• Summary
• Downloads
• Explanatory Notes
• Related Information
• Past Releases

MAIN FINDINGS
 
The figures and tables in this section summarise much of the data contained in the Water Account Australia. The main findings include:

• In 2009–10, Australian annual mean rainfall was 503 mm, 4% lower than the 522 mm recorded in 2008–09.
• During 2009–10, 64,076 GL of water was extracted from the environment and used within the Australian economy. This was a 7% increase on the 59,839 GL extracted during 2008–09. Water providers extracted 9,405 GL, which was a 3% decrease on the 9,673 GL extracted during 2008–09. Water-using industries (mainly the Agriculture industry and hydro-electricity generation) extracted 54,959 GL, which was a 9% increase on the 50,166 GL directly extracted in 2008–09.
• Water consumption by all industries and households in Australia was 13,476 GL in 2009–10, a decrease of 4% from 2008–09 when it was 14,101 GL.
• The Agriculture industry (businesses with agriculture as their main activity) consumed the largest volume of water with 6,987 GL, representing 52% of Australia's water consumption in 2009–10.
• Queensland showed the largest fall (8%) in water consumption from 3,351 GL in 2008–09 to 3,088 GL in 2009–10. This was mostly because of a 216 GL (or 10%) decrease in the consumption of water by the Agriculture industry in this state.
• In 2009–10, there were 354 water providers in Australia, supplying 9,405 GL of distributed water. This compares to 401 providers and 9,673 GL in 2008–09.
• Water providers in the Water supply, sewerage and drainage services industry supplied 9,117 GL or 97% of distributed water in 2009–10.
• Surface water made up 8,727 GL or 96% of the distributed water supplied by the Water supply, sewerage and drainage services industry in 2009–10.
• Reuse water made up 374 GL of total water supplied by water providers in 2009–10, compared to 348 GL in 2008–09. In both reference years it represented just under 4% of total water supplied by water providers.

WATER SUPPLY IN THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMY – 2009–10

• A 23% increase in the use of reuse water by the Agriculture industry (up from 103 GL in 2008–09 to 126 GL in 2009–10) contributed to the 7% rise in the use of reuse water in Australia between 2008–09 and 2009–10.
• Water consumption by households increased by 6% between 2008–09 (1,768 GL) and 2009–10 (1,868 GL).
• Households experienced a 42% increase from 2008–09 in the use of reuse water (from 2,193 ML to 3,106 ML), however the volumes involved were relatively low.
• Sales and service income from the Water supply, sewerage and drainage services industry was $12.5 billion, an 12% increase from 2008–09.
• The average price of distributed water supplied increased by 10% from $0.73/kL in 2008–09 to $0.80/kL in 2009–10.
• There was large variation in the average price paid for distributed water with households paying $2.09/kL and Agriculture $0.09/kL.
• Gross value added for the Water supply, sewerage and drainage services industry increased by 12% between 2008–09 and 2009–10, from $6,408 million to $7,191 million.
• The gross value of irrigated agricultural production was $11.5 billion in 2009–10, a slight decrease from $12.0 billion in 2008–09.
• The Agriculture industry generated a total of $4 million of gross value added (on average) for every GL of water consumed in 2009–10.
• The Mining industry recorded a total of $196 million of gross value added per GL of water consumed, a 13% decrease from 2008–09.
• The Manufacturing industry generated a total of $164 million of gross value added for every GL of water consumed, a 0.2% decrease from 2008–09.

