The plan rests on a small set of interlocking legal and management concepts, each defined or referenced in the plan text. Practitioners should map these concepts against the schedules and the Water Act for operational detail.

Plan area and boundary, and how to inspect it. The plan applies to the geographic area shown on the map in schedule 1 (s 4). The exact boundary is held in digital electronic form at the department, may be scaled, and may be inspected at the department’s head office in Brisbane (s 5). The plan therefore contemplates a digital authoritative boundary rather than a paper-only map in the plan text.

Categories of regulated water. The plan applies to surface water, overland flow water (subject to one explicit spring-related exclusion), and hydraulically-linked groundwater not covered by the separate Great Artesian Basin plan (s 6). Surface water is defined in the plan as water in a watercourse or lake and springs not connected to the Great Artesian Basin plan (s 6). This conceptual triage determines which water uses are within the plan’s regulatory scope.

Outcomes and ecological objectives. The plan specifies outcomes to balance economic use with ecological integrity and cultural and social values (s 7). Ecological objectives are specific, listing pool habitats, near pristine riverine habitats, species richness, active river-forming processes including sediment transport, and connections between waterholes at low flow. The plan also calls for maintaining water quality downstream into South Australia and for continual improvement in water use efficiency (s 7).

Non-increase principle. A mechanical constraint in decision-making is the prohibition on the chief executive making a decision that would increase the total volume of water that may be taken in the plan area (s 9). The provision contains express exceptions, which materially affect how the non-increase rule operates in practice.

Regulation of overland flow water. The plan draws a distinct regulatory line for overland flow water. Section 10 lists the only circumstances in which a person may take overland flow water: stock and domestic use, under an authority authorised by section 12, under an authorisation, unallocated water granted under the resource operations plan, small amounts necessary to satisfy certain environmental permits or contaminated agricultural runoff water (as defined by an operational code), and no general open entitlement (s 10). Decisions about overland flow applications must consider specified cultural, ecological and downstream user impacts (s 11).

Transitional treatment of existing works. Existing works and permissible reconfigurations that do not increase the average annual take are authorised to continue for one year after plan commencement, and longer if a notice in approved form and any required additional information is given to the chief executive (s 12). If the chief executive is satisfied that the average annual volume taken using those works has increased beyond historical levels, the chief executive must grant a water licence under s 212 and impose a condition to cap the average annual volume to the pre-plan operating level (s 13).

Resource operations plan as the implementation vehicle. The resource operations plan is the implementing instrument for replacing authorities with licences, defining parts of the plan area where replacement may occur, stating the works to which each authority relates, and deciding volumes and shares for overland flow allocation consistent with the plan outcomes (s 14). The resource operations plan also must state monitoring requirements for water and natural ecosystems to assist Ministerial oversight (s 22).

Strategic reserve and unallocated water. Unallocated water is held as a strategic reserve and its allocation is limited to the uses and total annual volumes listed in schedule 2; the chief executive may substitute equivalent volumes in overland flow water or hydraulically-linked groundwater where appropriate, and must consider a broad list of matters when dealing with unallocated water (s 16 to s 19).

Decision factors and discretion. The plan prescribes mandatory factors to be considered for overland flow applications (s 11), for allocating unallocated water (s 19) and for granting water licences to local government for town supply (s 20). At the same time the plan repeatedly provides that the list of factors does not limit what the chief executive may consider, which preserves administrative discretion (for example s 19(2) and s 20(2)).

Monitoring and amendment pathways. The resource operations plan must set monitoring requirements (s 22). Minor amendments to monitoring requirements under part 5 may be made under s 57(b) of the Water Act pursuant to s 25. The Minister must consider amendment or replacement of the plan if authorisations are insufficient to meet the water needs of a project of State significance, with specified factors to guide that consideration (s 26).

Cross-references and definitions. The plan delegates finer definitional work to schedule 3 (dictionary), and to external instruments such as the Environmental Protection Act 1994, the Planning Act, the Water Act (notably s 212, s 217, s 57 cited), and the Lake Eyre Basin Agreement Act 2001. Practitioners must therefore treat key concepts as distributed across the plan, its schedules, the resource operations plan, and the Water Act.

