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EXPLANATORY NOTES


INTRODUCTION

1 The ABS Water Account Australia (WAA) is one of the environmental-economic accounts produced by the ABS based on the System of Environmental-Economic Accounts (SEEA). It consists of supply and use tables (collectively referred to as flow tables) for both physical and monetary volumes.

2 The WAA integrates data from different sources into a consolidated information set making it possible to link physical data on water to economic data, such as those in Australia's National Accounts.


ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING FRAMEWORK

3 The WAA was developed using the SEEA and the SEEA-Water. SEEA was first published by the United Nations in 1993 and was elevated to an international statistical standard in 2012. Environmental accounts extend the boundaries of the System of National Accounts (SNA) framework to include environmental resources, which occur outside the economic production and asset boundaries measured by the SNA.


RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE WATER ACCOUNT AUSTRALIA AND NATIONAL ACCOUNTS

4 Water supply and use tables provide a framework to link core components of the National Accounts to physical information. Physical data are presented in supply and use tables while some linkages to economic data are also made.


PHYSICAL SUPPLY AND USE

5 The physical water supply and use tables present aggregates of all available physical data (megalitres) in terms of the supply and use of water within the Australian economy for the financial year 2011-12. The tables illustrate the economic use of water and include: self-extracted, distributed, and regulated discharge (including in-stream use) and reuse.


Scope

6 The WAA presents information on the supply and use of water in the entire Australian economy in both physical and monetary terms.

7 The WAA includes the entire geographical area of Australia.

8 The scope of WAA is fresh water only. The use of saline water (including water from estuaries) for power generation and other industrial uses, although measurable and reported, is not included in the supply and use tables (with the exception of sea water used for desalination).


Coverage

9 Coverage for both supply and use tables includes the following:

• individuals and companies that directly extract water from surface water and groundwater sources for their own use (e.g. domestic, industrial, agricultural or other uses);
• households, government and businesses that use water supplied by water providers for domestic, industrial, agricultural or other uses;
• water providers that extract water from surface water, groundwater and sea water for desalination, and supply it to customers for use (e.g. domestic, industrial, or other use). The majority of water providers are categorised in the Water supply, sewerage and drainage services industry (ANZSIC 281) but the Mining, Manufacturing, and Electricity and gas supply industries also supply a small amount of water; and
• water providers that provide reuse water to their customers; other large organisations who treat water and make it available for subsequent reuse; other large organisations who discharge water directly to the environment (e.g. power stations, mines); and major in-stream water users, for example aquaculture and hydro-electricity generation, where this information is available.

• the volume of rainwater used by agricultural crops/pastures that are directly rain fed;
• discharges to the environment resulting from the run-off of irrigation water;
• the reuse/recycling of water on-farm or on-site (i.e. within homes or businesses);
• household water consumption from rainwater tanks (for households connected to mains supply);
• non-point/diffuse discharges; and
• the impact of storm water infiltration into the sewerage reticulation system.

• Total water use is equal to the sum of Distributed water use, Self-extracted water use and Reuse water use;
• Water consumption is equal to the sum of Distributed water use, Self-extracted water use and Reuse water use less Water supplied to other users and less In-stream use. The use of Distributed water by the environment (Environmental Flows - see paragraphs 30-32), is not included in total water consumption.

• 2011-12 Water Supply and Sewerage Services Survey (WSSS)
• 2011-12 Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS)
• 2011-12 Energy, Water and Environment Survey (EWES)
• Data collected from the 2008-09 Electricity Generators Survey (EGS) was also used to assist in modelling water use for 2011-12.

• The 2011-12 NSW Water Supply and Sewerage Benchmarking Report (NSW Office of Water).
• Queensland Statewide Water Information Management (SWIM) under arrangements with the Queensland Water Directorate (QWD).

• National Water Commission (NWC) and Water Services Association Australia (WSAA) 2011-12 National Performance Report - Urban Water Utilities.
• National Water Commission (NWC) National Performance Report 2011-12: Rural Water Service Providers.
• Annual/environmental reports for 2011-12 from major water providers and businesses.

