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Mareeba Dimbulah
Scheme
Announced Allocations
Storages
Water Pricing
Scheme information
About
The Mareeba-Dimbulah Scheme comprises Tinaroo Falls Dam, Lake Tinaroo and the Mareeba-Dimbulah Irrigation Area. The dam also supplies the Barron Gorge Hydro-electric Power Station.
How the scheme works
- Water from Tinaroo Falls Dam is distributed by gravity through 176 km of main channel to the various sections of the scheme.
- A further 189 km of subsidiary channels distribute water to farms, dwellings and townships.
- Five balancing storages at Nardello’s Lagoon, East Barron, Arriga, Biboohra and Jabiru Lagoon ensure effective supply is maintained throughout the system.
Water uses
- Irrigation water for various fruit, general horticulture, sugarcane, tea trees and coffee.
- Urban water supply for Tinaroo, Walkamin, Mareeba, Kuranda, Mutchilba, Dimbulah and Yungaburra.
Scheme Management
Sunwater must comply with the conditions set out in the Mareeba-Dimbulah Water Supply Scheme Resource Operations Licence (ROL), issued to Sunwater in June 2005 by our portfolio shareholding department. The ROL outlines the infrastructure details, environmental release rules and all Sunwater’s monitoring and reporting obligations. The ROL also requires Sunwater to operate in accordance with an operations manual (OM) that is approved by our portfolio shareholding department. The operations manual outlines rules for the operation of infrastructure associated with the Mareeba-Dimbulah scheme as well as water sharing rules and seasonal water assignment (temporary trade) rules.
The Mareeba-Dimbulah Water Supply Scheme ROL Operations Manual was issued in June 2017.
Sunwater focuses our resources towards timely and cost-efficient delivery of water to customers in the Mareeba-Dimbulah scheme. We collaborate with our customers to ensure we understand their needs, adapt quickly to changes in the environment and make the most of the available water supply. To best manage water delivery, arrangements for taking of water within the scheme have been developed in consultation with its Irrigator Advisory Committee.
Tinaroo Falls Dam storage level classifications
The storage level classification must be determined on the first day of each month and applies for the whole of that month regardless of any change in the storage level during the month.
The storage level classification determines the minimum flow volumes required at Barron River at Mareeba and Myola as per Attachment 2 of the Mareeba-Dimbulah Water Supply Scheme Resource Operations Licence.
| Month | Classification |
| July 2024 | High |
| August 2024 | High |
| September 2024 | High |
| October 2024 | High |
| November 2024 | High |
| December 2024 | High |
| January 2025 | High |
| February 2025 | High |
| March 2025 | High |
| April 2025 | High |
Taking water from the scheme
The water ordering system assists Sunwater in delivering water to its customers in an efficient and timely way, enabling them to plan and manage their water use.
Before taking any water, customers should place a water order so that Sunwater can release sufficient water and minimise losses.
Customers who take water without ordering may reduce Sunwater’s ability to supply customers who have ordered according to the above requirements.
To place an order
Customers can place their orders via:
- Sunwater Online
- Sunwater Customer Support on 13 15 89.
Further information about ordering water is detailed in Mareeba-Dimbulah’s Rules and Targets.
Stopping or restricting supply
Sunwater may suspend or restrict supply in a number of circumstances, including:
- during maintenance of Sunwater’s assets
- during a peak demand period, when rosters or rations may apply
- when the demand for water is so small it is impractical to supply it
- when there is a need to make special releases to maximise efficiency at times of limited supply
- during rain shutdown
- infrastructure limitations which make delivery impractical
- if supply could cause Sunwater to break the law
- when operating under special notices or regulations issued by the Department of Natural Resources and Mines e.g. Water Amendment Regulation (No. 3) 2006.
Weather events and emergency shutdowns
Sunwater asks that customers notify their duty water officer, as soon as possible, of any rain event or other circumstances that substantially lessens their water requirements. When widespread general rain exceeds 40 mm in a day over the Mareeba-Dimbulah Water Supply Scheme, the duty Water Officer may shut the system down.
Customers are requested to cancel orders if they no longer require water ordered.
For more information contact
If you experience an equipment or power failure emergency, please give immediate notice to Sunwater by calling Sunwater Customer Support on 13 15 89.
Tinaroo Water Committee
The Tinaroo Water Committee is a group of irrigators within the Mareeba-Dimbulah scheme that have been elected to represent their interests in relation to scheme operations and water supply issues and improvements with Sunwater.
