Environmentalists are raising the alarm over a draft Northern Territory government plan which they say will let industries such as gas and cotton take an "unprecedented" level of Top End groundwater.
Under the draft Georgina Wiso water allocation plan, released on Friday, the NT government says more than 262 gigalitres of water can be taken "sustainably" each year within the Daly, Roper and Beetaloo district.
That's more than 100,000 Olympic swimming pools.
Amy Dysart, the NT's executive director of water resources, said "it's a big number from a very, very big resource".
The plan applies to an area of about 155,000 square kilometres — more than twice the size of Tasmania.
It extends about 600 kilometres from north to south and 500 kilometres east to west, including the towns of Daly Waters, Elliott and Newcastle Waters.
According to the draft plan, roughly 243 gigalitres of water can be taken from the Georgina Basin and 19 gigalitres can be taken from the Wiso Basin annually without harming the environment.
Of that, industries can take 200 gigalitres every year.
Speaking on the ABC's Country Hour, Ms Dysart said NT government modelling showed there were about 750,000 gigalitres of water buried underneath the ground in the area.
"There's a lot of water that could be used for [agricultural] development," she said.
"There's a couple of mining activities that are in care and maintenance in that area too, so we want to ensure that there would be water available for those activities."
For the first time, the NT government has also set aside 10 gigalitres of water every year for "petroleum activities", which includes fracking in the Beetaloo Basin.
Ms Dysart said the draft plan was based on "the extensive nature of the resource, the relatively high recharge rates, and a consideration of the demand".
It allows industry to take about 40 per cent of the system's annual recharge, when groundwater is topped up by rainfall.
That's double what is currently allowed under the Top End's longstanding 80:20 rule, under which 80 per cent of water flow is saved for the environment, while the remaining 20 per cent can be used by industry.
'Incomprehensible and dangerous'
Environmentalists and Aboriginal traditional owners have long voiced concerns about the predicted expansion of the cotton and gas industries across Australia's north.
Kirsty Howey, executive director of the Environment Centre NT, said the territory's latest water allocation plan was further proof it was preparing the Top End for big development.
"The questions is: is this huge unprecedented water allocation being handed out to facilitate not just fracking, but also the cotton industry?" she said.
"And why is it being engineered to development needs, with absolutely no regard and no mention of environmental and cultural objectives, and no consultation with key stakeholders?
"We're talking about opening up this huge, valuable aquifer that covers a huge proportion of the Northern Territory — and sustains key rivers including the Roper and the Daly — to vastly more extraction, an unprecedented level of additional extraction."
Ms Howey said there was nothing in the plan to explain how taking 40 per cent of recharge was sustainable.
Sam Phelan, the Katherine region coordinator from Protect Big Rivers, described the NT's water allocation plan as "incomprehensible and dangerous".
"A 2019 Northern Territory government report indicated that the recharge rate of the Georgina Basin could be as low as 71 billion litres (71 gigalitres) per year," she said.
"However, the plan gives a figure over eight times greater than that — it's insane."
Adrian Tomlinson, chief executive of the Arid Lands Environment Centre, said "the amount of water being allocated has clearly got big agriculture in mind".
"It's quite alarming," he said.
"I've never seen a plan so scant in detail."
Mr Tomlinson said the allocation plan risked lowering the groundwater table, which could impact water levels in the springs in Mataranka and river flows further north that rely on groundwater.
A win for industry
Paul Burke, chief executive of the NT Farmers Association, said "it's a significant amount of water, but it seems to be set very sustainably".
"I know that there'll be a lot of interest from some of the larger players in that area, who have aspirations for significant cropping operations," he said.
Broadacre crops grown in the territory include rice, cotton, sorghum and hemp.
"It's a really exciting time for the territory," Mr Burke told the Country Hour.
"It's good to see that the plan is actually now released, which will give a bit of surety for some of the gas sector that will be waiting for this as well."
