Beneficial water use and declared areas

An important part of water quality management is to identify how the community values and uses a water resource.

Beneficial uses describe how a water resource benefits the community.

In the Northern Territory (NT), beneficial uses or values have been set for major aquifers and river catchments.

These values are then used to set water quality targets.

Categories

There are 10 categories used to describe values for groundwater and surface water.

The same water quality is not needed for all types of water use.

The categories are:

• agriculture - irrigation water for primary production, including related research
• aquaculture - water for commercial production of aquatic animals, including related research
• public water supply - water for drinking through community water supply systems
• environment - water to maintain the health of aquatic ecosystems
• cultural - water to meet aesthetic, recreational and cultural needs
• industry - water for industry and other uses not defined elsewhere
• rural stock and domestic - water for domestic and/or stock purposes
• mining activity - as defined in the Mining Management Act 2001 or a related purpose
• petroleum activity - the exploration, extraction or processing of petroleum under an NT or Commonwealth Act, or related purpose
  • find out how water is managed for oil and gas activities
• Aboriginal economic development - to provide water for Aboriginal economic development.

How it's declared

Beneficial uses and water quality objectives or guidelines can be declared under the Water Act 1992.

One or more beneficial use categories can be chosen for a water resource.

Beneficial uses may come with declared water quality objectives or guidelines based on scientific evidence or judgement.

These guidelines help protect, maintain and achieve long-term water quality.

Water management

Beneficial use declarations are used to developed water management plans.

The plans may:

• result in an aim to improve the current water conditions
• achieve different water quality in parts of a catchment or
• recognise that a water resource can't achieve a certain quality in the short term.

Beneficial use declarations are also used to inform waste discharge licences. They set the objectives or guidelines for a water resource to protect against unwanted water quality impacts.

Read more about waste discharge licences and other environmental approvals and licences.

Consultation

You can give input into the beneficial use declaration process as part of public consultation.

Declared areas

Beneficial use declarations form part of the legislative framework that assists in protecting and managing the NT's water resources.

The community decides how a particular water body should be used by choosing one or more beneficial use categories.