4610.0 - Water Account, Australia, 2015-16

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 23/11/2017

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Explanatory Notes Glossary Abbreviations Quality Declaration - Summary	EXPLANATORY NOTES INTRODUCTION 1 The Water Account, Australia (WAA) is one of the environmental–economic accounts produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) which is compiled, as far as possible, in accordance with the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (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 2015-16. The tables illustrate the economic use of water and include: self–extracted, distributed, regulated discharge (including in–stream use) and reuse (see Glossary for definitions of these terms). Scope 6 WAA presents information on the supply and use of water in the entire Australian economy in both physical and monetary terms. 7 WAA includes the entire geographical area of Australia. 8 The scope of WAA is fresh (or inland) 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 in industry). Coverage 9 Coverage for both supply and use tables include 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); water providers that provide reuse water to their customers; other large organisations which treat water and make it available for subsequent reuse; other large organisations discharging water directly to the environment (e.g. power stations, mines); and major in–stream water users (e.g. aquaculture and hydro–electricity generation), where this information is available. 10 Items not covered by the supply and use tables include: 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); non–point/diffuse discharges; and the impact of storm water infiltration into the sewerage reticulation system. Water consumption and use 11 Calculating water use by industries is complex and involves a number of data sources and modelling. Water use can include self–extracted water, distributed water, or reuse water and sometimes a combination of all three sources are used. Calculating water use estimates for an industry or business is made more complicated when water is also supplied to other users, or when water is used in–stream (e.g. for cooling or hydro–power). As such simply adding self–extracted water, distributed water, and reuse water to derive a figure for total water use can be misleading. 12 In the WAA, volumes of water used and supplied by each industry have been balanced to derive water consumption. This figure takes into account the different characteristics of water supply and use of industries and is a way of standardising water use, allowing for comparisons between industries. As such the following accounting identities have been used: Total water use is equal to the sum of distributed water use, self–extracted water use and reuse water use; and Water consumption is equal to total water use (defined above) less in–stream water use and distributed water supplied to other users. The use of distributed water by the environment (environmental flows), is not included in the measurement of total water consumption. 13 For most industries, water use and water consumption are the same because most industries do not have any in–stream use or do not supply water to other users. Water consumption and use will vary considerably for some industries; specifically, Water Supply, Sewerage and Drainage Services, Electricity and Gas Supply and Mining, where in–stream water use and water supply volumes are significant. Reuse water 14 There are a variety of water sources that may be supplied as reuse water, including waste water (from sewerage systems), drainage water, storm water or other water providers (i.e. a 'bulk' reuse water supply). Sewerage systems collect and treat waste water which may be treated to primary, secondary or tertiary levels. Storm water may also be collected using infrastructure separate to sewerage systems and, depending upon its intended use, may or may not be treated before being supplied as reuse water. Drainage water is also collected in regional collection drains managed by rural water utilities and service providers, including irrigators. This water may be supplied as reuse water to customers or discharged to the environment. This process is analogous to urban reuse systems, but the water is typically treated in urban systems before being supplied to users. Water discharges 15 The water discharged from the economy to the environment may be regulated or unregulated. Regulated discharge refers to water discharged after use where that discharge does not match the natural flow regime of the receiving water body. For example, the waste water discharged by sewerage service providers is a regulated discharge. The water discharged by the Electricity and Gas Supply industry after use in hydro–electric power generation is also regulated discharge. 16 The water discharged by households and other industries to sewerage or drainage systems is not a regulated discharge because the water is not discharged directly to the environment. This volume of water become a regulated discharge after being treated by the Sewerage and Drainage Services industry, and is then released back to the environment. Discharges from non–point sources, such as those from the Agriculture industry (e.g. run–off from irrigation), are not included in this publication, and are represented in the supply and use tables as "na" or not available. 17 Regulated discharges in the physical supply and use tables include environmental flows. Data sources 18 Data for this release are sourced from a range of ABS surveys as well as state, territory and local government agencies, water authorities and industry organisations. The main sources are listed below. 19 ABS surveys: 2015-16 Water Supply and Sewerage Services (WSSS) Survey; 2015-16 Environmental Indicators Survey (EIS); 2015-16 Agricultural Census (ACS); and 2008–09 Electricity Generators Survey (EGS). 