Lower Lockyer Valley Scheme

The Lower Lockyer scheme provides water for irrigation and was established following construction of Atkinson Dam in 1970.

The Lower Lockyer Water Supply Scheme is located west of Lowood and was designed only to supply water for irrigation.

Scheme Performance Report

The annual Scheme Performance Report (SPR) - previously known as Network Service Report (NSP) - contains scheme information such as historical water usage information and covers both operating and renewals expenditure and future material renewal forecast expenditure. The current year annual SPR and prior year annual NSPs can be accessed via the links below.

Water supply contract

The Water Act 2000 requires that the holder of a water allocation in this scheme must have a supply contract with Seqwater. 

For irrigators who were not party to a water supply contract when the scheme came under the Moreton Resource Operations Plan, the Water Act 2000 provides for a standard water supply contract to apply. In other words, a standard supply contract is statutorily deemed to be in place between each customer and Seqwater when a supply contract is not already in place.

A copy of the deemed standard supply contract may be accessed here.

When a water allocation is sold, the purchaser of the water allocation is required to enter into a water supply contract with Seqwater before the transfer of the water allocation is able to be completed. For further information please contact us at [email protected] or call 1300 737 928.

Announced allocations

Water year:  2023-24

Medium priority announced allocations:  100%

Announced Allocation effective 1 July 2023 and will be applicable until 30 June 2024.

Customers are encouraged to obtain information about their available water balances (ML) by calling their Irrigation Team on 1300 737 928 or email [email protected]

History of announced allocations

In development - to be supplied.

Operational Report

Water trading

If you have entered into a contract of sale to purchase a water allocation (with or without land) and the water allocations are managed under a Resource Operations Licence held by Seqwater, then you will need to make application with Seqwater.  

Although Seqwater’s approval is not required for a permanent water allocation trade, the purchaser needs to enter into a water supply contract with Seqwater before Seqwater can provide the purchaser with a Notice of Existence of a Supply Contract form.  

The Queensland Titles office will not register the change of a water allocation without this form. Click here for our guide to the process for a permanent transfer of a water allocation. You will also need to complete the Permanent Transfer of Water Allocation Form.

Customers wishing to enter into seasonal assignments or temporary trades of water need to complete a Temporary Transfer Application Form. The local conditions are to be read in conjunction with the Seasonal Water Assignment (Temporary Transfer) Form. Completed forms may be returned by email to [email protected] or by post to PO Box 328, Ipswich QLD 4305.

Service standard

Individual processing times can vary due to individual circumstances such as:

  • whether your application has been lodged correctly and includes all the necessary supporting documents
  • the time it takes to perform required checks on the supporting information provided
  • whether there are any outstanding invoices.

Our standard processing time:

Seasonal Water Assignment: 10 business days

Water Supply Contract: 20 business days 

Water year

The water year starts 1 July and ends 30 June.

Please note that the water year, which was previously 1 April to 31 March, was changed when the ROP amendment was approved in June 2014.

Scheme map

Download a map of the scheme.

Customer consultation

Seqwater holds customer consultation forums at least annually to consult on the network service plan and customer service standards as well as other Scheme issues that may arise from time to time.  Attendance at customer consultation forums is open to all irrigation customers of the Scheme and other stakeholders.

The date, time and location of the next consultation forum will be advised.

Service targets

Service targets for the Lower Lockyer Valley Water Supply Scheme may be accessed here.

From 2016-17, Seqwater will publish annual performance reports detailing our performance against each target.

Atkinson Dam dead storage

Atkinson Dam was constructed to supply water for irrigation in the Lower Lockyer. The full supply volume of the dam is 30,401 ML. Water is released from the dam to meet customer demands until the minimum operating level of 2,168 ML is reached at which point normal releases are no longer possible. The water remaining when the minimum operating level is reached is known as ‘dead storage’. No draw-down of dead storage is permitted under the Lower Lockyer Valley Water Supply Scheme Operations Manual (Operations Manual). In the absence of any inflows, the dead storage depletes naturally.

Seqwater has been asked to consider whether irrigators may access the dead storage should Atkinson Dam reach this point again in the future.

Seqwater’s investigation seeks to understand whether there is a case for allowing a share of the dead storage to be made available to irrigation customers who may be able to access it. Should the findings of the investigations support the case, Seqwater will develop a proposed amendment to the Operations Manual and consult stakeholders on the proposed amendment.

To understand the impacts of a partial draw-down of the dead storage, Seqwater sought to understand what a complete emptying of the dam (ultimately by evaporation) would mean to the environment. To provide this advice, Seqwater engaged independent consultants to undertake both an aquatic survey and a bird survey to identify any threatened or endangered species that would, or could, be impacted.

Seqwater is committed to ensuring environmental compliance and preventing environmental harm from our operations. The reports published by the consultants are available here:

No decisions have been made about any future changes to the Operations Manual regarding the potential draw‑down of Atkinson Dam dead storage. The surveys were conducted as a first step in assessing the feasibility and impact of access to the dead storage. The next step is to re-calibrate the storage yield curve from minimum operating level to zero in order to understand how the dead storage would behave under active partial depletion (if permitted).

As at September 2019, the remaining water in Atkinson Dam is estimated to be less than 5 ML.

Further information

For further information or if you have any questions please contact us at [email protected]