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NOTES


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Michael Vardon on Canberra (02) 6252 7348.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The ABS is indebted to the many people and organisations that provided data for inclusion in this publication, and to those who refereed the draft tables and manuscript. The ABS acknowledges the important contributions from federal, State, Territory and local government agencies, water authorities and a range of private sector organisations. Without these contributions, this publication would not have been possible. The Water Account was partly funded by the National Water Commission and forms parts of the Australian Water Resources 2005 (AWR 2005) project <www.water.gov.au>.


SUMMARY COMMENTARY


INTRODUCTION

Water Account, Australia presents information on the supply and use of water in the Australian economy in 2004-05, compiled in accordance with the System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting (UN 2003a). Figure 1.1 shows the flows of water within and between the economy and the environment and is useful for understanding the scope of the Water Account as well as providing an overview of key data. Additional data on other aspects of water use by particular industries (e.g. the agriculture and water supply, sewerage and drainage services industries) are presented in successive sections.

Environmental and economic accounting is an evolving field of statistics. Since the publication of the first two editions of the Water Account, advances have been made in the theory and practice of water accounting nationally and overseas. In addition, Australia's governments have developed and begun implementing the Intergovernmental Agreement on a National Water Initiative (NWI; COAG 2004). The NWI, which builds on the 1994 COAG agreement on reforming the Australian water industry, specifically mentions water resource accounting and calls for the annual compilation of water accounts. While the exact nature of these accounts is still being determined, it is apparent that the Water Accounts presented here are consistent with those envisaged in the NWI (see SKM 2006).

SEEA 2003

Internationally, the United Nations (UN) has published a draft handbook on the System of Environmental and Economic Accounting for Water (SEEAW) (UN 2006). Australia was a leading contributor to the development of SEEAW, which builds on the SEEA 2003 (UN 2003a). SEEAW has strengthened the conceptual foundations of the Water Accounts as well as providing guidance on the practical compilation of accounts.

Water Consumption and Water Use

Calculating water use by industries is not straightforward. 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. As such, simply adding self-extracted water, distributed water, and reuse water to derive a figure for total water use can be misleading.

In the Water Account, 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;

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 less In-stream use and less Distributed water use by the environment.

For most industries, water use and water consumption are the same as most industries do not have any in-stream use or supply water to other users. However water consumption will be considerably different for some industries, specifically the water supply, sewerage and drainage services industry, electricity and gas supply industry, mining industry, and manufacturing industry where in-stream water use and water supply volumes are significant.

1.1 Water supply and use in the Australian economy - 2004-05

Graph 1.2 shows a peak in rainfall in 2000 followed by a trough in 2002. Many parts of Australia experienced below average rainfall in 2004-05, with drought conditions existing in some areas. Consequences of this included urban water restrictions and reduced availability of water for irrigators. Maps 1.3 and 1.4 also highlight the spatial differences in rainfall patterns in 2001 compared to 2005.

1.2 Annual rainfall - 1985 to 2005

1.3 Percentage of mean annual rainfall, 1998-99 to 2000-01





1.4 Percentage of mean annual rainfall, 2002-03 to 2004-05

There have been a number of improvements in the data used to compile the 2004-05 Water Account. In particular, more data were sourced from ABS surveys in this edition of the Water Account than previous editions. This, together with increased cooperation and assistance from State, Territory and Australian government agencies as well as with the water providers, has led to substantial improvements in the quality of data. Revisions have also been made to the data for 2000-01. This allows for greater comparability between the 2000-01 and 2004-05 Water Accounts.

While every care has been taken to ensure consistency between 2000-01 and 2004-05, the changes between the reference periods need to be interpreted cautiously owing to differences in climate, data sources, data availability and data quality. Extreme care should be taken when making comparisons to the data included in the first Water Account in respect of the years 1993-94 to 1996-97 with the data for 2004-05 and 2000-01.

