- Author CRCNA
- Publish date 24 October 2024
- Type Presentations
- Documents
- Water: Making Water Work program
- Water
Summary
Advance Rockhampton hosts the annual Agricultural Leaders event to bring together key stakeholders from across the industry.
Anthony Curro, Chief Executive Strategy and Engagement at the CRCNA presented on the Making Water Work Program, his presentation is available here as a PDF or to view as a digital booklet.
24 October 2024.
Projects
Making Water Work program: Achieving reef water quality requirements in new agricultural developments
The project will assist the expansion of agriculture in the Lower Fitzroy (Central Queensland) by bridging the support gap to meet Reef Water Quality requirements. Businesses undergoing material change use will have access to advice and land management toolkits to navigate the regulatory constraints, monitoring and record keeping practices necessary for production and operation. This mechanism for continuous improvement will assist industry and tailored to specific regional needs.
Making Water Work : Integrating nutrient, waste and energy streams in agriculture development through hyacinth harvest and processing
Water hyacinth is an invasive aquatic weed introduced into the Fitzroy River in Central Queensland as an ornamental plant. However, once hyacinth enters waterways its long-term impact is significant due to the rate of growth, density of biomass and seed life. This project will seek to identify and evaluate methods for the beneficial reuse of water hyacinth in the Fitzroy River, including as a vector for the removal of nutrients from the waterway to improve water quality flowing to the Great Barrier Reef.
Making Water Work program: Mobilising strong water governance arrangements
The construction of Rookwood Weir on the Fitzroy River is expected to deliver up to 72,000ML of water, with approximately half of this allocated to agricultural use. The new water supplies are in addition to the existing water storages at the Fitzroy River Barrage and Eden Bann Weir, as well as allocations of unsupplemented water. However, the system is complex because of three separate water ownership structures (Queensland Government, Sunwater and Rockhampton Regional Council), little transparency about how private water sales can be effected, and no formal or informal networks among irrigators to advance their interests. There is currently limited potential for efficiency in management as the irrigation sector develops in the lower Fitzroy because there is no unified group to represent irrigator interests. There is also limited potential for water to be transferred to highest value use through market transactions because of the three pools of ownership and limited market structures. Strong water governance arrangements require the design and implementation of strategies to ensure water use is effective, efficient and inclusive. This research will address three core problems and issues: Lack of involvement of irrigators in deciding how systems should be managed. This will be addressed by working with landholders to form a relevant network or organization and using that to address key issues in systems management Improved coordination between the three entities (four if Gladstone Area Water Board is also included), potentially through mechanisms such as improved coordination, complementary systems, or establishment of a single operating system Improved market trading mechanisms for water that address deficiencies in market information, platform access and consistencies between ownership structures.
Making Water Work program: Defining a Supply Chain for Lower Fitzroy
Providing water for irrigation is not enough by itself to guarantee agricultural development, as new enterprises rely on a complex web of services, innovation and infrastructure to justify investment. However, these requirements are not easy to predict, particularly for northern Australia where there are limited examples of irrigation precincts being developed. This project will establish a vision and action steps to guide the further development of an agricultural precinct based on water resources in the lower Fitzroy region of Central Queensland. It will identify and map the potential for additional water resources in the region, identify potential agricultural uses and demand for the water, and then combine these analyses at a spatial level to predict the most likely precincts and nodes for future development. Potential supply chains to underpin the development will be mapped to analyse the depth of potential support. Investor analysis and engagement will be undertaken to promote interest in the region. While the project is focused on the lower Fitzroy in Central Queensland, this case study has been selected with an eye on extrapolating the results to other regions across northern Australia. Thus the key focus will be to identify the domain of issues involved for water supply, development, supply chains and investment, and provide templates for future analysis in other locations.
Making Water Work program: Visionary land use planning to facilitate development precincts
This project is one of five sub-projects designed to progress the broader Making Water Work (MWW) business case for the new Rookwood Weir development in Rockhampton, Central Queensland. The business case represents the Rockhampton region’s wider integrated approach to maximising the economic, social, environmental and cultural value from the new Rookwood Weir development and other available sources of water. The broader MWW agenda will include co-investment from the Queensland Government through its Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) and will seek to highlight the: need to deliver high value water security in the region opportunity to unlock significant unmet agriculture export and domestic demands potential to explore many new jobs from new agricultural development, food manufacturing and export of agricultural products and materials existence of important agricultural and pastoral development opportunities in the Rockhampton Regional Council area and the Lower Fitzroy a growing policy and consumer pressure for a more circular and value rich agricultural economy, particularly in the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. Specifically the visionary land use project will confirm the extent of landholders interested in water for irrigation in the target South Yamba area, suitable land use, irrigated area, resultant water demand, production value, economic analysis, and community benefits. Structured engagement and a preferred option study approach will be applied to develop an optimised concept design to deliver and irrigation scheme along with preliminary capital and operating costs. The project will also consider the impact on associated infrastructure and supply chains and explore consequent needs.