Water Plan (Condamine and Balonne) 2019

The environmental water plan outcomes for this plan are—

to maintain the probability of being able to take surface water to which this plan applies under a water entitlement held only for providing benefit to the environment; andExamples of a water entitlement held only for providing benefit to the environment—

• a water entitlement held by CEWH

• a water entitlement held only for protecting and restoring the health of Murray-Darling Basin ecosystems

to maintain and, if possible, improve flows of water to which this plan applies that support—

waterholes as refugia; and

river channels; and

river-forming processes; and

to maintain and, if possible, improve flows of water to which this plan applies that support bird breeding at Narran Lakes; and

to maintain and, if possible, improve flows of water to which this plan applies that support floodplain ecosystems within and downstream of the plan area, including—

the Balonne River floodplain; and

the Culgoa River floodplain; and

Narran Lakes; and

to minimise changes to flows of water in the plan area that support fish movement and fish recruitment; and

to minimise adverse environmental impacts, relating to water to which this plan applies, caused by the operation of infrastructure in the plan area; andExamples of adverse environmental impacts—

bank erosion, thermal alteration of waters, degradation of water quality

to minimise water quality degradation in relation to—

for surface water to which this plan applies—flow; and

for underground water to which this plan applies—flow and pressure; and

to maintain an underground water regime in the plan area that supports ecosystems dependent on underground water to which this plan applies.

In this section—

fish recruitment means the successful development and growth of a juvenile fish to a stage at which the fish has the ability to reproduce.

underground water regime means the profile of underground water levels, hydraulic head and direction of underground water flow as represented by water levels at nodes M, N and O.

waterhole means a part of a watercourse that contains water after the watercourse stops flowing, other than a part of the watercourse that is within the storage area of a dam or weir on the watercourse.