The National Water Account: an overview

Grace Mitchell Water Accounting Manager

• Set of 8 region reports

• Amount of water available, traded, accessed and used

• Information that has previously been difficult to access

–in a single location

–consistently presented

What is it?

• By the Bureau of Meteorology

• In partnership with some 30 water agencies across Australia

• Contributions by a further 7 organisations

How was it prepared?

• ACTEW Corporation • Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges NRM Board • Allconnex Water • Barossa Infrastructure Limited • City West Water • Delta Electricity • Department for Water (SA) • Department of Sustainability and Environment (VIC)• Department of the Environment, Climate Change, Energy and Water

(ACT) • Department of Water (WA) • Goulburn Mulwaree Council • Harvey Water • LinkWater

• Lithgow City Council • Melbourne Water Corporation • Murray-Darling Basin Authority • NSW Office of Water • Ord Irrigation Cooperative Limited • Palerang Council • Queensland Water Directorate• Queensland Urban Utilities • Queensland Water Commission • SA Water Corporation • SEQ Water Grid Manager • Shoalhaven City Council • South East Water • Southern Rural Water

• Sydney Catchment Authority • Sydney Water Corporation • Unitywater• Water Corporation (WA) • WaterSecure• Western Region Water Corporation• Wingecarribee Shire Council • Yarra Valley Water

• New style of reporting

• Financial accounting analogy

• Comprehensive

• Standardised

• Best available data

• 1 July to 30 June

• Annual series

How is it different?

Walking Through the National Water Account 2010

Grace MitchellWater Accounting Manager

Comprehensive region information

Who does what?

Comprehensive region information

What changed?

Comparing regions

Melbourne Sydney

Digging into the detail

Richness of the notes

Wealth of linked information

Regional Spotlight – Sydney

Wijedasa Alankarage Sub-account Manager

Sydney Region

Water assets

•Include– Surface water supply systems

– Urban water distribution systems

•Exclude– Eastern Hawkesbury-Nepean

sub-catchments starting from Mangrove Creek

– Fish river water supply scheme

– Farm dams and private commercial water storages

The region in context

• Below average rainfall

• Highest on record temperatures for some areas

• Above average evaporation

• Sydney’s desalination plant commenced water delivery

• 2010 Metropolitan Water Plan was completed

Annual rainfall deciles for the Sydney region during 2009–10

Water accounting statement

Connected surface water inflows

Urban recycled water discharge to connected surface water

Supporting information

Sydney Water Corporation released 1,980 ML of recycled water from St Marys Water Recycling Plant to Boundary Creek (a tributary of the Nepean River).

Quantification approaches

Data source

Metered data reported in Sydney Water Corporation’s Water Conservation and Recycling Implementation Report 2009–10

Data provider

Sydney Water Corporation

Method

The volume was extracted from measured data used in Sydney Water Corporation’s Water Conservation and Recycling Implementation Report 2009–10.

Uncertainty

The volume is based on measured data. Estimated uncertainty based on meter accuracy is +/–2%.

Urban Water System – Sydney, Illawarra and Blue Mountains

Regional Spotlight – Murray–Darling Basin

Wijedasa Alankarage Sub-account Manager

Murray–Darling Basin Region

Water assets

•Include– Water storages, rivers and

streams

– Groundwater aquifers

•Exclude– Snowy Mountain reservoirs

– Great Artesian Basin

– Farm dams and private commercial water storages

The region in context

• Above average rainfall

• Highest on record temperatures for some areas

• Average evaporation

• Severe flooding and record flows in the northern basin

• The water sharing plan for the NSW Border Rivers Regulated River Water Source commenced

Annual rainfall deciles for the MDB region during 2009–10

Water accounting statement

Connected surface water store assets

Storage reservoirs

• 49 reservoirs

• Total capacity: 23,069,000 ML

• Total volume on 30 June 2010: 7,346,000 ML (32% full)

Thank you…

www.bom.gov.au/water

www.bom.gov.au/water/nwa/2010

Thank you…

www.bom.gov.au/water