Lower Limestone Coast’s Water Allocation Plan is being amended after review found it was unsustainable

Farms and industry face a huge shake-up for water use after a wide-ranging review found the current set-up was no longer working.

The Lower Limestone Coast Water Allocation Plan is being amended after an in-depth review deemed it no longer working for the region.

Water allocation licences across the Limestone Coast will change after an 18-month review found the current plan was no long sustainable.

Limestone Coast Landscape Board planning manager Dr Liz Perkins said the water allocation plan amendment would focus on key areas to improve it and ensure it could manage the region’s water resources.

She conceded it would be a “challenging” process.

It comes after a crucial spring-fed drain on a family farm at Eight Mile Creek went dry for the first time in 90 years.

The amendment follows an 18-month review across 2022-2023, which found the current plan needed substantial changes.

“The key findings of the review highlighted that change was needed to the following key areas: new knowledge, sustainable allocation, environmental provisions, legislative and policy alignment, reducing administrative and licensing complexity, and the water market,” Dr Perkins said.

“The process to determine the necessary changes will involve extensive consultation.

“We recognise amendment will create uncertainty and we are committed to a high level of transparency and stakeholder engagement throughout the process.”

Mother-and-son farming duo Joanne and Morgan Feast, 52 and 24, fear water over-allocation is the reason their drain ran dry earlier this year.

Joanne Feast and her son Morgan on their fifth-generation family farm at Eight Mile Cree. Picture: Jessica Dempster

The drain was first dug 90 years ago by members of the Feast family who have been farming their land for 130 years across five generations and had never gone dry.

Representatives of the Limestone Coast Landscape Board paid a visit to the Feasts’ farm in March to examine the spring and hear Joanne and Morgan’s concerns.

Joanne said she believed the region has been over-allocating water for a long time.

“Morgan and I welcome the review of the water allocation plan but feel the amendment is a little like shutting the gate after the horse has bolted,” Joanne said.

The drain running from the Feast farm's major spring has dried up for the first time in 90 years. Picture: Jessica Dempster.

“We are concerned that it will take years to implement - years that we don’t have.

“It may still be too late to stop (the consequences of water over allocation) on our property.

“We hope we are totally wrong about this water situation, for us to be wrong would be the best outcome for us as it’ll mean there is nothing to worry about concerning the water.

“If we aren’t wrong and enough changes aren’t made, in another 20 years maybe someone will say that we were right and it’s too late.”

The LC Landscape Board said “revising the (water allocation) plan will be a complex process”.

Board chair Dr Penny Schulz said the board would need to balance competing interests of all industries and livelihoods dependent on water.

The board encouraged people to stay connected and take up opportunities to participate in the amendment process at www.engage.lclandscapesa.com.au/llcwap.