VERY STRONG START FOR NEW WATER YEAR FOR NORTH QUEENSLAND IRRIGATORS

North Queensland irrigators from Mackay to Mareeba are expected to receive high to very high water allocations for the 2008/09 water year, which begins tomorrow.

Natural Resources and Water Minister Craig Wallace said irrigators in five North Queensland SunWater Water Supply Schemes were expected to get from 87% to 100% of announced allocations, with most getting 100%.

Mr Wallace said SunWater would be notifying irrigators with confirmed allocation figures in the next fortnight but final figures were likely to be very close to estimated allocations.

“The North’s irrigators will be able to implement their farm business plans with confidence - in the knowledge they have a very good water supply for the next growing season,” Mr Wallace said.

“Thanks to a good wet season and inflows into the region’s major water storages, we are looking good for the next 12 months.

“A good year for irrigators can add many millions of dollars to the economy of individual towns and cities and the region as a whole.

“Compared with other Queensland regions we are blessed with good water resources in the North.

“More and more people see North Queensland as a prime location to develop their agricultural, commercial and industrial businesses because of our water resources,” he said.

Mr Wallace, who is also Minister Assisting the Premier in North Queensland, has previously said North Queensland could be able to make up agricultural production lost due to drought in the southern Murray Darling Basin.

North Queensland Estimated Announced Allocations for 2008/09 are:

Estimated Water Supply Scheme Announced Allocations - 2008/09

Note * Mareeba Dimbulah – estimated AA value in conjunction with Carryover

Note ** Eton WSS water runs from April-March. AA is likely to reach 100% on 1 July 2008

Mr Wallace said the last three years had delivered mixed results across the whole North and Far North regions in terms of overall dam levels, but the North was travelling fairly well compared to other parts of the State.

“Queensland’s North received welcome rainfall during the traditional wet season between December and March.

“As a result, all our major storages are either full or very close to full thanks to plenty of good inflows,” he said,

North Queensland Dam Levels

“When you look at some of the southern regions of Queensland that are continuing to struggle with drought, it reinforces how extremely fortunate we are to live in an area that can usually count on good rainfall to replenish our water storages,” he said.

Region-by-region breakdown:

Mareeba Dimbulah Water Supply Scheme/Tinaroo Falls Dam

• The Mareeba Dimbulah Water Supply Scheme Irrigator Advisory Committee, SunWater and Department of Natural Resources and Water held a meeting last week to discuss the possibility of Carryover water to be made available. As a result of an application made on behalf or irrigators by SunWater, Carryover was approved by NRW in the scheme for the 2008-09 water year.
• With Carryover water being made available, the Medium Priority Announced Allocation for the scheme is estimated to be approximately 87% on 1 July 2008.
• The Tinaroo Falls Dam received significant inflows during the traditional wet season between January and March. On January 1, the dam was at 70% on February 1, it was 87% and on April 1 it peaked at 102%.

Burdekin Haughton Water Supply Scheme/Burdekin Falls Dam

• Once again, the Burdekin Falls Dam received major inflows during the early part of the year.

• During those flood periods the dam peaked at 182% capacity and was holding 3.33 million megalitres.
• At present the dam is currently holding the volume of around four and a half Sydney Harbours thanks to the dam catchment area which is the size of Victoria

Pioneer River Water Supply Scheme/Teemburra Dam

• The deluge in the Mackay region, while causing major flood damage in the residential areas of the city also brought much needed relief from a series of drought years.
• With major inflows during February and subsequent minor inflows, Teemburra Dam has been kept at full supply

Eton Water Supply Scheme/ Kinchant Dam

• The introduction of a change to the water year from commencing on the 1st July to commencing on the 1st April has benefited the scheme with growers now confident of water availability.
• The announced allocations for the Eton water supply scheme have increased steadily from 75 % to 99% over the past three months as water was able to be harvested from the Pioneer River to keep the Kinchant Dam topped up.
• The Eton Irrigation Advisory Committee has been very pleased that the long awaited changes to the water year have been such a success in the year of introduction.

Media inquiries: Paul Childs, Craig Wallace’s office, on 0407 131 654.