• Volume of water extracted from the environment and/or the volume of water received from other water providers (this information was used to reconcile total supplies and to avoid double counting of water volumes).
• Volume of water supplied to particular industries (e.g. Agriculture, Mining and Manufacturing) and for household use. This information was reconciled with water use as reported by water users. It also enabled the calculation of coefficients (e.g. ML/employee) for industries for which there was little or no data on water use.
• The amount of water used by the water supply organisation (including mains flushing and water used on parks and gardens operated by councils that supplied water).
• Volume of water lost from the supply system (including customer meter errors and system water losses).
• Volume of water discharged by location.
• Volume of reuse water supplied to particular industries (e.g. Agriculture, Mining and Manufacturing) and for household use. Water reuse volumes were not imputed where water providers did not provide reuse water volumes.
• Distributed water supplied to households and the number of connections served by water supply and sewerage services. Where information was not available for distributed water supplied to households, neighbouring or matched Local Government Area (LGA) coefficients based on average megalitre use per connection were used.
• The amount of water released for environmental flows. This only includes those environmental flows released in accordance with a specific plan prepared in conjunction and/or approved by the appropriate environmental (resource) regulator (see paragraphs 30-32).

• Distributed water use was the amount supplied to the Agriculture industry by water providers.
• Total water consumption by Agriculture was sourced from the 2011-12 ARMS. Generally, the amount of distributed and reuse water consumed (collected on the ABS 2011-12 WSSS) was subtracted from total water consumed, with the remainder assumed to be self-extracted water. Note that self-extracted water for the Agriculture industry includes all groundwater that is extracted by Agriculture businesses.
• Reuse water usage includes water used from regional reuse schemes.
• Data for Victoria were confronted against Victorian Water Register data (Department of Environment and Primary Industry, State Government Victoria, 2012).
• The agricultural activities water consumption data presented in this publication are slightly different to the corresponding data presented in Water Use on Australian Farms, 2011-12 (ABS cat. no. 4618.0). The Water Account Australia estimates water consumption on farms from water suppliers and supply and use data provided by state and territory government bodies, as well as data collected on the ABS Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS), 2011-12, whereas the ARMS 2011-12 is the single source of data used to produce Water Use on Australian Farms, 2011-12. The main difference between the two publications is the total agricultural water consumption estimates for News South Wales and Victoria, which are slightly higher in the WAA.
• The physical supply and use tables present an industry view of Agriculture. The Agriculture industry view presents only the agricultural activity that occurs in businesses where the primary income producing activity (i.e. the activity with value added that exceeds the value added of any other activity carried out by the same business) of the business is agricultural production. Businesses which undertake some agricultural activity but for which other activities provide most of the income are excluded from the Agriculture industry view. For example, a business which generates most of its income from transporting agricultural produce, but also grows some agricultural commodities would be classified to the Transport, postal and warehousing industry. The agricultural production is still counted but is attributed to the Transport, postal and warehousing industry. As such the industry view of Agriculture shows a lower level (approximately 5%) of water consumption than the agricultural activity view.
• Note also that Water Use on Australian Farms, 2011-12 (ABS cat. no. 4618.0) presents an activity view of agriculture - therefore its total consumption estimates for all States and Territories are slightly different to the industry estimates presented in the physical water supply and use tables in the 2011-12 WAA.
• In 2011–12, improved reporting by the Water supply industry led to a large change (compared to previous years) in the split of distributed/self-extracted water used by Agriculture in New South Wales. Future releases of the WAA will include revised data for New South Wales for the years prior to 2011–12.

• Water use and consumption estimates (including in-stream water use and water discharges) for the Mining and Manufacturing industries were sourced from the ABS 2011-12 EWES, supplemented with information from company websites and annual/environmental reports.
• Mine dewatering is categorised as self-extracted in-stream (non-consumptive) use by the Mining industry. The water is usually used on-site or subsequently discharged to the environment.
• Estimates for Mining and Manufacturing in this publication are presented at ANZSIC sub-division levels (with the exception of estimates of regulated discharges, which are presented at division level only).

• For the 2004-05 and 2008-09 editions of WAA, data for water use by electricity generators were sourced from the ABS EGS of water use (a census of all energy producers with a greater than 10 MW capacity), however this survey was not conducted for 2011-12. Data for 2011-12 were sourced from the ABS 2011-12 EWES, along with available administrative data from annual reports, sustainability reports and business websites. When survey or administrative data was not available, the data was modelled based on National Greenhouse Energy Reporting System (NGERS) data.

