Water Plan (Gulf) 2007

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

maintenance of the natural variability of flows that support the habitats of native plants and animals and migratory birds in watercourses, floodplains, wetlands, lakes and springs;

provision for the continued capability of a part of a river system to be connected to another part, including by maintaining flood flows that—

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

deliver nutrients and organic matter throughout the plan area to support natural processes such as breeding, growth and migration in riverine, floodplain, wetland, estuarine and marine environments; and

deliver water and sediment throughout the plan area to support river-forming processes;

minimisation of changes to natural variability in water levels to support natural ecological processes, including the maintenance of refugia associated with waterholes and lakes;

maintenance of the permanence of water in naturally perennially flowing watercourses and in river bed sands that provide water to support native plants and animals, particularly during dry seasons;

the promotion of improved understanding of the matters affecting flow-related health of ecosystems in the plan area;

maintenance of water in the bed sands of the Gilbert River between AMTD 317km and AMTD 263km—

to provide aquatic habitat for native aquatic plants and animals, particularly during dry seasons; and

to support riparian vegetation; and

to contribute to the flow of water in the Gilbert River;

maintenance of the permanence of water flows in the Gregory River and Lawn Hill Creek to provide aquatic habitat for native aquatic plants and animals, particularly during dry seasons;

maintenance of flood flows to the estuarine and marine environments of the Gulf of Carpentaria to stimulate breeding, growth and migration of native aquatic animals;

maintenance of the natural variability of flood flows that inundate, and deliver nutrients, organic matter and sediment to, the wetlands of the areas known as the Southern Gulf Aggregation and the Southeast Karumba Plain Aggregation;

maintenance of flows in the Gilbert River to provide brackish estuarine habitat suitable for juvenile banana prawn development.

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

maintenance of groundwater contributions to the flow of water in watercourses, lakes and springs;

the support of ecosystems dependent on groundwater, including, for example, riparian vegetation, wetlands and waterholes;

allocation and management of groundwater in a way that is compatible with the outcomes of the Water Plan (Great Artesian Basin and Other Regional Aquifers) 2017 to the greatest practicable extent.

In this section—