Rookwood Weir Water Sales

The Invitation to Tender (ITT) for Tender One closed on 21 July 2020. Unsold water allocations from this initial sales process (Tender One) will be made available in the second tender process (Tender Two), which is expected to be held in 2022.

A minimum of 7,500 ML of MP water allocations per annum is expected to be made available for Tender Two, plus any additional water unsold in Tender One (subject to requirements of other urban and industrial customers).

The Expression of Interest (EOI) for landholders to nominate their interest in obtaining assistance from Sunwater to prepare for Tender Two closed on 30 November 2020.

The Expression of Interest (EOI) for landholders to nominate their interest in obtaining assistance from Sunwater to prepare for Tender Two closed on 30 November 2020.

It was not a requirement to submit an EOI to participate in Tender Two or to apply for a support package. The EOI process gives participants an opportunity to provide feedback which will be considered when designing the support packages available to landholders. 

Sunwater will use feedback collected through the EOI to design support packages to meet landholder needs, building on previous work undertaken such as land suitability, crop market and economic analysis.

The packages will support selected landholders in understanding or gathering the relevant information to participate in Tender Two. This information may comprise details specific to their landholdings including assessing the commercial feasibility of various cropping options.

In 2021, Sunwater will provide information about the support packages available and open applications to landholders.

• Rookwood Weir Water Allocation Sales: Landholder Opportunities Overview – examples of how other growers have used supplemented water to grow their business
• Expression of Interest (EOI) form – to register your interest to participate in the EOI process for Tender Two
• Rookwood Weir Water Allocation Sales – Landholder Expression of Interest brochure – provides further information about how landholders can participate in the EOI process and prepare for Tender Two (2022) 
• Rookwood Weir Project Calendar 2020-2023 – what’s happening across water planning, water sales and construction of the Rookwood Weir
• Reef protection regulations – Any purchaser of water from the Rookwood Weir will need to comply with the requirements of the Reef Protection Regulations which can be found here.

Tender Two is expected to be held in 2022. The Sunwater Rookwood Weir Water Allocation Sales: Information Memorandum (see also the Appendix H addendum) provides detailed information about the opportunities available to landholders considering a water allocation from Rookwood Weir to grow their business enterprise.  

With the development of Rookwood Weir, landholders in the Lower Fitzroy region will have a unique opportunity to bid for supplemented water to grow their business as part of Sunwater’s Tender Two water sales process.

For landholders, access to this water could mean future crop irrigation potential, the establishment of orchards, or the expansion of existing agricultural operations.

To assist landholders in understanding and capitalising on the opportunities made available by securing water through the Rookwood Weir Tender Two process, Advance Rockhampton will facilitate a Rookwood Weir Landholder Support Program on Sunwater’s behalf.

A variety of support tools and a grants program will be released in the coming months to assist landholders to further understand and assess the options available to them. More information on this is available below.