20 State and Territory government agencies and major businesses (including major state/territory water corporations): The 2015-16 NSW Water Supply and Sewerage Benchmarking Report (NSW Office of Water); and Queensland Statewide Water Information Management (SWIM) under arrangements with the Queensland Water Directorate (QWD). 21 Surveys conducted by other government agencies, industry associations, and annual reports of water providers, including: 2015-16 National Performance Report - Urban Water Utilities (Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology); and Tasmanian Water and Sewerage: State of the Industry Report, 2015-16 (Office of the Tasmanian Economic Regulator); and Annual/environmental reports for the 2015-16 financial year from major water providers and businesses. Methods for calculating Water Supply and Use 22 These notes are intended as a general guide to the method of calculating estimates of water supply and use. For more detail on the methods please contact the Director, Environment and Agriculture Statistical Delivery and Communication Section, Australian Bureau of Statistics. 23 A complete list of water providers in 2015-16 was compiled using the ABS Business Register (ABSBR) supplemented by additional information supplied by State and Territory regulatory departments, industry bodies, and other water data providers. All water providers identified were surveyed in the ABS 2015-16 WSSS. 24 Water providers provided information on: 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); Volumes 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; and 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. 25 For Agriculture: Distributed water use is the amount supplied to the Agriculture industry by water providers; Total water consumption by Agriculture was sourced from the 2015-16 ACS. Generally, the amount of distributed and reuse water consumed (collected on the ABS 2015-16 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 agricultural businesses; Reuse water usage includes water used from regional reuse schemes; Data for Victoria were confronted against the Victorian Water Register (Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning); The data presented in this publication are slightly different to the data presented in Water Use on Australian Farms, 2015-16 (cat. no. 4618. 0). This is because of multiple data sources used in the 2015-16 edition of WAA, compared to the single source of ABS survey data used to produce Water Use on Australian Farms, 2015-16. 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 10%) of water consumption than the agricultural activity view; and Note also that Water Use on Australian Farms, 2015-16 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 2015-16 edition of WAA. 26 For Mining and Manufacturing: Water use and consumption estimates (including in-stream water use and water discharges) for the Mining and Manufacturing industries were modelled based on information from the ABS 2014-15 EWES, ABS 2015-16 EIS and Business Turnover data. Where information from company websites and annual/environmental reports are available, that information is used. 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. Only division level estimates are published at the State/Territory level (sub-division splits are presented at the National level) due to lack of survey input data for Mining and Manufacturing industries. 27 For Electricity and Gas Supply: Estimates of physical water used were modelled based on 2015-16 National Greenhouse Energy Reporting System (NGERS) data, ABSBR data, the 2008-09 ABS EGS of water use (a census of all energy producers with a greater than 10 megawatt capacity), and information from company websites and annual/environmental reports. 28 For Other Industries, see Glossary for list of industries): Estimates of physical water use were sourced from information supplied by water providers in the ABS 2015-16 WSSS, ABSBR data, as well as organisational websites and annual reports. Where information was not available, data was modelled using industry specific coefficients. 29 For household water use: Distributed and reuse water use represent the amount supplied to households by water providers (these data were sourced mainly from the ABS 2015-16 WSSS); Self–extracted water use by households not connected to mains water was calculated by applying average state 'volume (kL) per connection' coefficients 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; and Population estimates were sourced from Australian Demographic Statistics, Mar 2017 (cat. no. 3101.0). 30 For Soil Water: Soil water use estimates were derived from the ABS publications, Agricultural Commodities, Australia, 2015-16 (cat. no. 7121.0) and Land Management and Farming in Australia, 2015-16 (cat. no. 4627.0); Estimates were also derived using land use management data (Department of Agriculture & Water Resources) and Australian Forest and Wood Products Statistics (Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences); Soil water abstraction is calculated by dividing yield by a water use co-efficient then calculating total water abstracted from the area planted for agricultural commodities; The water use coefficient is usually measured in kg(mm x ha) for crops and in mm/year for other plants. These were constructed from an analysis of scientific case studies; and The estimates of soil water use are still considered experimental and therefore feedback on the methods and sources used is sought by the ABS. For further information on soil water use, please refer to the feature article published with the 2011-12 edition of the WAA – Experimental Estimates of Soil Water Use in Australia. Environmental flows 31 Key Commonwealth, state and territory water agencies recognise two forms of water used for environmental flows: Planned (rules–based) environmental water relates to statutory requirements to maintain specific water regimes (e.g. particular levels, flow rates, aquifer pressures); and 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. 