Katherine Tindall Limestone Aquifer water allocation plan

The water allocation plan applies to all surface water and groundwater within part of the Daly Roper Beetaloo water control district including the Katherine township.

This includes:

• groundwater discharge to surface water from the Tindall limestone aquifer within the catchment of the Katherine River
  • between the Ironwood and Wilden gauging stations on the Katherine River
• groundwater in the Tindall limestone aquifer within the catchment of the Katherine River
  • this excludes the catchments of Dry River and Durrinyan Creek.

Plan objectives

The main objectives of the plan are to:

• meet the environmental water needs of water dependent ecosystems
• protect Aboriginal cultural values associated with water by ensuring their water needs are met
• ensure security of supply for future public water supply and rural stock and domestic purposes
• provide access to water resources to support local Aboriginal economic development
• provide fair access to water to support regional economic development
• ensure sufficient water of appropriate quality is available to support recreation activities and community services.

For more information about objectives, strategies and performance indicators, read the Katherine Tindall Limestone Aquifer water allocation plan 2024 - 2026 PDF (5.5 MB).

Announced allocations

The following annual announced allocations (AA) apply in this plan area.

AA 2024-2025: Katherine Tindall Limestone notice PDF (761.6 KB)

Read more about AA.

State of the water resource

The state of the water resource report is an annual summary of the water resource within the Katherine plan area providing information about:

• the current status of the water resource
• how water is shared and used
• the activities undertaken to manage the water resource during 2022-23.

The report also includes an overview of:

• the geology of the resource/s
• climatic averages
• predicted and measured river and groundwater levels.

The department uses the predicted and measured comparisons as a quality control to ensure model predictions over time are in line with the plan requirements for the future health of the resource.

Beneficial uses

The beneficial uses of water in the Daly Roper Beetaloo water control district are:

• Aboriginal economic development
• agriculture
• aquaculture
• cultural
• environment
• industry
• mining activity
• petroleum activity
• public water supply
• rural stock and domestic.

Read the Government Gazette PDF (515.6 KB) that was published on 19 October 2022.

Water resources

This region experiences strong interaction between groundwater and surface water.

This includes groundwater contributing to important dry season river flows in the Katherine River and associated springs as a result of discharge from the Tindall limestone aquifer.

Surface water

Water management arrangements in the plan apply to surface water of the Katherine River, which come from the discharge from the Tindall limestone aquifer between Ironwood and Wilden Gauging stations.

Allocations

Surface water is allocated to environmental, cultural, rural stock and domestic, agriculture and industry beneficial uses.

Licences

There are current surface water licences for agricultural and industry uses. Water can be taken from the Katherine River at any time of the year.

For this reason they are managed as part of the Katherine Tindall limestone aquifer consumptive pool and not under surface water extraction policy.

They are treated like groundwater licences and managed in a similar way subject to the same annual announced allocation conditions.

All licences are made public on the Water Licence Portal.

Groundwater

In the plan area, the Tindall limestone aquifer is largely overlain by the younger Oolloo Dolostone and Jinduckin geological formations. Water recharge does not occur where these systems overlay (confined sections).

The Tindall limestone aquifer only receives recharge water where it is in direct contact with the ground surface (unconfined sections). Recharge generally occurs after a significant wet season rainfall.

Where the Tindall limestone aquifer receives recharge through sinkholes, there is a risk of contamination.

This aquifer is a cavernous system. Large volumes of water can be stored within the fractures and caverns of the formation. As water flows through, it discharges into many river systems, including the Katherine, Flora, Douglas and Roper rivers.

The fractures and caverns range from sub millimetres to large caves.

Allocations

The Katherine Tindall Limestone Aquifer water allocation plan has an estimated sustainable yield of 38,391 ML per year. The volume of water licensed for economic use is 30,296 ML per year.

Actual water use in the plan area reported for 2023-24 was 9,987 ML.

The water allocation plan includes a Aboriginal water reserve of 3,235 ML per year. The estimated allocation to rural stock and domestic is 1,964 ML per year.

The recovery of unused licensed water entitlements is underway in the Katherine region to make water available for further economic development.

Licences

All licences are made public on the Water Licence Portal.

Aboriginal water reserves

An Aboriginal water reserve is established under the plan.

The volume of water is 10% of the available consumptive pool, which is taken from the estimated sustainable yield.

This excludes the water allocated for public water supply and rural stock and domestic use. The volume of water is 3,235 ML per year.

Advisory committee

The Daly River Water Advisory Committee will provide advice and recommendations on the various plans to the department and minister.

For more information, go to the Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security website.

Maps, reports and publications

Get maps, reports and publications for this water allocation plan below.

Contact

For water planning enquiries, email waterresources@nt.gov.au.

If you have any questions about permits or licensing requirements in the area, email water.licensing@nt.gov.au.