Adelaide River water advisory committee meeting #5 - accelerating to the draft water plan!
The 5th meeting of the Adelaide River water advisory committee was held in Palmerston on 27 and 28 May. During the 2 days the committee participated in workshops on the:
- proposed water management zones for the Adelaide River catchment water plan, based on differing geographical, environmental and hydrological characteristics
- Estimated sustainable yield (ESY) - the volume of water that can be sustainably allocated for extraction and use, such as for drinking water and regional economic activities
- Risk assessment of the water plan. This helps identify where additional management controls or further scientific investigations may be required.
The committee agreed that the management zones make a lot of sense and were supportive of their inclusion in the draft water plan. Water modelling of the ESY only showed an observable impact under dry/low flow conditions in specific areas of the catchment.
Overall, the plan’s ESY is unlikely to change the important river functions e.g. if a flood occurs or not, that the social and cultural values of the water resource depend upon. Dr Alison King, Chair of the CSIRO Adelaide River Ecohydrological Technical Advisory Panel, provided an overview of the panel and its proposed outputs.
Detailed information on the panel can be found on the Adelaide River water plan feature on the panel.
The committee will meet to further discuss the water modelling at additional sub-committee meetings, which will also cover updates by the Northern Land Council, on the Aboriginal cultural values project for the catchment, and other topics as identified by the committee.
For further information about the water plan, go to the Water Security website.
For a recap on the progress of the water advisory committee, on the Adelaide River Water advisory committee meetings.
To be kept informed about the plan, including the public comment period, please email waterresources.dlpe@nt.gov.au to be added to the mail-out list.