The plan affects a defined set of actors through its allocation, licensing and decision-making rules. Primary affected parties are water users, landowners with works that take overland flow water, local governments seeking town water licences, proponents of projects of State significance seeking water for those projects, and the chief executive and Minister as decision-makers.

Water users and applicants. Any person seeking to take overland flow water in the plan area is affected because s 10 restricts permitted taking to a narrow list of circumstances. Those seeking to take surface water or hydraulically-linked groundwater will be affected by the non-increase principle in s 9, the availability of unallocated water under the resource operations plan (s 16 to s 19) and the requirement that the resource operations plan set volumes and shares for replacing authorities (s 14). Users downstream of proposed overland flow taking are recognised stakeholders because s 11 requires the chief executive to consider adverse effects on downstream users.

Owners of existing works. Landowners with existing works that currently take overland flow water are affected by s 12 and s 13. They may continue taking for one year post-commencement, and thereafter only if they satisfy the notice and information requirements, and potentially subject to conversion of transitional authority into a water licence with a condition limiting the average annual take to the historical operating level. The requirement for the owner to give the chief executive notice in an approved form and any further information required by the chief executive creates an administrative step that owners must complete to continue taking (s 12).

Local governments. Local governments applying for water licences for town water supply, where the operations are not pre-21 November 2001, are subject to a mandatory consideration that a planning study satisfactory to the chief executive has been completed and that the study addresses the matters in s 19(1) (s 20). This creates a pre-condition for such licences, affecting local government project planning and resourcing.

Proponents of State significance projects. The plan designates unallocated water as strategic reserve and allows unallocated water to be granted under licence for a project of State significance under s 212 of the Water Act (s 18). The Minister must consider amending or replacing the plan if authorisations are insufficient to meet the needs of a project of State significance, considering a set list of factors (s 26). Thus proponents with State significance projects engage with both the unallocated water process and potential plan amendment processes.

Downstream jurisdictions and environmental interests. The plan explicitly recognises downstream impacts, including downstream ecosystems and waters in South Australia, and water quality requirements to maintain ecological integrity and viability of activities (s 7, s 19). Cultural values, including those of local Aboriginal communities, must be considered in overland flow decisions and when dealing with unallocated water (s 11, s 19). Environmental regulators interact through environmental authorisations and development permits under the Environmental Protection Act 1994, which the plan references as a trigger for small permitted extractions of overland flow water for authorised activities (s 10).

Administrative decision-makers. The chief executive is the central decision-maker for allocation and licensing matters under the plan, including discretionary substitution of equivalent volumes between water types, consideration of unallocated water, making decisions under the Planning Act, imposing licence conditions under s 13, and accepting notices under s 12. The Minister has oversight responsibilities, receives monitoring information through requirements in the resource operations plan, and must consider plan amendment under s 26.

Other regulators and instruments. The plan interacts with the Planning Act and Planning Regulation 2017 in relation to operational work involving taking overland flow water, and with the Environmental Protection Act 1994 for environmentally authorised works that may require small amounts of overland flow extraction (s 10, s 11). The Water Act statutory machinery for licences and plan amendment is invoked repeatedly, so licensing applicants and advisers must engage with the Water Act provisions cited throughout the plan (for example s 212, s 217, s 57).

Schedule dependencies. The plan’s practical effect depends on content in schedule 1 (map), schedule 2 (permitted uses and volumes of unallocated water) and schedule 3 (dictionary). Those relying on the plan must consult the schedules and the resource operations plan to determine precise rights and limitations.

The plan creates specific duties for the chief executive, the Minister and certain applicants, and confers limited rights to continue existing taking under transitional arrangements. The duties and rights are framed primarily through mandatory considerations, prohibitions, notice requirements and licence conversion rules.

