Fairbairn water allocation of 30 per cent for irrigators not unexpected

And he does not believe it will impede the planting of irrigated cotton in the area for the upcoming season.

Mr Burnett, who grows cotton at Springsure and Emerald, said growers were only going to receive a third of what they would normally receive to grow the upcoming season's crop.

"But it's great to have an announced allocation and coming off a really dry period, I guess it surprised me that it would be 30 per cent," he said.

"I think with the announced allocation and the carry over (water) available, the local area will still be able to see about 100 per cent capacity of the irrigated area of about 18,000 to 20,000 hectares of cotton - so 100 per cent of the irrigated area that would normally go under cotton will go under cotton."

Mr Burnett said Sunwater could only do what it could in relation to allocations with what water was in Fairbairn Dam which was about 36 per cent at the moment.

"Historically it's a low level for the Fairbairn Dam and they need to make decisions around historic inflows and what's expected for this coming season and what's in there at the moment and account for all the losses in evaporation," he said.

"So, I think generally people were talking that they might have expected 30 per cent and growers will just work with what they've got and look forward to hopefully seeing some inflows into the Fairbairn Dam and see that allocation increase through the season."

Mr Burnett said he thought with what water had been saved through last season, plus the 30 per cent announced allocation for this water year, it would be enough to finish off cotton crops in the district.

"And hopefully we will get some in crop rainfall and also get some in flows into the dam and we will see that announced allocation increase - the same way as it did last year as it started about this level and made its way up to 100 per cent allocation by the end of the season," he said.

A Sunwater spokesperson said medium priority customers in Nogoa Mackenzie (Fairbairn Dam) would start the water year with an allocation of 30 per cent and while this was lower than last year at 52 per cent, the previous four water years started at zero per cent.

"Sunwater understands the impact this has on our customers' businesses and is hopeful that further inflows into Fairbairn Dam occur during the upcoming wet season," the spokesperson said.

"We will continue to work with customers to deliver water in a way that minimises loss and maximises availability."

Announced allocations across the majority of Sunwater's water supply schemes have started the 2024-25 water year at 100 per cent. All schemes with high priority allocations are 100 per cent.

Medium priority allocations for the Burnett River sub-scheme (Paradise Dam) are 100 per cent.

Five water supply schemes in regional Queensland have started the water year with medium priority allocations less than 100 per cent.

These are Upper Burnett (John Goleby Weir - 84 per cent), Burdekin Haughton (80 per cent), Chinchilla (71 per cent), Cunnamulla (69 per cent) and Nogoa Mackenzie (30 per cent).

However, Burdekin Haughton and Nogoa Mackenzie will have access to 269,898 megalitres and 150,000 megalitres of unused carryover water respectively from the previous water year.

The Sunwater spokesperson said Sunwater understands the importance of water for regional communities.

"And we are pleased good rainfall over the past few years has provided a boost to many storages in regional Queensland," the spokesperson said.

Water allocations are calculated based on formulas prescribed in each water supply scheme's Resource Operations License, which considers - among other factors including evaporation and environmental flows - the total volume of water in a dam.

Medium Priority water allocations generally have lower reliability compared to high priority water allocations and are mainly used for agricultural production.

High Priority customers pay a higher fee for more reliable water access and allocations are typically used for town water supply and industrial use.