• Estimates of physical water use were sourced from the ABS 2011-12 EWES and information supplied by water providers in the ABS 2011-12 WSSS. Where information was not provided, industry specific coefficients were applied.

• Distributed and reuse water use was the amount supplied to households by water providers (these data were sourced mainly from the ABS 2011-12 WSSS).
• Self-extracted water use by households not connected to mains water was calculated by applying average state "volume (kL) per connection" coefficients and applying these to the households known not to be served by water providers (estimated by subtracting the connections served by water providers from the total number of households in each State and Territory). Note that self-extracted water use estimates for households do not include rainwater tank usage for households connected to mains supply.
• Population estimates were sourced from Regional Population Growth, Australia, 2012 (cat. no. 3218.0).

• Planned (rules-based) environmental water relates to statutory requirements to maintain specific water regimes (e.g. particular levels, flow rates, aquifer pressures).
• Held (entitlement-based) environmental water relates to specific entitlements, which accrue annual allocations of water that can be extracted (or left in-stream) for environmental purposes.

• Electricity and gas supply estimates were mostly modelled using administrative data from annual reports, websites and the NGERS (see paragraph 27).
• For households not connected to mains water, self-extracted water use was based on coefficients of water use (see paragraph 29).

• supply of distributed water and water related services in the economy by the Water supply, sewerage and drainage services, Mining, Manufacturing, and Electricity and gas supply industries;
• expenditure on water and water related services by industries, households and governments; and
• value added to the economy by the major water-using industries.

• urban distributed water
• rural distributed water
• bulk water (both urban and rural).

• Consumer price Index (CPI) (ABS cat. no. 6401.0)
• Australian Demographic Statistics (ABS cat. no. 3101.0)
• Households and Family Projections (ABS cat. no. 3236.0)
• Regional Population Growth, Australia (ABS cat. no. 3218.0)
• Australian System of National Accounts (ABS cat. no. 5204.0)
• National Accounts supply-use benchmarks
• 2011-12 EWES

• Water suppliers' annual financial reports
• Public administration and finance data

• These are compiled by the ABS for the water using industries and published in the Australian System of National Accounts (ABS cat. no. 5204.0) and reproduced in this publication.

• Expenditure on distributed water was calculated by taking total volume and connected properties reported by each water provider, calculating average consumption values per household and applying the provider's fixed and variable tariff structures to these average values. Where tariff information is not available, an average water rate ($/kL) was applied to the volume of water consumed by the households within those service areas.

• Government expenditure and social transfers in kind monetary data were obtained from ABS Australian System of National Accounts, 2011-12 (unpublished data).

• Revenue and expenditure on water and related services for the water supply industries were sourced from the ABS 2011-12 WSSS, supplemented by administrative data.
• Information on expenditure on water and related services by other industries was sourced from the ABS 2011-12 EWES.

• Water intensity can be expressed as the amount of industrial output produced from a corresponding unit of water used in the production process. This is expressed in the monetary tables as industry gross value added ($ millions) per GL of water used. Comparisons between industries and changes over time in the average gross value added per GL of water use is complicated by the impact of prices, particularly for Agriculture and Mining, where commodity prices can vary substantially from year to year. This is relevant for analyses of incomes (current prices) generated per GL of water consumed in a given year. For this reason, the percentage change movements in industry gross value added per GL of water consumed between 2010-11 and 2011-12 have been calculated using chain volume measures of industry gross value added. It should also be noted that the data represent industry averages. Changes over time in the mix of commodities produced by a broad level industry such as Agriculture, Mining or Manufacturing could result in significant changes in the water intensity.

• Bureau of Meteorology - National Water Account
• Bureau of Meteorology - Australia Water Resources Assessment 2012
• National Water Commission - National Performance Reports 2011–12
• New South Wales Government Department of Primary Industries - Office of Water
• Victorian Water Register
• Qldwater - Statewide Water Information Management (SWIM)
• Western Australia - Economic Regulation Authority
• Office of the Tasmanian Economic Regulator
• United Nations - System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA)