Water allocation plan
The Water Allocation Plan for the Southern Basins and the Musgrave Prescribed Wells Areas, Eyre Peninsula was endorsed by the State Government on 28 June, 2016.
Download a copy of the Water Allocation Plan for the Southern Basins and the Musgrave Prescribed Wells Areas.
Why a Water Allocation Plan?
The Water Allocation Plan (WAP) is a document that sets out the rules of managing the take and use of prescribed groundwater resources.
This WAP manages the extraction of groundwater from wells within two Prescribed Wells Areas (PWAs). Southern Basins PWA is located between Coffin Bay and Port Lincoln on southern Eyre Peninsula, and the Musgrave PWA is located between Lock and Elliston on western Eyre Peninsula. This WAP replaces earlier plans released in 2000.
Supporting documents
A number of documents related to and supporting the WAP can be found on the supporting WAP documents page. Further to these documents we are also providing a summary of feedback we received from our formal consultation period which can be found here; along with a summary of our 2022 mid-term evaluation.
Groundwater Status Reports
Regular reporting on the status of the region’s prescribed groundwater resources is one of the key functions of the Department for Environment and Water. Below are the latest Groundwater Status Reports for Musgrave and Southern Basins PWAs.
- 20-21 Water Resource Assessment for Musgrave and Southern Basins PWAs (53 page PDF)
- Musgrave 20-21 groundwater status overview (2-page factsheet)
- Southern basins 20-21 groundwater statue overview (2-page factsheet)
Learn about it on WaterConnect
Water is a precious resource and monitoring it is fundamental to how it can be managed. There is a limit to how much is available for use on an ongoing basis, and so it is important to provide certainty to current and future users of water, particularly to those whose livelihoods depend on it. Waterconnect is home to many online documents related to our water resources and management, such as supporting science documents, real-time groundwater data, long-term groundwater data, Groundwater Status Reports and much more.
Applying for a permit or licence
With the adoption of the new Water Allocation Plan a new licensing regime will be implemented. If you are a current licence holder you will receive updated licensing details in the near future.
More information
The WAP was featured in a paper in the journal Water, published in April 2022 in its special edition "Integrated Water Assessment and Management under Climate Change". The special edition focuses on the assessment of impacts of a changing climate on water resources and information required to support adaptive water management.
The paper - The Importance of Legislative Reform to Enable Adaptive Management of Water Resources in a Drying Climate - was written by Simone Stewart and Graham Green from the Department for Environment and Water (DEW).
The WAP was also showcased in March 2022 at the International Conference on Water Resources Management and Sustainability: Solutions for Arid Regions. DEW representatives were included in the Australia delegation to promote water practices. This is a summary of the WAP presentation.
Keep up to date
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