Berry Springs water allocation plan

The plan applies to an area of 105km² within the Darwin rural WCD, enclosing the Berry Springs dolostone aquifer system.

The surface water resources and the aquifer system in this area are connected.

Extraction from either system affects water supplies for ecosystems that depend on dry season flows in the Darwin River and Berry Creek.

Plan objectives

The main objectives of the plan are to:

• maintain groundwater levels and water quality
• improve aquifer management
• protect the environment
• support Aboriginal culture and communities
• ensure regional economic development is sustainable.

For more information about the objectives, strategies and performance indicators, read the Berry Springs water allocation plan 2016 – 2026.

Announced allocations

Get announced allocations for:

• 2022 to 2023 PDF (950.8 KB)
• 2020 to 2021 PDF (748.6 KB).

For 2017 to 2020 water years, announced allocations was at 100%.

State of the water resource

The state of the water resource report is an annual summary of the water resource within the Berry Springs 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 creek 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 Darwin rural WCD are:

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

Read the Government Gazette - G25 PDF (124.8 KB) that was published on 19 June 2019.

Water resources

Groundwater and surface water in the plan area are highly connected.

Five major springs discharge from the Berry Springs aquifer system.

These include:

• Parson Spring
• Parson Spring number 1
• Twin Farm Spring
• Berry Springs complex.

In one area of the plan, the Darwin River and aquifer intersect.

This region includes Lok Landji Billabong, Twin Farm and Parson springs. If tidal levels from the Darwin River rise or groundwater levels fall significantly, salt water could reach the aquifer.

Lake Deane, to the north of Berry Springs, is thought to rely on groundwater discharge. In this northern region, Goose Lagoon and surrounding areas are also groundwater discharge points. In the southern region, Woodfords Lagoon relies on groundwater discharge in the dry season.

The discharge flow from the aquifer:

• is approximately 250L/s in the early dry season
• drops to 10L/s in the late dry season.

This flow is thought to contribute to the Darwin River flow later in the dry season. A number of temporary creeks and rivers are sustained during the early dry season.

Surface water

The 2 major watercourses which cross the plan area are the:

• Darwin River to the west
• Berry Creek to the east.

The Blackmore River also intersects the western boundary of the plan area.

Lake Deane which is fed by groundwater discharge is a large lagoon in the northeast sector of the plan area and Woodford Lagoon is near the southeast boundary of the area.

There is also another smaller artificial surface water body (Goose Lagoon) within the Territory Wildlife Park, and the man-made Lake Barden is located adjacent to Lake Deane.

Berry Creek usually flows from November to July in response to wet season runoff, and ceases to flow for the remainder of the year.

In the late dry season, the upper parts of Berry Creek and Darwin River turn into separate pools of water, and their upper catchments dry up. However, they remain more continuous as they flow northwards towards the harbour.

Licences

There are 2 licences for surface water extraction – for the Territory Wildlife Park and for aquaculture from Darwin River.

View licences.

Groundwater

There are 2 aquifer systems within the plan area hosted in different geological formations.

Due to their high level of connection, they operate as a single groundwater unit with 2 dominant layers – namely an upper layer of Cretaceous sands, sandy clays and clays which overlie the lower layer of the weathered dolostone aquifer.

The dolostone aquifer is a small oval shaped basin structure made up of weathered calcium magnesium carbonate sedimentary rock, similar to limestone.

The aquifer of the Berry Springs dolostone is typical of karstic aquifers, where chemical weathering has produced wide spread secondary porosity and permeability in the carbonates.

The carbonate aquifer is expected to have greatest permeability within this weathered zone, up to a maximum of 50 metres below the top of the formation. The karstic nature of the aquifer means that on a local scale groundwater flow is via preferential pathways.

Licence

Groundwater is the primary consumptive water resource and is mainly extracted for use as public water supply.

There are also licensed groundwater extractions associated with horticulture, tourism and irrigation of public green space.

View licences.

Aboriginal water reserves

The Berry Springs water allocation plan 2016 - 2026 was declared in August 2016. At the time, there was no government policy or legislation requiring an Aboriginal water reserve to be established.

Since 2019, the Water Act 1992 has required Aboriginal water reserves to be established if there is eligible Aboriginal land with access to the water resource when a water allocation plan is declared.

Advisory committee

The Berry Springs Water Advisory Committee assists the controller of water resources on the implementation and effectiveness of the plan.

They also help with the plan’s review and other matters referred to it by the controller.

Read more about the functions and members of the Berry Springs Water Advisory Committee.

Reports and publications

To find out more about the plan, get the:

• Berry Springs dolostone aquifer situation analysis report PDF (2.0 MB)
• socio-economic assessment report PDF (1.6 MB)
• groundwater resources of Berry Springs report PDF (3.4 MB)
• conservation, preservation and management of groundwater dependent ecosystems report PDF (8.0 MB)
• development of groundwater flow model report PDF (9.1 MB)
• Berry Springs water allocation plan area map with groundwater management and protection areas PDF (420.2 KB).

Maps

Berry Springs water monitoring network PDF (4.0 MB)

Contact

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

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