Chief executive duties and constraints. The chief executive is expressly constrained by the non-increase principle in s 9: the chief executive must not make a decision about allocation or management of water in the plan area that would increase the total volume of water that may be taken, subject to exceptions listed in s 9(2). That places an administrative duty to avoid volumetric expansion of take through decision-making unless one of the exceptions applies. The chief executive must also, in deciding overland flow applications, consider a defined list of impacts including cultural values, natural aquatic ecosystems, downstream users, and floodplain effects (s 11). When dealing with unallocated water, the chief executive must consider an extensive list of matters listed in s 19(1), including need, efficiency, alternative sources, impacts on water quality, low flows, sediment movement, wetlands, cultural values and water user impacts. The plan also requires the chief executive to grant a water licence under s 212 to replace an authority under s 12 where he or she is satisfied that average annual volume has increased, and to impose a condition to ensure the average annual volume is not more than the historical level (s 13).

Ministerial duties. The resource operations plan must state monitoring requirements to help the Minister assess the effectiveness of management strategies in achieving the plan outcomes (s 22). The Minister must consider amending or replacing the plan if satisfied that authorisations are insufficient for a project of State significance, with specified matters to guide that consideration (s 26). These are oversight duties that condition future plan or resource operations plan action.

Applicant duties. Owners of land with existing works must give the chief executive notice of the works in the approved form and any further information required by the chief executive if they wish to continue taking overland flow water beyond the one-year transitional period (s 12). Local governments applying for new town water supply licences must supply, and be able to satisfy the chief executive about, a planning study demonstrating need and addressing the matters in s 19(1) (s 20). Applicants for overland flow taking should expect the chief executive to consider the list in s 11(1).

Rights of continuation and of allocation. Owners of existing works have a right to continue taking overland flow water for one year after plan commencement, and beyond that if they provide the required notice and information (s 12). However, that right is conditional. If the chief executive is satisfied there has been or may be an increase in the average annual volume taken using the works, the chief executive must replace the authority with a water licence and impose a condition to cap the average annual volume to historical levels (s 13). The plan confers a right for unallocated water to be granted under licence for projects of State significance under s 212 of the Water Act, or granted or reserved under a resource operations plan process (s 18). The resource operations plan may decide parts of the plan area in which an authority may be replaced by a water licence and may reduce volume available for allocation to achieve plan outcomes (s 14).

Monitoring and information duties. The resource operations plan must set monitoring requirements for water and natural ecosystems so the Minister can assess effectiveness (s 22). The exact monitoring obligations are therefore set out in the resource operations plan rather than in the plan text itself, and the plan states that subsection 22(1) does not limit monitoring the chief executive may impose (s 22).

Limits and discretion on volume allocation. Allocation of unallocated water is restricted to uses and total annual volumes detailed in schedule 2 (s 17). The chief executive may allow an equivalent volume to be taken as overland flow water or hydraulically-linked groundwater, with equivalence determined by the chief executive by reference to downstream stream flow impact (s 17(3), s 17(4)). Thus the chief executive has discretion to substitute water types when allocating strategic reserve water.

Amendment duties. The plan provides for minor amendments to monitoring requirements under s 57(b) of the Water Act (s 25), and requires the Minister to consider amending or replacing the plan if certain conditions arise (s 26). These provisions create duties to review and to adjust the plan if strategic needs change.

The plan text as provided does not itself contain specific offence or penalty provisions. Instead, the plan integrates with the Water Act and other instruments for licensing, enforcement and penalties by cross-reference. Practitioners should therefore locate offence and penalty provisions in the Water Act and in any resource operations plan, and consider how the plan’s licence conditions will be enforced under those instruments.

Statutory enforcement framework is referenced indirectly. The plan requires the chief executive to grant water licences under s 212 of the Water Act to replace certain transitional authorities, and notes that section 217 of the Water Act applies to the amendment of licences for consistency with the resource operations plan (s 13, s 14). These cross-references indicate that sanctions and compliance tools available under the Water Act for licence breaches are the expected enforcement mechanisms for water-taking regulated under this plan. The plan does not create separate penalty schedules for contraventions within its own text.