MAIN FINDINGS

Main findings include:

• During 2004-05, 79,784 GL of water was extracted from the environment and used within the Australia economy. Of this amount, 11,337 GL was extracted by water providers, while water users directly extracted 68,447 GL.
• Of the total volume extracted from the environment (79,784 GL), 62,445 GL was returned to the environment as regulated discharge, with 60,436 GL of this discharge being in-stream use, almost entirely by the electricity and gas supply industry (59,924 GL) for hydro-electric power generation.
• In 2004-05, there were 413 water providers in Australia, supplying 11,337 GL of distributed water. This compares to 479 providers and 12,934 GL in 2000-01.
• Water consumption was 18,767 GL in 2004-05, a decrease of 14% from 2000-01 when it was 21,703 GL.
• The agriculture industry consumed the largest volume of water with 12,191 GL, representing 65% of water consumption in Australia in 2004-05. This is a decrease from 2000-01 when it was 14,989 GL and 69% of water consumption.
• Water consumption by Households was 2,108 GL in 2004-05, accounting for 11% of water consumption in Australia. This compares with 2,278 GL in 2000-01 when it accounted for 10% of water consumption.
• In 2004-05, Australia's large dams had a capacity of 83,853 GL. They contained 39,959 GL of water at 30 June 2005, a decline of 10% from 30 June 2004 when they contained 44,164 GL.
• The 1,300 GL traded in 2004-05 represented 7% of water consumption and 4% of the entitlement volume of water access entitlements.

1.5 Water account summary table, 2000-01 and 2004-05
	Australia		2004-05
	2000-01	2004-05	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT
Rainfall (GL)	na	2 789 424	406 562	146 928	865 973	147 773	639 609	75 189	505 623	1 767
Run-off (GL)(a)	385 924	242 779	30 266	14 266	93 018	1 285	24 560	32 084	47 151	149
Water extracted from environment (GL)	76 668	79 784	16 528	11 213	7 964	1 352	3 417	39 081	145	84
Water consumption (GL)	21 703	18 767	5 922	4 993	4 361	1 365	1 495	434	141	56
Capacity of large dams (GL)(c)	83 312	83 853	24 629	12 109	10 657	258	12 148	23 652	280	120
Volume in large dams (GL)(d)	na	39 959	8 200	4 729	5 309	116	10 135	11 191	196	82
Entitlements (GL)	na	29 831	13 302	6 680	4 397	1 661	2 547	1 038	140	66
Allocations (GL)	na	na	9 799	4 734	na	1 661	2 547	1 038	140	66
Trade (GL)(e)(f)	na	1 300	424	502	214	83	71	43	-	-
Population ('000)	19 387	20 329	6 774	5 022	3 964	1 542	2 010	485	203	325
Area (000 km2)	7 673	7 673	800	227	1 726	983	2 522	67	1 345	2
Gross State Product ($m)(g)	752 434	838 251	290 746	212 243	144 701	56 737	92 339	14 794	9 381	17 309
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
na not available
(a) For 2000-01 this is the Mean Annual Run-off as reported in the Water Resource Assessment 2000 (NLWRA 2001) and the 2000-01 Water Account, Australia.
(b) Includes water extracted for the purpose of use. (c) Volume at 30 June and includes 'dead' storage.
(d) Volume at 30 June.
(e) Temporary and permanent trades.
(f) Total for Australia cannot be calculated by taking the sum of the States and Territories as this would double count interstate trades.
(g) Chain volume measure.

1.6 Water consumption, 2000-01 and 2004-05
	Australia		2004-05
	2000-01	2004-05	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT
	GL	GL	GL	GL	GL	GL	GL	GL	GL	GL
Agriculture	14 989	12 191	4 133	3 281	2 916	1 020	535	258	47	1
Forestry and fishing(a)	44	51	11	8	3	1	25	4	1	-
Mining	321	413	63	32	83	19	183	16	17	-
Manufacturing	549	589	126	114	158	55	81	49	6	1
Electricity and gas	255	271	75	99	81	3	13	-	1	-
Water supply(b)(c)	2 165	2 083	631	793	426	71	128	20	8	5
Other industries	1 102	1 059	310	262	201	52	168	18	30	17
Household	2 278	2 108	572	405	493	144	362	69	31	31
Total	21 703	18 767	5 922	4 993	4 361	1 365	1 495	434	141	56
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Includes Services to agriculture; hunting and trapping.
(b) Includes Sewerage and drainage services.
(c) Includes water losses.

