The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder acknowledges Australia’s traditional owners and respects their continued connection T: 1800 803 772 Commonwealth Environmental Water Office to water, land and community. E: [email protected] We pay our respects to them and W: www.environment.gov.au/water/cewo RESTORING AND PROTECTING THE their cultures and to their elders both @theCEWH UNREGULATED RIVERS OF THE past and present. Postal address: NORTHERN BASIN GPO Box 787, Canberra ACT 2601 2017–18 SNAPSHOT Above: Narran Lakes Cover: Western Floodplain - Toorale. Credit: Ecological Australia Back cover: Peron's Tree Frogs (Litoria peronii) – Toorale. Credit: B Martin Eco Logical Australia All images by Commonwealth Environmental Water Office unless noted otherwise. © Commonwealth of Australia, 2017 WAT412.0617 WAT412.0617 and run-off are much lower in this flat Summary of longer-term outcomes We use environmental landscape. Floodwaters spread out, creating under the Basin-wide Environmental water to improve the extensive floodplains, complex channels and Watering Strategy large areas of wetlands, which are home to health of our rivers, plants and animals that have adapted to live in Restore and maintain the right an extreme environment characterised by long conditions to support the spawning of floodplains and wetlands dry spells and occasional flooding. native fish, increase their movement between areas and improve the health The lower Balonne system and the Moonie, of their communities. Throughout the Murray–Darling Basin, Warrego and Paroo rivers run for less than half of Maintain the diversity of waterbirds and we deliver water to important locations the time and typically experience periods of no increase their populations through flow lasting months or even up to several years. to support the health of waterways and improved breeding opportunities. the many unique native plants, birds Each flow event is particularly significant in these systems. Increase the numbers of freshes and and other animals that depend on them bank-full events in the Border Rivers and to survive and thrive. The Barwon–Darling River receives inflows from the Barwon–Darling, and freshes and all the other northern rivers, so its flows are low floodplain flow events in the The diverse and rich natural environments of the more regular. Lower Balonne. A fresh event is an increase in a river’s water levels beyond unregulated rivers of the northern Basin—including Commonwealth environmental water is the base flow. It does not fill the river or the Condamine–Balonne, Warrego, Moonie and managed in partnership with state and local go over the bank. Barwon–Darling systems—support many unique delivery partners to improve connections plants and animals as well as domestic and between rivers, floodplains and wetlands, Maintain current levels of connectivity in agricultural water use, the cultural values and particularly to sites that support nationally the Moonie, Nebine and Warrego rivers. practices of local Aboriginal traditional owners, threatened species under the Environmental Maintain current forest and woodland and tourism and recreation. Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act vegetation, including river red gum, A vast network of rivers and channels across 1999 and state legislation, and wetlands of black box, coolibah, lignum shrublands south-west Queensland and north-west New South international or national significance. This water and non-woody vegetation communities. Increase growth of Wales join to form the Barwon–Darling River, which contributes to achieving environmental vegetation communities in river corridors, flows for around 1,900 km through semi-arid country outcomes as outlined in the Basin-wide wetlands and low-lying floodplains. to its junction with the Murray River at Wentworth. Environmental Watering Strategy—part of the implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. Rainfall in the elevated, ‘headwater’, parts of these What makes a river ‘unregulated’? catchments is the main source of flows. This rainfall is highly variable. As a result, run-off and river flows in the Unregulated rivers are those that do not have northern unregulated rivers are unpredictable and large public dams or other man-made the amount of water available to the environment structures for storing water and controlling— ‘regulating’—water availability. fluctuates considerably from year to year. An unregulated flow event does not come For most of their length, these rivers run like a maze from a controlled release of water from a of channels across a very flat landscape. Rainfall dam or weir but from rainfall and run-off from catchments flowing unimpeded through the system. Many water users hold unregulated entitlements Water availability Unregulated water in the northern Basin. Across the region, the entitlements Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder The volumes of water available to has substantial volumes of unregulated communities, food and fibre producers and entitlements—around 128 GL in long-term unregulated entitlements held for State governments have issued unregulated average terms. Mostly we use these environmental purposes are in proportion to water entitlements that specify when water can entitlements in-stream to supplement or extend the amount of water flowing in rivers and be extracted from rivers. In some river reaches, natural flow events to get the best possible streams following rainfall. When setting the once the river rises to the specified level, ecological benefits for river and wetland health. access conditions of unregulated entitlement holders can start pumping water entitlements, state governments set aside out. In other areas (including the Lower Balonne High levels of in-stream use are likely only in very some of the flows to ensure a base flow for and the Border Rivers) river managers must first wet years when there are large flow events that river health. We use Commonwealth water to declare an unregulated access period and meet entitlement access conditions for long supplement these flows. may specify how long water can be pumped periods. As for other water users, the actual Most of the water used by entitlement holders for or the volume available to each volume of Commonwealth environmental water in the northern unregulated rivers is pumped entitlement holder. available depends on the size and pattern of unregulated flow events during the year and on directly from rivers or from water that breaks Unregulated licences can also specify daily, the conditions of our water entitlements. out of rivers onto the floodplain during annual or multi-year use limits and restrict the unregulated flow events. Large-scale irrigation volumes entitlement holders can access during enterprises in the region generally extract planned flow events. Together, these access water when the opportunity arises into large conditions set a ceiling on how much water can on-farm storages (ring tanks) for later be extracted from a particular flow event and crop irrigation. over the long term. Darling River at Bourke. ■ the New South Wales National Parks Our partners and Wildlife Service ■ the New South Wales Department of The best approaches to managing Primary Industries water for the environment involve local ■ WaterNSW knowledge and the latest science. ■ Eco Logical Australia. Commonwealth environmental watering is The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office planned, delivered and managed in regularly attends community forums, events and partnership with individuals and groups in the committees within the catchments. We continue to unregulated rivers of the Northern Basin. forge local partnerships to ensure that community Partners include: groups, including Aboriginal traditional owners, ■ the Queensland Department of Natural have the opportunity to help shape the regional Resources and Mines planning and management of our delivery of environmental water over the long term. ■ the Queensland Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation To learn more about our work or offer suggestions for the use of environmental water, please contact ■ the New South Wales Office of Environment your local engagement officer on M: 0437 141 495 and Heritage or E: [email protected] Threatened flooplain plant found at Toorale. Monitoring and research at Toorale. Credit: AClements Pink Eared Duck (Malacorhynchus membranaceus) – Toorale. Credit: L Copeland - Eco Logical Australia THE UNREGULATED RIVERS OF THE NORTHERN BASIN Commonwealth Environmental Water Office The unregulated rivers of the undisturbed communities of this type in The Barwon-Darling River connects the lower New South Wales. The lakes have ecological floodplain rivers, lakes and wetlands of the Meeting the northern Basin cover a vast and cultural significance to Aboriginal people, northern Basin, providing a critical dry period environmental needs Outcomes snapshot area across southern including as a source of food and medicine and refuge and movement corridor for fish as a meeting place. and waterbirds. Its diverse in-stream habitats and of the northern Monitoring and evaluation activities are helping to identify what is working and what is Queensland and north-west hundreds of wetlands in anabranches, The Warrego catchment, along with the not. The results of these activities are considered in the planning and decision-making floodrunners, billabongs, distributary channels unregulated rivers New South Wales. Condamine–Balonne, supports the largest area processes of the Commonwealth