Monitoring as a compliance tool. The plan mandates the resource operations plan to state monitoring requirements for water and natural ecosystems, to assist the Minister to assess the effectiveness of strategies (s 22). Monitoring requirements, once set in the resource operations plan or imposed by the chief executive, will operate as a basis for compliance assessment and potential enforcement action under the Water Act and the resource operations plan framework. Section 22 expressly preserves further monitoring the chief executive may impose, which can expand the evidence base for enforcement.

Transitional and notice requirements that can trigger enforcement. Owners authorised to continue existing works for one year, and then under notice if they comply with s 12, are subject to a condition precedent for continued lawful taking (s 12). Failure to provide the required notice or information would, in practice, invalidate the continued right to take overland flow water after the transitional period and could expose the landowner to enforcement action under the Water Act or resource operations plan rules. Similarly, if the chief executive determines that the average annual volume taken has increased and grants a licence with a condition limiting the average annual volume, breach of that condition would engage licence enforcement mechanisms under the Water Act.

No penalty text included. Because no explicit penalty clauses appear in the excerpt supplied, the plan itself does not identify exact fines, offence elements or penalty units. To determine specific penalties, practitioners must consult the Water Act and the resource operations plan that implements this plan. The plan’s cross-references to s 212 and s 217 of the Water Act signal that licensing instruments and licence conditions are central to enforcement.

Interaction with other enforcement regimes. The plan refers to environmental authorities under the Environmental Protection Act 1994 and to development permits regulating operational work under the Planning Act, and permits limited overland flow extraction to satisfy environmental authorisations or relevant development permits (s 10). Conversely, breach of environmental authority conditions or planning approvals may be enforced under those Acts. The plan does not set out the parallel enforcement regimes, but its cross-references create multiple regulatory pathways where enforcement may be engaged by different regulators depending on which instrument has been contravened.

Record-keeping and evidentiary implications. The plan places emphasis on historic averages and equivalence assessments (for example s 12 and s 17). Determinations about whether the average annual take has increased, or what volume is equivalent for downstream impact, will rely on records and monitoring. The plan’s monitoring provisions and the chief executive’s discretionary determinations will therefore generate the factual basis for potential enforcement actions administered under the Water Act and the resource operations plan.

The plan explicitly cross-references and is designed to operate alongside other statutory instruments. The principal interactions provided in the text are with the Water Act (the Act), the Environmental Protection Act 1994, the Planning Act and the Lake Eyre Basin Agreement Act 2001. The plan also defers key definitions and allocation parameters to schedules and to the resource operations plan, which will need to be read alongside the plan.

Water Act. The plan repeatedly invokes Water Act processes and sections. It requires the chief executive to grant water licences under s 212 of the Water Act to replace authorities conferred by s 12 where average annual volumes have increased, and it refers to s 217 of the Water Act as the mechanism for amending licences for consistency with the resource operations plan (s 13, s 14). It permits minor amendments to monitoring requirements under s 57(b) of the Water Act (s 25). The plan therefore operates as a subordinate instrument within the Water Act licensing and operations regime. Practitioners must consult the Water Act for procedural rights, appeal rights, and offence provisions referenced but not included in the plan.

Environmental Protection Act 1994. Section 10 allows small volumes of overland flow water, of no more than the amount necessary to satisfy requirements of an environmental authority under the Environmental Protection Act 1994, or a development permit for an environmentally relevant activity, to be taken without separate authorisation under the plan. Thus the Environmental Protection Act produces limited carve-outs for operational works linked to environmental approval. This creates an interaction in which compliance with an environmental authority may authorise limited overland flow taking, but the Environmental Protection Act itself will contain the conditions and enforcement mechanisms relevant to that authorisation.

Planning Act and Planning Regulation 2017. Section 9 excludes decisions under the Planning Act from the non-increase prohibition in s 9(2)(c), so decisions under the Planning Act may permit activities that otherwise might increase total take in the plan area. Section 11 directs the decision-maker to consider how the Planning Act regulates operational work involving overland flow water and cites the Planning Regulation 2017 schedules for specific regulatory detail. The plan therefore contemplates overlap between the planning approvals regime and the water allocation regime, and requires decision-makers to coordinate across both instruments.