WATER SUPPLY AND USE

This section presents information on the volume of water supplied and used within the Australian economy in 2004-05. Water consumption by the States and Territories is presented, as well as water consumption by main industry groups. The industries are based on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification 1993 (ANZSIC) (ABS and New Zealand Department of Statistics 1993) but have been adapted. For example, agriculture is split by commodity, not by lower level ANZSIC classes.

WATER CONSUMPTION BY INDUSTRY

Graph 1.7 shows water consumption, by industry, for Australia in 2004-05 and 2000-01. Water consumption in Australia for 2004-05 was 18,767 GL compared to 21,702 GL in 2000-01. The agriculture industry had the highest water consumption in 2004-05, accounting for 12,191 GL (or 65%), a decrease from 14,989 GL in 2000-01. Households were the next highest consumer of water in 2004-05, accounting for 2,108 GL (or 11%) of water consumption. The water supply, sewerage and drainage services industry was also a significant consumer of water, accounting for 2,083 GL (or 11%) of water consumption (mostly due to losses in distribution), followed by manufacturing with 589 GL (or 3%).

1.7 Water consumption, Australia - 2000-01 and 2004-05

New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory

In New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory combined, water consumption was 5,978 GL during 2004-05 compared to 8,783 GL in 2000-01. In 2004-05, the highest consumer was the agriculture industry with 4,134 GL or 69% of water consumption. This was followed by the water supply, sewerage and drainage services industry which consumed 637 GL or 11% of water.

1.8 Water consumption, New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory - 2000-01 and 2004-05

1.9 Water consumption, Victoria - 2000-01 and 2004-05

1.10 Water consumption, Queensland - 2000-01 and 2004-05

1.11 Water consumption, South Australia - 2000-01 and 2004-05

1.12 Water consumption, Western Australia - 2000-01 and 2004-05

1.13 Water consumption, Tasmania - 2000-01 and 2004-05

1.14 Water consumption, Northern Territory - 2000-01 and 2004-05

DISTRIBUTED WATER

In 2004-05, water providers in Australia supplied 11,337 GL of distributed water. The quantity of distributed water supplied decreased 12% between 2000-01 and 2004-05. This was mostly due to a decrease of 1,704 GL or 24% in agriculture (Table 1.15). Significant periods of below average rainfall and drought have occurred over this time, causing a reduction in allocations to Irrigation/rural water providers, therefore reducing the quantity of water available for supply to customers.

