Underground water impact report (UWIR) for the Surat CMA

The Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment (OGIA) prepared the first underground water impact report (UWIR) for the Surat Cumulative Management Area (Surat CMA) in 2012 and the second in 2016. Those reports are now superseded by the UWIR 2019, which remains in force.

A consultation draft of the UWIR 2021 is now released (see below).

The UWIR for the Surat CMA is a statutory report to provide for:

• an assessment of cumulative impacts from existing and proposed groundwater extraction by resource tenure holders
• proactive strategies for managing those impacts (e.g. make good of water supply bores, monitoring strategy, impact mitigation strategies for affected springs)
• assignment of responsibilities to individual tenure holders to implement strategies and ongoing reporting.

The resource activities that are called in the Surat CMA are coal seam gas, conventional oil and gas, and coal mining.

The assessment is completed every 3 years in order to keep up to date with changes to industry development plans and new information about the groundwater flow system.

Consultation draft of the UWIR 2021

OGIA released the consultation draft of the Surat UWIR 2021 on 29 October 2021 and sought submissions from tenure holders, bore owners and the public. Submissions closed on 26 November 2021.

OGIA will consider submissions in finalising the report for approval by the Department of Environment and Science (DES). Following the approval, the UWIR 2021 will supersede the UWIR 2019.

• Summary report: Surat UWIR consultation draft 2021 (PDF, 2.6MB)
• Full report and appendices:
  • Report only: Surat UWIR consultation draft 2021 (PDF, 17MB)
  • Appendices only: Surat UWIR consultation draft 2021 (PDF, 11MB)
• Public notice: Surat UWIR consultation draft 2021 (PDF, 182KB)

UWIR 2019

Although a consultation draft of the UWIR 2021 is now available, the UWIR 2019 remains in force. On 20 August 2021, an addendum titled 'Spring Impact Mitigation Plan' was also submitted to the Department of Environment and Science as an amendment to the UWIR 2019.

• Full report and appendices: Surat UWIR 2019 (PDF, 38MB)
  • Report only: Surat UWIR 2019 (PDF, 31MB)
  • Appendices only: Surat UWIR 2019 (PDF, 6.7MB)
  • Addendum: Spring Impact Management Plan (PDF, 5.29MB)*

*If you require an accessible version of the addendum, contact OGIA.

Supplementary information for UWIR 2019

• Consultation submissions summary (PDF, 1.4MB)
• List of bores requiring baseline assessment (XLSX, 34KB)
• List of current petroleum and gas tenure holders in the Surat CMA (PDF, 454KB)
• List of all monitoring points in the water monitoring strategy (XLSX, 100KB)
• List of springs in the Surat CMA (XLSX, 37KB)

Previous Surat UWIRs

• Surat UWIR 2016 (PDF, 5.9MB)
• Surat UWIR 2012 (PDF, 4.1MB)

Annual reports on the UWIR

The annual reports provide updates on the implementation of the UWIR management strategies.

They also discuss any changes to circumstances that could impact on the predictions made in the UWIR (e.g. changes to development planning by resource tenure holders).

• 2020 annual report on the Surat UWIR 2019 (PDF, 1.1MB)
• 2018 annual report on the Surat UWIR 2016 (PDF, 1.2MB)
• 2017 annual report on the Surat UWIR 2016 (PDF, 1.0MB)
• 2014 annual report on the Surat UWIR 2012 (PDF, 2.3MB)
• 2013 annual report on the Surat UWIR 2012 (PDF, 1.7MB)

Note: No annual report was published in 2015 because the Surat UWIR 2016 provided an update on the implementation of management strategies.

Also consider…

• Conduct a bore search for information about the predicted impacts of water extraction on individual bores.
• Read about cumulative management areas.
• View bore reports for registered bores in Queensland.
• Search for resource authority applications on your land and surrounding area.
• Get involved in groundwater monitoring for resource impacts.
• Access groundwater monitoring data.