Lake Eyre Basin Agreement Act 2001. The plan requires consistency with the Lake Eyre Basin Agreement Act 2001 in the outcomes it seeks (s 7(f)). This textual connection signals that broader interstate and basin-wide obligations, as expressed in that Agreement Act, are intended to shape plan outcomes and decision-making for ecological protection and cross-border impacts.

Resource operations plan. The plan delegates substantial operational detail to a resource operations plan. The resource operations plan must identify parts of the plan area where authorities under s 12 may be replaced by water licences, specify works, consider the extent to which works allow overland flow taking and other authorisations, and may reduce allocation volumes and decide shares to achieve plan outcomes (s 14). The resource operations plan is also the vehicle for monitoring requirements (s 22) and for making unallocated water available for allocation (s 24). Therefore, the resource operations plan is the primary instrument through which the plan’s rules are operationalised, and it will interact with the Water Act’s licensing, amendment and enforcement machinery.

Other administrative instruments and codes. Section 10 refers to the ‘Code for Assessable Development for Operational Works for Taking Overland Flow Water’ to define contaminated agricultural runoff water. The code is available on the department’s website. This shows that specific operational definitions and compliance standards may be set in subordinate codes and planning instruments external to the plan.

Schedules and definitions. The plan defers particular definitions to schedule 3 and allocation parameters to schedule 2. As a consequence, the plan interacts with its own schedules and with any definitions or allocation tables contained in those schedules. Where the plan references schedule-determined volumes (s 17) or the plan-area map (s 4), the operative legal effect depends on those schedules and their content.

Inter-jurisdictional impacts. The plan explicitly requires consideration of downstream effects in South Australia (s 7, s 19), so decisions made under the plan are required to take account of cross-border downstream environments. The plan therefore operates within a multi-jurisdictional context and requires the chief executive to include downstream impacts in decision-making.

The plan text includes a number of amendment and omission annotations which identify statutory modifications and omissions recorded in the source text. The following items are those annotations as they appear in the plan.

• Section 1 contains an amendment citation: s 1 sub 2014 Act No. 64 s 255 sch 2. This records a substitution made in 2014.
• Section 6 contains multiple amendment annotations: s 6 sub 2006 SL No. 49 s 59; amended 2016 SL No. 216 s 146 sch 20; 2017 SL No. 164 s 93. These indicate that section 6 was substituted in 2006 and amended in 2016 and 2017.
• Section 9 is annotated with amendment citations: s 9 amd 2009 SL No. 280 s 172; 2017 SL No. 103 s 152.
• Section 10 carries amendments: s 10 amd 2013 Act No. 23 s 352 sch 1 pt 2; 2017 SL No. 103 s 153.
• Section 11 is annotated: s 11 amd 2009 SL No. 280 s 173; 2017 SL No. 103 s 154.
• Section 12 contains no amendment citation in the excerpt, but is followed by repeated subsection text.
• Section 13 has no separate amendment marker in the excerpt but references s 212 of the Act for granting licences.
• Section 14 includes amendment markers: s 14 amd 2009 SL No. 280 s 17; 2011 Act No. 40 s 107 sch; om 2016 SL No. 216 s 146 sch 20. The initials “om” indicate omission of certain text at that citation point.
• Section 15 is listed as “Section sec.15” then annotated: s 15 amd 2009 SL No. 280 s 17 ; 2011 Act No. 40 s 107 sch om 2016 SL No. 216 s 146 sch 20. This indicates amendments and later omission.
• Section 16 and 17 carry amendments: s 17 amd 2016 SL No. 216 s 146 sch 20.
• Section 18 and 19 are annotated: s 19 amd 2016 SL No. 216 s 146 sch 20.
• Section 20 is annotated: s 21 om 2014 SL No. 142 s 83, showing section 21 omitted in 2014.
• Section 22 references substitution: s 22 sub 2014 SL No. 142 s 84. Section 23 is annotated: s 23 sub 2014 SL No. 142 s 84 om 2016 SL No. 216 s 146 sch 20.
• Section 24 to 26 do not carry specific amendment footnotes in the excerpt, though s 26 lists the matters the Minister must consider and reads as inserted in the plan text.

