Water Management
Water sharing plans
Amendments to the Coopers Creek Water Sharing Plan
The Coopers Creek Water Sharing Plan commenced on 1 July 2004 and includes rules for protecting the environment, managing licence holders’ water access, accounts and water trading. An important consideration for the Plan was to provide water for the endangered Eastern Freshwater Cod. The Plan was challenged in the Land and Environment Court by the Coopers Creek Water Users’ Group who were concerned that the cease to pump conditions in the Plan were overly stringent. Based on an out of court settlement the Plan was amended in February 2009.
New information about the hydrology and habitat value of Coopers Creek and the biology of the Eastern Freshwater Cod suggests that the current water sharing rules are not meeting the Plan’s objectives, and may be having unintended social and economic impacts. Based on this, the Department of Water and Energy initiated a review of the Plan. The review was undertaken by an Interagency Review Panel with the outcome being a number of proposed amendments to the Plan.
The Department is now seeking public input on the proposed amendments. The following documents provide more information:
- Factsheet on proposed amendments to the Coopers Creek Water Sharing Plan (PDF 33 KB)
- Proposed Plan amendments to Coopers Creek Water Sharing Plan (PDF 311 KB)
- Submission form – Have your say on the proposed amendments to the Coopers Creek Water Sharing Plan (PDF 71 KB)
- Current Coopers Creek Water Sharing Plan
Closing date for submissions is Thursday 27 August 2009.
The following reports were prepared for the review of the Coopers Creek Water Sharing Plan:
- Coopers Creek Water Sharing Plan – socio-economic impact assessment of changes to the flow rules (PDF 1.4 MB)
- Assessment of fish passage and low flow habitat protection – Coopers Creek (PDF 510 KB)
- Fish assemblages of Coopers Creek and the Wilsons River, with special reference to the Eastern Freshwater Cod (PDF 304 KB)
- Review of the ecology and environmental water requirements of the endangered Eastern Freshwater Cod (PDF 294 KB)