Environment Centre Northern Territory (ECNT) has launched legal action to protect the iconic Mataranka Springs, Roper River, and their species and ecosystems from excessive water extraction.

The Top End’s peak environment group has asked the NT Supreme Court to rule the Mataranka Water Allocation Plan (WAP) [1] invalid, including because the NT Water Minister lacked vital hydrological and ecological data to make a prudent, informed decision when he signed off on the plan last December.

The Mataranka WAP permits the extraction of more than 62 gigalitres a year (62,000 megalitres a year) from the Tindall Limestone Aquifer, an underground water body that community members and scientists say is already showing signs of over-extraction. [2] 

That amount of water extraction is enough to fill more than 24,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools that would, if laid end to end, stretch most of the way from Darwin to Alice Springs. Yet the plan only allocates 30ML a year to the environment – a figure that does not appear to be based on evidence about what’s needed to sustain these incredible ecosystems.

Hydrogeologists have criticised the plan [3], arguing the authorised extraction could significantly damage base flows to the Roper River and possibly cause the aquifer to flow backwards, disrupting a hydrological system that has existed for millennia.

“Allowing such a massive level of extraction when the system is already losing water and showing clear signs of strain is environmentally and economically reckless,” ECNT Executive Director Kirsty Howey said. 

“We’re concerned the government made a decision without proper regard to the potential negative impacts for ecosystems, wildlife and communities that rely on this aquifer for their survival.

“We are taking this action not just to protect some of the Territory’s most iconic and loved waterways but also to hold the government to account and to ensure it makes decisions based on science.”

The Tindall Limestone Aquifer is topped up during the Wet Season when the region receives over 90% of its rainfall. This recharge ensures the aquifer can provide vital flows for fragile ecosystems during the Dry.

ECNT is being represented by the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO), the nation’s leading public-interest environmental legal centre.  

EDO Managing Lawyer (Northern Territory) Elanor Fenge said: “EDO is proud to represent ECNT in this important matter.

“It is critical that decisions about the allocation of precious water resources in the Northern Territory are transparent and based on science.

“As climate change takes hold around the globe and in Northern Australia, the risk to wildlife, ecosystems and communities is becoming even more acute. 

“Without appropriate allocation of water for the environment, we could risk vital flows to the Mataranka Springs and the Roper River, and jeopardise the habitats of plants and animals like the threatened freshwater sawfish.”

References 

[1] Mataranka water allocation plan, NT Government, 2024.  

[2] Submission on the draft Mataranka Water Allocation Plan, Environment Centre NT, 21 June 2024; Water Grab, ABC Four Corners, 19 August 2024. 

[3] Expert analysis: Draft Mataranka Water Allocation Plan 2024 – 2034, Professor Matthew Currell and Professor Sue Jackson, 17 May 2024; Comments on the Draft Mataranka Water Allocation Plan, Dr Ross Brodie, 30 May 2024.

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