WATER ACCOUNT SUMMARY STATISTICS— 2008–09 and 2009–10
	AUSTRALIA		STATE AND TERRITORY 2009–10
	2008–09	2009–10	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT
Water consumption by industry (GL)(a)	12 333	11 609	3 762	2 572	2 725	971	1 038	393	130	20
Water consumption by households (GL)	1 768	1 868	565	327	364	126	348	72	38	28
Total water consumption (GL)	14 101	13 476	4 326	2 899	3 088	1 097	1 386	465	168	47
Gross State Product ($m)	1 255 241	1 281 180	401 716	293 313	254 550	78 558	187 834	22 341	16 880	25 988
Population ('000)	21 953	22 327	7 233	5 546	4 514	1 645	2 294	508	230	359
Gross State Product/Total water consumption	89	95	93	101	82	72	136	48	100	551
Gross State Product/Industry water consumption	102	110	107	114	93	81	181	57	130	1 331
Per capita/Total water consumption (kL)	642	604	598	523	684	667	604	916	732	131
Per capita/Household water consumption (kL)	81	84	78	59	81	77	152	143	167	77
(a) All industries i.e. Agriculture, Mining, Manufacturing, etc.

MONETARY AND PHYSICAL DISTRIBUTED WATER SUPPLY, by industry — 2009–10
	MONETARY UNITS	PHYSICAL UNITS
	Distributed water (urban & rural)(a)	Supply to other economic units
	$m	GL
Agriculture, forestry & fishing	–	–
Mining	–	21
Manufacturing	–	13
Electricity & gas supply	–	254
Water supply, sewerage & drainage	5830	7031
All other industries	–	–
– nil or rounded to zero (including null cells) (a) Includes reuse water

WATER CONSUMPTION, by State and Territory — 2004–05, 2008–09 and 2009–10
	AUSTRALIA			STATE AND TERRITORY 2009–10
	2004–05	2008–09	2009–10	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT
	GL	GL	GL	GL	GL	GL	GL	GL	GL	GL	GL
Agriculture	12 191	6 996	6 987	2 127	1 553	1 928	720	324	286	49	1
Forestry and fishing	47	101	85	1	1	6	1	74	2	–	–
Mining	413	508	489	62	5	113	22	245	17	25	–
Manufacturing	589	677	656	142	138	183	76	62	37	18	–
Electricity and gas	271	328	298	68	113	91	1	24	–	1	–
Water supply(a)(b)	2 083	2 396	1 902	1 001	521	190	52	103	17	10	8
Other industries(c)	1 063	1 327	1 207	357	254	230	101	193	35	27	10
Household	2 108	1 768	1 868	565	327	364	126	348	72	38	28
Total	18 767	14 101	13 492	4 323	2 912	3 104	1 101	1 372	466	168	47
– nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Includes sewerage and drainage services
(b) Includes water losses
(c) Includes aquaculture and services to agriculture
Note: this table presents an activity view for agriculture for 2004–05 and an industry view for 2008–09 and 2009–10

MONETARY AND PHYSICAL DISTRIBUTED WATER USE, by industry and households —2009–10
		Expenditure on distributed and reuse water		Physical use of distributed and reuse water
		$m	Percent of total (%)	GL	Percent of total (%)
Total consumption by industries(a)
	Agriculture, aquaculture, forestry and fishing	359	6	3 905	55
	Mining	99	2	79	1
	Manufacturing	364	6	362	5
	Electricity, gas and waste services	104	2	214	3
	Water supply, sewerage & drainage	–	–	19	0
	All other service industries	1 423	24	812	12
	Total	2 350	40	5 390	76
Final consumption by households(b)		3 488	60	1 670	24
Final consumption by Governments		–	–	–	–
Total net use(c)
		5 838	100	7 060	100
– nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Total consumption by industries = total intermediate consumption
(b) Final consumption by households includes social benefits paid in kind by governments
(c) Total net use = Total use less losses by Water supply industry and environmental flows

INDUSTRY GROSS VALUE ADDED FOR WATER USING INDUSTRIES — 2009–10
	Industry gross value added (a)	Water consumption	Industry gross value added per GL of water consumed
	$m	GL	$m/GL
Agriculture, forestry and fishing	28 764	7 187	4
Mining	96 105	489	196
Manufacturing	107 707	658	164
Electricity & gas	18 837	297	64
Water supply, sewerage and drainage	7 191	1 893	4
All other industries	944 442	1 084	871
Total	1 203 046	11 609	104
(a) 2009–10 current prices