The committee:
- provides advice and recommendations to Sunwater regarding scheme operational issues
- represents the interests of the broader irrigator base in respect of Sunwater’s ongoing operation of the water supply scheme
- provides a mechanism for Sunwater and its customers to raise and discuss matters of mutual interest in relation to the management of the physical aspects of the scheme and customer relationship issues
- work collaboratively with Sunwater to identify and introduce new approaches and improvements to water management.
Sunwaters engagement with the Tinaroo Water Committee is governed by the Irrigator Advisory Committee Charter.
| Name | Position |
| Joe Moro | Chair |
| Aaron Moore | Committee Member |
| Angela Sturgess | Committee Member |
| Angela Toppin | Committee Member |
| Claude Santucci | Committee Member |
| Cr Bermie Wilce | Committee Member |
| Eva Arena | Committee Member |
| Gerard Kath | Committee Member |
| Sherri Soncin | Committee Member |
| James Howe | Committee Member |
| Kylie Collins | Committee Member |
| Makse Srhoi | Committee Member |
| Mario Milkota | Committee Member |
| Maryann Salvetti | Committee Member |
| Peter Howe | Committee Member |
| Randy Singh | Committee Member |
| Remo Terranova | Committee Member |
Drinking Water Customer Service Standard
Our Drinking Water Customer Service Standard outlines our commitment to providing safe and reliable drinking water to customers connected to this service. You can access the standard below.
Stay up to date with the Tinaroo Water Committee.
Announced Allocations
Water Year: 2024/2025
High priority: 100%
Medium priority: 100%
Announced Allocations effective 1 July 2024 and will be applicable until revised and communicated by Sunwater.
| 2023/2024 to 2024/2025 Carryover Parameters – As Tinaroo Falls Dam was spilling as at 01 July 2024 carryover will not be available. For more information about the scheme’s carryover conditions click here |
Carryover Methodology
Maximum Volume of Carryover = 97.5% of the total volume of unused water for the scheme at the end of the water year.
Maximum volume of water that may be carried over by a water user must not be more than 97.5% of their remaining volume at the end of the water year.
(Water User remaining volume x 97.5%) x 100% x 85%
Customers are advised to obtain information about their remaining water allocation balance by accessing SunwaterOnline.
For more information or enquiries, phone 13 15 89 or email customersupport@sunwater.com.au.
History of Announced Allocations
Operational reports
Sunwater releases periodic operational reports detailing Announced Allocation levels and individual storages’ breakdowns within each scheme, the latest of which can be found below.
Service and Performance Plans
Sunwater prepares an annual Service and Performance Plan (S&PP) for each irrigation service contract area. S&PPs replace the former annual Network Service Plans and annual Performance Reports.
We have updated the naming convention for S&PPs to improve clarity and alignment with plan content. The new convention references the year in which the S&PP is published (or should have been published). Publication should occur within six months of the end of a financial year.
For further information about this service, please visit the Service and Performance Plan page.
Mareeba Bulk Supply
Mareeba-Dimbulah Bulk Supply
2021 Service and Performance Plan (originally published as the 2023 Service and Performance Plan)
Download
Mareeba-Dimbulah Bulk Supply
2020 Service and Performance Plan (originally published as the 2022 Service and Performance Plan)
DownloadMareeba Distribution
Scheme news
Scheme history
Image courtesy the Ricci family
Mareeba-Dimbulah Water Supply Scheme
Tobacco was first produced in the region in 1928 and the Queensland Government promptly earmarked large areas of land for growing a leaf that was in huge demand. But consistency of water supply became a perennial problem. The decision was made in 1952 to build the Tinaroo Falls Dam and the scheme was established.
Its benefits to the region continue long after tobacco has been replaced with alternate cropping. Some 800 farms growing a huge diversity of crops including sugar cane, mangoes, bananas, pawpaw, citrus, avocados and coffee are supplied with water via more than 360 km of channels.
The dam delivers water to communities including Tinaroo, Walkamin, Mareeba, Kuranda, Mutchilba, Dimbulah and Yungaburra, and provides secondary flood attenuation from flood run-off in the Barron River.
Water is also released into the Barron River for environmental purposes and to provide an assured supply to the Barron Gorge Hydro Electric Power Station at Kuranda. A small hydro power station at the dam wall was added in 2004.