32 Some water utilities do not measure all environmental flows, and there is subsequent uncertainty around the level estimates. In the 2008–09 and 2009–10 editions of the WAA, environmental flows were not separately identified in the physical supply and use tables. The environmental flows that were reported in surveys were presented within the estimates for distributed, reuse and in–stream water supplied and used by Water Supply, Sewerage and Drainage Services and Electricity and Gas Supply. Consumption for these industries was not affected by this treatment of environmental flows volumes (i.e. these flows were defined as non–consumptive use). 33 Environmental flows in the WAA are incorporated only in the regulated discharge estimates for the Water Supply, Sewerage and Drainage Services and Electricity and Gas Supply industries. They are not presented within the estimates for distributed, reuse and in–stream water supplied and used. Data quality and reliability 34 WAA estimates are prepared from a wide range of statistical sources. Some are closely related to the environmental accounting framework, but others are not completely aligned in various respects, including coverage, concepts and timing. Most of the basic data are derived from statistical surveys or as a by–product of government administrative processes. The frequency, detail and timeliness of these data sources are constrained by many factors, including available resources and meeting the administrative requirements of government. Any improvement in timeliness of data is usually at the expense of detail, reliability or additional resources. Therefore, estimates may be subject to modelling to fill some of the gaps from surveys or administrative collections. 35 The majority of water supply and use data is collected by the ABS (with the following exceptions) and is coherent with other data sources: Electricity and Gas Supply estimates were mostly modelled using administrative data from annual reports, websites and the NGERS; Other Industries were mostly modelled using administrative data from Annual reports and websites; and For households not connected to mains water, self–extracted water use was based on coefficients of water use (see paragraph 29). MONETARY SUPPLY AND USE Scope 36 The monetary supply and use section presents aggregates of all available quantitative monetary data (dollars) in terms of the supply and use of water within the Australian economy. 2015-16 is the latest reference year, and 2008-09 is the first year in the time series. Supply and use tables illustrate the economic transactions associated with the use of water and the provision of sewerage, drainage and waste services (also referred to as water related services). 37 The monetary section covers: supply of distributed water and water related services in the economy by the following industries: Water Supply, Sewerage and Drainage Services, Mining, Manufacturing, Electricity and Gas Supply and Other 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. 38 The scope is limited to distributed water, reuse water and waste water, sewerage and drainage services. Distributed water is further subdivided into: urban distributed water; rural distributed water; and bulk water (both urban and rural). 39 Rural distributed water is water supplied via mains, open channels or natural water ways, carted untreated water/treated effluent supplied by water suppliers (including industries other than the Water Supply, Sewerage and Drainage Services industry) for irrigation and other rural use by the Agriculture industry. Urban distributed water is water supplied by water suppliers via mains water systems for non–agriculture use. 40 The scope is also limited to "net distributed water" which, in this context, is defined as water that has been supplied from one economic unit to another for a fee, creating a measurable economic transaction. The net distributed water excludes distribution losses and supply to the environment for which there is no matching economic transaction. 41 For national and environmental accounting purposes, the Water Supply industry is considered to provide the service of 'water delivery' rather than being the seller of a product (water). 42 Monetary data for the supply (sales) of distributed water and monetary data for the use (purchase) of distributed water by industries, governments and households have been integrated during the compilation process. This requires some adjustments to input data to ensure consistency of information in WAA. 43 It is difficult to separately identify the revenue from reuse water with that from distributed mains supply. Estimates on revenue and expenditure on distributed water thus include transactions associated with reuse water. 44 Many businesses and households use self–extracted water for their own use, such as farms for irrigation or hydro power plants to generate electricity. Estimates for the value of self–extracted water have not been included in this section due to lack of reliable data. Data sources 45 Data presented in the Monetary Supply and Use section are compiled from a variety of sources. In addition to those used in the Physical water supply and use section the following ABS data were used: Consumer Price Index (CPI) (cat. no. 6401.0) Australian Demographic Statistics (cat. no. 3101.0) Households and Family Projections (cat. no. 3236.0) Australian System of National Accounts (cat. no. 5204.0) Australian National Accounts: State Accounts (cat. no. 5220.0) National Accounts supply–use benchmarks (unpublished data) Housing Occupancy and Costs (cat. no. 4130.0). 