IT will be at least another year before interested parties know how much more water is likely to be allocated for irrigated agriculture projects in northern Queensland, despite a CSIRO study finding that up to 50,000 hectares could be irrigated in the Flinders and Gilbert River catchments.
Now that the two-year study conducted by the CSIRO has confirmed future possibilities for irrigated crops in the region, the state government is bringing forward its 10-year review of the Gulf Water Resource Plan from 2018 to this year.
Natural Resources Minister Andrew Cripps has pledged that the review, to be undertaken by his department, will be completed by the end of 2014.
"I gave a commitment that if research from CSIRO showed more water could be allocated responsibly into land and water resources in the Flinders and Gilbert River catchments, I would bring forward a review of the Gulf Water Resource Plan," he said.
"The CSIRO report suggested additional water resources could be sustainably allocated for irrigated agriculture, so I am delivering on that commitment. It's within my power to bring that forward."
He described the news from the CSIRO as positive, but said the WRP review would have to look at rainfall variability and take all the hydrology into account in order to identify actual volumes that could be allocated.
The interests of existing entitlement holders, local communities, the environment and commercial downstream fisheries would have to be taken into account as well.
The government last year released 95,000 megalitres of unallocated water from the Flinders and Gilbert catchments through a competitive tender process.
Mr Cripps said the amount of interest in that had given him a strong message that people wanted more water for agriculture projects. "This report sends great signals to people about the opportunities there are for the future," he said.
Sally Cripps
Journalist
Journalist
