Legislation

The Commission administers the Water Act 2000 (PDF)* (Chapter 2A, Part 1; Part 2 Divisions 1, 2, 4, 5 and 7; Part 3 Divisions 1 and 2; Part 4; Part 5; Part 5A and Part 6). It is also responsible for part of the Water Regulation 2002 (Part 8) and the South East Queensland Water (Distribution and Retail Restructuring) Act 2009.

Water Act 2000

The Commission's general guiding principle is that water in SEQ and other designated regions is to be managed on a sustainable and integrated basis, with the aim of providing secure and reliable supplies of water of acceptable quality for all uses.

Specific principles are:

• for water sharing—the principle that water is a scarce resource to be shared across the region
• for water sources—the principle that water quality should be managed from its source to its end users in a way that:
  • ensures the health of catchments, aquifers and their ecosystems
  • delivers water of a quality desired by the end users at the lowest overall cost
• for water supply operations—the principle that water supply arrangements should maximise efficient and cost-effective service delivery
• for cost sharing and pricing, the principles that:
  • the cost of water sources should be shared among users who benefit from them
  • pricing should be consistent with commitments of the State under intergovernmental agreements to which it is a party
• for planning—the principle that assessments of regional water supply should:
  • consider environmental, social and economic factors
  • include the application of 'least cost planning' to ensure proper economic comparison of all supply-side and demand-side options
• for Commission water restrictions—the principle that they should:
  • help the achievement of the region's objectives for long term demand management for water
  • enable the appropriate management of any significant threat to the region having a sustainable and secure water supply
• for flood mitigation and dam safety—the principle that these issues should be considered in the preparation of assessments of regional water supply.

Coal seam gas and Water Act 2000

The Water and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2010 introduced a range of changes to Chapter 3 of the Water Act 2000 in November 2010. The changes addressed the issue of impacts on groundwater resources from coal seam gas (CSG) water extraction by petroleum tenure holders. The Queensland Water Commission now has a role in monitoring and assessing the impacts of groundwater extraction in cumulative management areas. These are areas where there are overlapping impacts from more than one CSG operation.

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