Dam water levels throughout Queensland are holding in most cases

On farm water storage is, however, a concern where there was minimal summer rain.

AgForce Queensland president Georgie Somerset said it depended on where irrigators were in the state as to whether they had restrictions on water use.

"It's very catchment focused, the rainfall last summer wasn't widespread so each catchment seems to be having to deal with what they've got," she said.

"For dry land (farmers) in southern Queensland and up in the central Queensland, there are some really difficult patches but in the north of the state it's much better off for the dryland croppers and graziers."

Ms Somerset said there were quite a few areas such as the Burnett, inland and southern Queensland out through the Maranoa where on farm dams were not replenished by summer rain so those people were going into this summer with low on farm dam storage and stock water levels.

She said she had heard of people buying in domestic water, but was confident people had implemented alternative water systems having gone through previous droughts.

"It always make management systems more challenging when you have one of your management systems which is your surface water not available," she said.

Central Highlands Regional Council Mayor Kerry Hayes said Fairbairn Dam was certainly not at the lowest level it had been in the last five years.

As of yesterday, September 26, Fairbairn was sitting at 34.88 per cent.

Cr Hayes said a water management plan had just been adopted by council and there were no water restrictions for domestic water users at the moment.

"We're well aware there's an El Nino pattern out there, but at this stage it will be 100 per cent allocation as far as consumers are concerned as we're fairly comfortable with what we've got," he said.

"At 34 per cent (in Fairbairn), there's still upwards of 400,000 mega litres in storage so for high priority users (like council, mines and industry), there's no concern yet.

"When we were down to levels of 12 and 8 per cent (in the past) that was a trigger point where we started to move to some of our more severe restrictions so we're a long way from there."

A Sunwater spokesperson said during the last wet season many of Sunwater's dams reached 100 per cent, which provided a welcome boost to water security in areas of the state.

The spokesperson said Sunwater had 14 of 20 dams above or near 80 per cent capacity as of September 2023.

"This is a relatively good position with water supplies guaranteed for the next 12 months even if a below average wet season is experienced," the spokesperson said.

"Some storages will provide reliable water supply for well beyond 12 months even with no inflows.

"Beardmore Dam near St George is down to about 12 per cent, however, that is not unusual for this small storage at this time of year.

"Irrigators in the region have been taking water and storing it on-farm. Jack Taylor Weir downstream is still over 54 per cent."

The Sunwater spokesperson said Cania Dam on the Burnett River was at 29 per cent with the North Burnett Regional Council holding a high priority reserve for urban water use.

The spokesperson said water restrictions were a matter for local councils.

North Burnett Regional Council Mayor Les Hotz said there were no water restrictions in his area and the reservoirs and bores were holding reasonably well despite the dry weather.

"At this stage, we do have sufficient water," he said.

Cr Hotz said the Burnett River was very low, but the weirs were holding at Gayndah and Mundubbera.

"The Cania Dam is a different story, it's back down to 30 per cent and water will be released from it - that will only help our town bore rather than diminish it because it recharges an underground aquifer," he said.

Cr Hotz said there was no doubt "we are going into a very dry time", but felt farmers would consider feed for stock more important than water at this stage.

The Sunwater spokesperson said Sunwater would continue to monitor storage levels closely heading into the summer season.

"We remain conscious that we are moving into a period of forecast drier weather, so our focus will continue to be maximising the availability of water to customers and the community," the spokesperson said.

All Sunwater water supply schemes with high priority water allocations have 100 per cent of their entitlement.

Only seven of 23 water supply schemes currently have medium priority allocations less than 100 per cent, with Nogoa Mackenzie the lowest at 52 per cent.

"Water allocations are set for the year and cannot decrease as dam capacity levels reduce but can increase to a maximum of 100 per cent," the spokesperson said.