Water Plan (Baffle Creek Basin) 2010

This water plan may be cited as the Water Plan (Baffle Creek Basin) 2010.

The following are the purposes of this plan—

to define the availability of water in the plan area;

to provide a framework for sustainably managing water and the taking of water;

to identify priorities and mechanisms for dealing with future water requirements;

to provide a framework for minimising, where practicable, degradation in natural ecosystems;

to regulate the taking of overland flow water.

The dictionary in schedule 9 defines particular words used in this plan.

This plan applies to the area shown as the plan area on the map in schedule 1.

Each part of the plan area that is within a catchment area shown on the map in schedule 2 is a catchment area for this plan.

Each part of the plan area that is within a subcatchment area shown on the map in schedule 2 is a subcatchment area for this plan.

The exact location of the boundaries of the plan area, catchment areas and subcatchment areas is held in digital electronic form by the department.

The information held in digital electronic form can be reduced or enlarged to show the details of the boundaries.

A node mentioned in this plan is a place on a watercourse in the plan area.

The location of each node is shown on the map in schedule 1 and described in schedule 3.

Each node is identified on the map by a number.

This plan applies to the following water in the plan area—

water in a watercourse, lake or spring;

overland flow water.

Water is to be allocated and sustainably managed in a way that—

recognises the natural state of watercourses, lakes and springs has changed because of the taking of, and interfering with, water; and

seeks to achieve a balance in the following outcomes—

the general outcomes mentioned in section 11;

the ecological outcomes for the plan area mentioned in section 12 or 13.

Each of the following is a general outcome for water in the plan area—

to provide for the use of all existing water entitlements and other authorisations to take or interfere with water;

to provide for the continued use of all existing overland flow works;

to make water available to support—

population growth in towns and communities dependent on surface water resources in the plan area; and

growth in industries, including agriculture and aquaculture, dependent on surface water resources in the plan area; and

stock or domestic purposes in the plan area;

to maintain flows that support water related aesthetic, economic and recreational values in the plan area, including, for example, tourism;

to support, as far as practicable, surface water and groundwater interactions;

to encourage continual improvement in the efficient use of water;

to support water-related cultural values in the plan area, including the values of the traditional owners of the plan area.

Each of the following is an ecological outcome for water in the plan area—

to minimise changes to the natural variability of flows that support aquatic ecosystems;

to provide for the continued capability of one part of an aquatic system to be connected to another, including by maintaining flows that—

allow for the movement of native aquatic species between riverine, floodplain, wetland, estuarine and marine environments; and

support natural processes such as breeding, growth and migration in riverine, floodplain, wetland, estuarine and marine environments; and

support river-forming processes;

to minimise changes to natural variability in water levels to support natural ecological processes, including maintaining refugia associated with waterholes and lakes;

to minimise adverse impacts on aquatic ecosystems immediately downstream of new water resource development;

to improve understanding of the matters affecting flow ecology responses of ecosystems within the plan area.

In this section—

refugia means the habitat required by a species during a time of stress, for example, drought.