South Burdekin Water Board

OVERVIEW

The function of the South Burdekin Water Board is "to constitute a Water Area and to construct works of improvement of subterranean water supplies and to constitute a Board for constructing, maintaining and administering such works."

"The said area is constituted to utilise part of the flow of the Burdekin River to replenish the subterranean water supplies of the southern part of the Burdekin Delta and to thereby increase the quantity and improve the quality of supply available from this source for irrigation, domestic, stock and industrial purposes."

The South Burdekin Water Board oversees an area encompassing 27,450 ha. Within this area there are 13.9km of pipelines and 116km of channels under the Board's control. Sugarcane is grown on 13,343 ha and there is 94ha of other crops.

Future works and activities of the South Burdekin Water Board include:

• Maintenance of distribution channels and retention of channel profiles
• Removal of aquatic vegetation within channels for improved distribution
• Chemical treatment of channel surrounds and inaccessible areas around structures to achieve fire hazard reduction with the expected future dry conditions
• Aerial spraying of large lagoons in conjunction with weed harvesting to reduce vegetation load therefore maintaining open water within pondage areas
• Maintenance of dedicated recharge areas and pits as needed

COLLABORATION WITH THE LOWER BURDEKIN INITIATIVE

The South Burdekin Water Board remains supportive of research, in particular water management and quality, and continues its collaborative efforts within the Lower Burdekin Initiative. The SBWB has been involved in the pilot fin fish research project "Management of Fish Habitat Values in the Burdekin River Delta Distributory Streams" and other trials under this project are being planned for 2002.

CONTACT

PO Box 376
HOME HILL, QLD 4806
Australia
Phone: (07) 4782-1703
Fax: (07) 4782-2039
sbwb@bigpond.com

These webpages are hosted by CSIRO Land and Water on behalf of the Lower Burdekin Initiative. Use of this web site and information available from it is subject to our Disclaimer and Copyright Notice