1.15 Use of distributed water, by industry - 2000-01 and 2004-05
		NSW(a)	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT(a)	Australia
		ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML
2004-05
	Agriculture	1 584 192	2 228 353	1 044 275	194 820	262 698	14 674	-	-	5 329 012
	Forestry and fishing(b)	6 446	721	302	29	15 444	1 408	91	33	24 474
	Mining	6 586	3 742	42 015	756	15 783	24	3 297	-	72 203
	Manufacturing	103 971	102 769	69 303	23 960	28 343	11 617	724	621	341 308
	Electricity and gas supply	7 839	21 759	77 459	1 036	6 511	102	14	-	114 720
	Water supply(c)(d)	621 052	777 848	419 673	71 331	125 212	17 666	8 026	3 720	2 044 529
	Other industries(e)	139 314	105 779	157 008	26 232	56 107	7 989	27 441	11 549	531 419
	Household	545 423	388 991	457 916	142 279	226 151	56 905	25 396	30 989	1 874 050
	Environment	96 990	373 929	383 606	713	18	118 718	1 103	30 200	1 005 277
	Total	3 111 812	4 003 891	2 651 558	461 157	736 268	229 102	66 091	77 112	11 336 992
2000-01
	Agriculture	2 889 687	2 536 996	1 106 552	221 145	264 412	14 347	-	na	7 033 139
	Forestry and fishing(b)	1 274	793	3 034	557	19 846	2 749	45	na	28 298
	Mining	7 288	4 620	33 056	719	14 431	26	-	na	63 194
	Manufacturing	93 724	101 399	69 159	25 048	23 955	14 097	3 054	na	327 927
	Electricity and gas supply	9 550	20 687	72 601	813	1 791	36	546	na	105 478
	Water supply(c)(d)	740 876	778 759	412 722	67 897	116 318	16 534	-	na	2 142 137
	Other industries(e)	251 337	126 262	180 601	40 862	83 510	17 180	24 141	na	718 286
	Household	637 754	445 739	495 749	159 215	240 642	53 216	9 031	na	2 056 455
	Environment	200 528	253 172	4 462	873	-	358	18 534	na	459 393
	Total	4 832 019	4 268 425	2 377 937	517 128	764 904	118 542	55 351	na	12 934 306
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
na not available
(a) NSW and ACT were combined in 2000-01.
(b) Includes Services to agriculture; hunting & trapping.
(c) Includes Sewerage and drainage services.
(d) Includes water losses.
(e) Includes mainly Services and Administrative industries.

Origin of Distributed Water

The origin of the distributed water supplied by the water supply industry is presented in Table 1.16. The majority of the 11,160 GL distributed by the water supply industry originated from inland surface water (10,712 GL or 96%). Groundwater accounted for 448 GL (4%) of the total water extracted in Australia, just over half (229 GL) of which was in Western Australia. Desalination accounted for the remainder.

1.16 Origin of distributed water - 2004-05(a)
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Australia
	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML
Surface water	3 012 717	3 994 520	2 532 418	444 240	496 838	111 882	42 182	77 112	10 711 910
Groundwater	61 130	9 326	109 116	16 854	229 461	443	21 338	-	447 668
Desalinated water(b)	-	-	85	61	85	-	-	-	231
Total	3 073 847	4 003 846	2 641 619	461 155	726 384	112 325	63 520	77 112	11 159 809
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Water supply, sewerage and drainage industry only, excludes water provided by other industries.
(b) Includes sea water only.

REUSE WATER

Reuse water is drainage, waste or storm water that has been used again without being first discharged to the environment. It may have been treated to some extent. Reuse or recycled water is considered an important option for securing water supply into the future (AWA 2005). There is an increasing investment in infrastructure related to the supply of reuse water, and as such there is considerable interest in the volumes of reuse water supplied and used. In addition, water management authorities are interested in whether reuse water is reducing the demand for distributed water or self-extracted water.

The use of reuse water is presented in Graph 1.17. The agriculture industry used the majority of reuse water (280 GL or 66% of total reuse), followed by other industries, which includes parks, gardens and sporting fields (14%) and the water supply industry (9%). In 2000-01, agriculture also used the majority of reuse water (83%), followed by other industries (8%) and the water supply industry (5%).

1.17 Use of reuse water, Australia - 2000-01 and 2004-05

1.18 Urban use of reuse water - 2004-05(a)
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Australia
	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML
Agriculture	19 204	25 945	10 232	18 139	54	1 846	276	-	75 696
Forestry	1 639	2 860	650	23	3 749	28	243	-	9 192
Mining	5 695	-	-	-	26	-	-	-	5 721
Manufacturing	410	509	7 589	-	1 887	-	-	-	10 395
Water supply(b)	10 080	15 370	6 418	-	2 825	1 956	-	1 634	38 283
Households	1 370	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1 370
Parks etc.(c)	9 756	24 295	15 669	1 484	6 621	451	1 333	555	60 164
Other(d)	1 594	672	4 189	845	101	1	-	-	7 402
Total	49 748	69 651	44 747	20 491	15 263	4 282	1 852	2 189	208 223
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Includes reuse supplied or used by Major, Non-major and Minor urban water providers.
(b) Includes Sewerage and drainage services.
(c) Includes gardens, race tracks, sporting fields.
(d) Includes electricity generation, construction, aquaculture, firefighting, education activities.

