If there is one issue that unites all of Queensland’s agricultural industries, its water. Living on the second driest continent on earth after Antarctica has made Australia one of the highest per capita consumers of water in the world. It is therefore unsurprising that water is the catalyst that often makes or breaks our sector’s fortunes.
As demand for water grows, particularly in the hot summer months, farmers increasingly recognize the importance of having a defined water entitlement and regulation, including metering to manage the take of water for irrigation. They recognize that these regulatory arrangements confirm a valuable entitlement to water for their irrigation businesses.
In most areas however, farmers are aware that there are still large areas adjoining irrigation regions where the take of water is not regulated. There is a growing concern that the growth in demand for water in these areas will impact negatively on the availability of water for irrigation entitlements. For example, there is a growing pressure being placed on regulated water entitlements through unregulated water usage in peri-urban areas.
Users with un-metered allocations are operating in a grey area that is compromising the integrity and reliability of neighbouring entitlements. In particular, the Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF) is concerned that life-style properties, peri-urban developments and non-compliant irrigation use are increasingly impacting localised irrigation water supplies.
Without the implementation of a program to regulate the take of un-metered water, we put at risk water availability for regulated entitlements, either seasonally or in the longer term. Powers exist under current legislation to implement such a program.
Water security and reliability of current allocations is a major issue for all of Queensland’s agricultural industries. For our sector to continue to grow we need certainty that water will be there for crops and livestock into the future.