MACQUARIE–CASTLEREAGH SURFACE WATER RESOURCE PLAN Surface water resource description Appendix A industry.nsw.gov.au Published by NSW Department of Industry Macquarie–Castlereagh surface water resource plan: Surface water resource description First published November 2018 INT18/171456 More information industry.nsw.gov.au Acknowledgments This document was prepared by Dayle Green. It expands upon a previous description of the Macquarie Valley published by the NSW Office of Water in 2011 (Green, Burrell, Petrovic and Moss 2011, Water resources and management overview – Macquarie catchment) The maps in this report were prepared by Bilal Hossain. They contain data sourced from: Murray–Darling Basin Authority © Commonwealth of Australia (Murray–Darling Basin Authority) 2012. (Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence) NSW Department of Primary Industries—Water © Spatial Services - NSW Department of Finance, Services and Innovation [2016], Panorama Avenue, Bathurst 2795 spatialservices.finance.nsw.gov.au NSW Office of Environment and Heritage Atlas of NSW Wildlife data © State of New South Wales through Department of Environment and Heritage (2016) 59-61 Goulburn Street Sydney 2000 www.biotnet.nsw.gov.au NSW Department of Primary Industries—Fisheries, Fish Community Status and Threatened Species data © State of New South Wales through Department of Industry (2016) 161 Kite Street Orange 2800 www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/species-protection/threatened-species-distributions-in-nsw © State of New South Wales through Department of Industry 2018. You may copy, distribute, display, download and otherwise freely deal with this publication for any purpose, provided that you attribute the Department of Industry as the owner. However, you must obtain permission if you wish to charge others for access to the publication (other than at cost); include the publication in advertising or a product for sale; modify the publication; or republish the publication on a website. You may freely link to the publication on a departmental website. Disclaimer: The information contained in this publication is based on knowledge and understanding at the time of writing (November 2018) and may not be accurate, current or complete. The State of New South Wales (including the NSW Department of Industry), the author and the publisher take no responsibility, and will accept no liability, for the accuracy, currency, reliability or correctness of any information included in the document (including material provided by third parties). Readers should make their own inquiries and rely on their own advice when making decisions related to material contained in this publication. Surface water resource description Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Overview of the plan area ........................................................................................... 1 1.2 Water management units............................................................................................ 3 1.3 History of water management in the Macquarie–Castlereagh WRPA ..................... 3 2. Regional setting ................................................................................................................. 7 2.1 Climate ......................................................................................................................... 7 2.2 Land use ...................................................................................................................... 9 2.3 Topographic description .......................................................................................... 12 2.4 Streamflow characteristics ....................................................................................... 16 3. Environmental assets ...................................................................................................... 21 3.1 Parks and reserves ................................................................................................... 21 3.2 Wetlands .................................................................................................................... 21 3.3 Hydrologic indicator sites ........................................................................................ 22 3.4 High ecological value aquatic ecosystems ............................................................. 22 4. Water quality .................................................................................................................... 26 4.1 Background ............................................................................................................... 26 4.2 Upland region ............................................................................................................ 27 4.3 Midland region .......................................................................................................... 27 4.4 Lowland region ......................................................................................................... 27 5. Riparian and geomorphic condition ............................................................................... 28 6. River operations and management ................................................................................. 30 6.1 Storages and regulating structures ......................................................................... 30 6.2 Licensed water use ................................................................................................... 34 6.3 Water trading ............................................................................................................. 42 6.4 Environmental water ................................................................................................. 43 Glossary .................................................................................................................................. 46 References............................................................................................................................... 49 NSW Department of Industry | INT18/171456 | i Surface water resource description Tables Table 1: Land use in the Macquarie–Castlereagh WRPA ..................................................... 10 Table 2: Regulated river share components for the Macquarie–Castlereagh WRPA 2016 34 Table 3: Unregulated share components for the Macquarie–Castlereagh WRPA 2016 ..... 39 Table 4: Town water supply entitlements from unregulated water sources ....................... 41 Figures Figure 1: Macquarie–Castlereagh Water Resource Plan Area (SW11) .................................. 2 Figure 2: Location of water sources of the Macquarie–Castlereagh WRPA ......................... 4 Figure 3: Average annual rainfall in the Macquarie–Castlereagh WRPA .............................. 7 Figure 4: Average monthly rainfall for selected stations ....................................................... 7 Figure 5: Average annual evaporation across the Macquarie–Castlereagh WRPA .............. 8 Figure 6: Average monthly evaporation at Trangie 1889–2016 .............................................. 9 Figure 7: Land use of the Macquarie–Castlereagh WRPA ................................................... 11 Figure 8: Sub-regions of the Macquarie–Castlereagh WRPA .............................................. 12 Figure 9: Annual flow in the Macquarie River at Dubbo 1915–2015 .................................... 16 Figure 10: Daily flow in the Macquarie River at Dubbo ........................................................ 17 Figure 11: High, median and low daily flows in the Macquarie catchment ......................... 18 Figure 12: Annual flow in the Castlereagh River at Mendooran 1913-2010 ........................ 19 Figure 13: High, median and low daily flows in the Castlereagh River at Mendooran ....... 20 Figure 14: Instream values for the Macquarie–Castlereagh WRPA ..................................... 24 Figure 15: Distribution of threatened fish species within the Macquarie–Castlereagh WRPA ....................................................................................................................................... 24 Figure 16: Endangered ecological communities in the Macquarie–Castlereagh WRPA .... 25 Figure 17: Water quality condition of the Macquarie–Castlereagh WRPA .......................... 26 Figure 18: Native riparian vegetation cover in the Macquarie–Castlereagh WRPA ............ 28 Figure 19: Geomorphic recovery potential in streams in the Macquarie–Castlereagh WRPA ....................................................................................................................................... 29 Figure 20: Burrendong Dam storage levels 1993-2016......................................................... 30 Figure 21: Windamere Dam storage levels 1985-2016 .......................................................... 31 Figure 22: Location of weirs in the Macquarie–Castlereagh WRPA .................................... 33 Figure 23: Distribution of regulated entitlement in the Macquarie–Castlereagh WRPA .... 35 Figure 24: Long term simulated water availability for the Macquarie-Cudgegong River ... 36 Figure 25: Water availability in the Macquarie Regulated River .......................................... 37 Figure 26: Water usage in the Macquarie Regulated River .................................................. 37 Figure 27: Water availability in the Cudgegong Regulated