WATER SUPPLY INDUSTRY

Water providers are generally grouped according to the number of connections or customers served. In general, the provision of water from a water main to a customer meter constitutes a water service connection. Of the 384 water providers in the water supply industry, 235 were Minor urban (less than 10,000 connections), 61 were Non-major urban (between 10,000 and 50,000 connections), 29 were Major urban (greater than 50,000 connections) and 59 were Irrigation/rural (businesses that supply predominantly to agriculture) (Graph 1.19). There were also 29 businesses that supplied water, sewerage and/or drainage services but whose main economic activity was other than supplying water (for example, businesses in the mining, manufacturing, electricity and gas supply industries).

1.19 Number of water providers, by type of water provider - 2004-05

1.20 Proportion of distributed water supply(a), by type of water provider - 2004-05

Of the 1,809 GL discharged by the water supply industry, 68% was discharged to the sea, 31% was discharged to inland surface water, with the remaining 1% discharged to groundwater (Table 1.21).

1.21 Regulated discharge(a), Water supply industry, by receiving body - 2004-05
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Australia
	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML
Surface water	172 960	176 768	137 548	3 137	10 141	21 491	4 023	27 293	553 361
Groundwater	5 194	6 441	3 145	780	7 928	7	-	-	23 495
Sea water	481 914	344 891	168 765	80 398	112 785	36 105	7 118	-	1 231 976
Total	660 068	528 100	309 458	84 315	130 854	57 603	11 141	27 293	1 808 832
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Includes waste and drainage water discharged.

AGRICULTURE

This section examines the use of water within the agriculture industry in Australia. Water used by this industry includes stock drinking water and water applied through irrigation to crops and pastures. Water can be directly extracted from the environment by farmers (e.g. from bores, on-farm dams, rivers) or supplied by water providers (e.g. irrigation authorities). The use of rainwater is not included in this section.

To calculate the amount of water used by the agriculture industry, the ABS has used information collected from irrigation authorities, data on water use, irrigated area and livestock numbers from the ABS 2004-05 Agricultural Survey, as well as additional information available from State and Territory agricultural departments and research institutions. Additional detail on the methodology is found in the Explanatory Notes.

Water Consumption

Water consumption by the agriculture industry was 12,191 GL in 2004-05, accounting for 65% of total water consumption in Australia during that period.

In 2004-05, the Livestock, pasture, grains and other agriculture commodities had the highest water consumption within the agriculture industry, with 4,374 GL (or 36%). This was followed by Dairy farming (2,276 GL or 19%), Cotton (1,822 GL or 15%) and Sugar (1,269 GL or 10%) (Graph 1.22). The largest percentage decreases in water consumption from 2000-01 to 2004-05 were in Rice (72%) and Cotton (37%).

1.22 Total water use, Agriculture, by activity - 2000-01 and 2004-05

1.23 Water consumption, Agriculture, by water type and activity - 2004-05
		Self-extracted	Distributed	Reuse	Total
		ML	ML	ML	ML
Dairy farming		856 993	1 339 473	79 136	2 275 603
Vegetables		307 033	132 544	15 796	455 373
Sugar		404 068	858 767	6 177	1 269 012
Fruit		306 978	339 315	1 370	647 662
Grapes		191 363	522 029	3 655	717 047
Cotton		1 697 245	122 071	2 194	1 821 509
Rice		224 806	394 158	11 908	630 872
Livestock, pasture, grains & other
	Livestock	935 396	100 078	-	1 035 474
	Pasture(a)	1 000 850	887 144	39 898	1 927 892
	Grains	461 815	582 098	118 356	1 162 268
	Other	195 887	51 337	1 436	248 659
	Total	2 593 948	1 620 656	159 689	4 374 293
Total		6 582 435	5 329 012	279 925	12 191 372
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Excludes pasture for Dairy farming.