These annotations indicate several rounds of amendment or omission between 2006 and 2017. The annotations in the source provide the direct amendment references and should be used to trace the statutory instrument history in the official legislative database. The plan text also explicitly references other Acts and sections where future amendments or operational rules are expected to be implemented through the Water Act (for example, s 57(b), s 212 and s 217 of the Water Act), which is relevant to amendment processes associated with licensing and resource operations plans.

Practitioners must therefore consult the official consolidated version of the plan in the government’s legislation database to confirm the current text and to read the full legislative history. The plan excerpt itself records the amendment citations that are the authoritative pointers to those changes.

The plan text supplied does not include any litigation history or judicial commentary. No court decisions, judicial interpretations, appeals or litigation matters are cited within the text provided. There are no references to caselaw or dispute resolution outcomes in the plan excerpt.

Because the plan relies on licences and authorisations under the Water Act and on resource operations plan provisions, disputes about the plan’s application, licence conditions, or chief executive decisions are likely to be litigated or administratively reviewed under the processes and appeal rights established in the Water Act and in administrative law, but those pathways and any associated decisions are not described in the plan text provided. To identify litigation that has interpreted or tested the plan’s provisions, a practitioner must search court and tribunal databases and the Water Act appellate and review provisions referenced by the plan, which are not contained in the excerpt.

This absence in the plan text means that any legal argument about how the plan should be construed in practice will need to rely on the Water Act, the resource operations plan, the plan schedules, and any administrative decisions or judicial authorities outside the plan excerpt.

Practitioners and applicants should note several practical traps and operational issues that flow directly from the plan text.

Schedules are essential, but not included in the excerpt. The plan delegates key operative detail to schedule 1 (the plan map), schedule 2 (uses and volumes of unallocated water) and schedule 3 (dictionary of definitions). The plan repeatedly references volumes and parts of the plan area that are defined in those schedules (for example s 4, s 17, s 14). Absent examination of the schedules and the resource operations plan, it is impossible to determine exact spatial boundaries, permitted unallocated volumes, or detailed definitions. Consult the schedules as a first step.

Digital boundary held by the department. The exact boundary is kept in digital electronic form by the department and may be inspected at the department’s head office in Brisbane (s 5). If a practitioner or client relies on a plan-area boundary for operational planning, they must obtain and inspect the department’s digital boundary; a printed map in schedule 1 may be insufficient for precise boundary determination.

Non-increase rule with multiple exceptions. Section 9 prohibits decisions that increase the total volume of take in the plan area, but lists several exceptions including decisions about water permits, reinstating or replacing expired authorisations, decisions under the Planning Act, granting licences to local government for town water supply, granting licences to owners of land for stock or domestic use where works pre-existed before 21 November 2001, and decisions about unallocated water made under s 18. Practitioners must carefully map any proposed activity against the exceptions in s 9(2) because an application that appears to increase total volume might nonetheless fall within an exception and be permissible.

Transitional one-year right, then notice, then licensing and cap. Owners of existing works may continue taking overland flow water for one year after plan commencement and thereafter only if notice in the approved form and any required further information are given to the chief executive (s 12). If the chief executive is satisfied there has been, or may be, an increase in average annual volume relative to pre-plan operating arrangements, the chief executive must issue a water licence under s 212 with a condition limiting the average annual take to the historical level (s 13). The practical implications are that historical usage records and accurate measurement of average annual take become critical evidentiary materials, and owners may find their taking reduced to a historical baseline once licensing occurs.

