Australian Natural Resources Atlas

Natural Resource Topics

Water resources - Overview - Northern Territory


Location map of SWMA Burt

Basin & Surface Water Management Area: Burt

Introduction

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There is no major infrastructure or diversions for surface water extraction within this SWMA. This management area is same as the Burt Basin. About 67% of the SWMA is leasehold land, and 23% is land belonging to indigenous Australians. More than half of the land has soils with moderate limitation to agriculture. The management area covers fourteen pastoral leases, and seven of these leases have more than 70% of their area within the SWMA. The management area is covered by Reynolds Ranges in the north and by McDonald Ranges in the south. The creeks flow from these ranges and disappear into the central part of the SWMA, which is partly covered by sand dunes. There is a lake in the middle of the management area. The creeks flow the entire reach during an average wet year. The mean annual rainfall varies from 200 mm to 250 mm. There is no surface water licensing, and surface water usage is for stock watering and domestic water supply.

Vital Statistics:

Area: 38,780 Km2
Total storage volume: no data
Total surface water use: 85 ML/yr
Development category: LOW DEVELOPMENT
Mean annual run-off: 19,400 ML/yr

A four-class classification system was developed to provide a simple method to communicate the status of the use and allocation of Australia's water resources in relation to sustainable water management.

It is important to recognise that adequately quantifying a sustainable flow regime or sustainable yield and consequent operating rules is a complex matter. State, Territory and scientific agencies continue to develop and apply methods and measures for determining sustainable flow regimes and sustainable yields.

This categorisation provides a general guide only. Please refer to the State and Territory Overview and Technical reports for detail on the analysis methods used.

CategoryDevelopment status
1<30% Low development
230 - 70% Moderate development
370 - 100% Highly developed
4100% Overdeveloped

* Water use as a percentage of sustainable flow regime (surface water) and sustainable yield (groundwater)

PLEASE NOTE:

Sustainable Yield:

As this SWMA is in arid zone, the sustainable yield is estimated as 5% of the Divertible Yield. The assumptions, method and basis for estimation of environmental flow are explained in the section titled 'Environmental Flow Requirement' in NT Technical Report.

PLEASE NOTE:

Categorisation:

Categorisation was based on the percentage ratio of Use to Sustainable Yield.

How saline are the surface water resources in the Burt surface water management area?

Table: Surface water resource by salinity class.

Total Volume, Divertible Yield (ML/Yr)
Total volume (ML/yr), DIVERSION19,400
<500 mg/l (ML/yr)38,800
500 mg/l (ML/yr) - 1500 mg/l (ML/yr)no data
1500 mg/l (ML/yr) - 5000 mg/l (ML/yr)no data
5000 mg/l (ML/yr) - 14000 mg/l (ML/yr)no data
> 14000 mg/l (ML/yr)no data

Major water storages

Table: Major water storage areas:

There were no major water storages reported in this area as part of the assessment

Further Information

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