Water trading

Water trading allows:

• current water users to buy and sell water to suit their business
• new businesses to buy water.

In Queensland, water can be traded either permanently or temporarily on a seasonal basis (called a ‘seasonal water assignment’). Water trading can include trading of supplemented water in a water supply scheme or unsupplemented water not managed in a scheme.

Water trading in Central Queensland can be done in the Fitzroy Basin and to a lesser degree in the Boyne River Basin (only seasonal water trading is allowed here, no permanent trading). Uptake of water trading is low in the Boyne River Basin.

We would like to understand if these water markets could be improved by changing or introducing trading rules.