Origin of Water

The majority of self-extracted water use by the agriculture industry in 2004-05 originated from surface water (74%), while groundwater accounted for 23% (Table 1.24).

1.24 Origin of agricultural water - 2004-05
	Surface water	Groundwater	Other(a)	Total all sources
	%	%	%	ML
NSW(b)	73	25	2	4 133 768
Vic.	84	12	4	3 281 389
Qld	76	23	2	2 916 138
SA	45	46	9	1 019 841
WA	69	26	15	535 312
Tas.	92	6	2	257 819
NT	18	82	-	47 105
Australia	74	23	3	12 191 372
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Includes town or country distributed supply, recycled or re-used water from off farm sources and other.
(b) Includes the Australian Capital Territory.

Irrigated Land

Map 1.25 shows irrigated crops and pastures as a percentage of total land use in Australia, by drainage division. The majority of intensive crop and pasture irrigation occurs in the Murray-Darling drainage division.

1.25 Area irrigated, Australia, by drainage division-2004-05

In addition, water is not the only input to agricultural production from irrigated land. Land, fertiliser, labour, machinery and other inputs are also used. To separate the contribution that these factors make to total production is practically impossible with current data. Therefore, the estimates of the gross value of irrigated agricultural production presented in Table 1.26 attribute all of the gross value of production from irrigated land to irrigated agricultural production.

The total gross value of irrigated agricultural production in 2004-05 was $9,076 million (Table 1.26) compared to $9,618 million in 2000-01. The decrease in gross value of irrigated production mainly occurred in New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory combined, from $2,371 million in 2000-01 to $1,867 million in 2004-05. Between 2000-01 and 2004-05 there were significant reductions in the value of irrigated production of cotton (from $1,222 million to $908 million) and rice (from $350 million to $102 million).

1.26 Gross value of irrigated agricultural production, 2000-01 and 2004-05
	Australia		2004-05
	2000-01	2004-05	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT
	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m
Dairy farming	1 499	1 632	204	1 090	108	88	71	70	-	-
Vegetables	1 817	1 761	207	411	561	266	165	147	4	-
Sugar	284	477	1	-	471	-	5	-	-	-
Fruit	1 590	1 777	296	524	494	263	118	49	32	-
Grapes	1 355	1 314	252	336	16	600	89	12	8	1
Cotton	1 222	908	513	-	395	-	-	-	-	-
Rice	350	102	100	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Nurseries, cut flowers & turf	763	737	160	244	173	44	95	14	4	3
Livestock, pasture, grains & other	737	367	130	71	129	22	3	12	-	-
Total	9 618	9 076	1 864	2 677	2 349	1 284	545	304	49	3
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

MINING AND MANUFACTURING

This section presents data on water use in the mining and manufacturing industries. These industries use water for cleaning, cooling, product movement, dust suppression and as a raw material. The mining and manufacturing industries use water from both distributed supply and self-extracted sources. In addition, there is a growing use of reuse water in both of these industries.

MINING

Water Use

Total water use in the Mining industry was 608,575 ML in 2004-05, a 34% increase from 2000-01 when it was 452,468 ML. In 2004-05 the metal ore mining industry had the highest total water use within the mining industry (364,998 ML), followed by coal mining (154,972 ML) (Graph 1.27). In Western Australia, there was an 81% increase in total water use by the Mining industry between 2000-01 and 2004-05, primarily in the metal ore mining industry.

1.27 Water use, Mining, by industry - 2000-01 and 2004-05

Water Use

Total water use in the manufacturing industry was 600,505 ML in 2004-05, a 9% increase from 2000-01 when it was 548,887 ML. In 2004-05, the food, beverage and tobacco industry had the highest water use within the manufacturing industry (215,029 ML), followed by the metal products (157,370 ML), wood and paper products (99,238 ML), and petroleum, coal, chemical and associated products (70,324 ML) industries (Graph 1.28).

