Water Planning

Water planning ensures the sustainable management and use of water resources. In South Australia the Landscape South Australia Act 2019 sets the legal framework for water management arrangements. Under the Act, where there is a high demand for water in an area and a need to sustainably manage the area’s water resources – these water resources are ‘prescribed’. Once a water resource has been prescribed, the relevant landscape board must prepare a water allocation plan and review it at least once every ten years. The landscape region which contains the majority of a prescribed water resource is the one that is responsible for the water allocation plan for that resource.

Prescribed Resources

A water resource prescription can be for surface water, groundwater or both. In the Angas Bremer region, irrigators have access to three prescribed resources:

• The Angas Bremer Prescribed Wells Area This is a groundwater only prescribed resource.

• The Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges Prescribed Water Resources Area. This is a combined groundwater and surface water prescription, but in the Angas Bremer area it only covers surface water as the groundwater is separately prescribed as the Angas Bremer Prescribed Wells Area.

• The River Murray Prescribed Watercourse. This is a surface water prescription and includes both the main channel of the River Murray and the Lower Lakes (Lakes Alexandrina and Albert).

 This map shows the location of Angas Bremer Prescribed Wells Area and the Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges Prescribed Water Resources Area. This map shows all of South Australia’s prescribed water resource areas and the boundaries of the landscape boards.

Water Allocation Plans

The purpose of water allocation plans is to provide:

• water security for individuals,

• sustainability of water resources, and

• equity through a rules based system for all users, including the environment.

 A water allocation plan achieves this through:

• setting limits on the volume of water that can be taken from a resource,

• setting rules about the transfer and trade of water, and

• controlling certain types of activities that can affect water resources, such as building dams or constructing bores.

A water allocation plan can cover one or more prescribed water resources. The Hills and Fleurieu Landscape Board is responsible for the Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges Water Allocation Plan, and it covers both the Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges Prescribed Water Resource Area and the Angas Bremer Prescribed Wells Area.

The Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board is responsible for the Water Allocation Plan for the River Murray Prescribed Watercourse and it covers just the one prescribed area.

The Basin Plan

The Basin Plan integrates water management across the whole Murray-Darling Basin and sets standards for water management arrangements which Basin States must comply with. Basin States show how the management of their Basin water resources complies with the Basin Plan in documents called ‘water resource plans’. Water resource plans themselves are highly technical documents, however the package of documents that accompany water resource plans contain much useful information. The Angas Bremer Prescribed Wells Area and the Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges Prescribed Water Resources Area are included in the Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges Water Resource Plan, and the River Murray Prescribed Watercourse is included the South Australian River Murray Water Resource Plan.