Dawson Valley strategic water infrastructure reserve release
Current status
The 2025 Dawson Valley strategic water infrastructure reserve release has been successfully completed, with a total of 13 temporary licences granted, allocating 70,705 megalitres of water.
General Information
Water has been made available from the strategic water infrastructure reserve (SWIR) in the Dawson Valley Water Management Area (Dawson Valley WMA) to allow landholders to expand or diversify irrigation activity.
SWIR water is held as unallocated water under the Water Plan (Fitzroy Basin) 2011 to enable the development of infrastructure projects. The Water Act 2000 enables SWIR water to be granted as temporary licences, which ensures the water can still support strategic infrastructure projects in the future.
Summary of Releases
We offered 90,000 megalitres (ML) of SWIR water from the Dawson River for use each year for a temporary period. Through an application process, 13 water licences were granted with an expiry date of 30 September 2028. These temporary water licences allow licensees access up to 70,705ML of SWIR water each year.
Below is a summary of the water licences granted within the Dawson Valley WMA. For more information on this release process and the granting of temporary water licences, read our evaluation report (PDF, 2.2MB).
| Dawson Valley WMA location | Number of 3-year water licences | Nominal entitlement volume (ML) |
|---|---|---|
| Dawson B | 1 | 4,000 |
| Dawson E | 1 | 15,200 |
| Dawson G | 4 | 30,020 |
| Dawson H | 3 | 8,150 |
| Dawson I | 1 | 8,135 |
| Dawson J | 3 | 5,200 |
| Total | 13 | 70,705 |
Also consider...
- Learn about the Fitzroy Basin water plan.
- Learn more about unallocated water.