1.28 Water use, Manufacturing, by industry - 2000-01 and 2004-05

Water Use

Total water use by electricity generators was 60,292 GL, a 10% increase since 2000-01 (54,787 GL) (Table 1.29). This volume excludes sea water which is important to the operations of some businesses in this industry - only freshwater is in scope for the supply and use tables (see Explanatory Notes). Self-extracted water accounted for practically all total water use (60,172 GL or 99.8%) by electricity generators in 2004-05.

1.29 Water use and water consumption, electricity generators - 2000-01 and 2004-05
		NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Australia
		ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML
2004-05
	Self-extracted	10 781 364	6 051 163	3 217 027	285	1 841 998	38 278 873	1 124	-	60 171 834
	Distributed	7 764	21 714	77 459	1 011	6 476	97	14	-	114 535
	Reuse	1 318	-	3 361	1 223	100	-	-	-	6 002
	Total water use (including in-stream)	10 790 446	6 072 877	3 297 847	2 519	1 848 574	38 278 970	1 138	-	60 292 371
	Total water use (excluding in-stream)	112 039	98 782	80 984	2 519	12 808	116 874	1 138	-	425 144
	Water consumption	75 214	98 757	80 506	2 517	12 806	97	1 138	-	271 035
2000-01
	Self-extracted	8 023 412	6 087 306	1 448 997	595	1 711 684	37 404 500	661	-	54 677 155
	Distributed	9 330	20 642	72 551	756	1 746	36	-	-	105 060
	Reuse	1 210	2 766	106	720	-	-	-	-	4 802
	Total water use (including in-stream)	8 033 952	6 110 714	1 521 654	2 071	1 713 430	37 404 536	661	-	54 787 017
	Total water use (excluding in-stream)	68 187	107 903	74 049	2 071	14 375	36	661	-	267 282
	Water consumption	59 200	107 767	70 855	1 709	14 372	36	661	-	254 600
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)

Graph 1.30 shows total water use by electricity generators by State and Territory for 2004-05. The largest user was Tasmania, which used a total of 38,279 GL in 2004-05. The next largest users were New South Wales (10,790 GL) and Victoria (6,073 GL).

1.30 Water use(a), electricity generators - 2000-01 and 2004-05

Water Consumption

Graph 1.31 shows that New South Wales consumed the largest volume of water for Household use (572,711 ML) followed by Queensland (492,908 ML) and Victoria (404,632 ML), broadly in line with population for the States and Territories. Total Household water consumption decreased in all States and Territories from 2000-01 to 2004-05 with the exception of Tasmania. The largest percentage decrease in total Household water consumption was in the Australian Capital Territory (15%) followed by South Australia (13%).

1.31 Water consumption, households - 2000-01 and 2004-05

1.32 Household water consumption, by water type - 2000-01 and 2004-05
	Australia		2004-05
	2000-01	2004-05	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT
	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML
Self-extracted	221 550	232 446	25 521	15 641	34 992	2 161	135 890	12 526	5 715	-
Distributed	2 056 455	1 874 050	545 423	388 991	457 916	142 279	226 151	56 905	25 396	30 989
Reuse	167	1 767	1 767	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	2 278 173	2 108 263	572 711	404 632	492 908	144 440	362 041	69 431	31 111	30 989
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
Sums may not necessarily equal totals due to rounding.

Average Water Use

Australians on average consumed 103 kL/capita during 2004-05 compared to 2000-01 where average water consumption per capita was 120 kL/capita (Graph 1.33). Western Australia reported the highest Household water consumption per capita (180 kL/capita), followed by Northern Territory (153 kL/capita). Victoria had the lowest average Household water consumption per capita (81 kL/capita) followed by New South Wales (84 kL/capita).

1.33 Household water consumption, per capita - 2000-01 and 2004-05

Water Access Entitlements and Allocations

A water access entitlement is a perpetual or ongoing entitlement to exclusive access to a share of water from a specified consumptive pool as defined in the relevant water plan. The entitlement volume is the share or base volume of water associated with a water access entitlement.