Chief executive discretion on equivalence and allocation. Under s 17 the chief executive may allow an equivalent volume of water to be taken as overland flow water or hydraulically-linked groundwater as a substitute for surface water listed in schedule 2. The chief executive determines equivalence by reference to the downstream stream flow impact. That is a fact-intensive discretion without an explicit formula in the plan. Applicants should expect administrative discretion and the need to make technical submissions addressing stream flow impacts.

Resource operations plan can reduce allocations. Section 14 allows the resource operations plan to reduce the volume of overland flow water that may be taken in a part of the plan area to achieve plan outcomes and to decide shares available under each authority. This is not simply an enabling provision; it gives the implementing instrument power to reallocate and constrain existing rights to meet ecological outcomes in the plan. Stakeholders with existing entitlements should expect possible reductions tied to resource operations plan implementation.

Monitoring requirements are set in the resource operations plan. Section 22 delegates monitoring requirements to the resource operations plan and preserves the chief executive’s power to impose further monitoring. This creates a compliance risk where resource operations plan monitoring obligations may be exacting and evolve over time. Parties should plan for monitoring costs and data reporting obligations once the resource operations plan is finalised.

Interplay with planning and environmental approvals. Small overland flow extraction necessary to satisfy an environmental authority or a development permit is permitted (s 10), but s 11 still requires the chief executive to consider impacts of overland flow applications. The practical implication is that environmental approvals and planning approvals do not entirely displace water planning considerations; applicants must coordinate across regimes.

Absence of penalty clauses in the plan text. The plan excerpt does not itself contain penalties or enforcement provisions. Enforcement will be via the Water Act and resource operations plan apparatus. Practitioners must not assume the plan provides a self-contained enforcement regime and should consult the Water Act for offence provisions and penalty units.

Omitted sections and amendment traces. The plan includes “omitted” annotations and substitution notes (for example s 14, s 15, s 21, s 22, s 23). These indicate legislative change over time and the potential for historical text to differ from current text. Legal advisers should confirm the consolidated text and historical changes in the official legislative history.

Cross-border downstream effects. The plan repeatedly requires consideration of downstream effects in South Australia (s 7, s 19). Applicants must therefore prepare technical material addressing cross-border ecological and water quality impacts and be prepared for inter-jurisdictional scrutiny.

Resource operations plan timing. The implementation schedule requires preparation of a resource operations plan within three years to make unallocated water available for allocation (s 24). Until that plan is prepared, access to strategic reserve water may be constrained. Projects that depend on allocations from the strategic reserve should factor timing risk.

Compliance under this plan involves a sequence of practical steps tied to the plan text, the resource operations plan, the Water Act and the relevant schedules and codes referenced by the plan. The following is a pragmatic checklist based on the plan provisions.

1. Confirm spatial and definitional scope.

   • Obtain and inspect the plan map in schedule 1 and the digital boundary held by the department at the Brisbane head office (s 4, s 5).
   • Consult schedule 3 (the dictionary) to confirm definitions such as overland flow, hydraulically-linked groundwater and any other specialised terms referenced in the plan (s 3).
   • Determine whether the water sought is surface water, overland flow water or hydraulically-linked groundwater as defined in s 6.

2. Determine whether the proposed taking is permitted and under what instrument.

   • For overland flow water, check s 10. Taking is permitted only for stock and domestic purposes; under an authority under s 12; under an authorisation; as unallocated water granted under the resource operations plan; of not more than the amount necessary to satisfy an environmental authority or certain development permits; or if it is contaminated agricultural runoff water as defined in the operational code (s 10).
   • If the proposal involves environmental authorisation or development permits, obtain those approvals and confirm the required volume is no more than necessary under s 10(1)(e)(i).

3. If relying on existing works, observe the transitional regime.

   • If works predate commencement and are existing or reconfigured works that do not increase average annual take, the owner may continue to take overland flow water for one year and thereafter only if the owner gives the chief executive notice in the approved form and any further information required (s 12).
   • Prepare historical usage records and calculations of average annual take under the operating arrangements in place immediately before commencement, because s 13 requires the chief executive to replace transitional authority with a water licence and impose a cap if the chief executive is satisfied there has been or may be an increase in the average annual volume taken.

