Mary Basin water plan consultation

The Water Plan (Mary Basin) 2024 (the new water plan) and supporting documents have been replaced following more than two years of community consultation and scientific assessments to ensure we meet local environmental, cultural, agricultural and urban water needs into the future.

The new water plan, along with the water entitlement notice (WEN) (PDF, 3.8MB) and water management protocol (PDF, 1.2MB) (the new protocol) provide a framework for sustainably managing and allocating surface water and groundwater (in the Cooloola Sandmass underground water management area) in the catchment.

The new water plan replaces the Water Plan (Mary Basin) 2006 (the existing water plan) and the new protocol replaces the Water Management Protocol (April 2021).

The new water plan contains new outcomes, strategies and measures to guide future decisions for the Mary Basin, whilst the protocol includes the rules and information that implement the new water plan. The WEN states amended and new water entitlements.

Summary of changes

The new water plan balances the water needs for environmental, social, cultural and economic purposes in the Mary Basin water plan area by:

• including contemporary environmental outcomes to protect the Mary Basin’s significant environmental assets and values, such as:
  • a new outcome to support freshwater flows to the marine waters of the Great Barrier Reef and the Ramsar-listed Great Sandy Strait wetland
  • the classification of environmental outcomes into their flow regimes (low, medium, high flows)
• improving the measures, objectives and strategies to enable effective decision-making when managing stream flows needed for healthy waterways. This includes a robust monitoring framework to support reporting and addressing knowledge gaps
• catering for the water needs of traditional owners, through the identification of 7100ML of unallocated water Indigenous reserve
• identifying cultural uses, values and aspirations with the inclusion of stand-alone cultural outcomes that:
  • provide water for the cultural, social and economic aspirations of traditional owners
  • ensure cultural sites of significance, species of cultural significance, ecosystems and waterways are preserved by maintaining the water flow they need
  • ensure consultation and collaboration with traditional owner communities on the management of water is ongoing
• including significant watercourse reaches as a strategy to protect specific cultural and environmental needs
• changing water entitlements to better meet seasonal water needs with more water trading opportunities; and provide more clarity, flexibility and equitable water access
• increasing the number of reporting nodes from 10 to 22, strengthening environmental assessment for the catchment
• identifying an additional 390ML of general unallocated water reserve (resulting in 2,400ML in total) which can be granted for any purpose
• removing the strategic water reserve associated with the former Traveston Dam proposal and instead reserving 70,485ML of strategic unallocated water for state purposes such as coordinated projects, projects of regional significance or town water supply.

How we engaged

A variety of engagement activities and communication tools were used during the development of the new water plan between 2021 to 2024, for example:

• individual meetings with stakeholder groups and communities
• on-Country meetings with traditional owners
• presentations at peak industry water engagement forums
• public submission opportunities
• website and social media communication
• publication of technical and research reports and educational material.

The department thanks everyone who got involved to help shape the new Mary Basin water plan. This included those who contributed to about 120 meetings throughout the review period and more than 200 formal submissions we received.

In 2021, 95 submissions were received on the preliminary public consultation notice which announced the replacement of the existing water plan. These submissions as well as the targeted consultation informed the development of the draft water plan and supporting documents.

In 2023, 110 formal submissions were received on the draft water plan on a range of matters. The submissions were generally supportive of the updated outcomes, measures and objectives in the draft water plan, and other comments identified areas that further consideration may be given to. Matters ranged from additional significant watercourse reaches, to environmental flows, to unallocated water and cultural outcomes, to the conversion rate for amendment of area-based water licences to a volume, and how the metering process works. All matters and how they have been addressed are discussed in depth in the Minister’s consideration report (2024) (PDF, 1.8MB).

Feedback received, including stakeholder submissions, have been considered in finalising the new water plan, water management protocol (PDF, 1.2MB), and the WEN (PDF, 3.8MB).

Further information

Read more about water management in the Mary Basin area.