46 Administrative data were also sourced from: Annual/environmental reports for the 2015-16 for various water providers; State and Territory governments; and The Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA). Methods for calculating Monetary Supply and Use 47 The data collected from these sources were collated and aggregated to state and territory level. 48 Industry gross value added: These are compiled by the ABS for the water using industries and published in the Australian System of National Accounts (cat. no. 5204.0) and reproduced in this publication. 49 For households: 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 ($ per kL) was applied to the volume of water consumed by the households within those service areas. 50 For government: Monetary data for government expenditure and social transfers in kind were sourced from the Australian System of National Accounts as unpublished data. 51 For industries: Revenue and expenditure on water and related services for the water supply industries were sourced from the ABS 2015-16 WSSS, supplemented by administrative data. Information on expenditure on water and related services by other industries was sourced from administrative data. 52 Water intensity: 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 from 2008-09–15 to 2015-16 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. Water intensity by Industry in data cube 2. Data Quality and Reliability 53 The total revenue from sales of water and water related services by the Water Supply, Sewerage and Drainage Services industry (i.e. the supply side estimates) are coherent with data from the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology National Performance Reports, NSW Department of Primary Industries, and annual/environmental reports for various water providers. 54 Water use estimates for households, industries and governments were based on several ABS surveys and administrative data. Expenditure estimates and annual movements for final consumption by households and intermediate industries are in line with modelled results using the physical water volume and Consumer Price Index (CPI) data, and supply/revenue estimates. Revisions 55 While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of estimates, some series are subject to revision as more complete and accurate information becomes available. 56 Information on revisions made to individual tables within the WAA are outlined within the 'Changes in this issue' document attached to this publication. GROSS VALUE OF IRRIGATED AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION Data Sources 57 The Gross Value of Irrigated Agricultural Production (GVIAP) was estimated using data from the ABS 2015-16 ACS, as well as other ABS collections and administrative data used to calculate the value of agricultural commodities produced (see Gross Value of Irrigated Agricultural Production, 2015-16 (cat. no. 4610.0.55.008)). SCOPE CHANGES IN THE AGRICULTURAL CENSUS 58 As noted in Agricultural Commodities, Australia, 2015-16 (cat. no. 7121.0), there was a change in scope for the 2015-16 Agricultural Census to all agricultural businesses with an Estimated Value of Agricultural Operations (EVAO) of $40,000 or greater. This is a change from previous ABS Rural Environment and Agricultural Collections, where a scope of EVAO of $5,000 or greater was used. While the change in scope better aligns with contemporary definitions of an agricultural business and reduces the overall reporting load for smaller agricultural businesses, estimates in the Water Account Australia were modelled to cover the full scope (EVAO of $5,000 and greater) for comparability with previous Water Account outputs. 59 The scope change impacts on all components of GVIAP. Where information is sourced from the Agricultural Census there will be an impact on estimates, including for crops and horticulture where production information is now only collected from businesses with a value of agricultural operations of $40,000 or greater. 60 As a result of the change in scope, the 2015-16 GVIAP will not be directly comparable to previously published GVIAP outputs. To address this, additional estimates will be made available on request for a number of GVIAP releases from 2010-11 to 2014-15 using an EVAO of $40,000 or greater. These estimates will be available on request in late 2017. Method of Calculation 61 The ABS methodology for calculating GVIAP is described in the Information paper: Methods of estimating the Gross Value of Irrigated Agricultural Production (cat. no. 4610.0.55.006). OTHER PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST 62 See Related Information for other ABS publications containing water-related information. There are a number of non-ABS publications that may be of interest to users of water data, some of which were used in the compilation of the Water Account Australia. These include: 2015-16 National Performance Report - Urban Water Utilities (Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology); National Water Account 2016 (Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology); 2015-16 NSW Water Supply and Sewerage Benchmarking Report (NSW Office of Water); Statewide Water Information Management (SWIM) (Queensland Water Directorate); Victorian Water Register (State Department of Environment and Primary Industries); Tasmanian Water and Sewerage: State of the Industry Report, 2015-16 (Office of the Tasmanian Economic Regulator); data for Western Australia collected through the WA Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, the Economic Regulatory Authority and major water corporations; Australian Forest and Wood Products Statistics (Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences). 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