts constitute the ACT Water (WRP) sets out the water management arrangements Resource Plan for surface water and groundwater for both surface water resources and groundwater (Water Resource Plan). The water resource plan is the in the ACT to share water for consumptive use and key instrument through which several elements of the to meet environmental and water quality objectives. Murray‑Darling Basin Plan 2012 will be implemented in In doing so, it builds on the ACT statutory water the water resource plan area. planning arrangements and the ACT Water Strategy: Striking the Balance 2014–2044, which was developed S63 of the Water Act 2007 (Cth) requires a Basin State in consultation with key stakeholders and regional to prepare a water resource plan for each of its water communities. Much of the response is common to resource plan areas for accreditation. The water both the surface water WRP and the groundwater WRP. resource plan is the key instrument through which several elements of the Basin Plan are to be achieved. D ACT WatER RESOURCE PLAN 2. THE ACT WatER RESOURCE PLAN AREA 2.1 DESCRIptION OF THE For s10.03 of the Basin Plan, the following SDL resource units and water resources within those ACT WatER RESOURCE units are identified: Plan area > the Australian Capital Territory (surface water) In developing the ACT’s WRP it is critical to note the water resource plan area—the SDL resource unit geographical context and historical background named ‘Australian Capital Territory (surface water) of the ACT. The ACT broadly consists of two (SS1)’, and the water resources within that unit, as physiographic regions: the south‑west dominated described in s6.02 and Schedule 2 of the Basin Plan. by the Brindabella Mountain Range and the Australian Note that the surface water of the Googong Dam Alps; and the north‑east portion, the Werriwa Area (within the meaning of the Canberra Water Tablelands, which comprise upland plains with Supply (Googong Dam) Act 1974) is to be treated as if separate upland hills and basins. it were in the ACT. The establishment and planning of the ACT included > the Australian Capital Territory (groundwater) a focus on the provision of adequate water resources water resource plan area—the SDL resource unit for Australia’s Federal seat of government. named ‘Australian Capital Territory (Groundwater) (GS52)’, and the water resources within that unit, as The location of the ACT within the Upper described in s6.03 and Schedule 4 of the Basin Plan. Murrumbidgee River catchment and the subsequent purpose of the Territory’s water use affect how and Because of the unique nature of the ACT water how much water resources are used. The ACT is the resources it is necessary to apply s3.04 of the largest urban area within the Basin. Its land use is Basin Plan which provides for flexibility relating predominantly national parkland with a large urban to boundaries of water resource plans. Therefore, and administrative centre, with limited agriculture. the identification of the water resource plan area There are four water storage/supply dams (Corin, (requirement s10.02) is described as: Bendora, Cotter and the Googong Dam (latter located > the Australian Capital Territory (surface water) in NSW) on the Cotter River and the Queanbeyan River, water resource plan area and all surface water tributaries of the upper Murrumbidgee River. resources in that area as described in Part 2 of Chapter 3 of the Basin Plan, and The Upper Murrumbidgee catchment (within which the ACT is located) is a regulated catchment that > the Australian Capital Territory (groundwater) covers an area of 13,000 km2, of which the ACT water resource plan area and all groundwater occupies 2,400 km2. The Murrumbidgee River rises resources in that area as described in Part 2 in the south‑western part of the catchment in NSW of Chapter 3 of the Basin Plan. within the Snowy Mountains. It flows some 30 km before reaching Tantangara Dam, where much of its flow is diverted to Lake Eucumbene under the Snowy Mountains Scheme. The river then flows downstream for 150 km through the ACT and NSW, to discharge into Burrinjuck Dam to the north of the ACT. 2 ACT WatER RESOURCE PLAN Characteristics of ACT rivers and streams The Murrumbidgee River and its tributaries is a key geomorphic, hydrological and ecological feature of In the context of the Murray–Darling Basin, the the ACT.