Water planning process
In July 2023, Badu Advisory reviewed the Northern Territory’s implementation of the National Water Initiative (NWI) about water planning.
They concluded that the NT’s water planning processes are consistent with the rules of the NWI and subsequent guideline documents.
Read the Badu report PDF (864.1 KB).
Review of the implementation of NWI
Badu assessed the components of the NWI commitments and guideline documents about the NT water planning process and observed the following:
- the type of specification of existing water extraction licences in the NT is currently appropriate for the context
- statutory water allocation plans are progressively being developed for areas where there is emerging demand and where there is the most competition for the use of groundwater:
- outside those areas, NT-wide policies and procedures are being used to guide consistent decision making
- trading of water extraction licences is available in areas covered by water allocation plans
- the water planning processes seek to balance social, economic and environmental values
- research and scientific assessments are carried out to develop knowledge to support planning processes
- community engagement is carried out as a part of the planning processes
- Aboriginal water reserves are established under water allocation plans.
Actions for continuous improvement
Water planning is a cyclical process. It's subject to continual evaluation and refinement that ensures existing needs are being met through contemporary best practice, and emerging needs are proactively identified.
The Badu review identified 7 focus areas for future improvement.
The department has identified the following actions to guide ongoing improvements to water planning processes over the coming years.
Early and ongoing stakeholder engagement
The review identified that fit-for-purpose stakeholder engagement hinges on early, ongoing and meaningful engagement.
Opportunities to strengthen engagement
The recent experiences in stakeholder engagement can be used to identify and inform a continuous improvement and adaptive management approach to future stakeholder engagement processes.
While public engagement will continue through Have Your Say and other government forums, Government’s commitment to fund the department’s Building the Base initiative has allowed the department to:
- strengthen its capabilities for effective engagement with stakeholders
- improve communication about its water science and regulatory processes with the creation of dedicated positions in the Water Resources Division during 2022-23.
Additional support for effective engagement
The recruitment of additional scientists will strengthen the capability of the team.
The new resources will support targeted, appropriate engagement programs that focus on the people most directly affected by a water plan.
Engagement through water advisory committees
Water advisory committees will continue to contribute and advise on specific water plans.
The department recognises there is opportunity to consider the membership of these committees to better represent the people most directly affected, with:
- stronger landholder involvement
- business development
- greater representation of Aboriginal people.
Read more about the water advisory committees on the Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security website.
Changing the way information is presented
Results of this effort are contained in some of the first productions created in language to assist Aboriginal people to understand how we manage water and the alignment of planning documents.
To view one of these videos in one of the videos in English or Eastern Kriol, read water management.
Water interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
The Territory is unique in Australia due to its higher Aboriginal population with close ties to land and water.
The review found that any update of the NWI will likely focus more on the water interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Water interests focus areas
The department is actively collaborating with land councils to involve Aboriginal people in water planning, especially in high priority areas and in areas outside major aquifers where remote communities rely on groundwater.
With government support through the Building the Base initiative, the department is improving engagement with Aboriginal communities by creating Aboriginal reference groups.
These groups will blend scientific research with traditional knowledge to better understand our water resources, focusing on protecting water-related cultural values.
Local Aboriginal businesses are helping establish these reference groups alongside land councils.
Enough time for water planning
The review identified that water planning can only be successful with the opportunity for locals to understand and accept its outcomes.
This happens when stakeholders stay actively involved from the start of planning through implementation.
The department acknowledges past challenges in balancing consultation time with plan completion, particularly regarding water allocation plans and advisory committees.
Flexibility is key in addressing these challenges to accommodate specific groups.
Improving the planning process
As a part of improving the planning processes, the department reset its approach to water planning in late 2022. The core water planning that directly align with the department’s legislative responsibilities reflect the change in approach, read more about it on the NT Government website.
Planning processes now provide the time to engage with stakeholders early in the water planning process and adequate time required to implement the actions and remain engaged as we continue to develop knowledge of our water resources and how the resource responds to water use.
In extending its approach to water planning, the department will publish more detailed information on how water planning activities are carried out in the Territory and how these will be applied to priority water resources.
Precautionary decision making outside water allocation plan areas
The review identified that fit-for-purpose water planning is required due to the size and limited demand for water in many areas of the Territory, therefore consistent with NWI, policy positions or rules for making decisions about access to water may be more appropriate than plans.
The department is continuing to both expand areas covered by water allocation plans and develop policy that guides decision making outside plan areas.
Five water allocation plans have been declared across the Territory as at September 2023, with water allocation plans under development for the Georgina Wiso, Western Davenport, and Mataranka regions.
Early planning has also started for the Adelaide River Catchment and Flora areas.
Policy
Policies guiding decision making are continuing to be developed and reviewed.
Most recently the department has developed the Surface Water Take – Wet Season Flows policy.
The policy will support precautionary decision making on applications for water extraction licences to take surface water during the wet season, and ensure extraction is undertaken in a sustainable way. The draft policy was released for public consultation on 15 November 2022 and closed 9 January 2023.
For more information, go to the Have Your Say website.
Fit for purpose water access entitlement and trading systems
The review identified that while development levels remain relatively low, the NT water-licensing regime should focus on ensuring water licences are well-specified and basic information about water licences and associated water use is clear, reliable, transparent and publicly accessible.