4. For new licences or conversion of authorities to licences, engage with the resource operations plan process.

   • The resource operations plan must identify parts of the plan area where authorities may be replaced, the works to which authorities relate, the extent works allow taking of overland flow or other authorisations, and may set volumes and shares and reduce the volume available to achieve plan outcomes (s 14).
   • Review the resource operations plan once available for monitoring obligations (s 22), allocation shares, and any limits or transition rules. The plan requires the resource operations plan to be prepared within three years to make unallocated water available for allocation (s 24).

5. If seeking unallocated water, prepare technical materials addressing mandatory considerations.

   • Section 19 lists matters the chief executive must consider, including present and proposed water use need and efficiency, emerging requirements, alternative water sources, availability of alternative supply, a series of ecological and downstream impact factors (water quality, draw-down levels in waterholes, sediment movement, low flows, connections between waterholes, floodplain inundation, movement of fish), recreation and aesthetic values, cultural values, and potential for imposing flow conditions to protect ecologically significant flows (s 19).
   • Prepare evidence addressing these matters and any additional matters the chief executive may consider (s 19(2)).

6. For local government town water supply licence applications, prepare the planning study.

   • If operations did not exist before 21 November 2001, the chief executive must consider whether a planning study satisfactory to the chief executive has been completed that demonstrates need and addresses matters in s 19(1) (s 20). Prepare a planning study consistent with s 20 and be ready to demonstrate to the chief executive that the study is satisfactory.

7. Expect monitoring and reporting obligations.

   • The resource operations plan must state monitoring requirements to assist the Minister in assessing strategy effectiveness (s 22). Budget for data collection, monitoring equipment and reporting obligations, and be ready for the chief executive to impose further monitoring as necessary.

8. Coordinate with environmental and planning approvals.

   • Where operational works require planning approval or an environmental authority, ensure coordination between the planning approval process, environmental approvals under the Environmental Protection Act 1994, and any water authorisations. Small volumes necessary to meet environmental authorities or certain development permits are explicitly permitted for overland flow (s 10), but the chief executive must still consider broader impacts when making decisions (s 11).

9. Keep records to support average annual volume assessments and equivalence calculations.

   • Historical data on volumes taken under pre-plan operating arrangements is central to the conversion process under s 13. If equivalence is claimed between surface water and overland flow/hydraulically-linked groundwater for allocation purposes, the chief executive determines equivalence by reference to downstream impact (s 17). Prepare hydrological and environmental assessments to support equivalence claims.

10. Be aware of timing and amendment pathways.

    • The plan requires preparation of a resource operations plan within three years to make unallocated water available (s 24). Until the resource operations plan is finalised, access to unallocated water may be limited. The Minister must consider amending or replacing the plan if authorisations do not meet a State significance project’s needs, considering specified matters (s 26). Project timing should include potential time for plan amendment processes.

11. Consult the Water Act and resource operations plan for enforcement, appeals and detailed licence conditions.

    • The plan references s 212 and s 217 of the Water Act for licences and licence amendment and s 57 for minor amendments to monitoring requirements (s 13, s 14, s 25). Enforcement mechanisms and penalty provisions are not in the plan text and will be found in the Water Act and the resource operations plan. Review those instruments for appeal rights, offence provisions and compliance procedures.

12. Coordinate with cross-border and cultural obligations.

    • The plan requires consideration of downstream implications in South Australia and cultural values of local Aboriginal communities (s 7, s 11, s 19). Prepare cross-jurisdictional impact assessments and engage with relevant cultural heritage and community stakeholders as part of application materials.

Following these steps will put an applicant or licence holder in a position to meet the plan’s procedural and substantive requirements. The central practical points are the narrow permitted circumstances for taking overland flow, the transitional licence conversion regime tied to historical averages, the chief executive’s discretionary but listed considerations for unallocated water and overland flow applications, and the role of the resource operations plan as the operational instrument that sets monitoring and precise allocation shares and volumes.