Australian Natural Resources Atlas

Natural Resource Topics

Water resources - Management and Development - Queensland

Location map of Pioneer River

Groundwater Management Unit: Pioneer River

Introduction

Priority issues

Declining Water Levels

 NO

Salt Water Intrusion

 YES

SALINISATION

 

Dryland

 NO

Irrigation

 NO

Groundwater

 NO

Surface Water

 NO

Urban

 NO

Point Source Pollution

 NO

Diffuse Source Pollution

 NO

Subsidence

 NO

Artificial Recharge (ML/yr)

 no data

Ecosystems Protection

 NO

Surface Water Interaction

 NO

Management Plans

 YES

Defined Minimum Water Level

 NO

Comment: The main priorities for the GMU are to investigate the saltwater intrusion, groundwater flow and reassess the sustainable yield of the resource.

Comments on Management Responses

See QLD Water Resources Assessment 2000 Technical Report for a review of management responses.

Assessment of monitoring in Pioneer River

See QLD Water Resources Assessment 2000 Technical Report for a review of monitoring.

What is the estimated demand for groundwater?

Sustainable Yield

Comment about sustainable yield figure: 

In 1978, an investigation into the groundwater resources of the Pioneer Valley was conducted. The investigation included an assessment of the sustainable yield.

The assessment involved the calculation of irrigation demands, which was then applied to determine the storage behaviour.

The sustainable yield of the alluvial deposits of the Pioneer River GMU is calculated to be 67660 Ml/yr.

Sustainable yield:

ML/yr

Threshold year for sustainable year:

1,982 

Abstraction Volume 1996/1997:

16,255 ML 

Current Resource development categorisation:

 

Estimated Use in 2020

Comment:

 

Estimated use in 2020:

67,660 ML 

% change from 1996/1997:

317 

Resource development categorisation:

 

Estimated in 2050

Comment:

 

Estimated use in 2050:

67,660 ML 

% change from 1996/1997:

317 

Resource development categorisation:

 

What assumptions were used in this assessment

No further information about assumptions used in this assessment was provided by QLD.

Data Availability,Gaps and Recommendations

Data Availablility:

The Pioneer River GMU has 197 monitoring bores within the GMU.

Groundwater levels have been taken since the late 1960s and are measured an average of three times a year. Groundwater quality samples have been taken from private and monitoring bores and provide a basic trend of salinity across the GMU. Sampling is has occurred as recently as late 1999.

Since 1998, sampling for water quality has occurred bi-monthly. This is due to current groundwater investigation that is being conducted. It is expected that this frequency will be reduced at the conclusion of the investigations.

Abstraction data is currently limited for the GMU. Meters were installed on all irrigation and industrial bores in 1997/1998 and records are only available for this limited period of time.

Data is also available through reports. A groundwater investigation was conducted in 1978 to assess the groundwater resources of the Pioneer Valley. Other reports have been based on this investigation. There are several reports available that describe the groundwater resources of the Mackay region.

Current Gaps and Recommendations:

Data Gaps: There is a good coverage of bores within the monitoring network of the Pioneer River GMU that enables groundwater level and groundwater quality trends to be observed. Gaps do exist particularly with regards to accurate abstraction data. Water meters were only recently installed on irrigation and industrial bores.

Recommendations: The main recommendation for the Pioneer River GMU is to reassess the sustainable yield. The previous assessment was conducted in 1978 and is the basis for all allocations.

Since the 1978 assessment, model methodology, data quality and quantity has improved. The main difference is in the availability of actual abstraction data due to the recent water metering of industrial and irrigation bores. These inputs would provide a more accurate assessment of the sustainable yield for the resource.

Further information

Key

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