The review also identified the success of the current approach of reviewing and removing unused water extraction licences as a continuing priority.
The NT has around 600 water licences, regulating the extraction of more than 600,000 mega litres of water per year.
The department maintains a freely available public register of these licences on the Water Licensing Portal.
The department continues to refine the portal in response to user feedback for easier online access to water licence information.
Water trading
Unlike other parts of Australia, water is still available for allocation under a water licence and in many areas the level of actual water use reported through licences is significantly lower than licence entitlements.
The NT has trading system in plan areas and there is a trading register. Read more about water trading and the register, including rules and responsibilities.
Recovery of unused licensed water entitlements
In 2020, the government approved the policy on recovery of unused licensed water entitlements. This establishes the process carried out by the department and the Controller of Water Resources to recover unused licensed water entitlements by reducing the maximum annual entitlement of a water extraction licence.
This was most recently applied in late 2022 when the controller recovered more than 14,000 ML per year of unused entitlements. The implementation of this policy will continue and supports best practice water resource management across the Territory.
Read the policy PDF (830.3 KB) and procedure PDF (320.6 KB).
You can also get a print friendly factsheets in the following languages:
The department’s commitment to annual water resource reports will increase transparency on regional water use and compliance.
Aligning science with desired plan outcomes in each plan area
The review identified the need to link the technical and scientific assessments with early stakeholder discussions to ensure the assessments address key matters of interest to stakeholders.
The department accommodates eminent regional water, plant and ecological scientists whose technical and scientific expertise inform the water planning processes.
The department’s water scientists and geospatial analysts have produced more than 2,000 technical resource assessment reports and associated mapping products across the Territory and the department has strong established research partners locally and nationally, available in Territory Stories.
Advanced water models of water resources are used to predict the impact of potential of water use to ensure changes are within acceptable levels and the department is regularly monitoring the resource to ensure that this remains within expected levels.
Water licences incorporates conditions that require water users to adjust to remain with acceptable levels in order to continue to take water.
Improved scientific research, monitoring and field investigations underpin the management of water resources in water allocation plan areas.
The research areas are identified throughout the planning process including during stakeholder engagement discussions, independent reviews conducted by research institutions and as part of ongoing scientific advancement within the department.
Through the Territory Water Plan, the department will accelerate its existing water science program to support best practice water resource management and sustainable development.
Strategic partnerships and stakeholder engagement
Strategic partnerships with external researchers and research agencies will be used to leverage investment into applied science to address the key matters of interest to stakeholders.
The department acknowledges the importance of aligning scientific research with stakeholder expectations and vice versa.
The department’s commitment to early and ongoing engagement with stakeholders will ensure that research informs knowledge and decisions to be communicated, understood, accepted and actioned.
The resetting of the water planning process and water planning schedules discussed above will support this alignment with greater opportunity for key stakeholders to hear directly from our scientists and for our scientists to engage with the holders of traditional water knowledge.
Read the Territory Water Plan on the Water Security website.
Implications of using groundwater storage
The review identified that in the NT, significant volumes from groundwater storage may be allocated in systems that have low recharge, especially in arid areas where surface water availability is very limited.
The Territory’s water resources are driven by the presence or absence of rainfall.
Top End
In the Top End, more than 95% of our annual rainfall occurs during the wet season.
Tropical cyclones and monsoon rains drive our weather systems, dropping an average of between 900 to 1,700mm of rain between October and April each year.
In the wet season, this water feeds large river systems to support some of the world’s last remaining free-flowing rivers, without interruption by the dams or levies so prevalent elsewhere. Aquifers are reliably topped up in the wet season and high rainfall fills ecologically important flood plains and wetlands.
For the rest of the year, there is minimal rain. Water from aquifers and human-made water storages sustain life in these areas through the dry season. Drought is infrequent and it is rare to see a run of failed wet seasons.
Semi-arid and arid regions
In contrast, in the semi-arid and arid regions of the Territory, there is much less rainfall, providing an average of 200–600mm a year. To sustain life in these environments we rely on our underground aquifers.
These aquifers vary in location and capacity, and replenishment occurs less frequently.
Recharge
Recharge is typically from large rainfall events, which slowly move through the relatively flat landscape, seeping through the dry river beds and flood out areas. In some cases, recharge rates are so slow they’re measured in geological time, with these deeper aquifers holding vast stores of water underground for centuries.
Balancing infrequent recharge with continuous water demand for arid zone areas necessitates a different water management strategy in arid regions that uses an aquifer’s storage. This issue is largely unique to the Territory where there are regional centres that solely depend on groundwater for their water supply.
Water allocation plans
The development of water allocation plans sets how much groundwater storage is used based on the specific consideration of the water resource being managed. Across plan areas, the vast majority of water remains in the environment and relatively small portions are used, even when considering the use over long term (100 years) with no recharge.
Framework
Outside of plan areas, the Northern Territory Water Allocation Planning Framework provides guidance on water allocation principles across the Territory.
The policy has been in place for a number of years and will be reviewed as part of the development of new legislation to replace the Water Act through the Territory Water Plan. Read the framework.