A water allocation is the specific volume of water allocated to a water access entitlement in a given season, defined according to rules established in the relevant water plan. The allocated volume is the specific volume of water allocated to water access entitlements for the reference year.

In 2004-05, there were 223,556 water access entitlements in Australia with a total entitlement volume of 29,831 GL (Table 1.34). New South Wales had the highest number of water access entitlements in Australia, with 118,110 (or 53%) of the total water access entitlements in Australia. New South Wales also had the highest entitlement volume in Australia in 2004-05, with 13,302 GL (or 45%) of the total entitlement volume.

1.34 Water access entitlements and allocations - 2004-05
	Number of entitlements	Entitlement volume	Allocated volume
	no.	ML	ML
NSW(a)	118 110	13 301 851	9 798 575
Vic.(b)	25 514	6 680 334	4 733 845
Qld(c)	48 591	4 397 481	na
SA	10 399	1 660 584	1 660 584
WA	17 513	2 546 643	2 546 643
Tas.	3 110	1 038 419	1 038 419
NT	166	139 959	139 959
ACT	153	66 150	66 150
Australia	223 556	29 831 421	na
na not available
(a) Maximum available water has been used for allocated volume in New South Wales.
(b) Volume taken has been used as a proxy for allocated volume in Victoria.
(c) Excludes 1,931 water licences without a volumetric entitlement volume in Queensland.

Water Trading

Australia is one of a small number of water-scarce countries that has instituted markets for trading water. While not explicitly defined in the NWI, water trading is the term used to describe transactions involving water access entitlements or the water allocations assigned to water access entitlements. Trading can occur on a permanent or temporary basis.

Permanent water trades are transactions that permanently affect some aspect of a water access entitlement, such as changes to the ownership, water source, size of share, or reliability of the water access entitlement. With the separation of water access entitlements from land titles, a permanent water trade may involve a change of ownership, a change of location, or both. It should be noted that permanent trading data for New South Wales, Western Australia and Tasmania include trades that result in ownership changes from land sales, while Queensland has excluded these transactions. Therefore, comparisons between jurisdictions should be made with caution.

Temporary water trades are transactions that affect the seasonal water allocation associated with a water access entitlement, that is, the specific volume of water allocated to water access entitlements in a given season. They are generally conducted through leasing arrangements for a period of a year or less.

In 2004-05, 1,802 permanent and 13,456 temporary water trades were conducted in Australia with 248 GL of water traded permanently and 1,053 GL of water traded temporarily (Tables 1.35 and 1.36). The highest number of permanent and temporary water trades were conducted in Victoria (702 and 9,323 respectively). Victoria also had the highest volume of water temporarily traded in Australia with 444 GL. The highest volume of water traded permanently occurred in Western Australia with 63 GL.

1.35 Permanent water trading - 2004-05
	water traded within		water traded into		water traded out		total water traded(a)		average price
	no.	ML	no.	ML	no.	ML	no.	ML	$/ML
NSW	154	40 846	10	436	-	-	164	41 282	na
Vic.(b)	656	52 175	-	-	46	5 214	702	57 389	na
Qld	168	20 285	-	-	-	-	168	20 285	1 750
SA	328	28 643	36	4 778	-	-	364	33 421	na
WA	218	62 810	-	-	-	-	218	62 810	680
Tas.	232	37 603	-	-	-	-	232	37 603	na
NT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
ACT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Australia	1 756	242 362	46	5 214	46	5 214	1 802	247 576	na
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
na not available
(a) Total for Australia cannot be calculated by taking the sum of the States and Territories as this would double count interstate trades.
(b) Sourced from the annual reports of rural water authorities in Victoria.

1.36 Temporary water trading - 2004-05
	Water traded within		Water traded into		Water traded out		Total water traded(a)		Average price
	no.	ML	no.	ML	no.	ML	no.	ML	$/ML
NSW(b)	1 739	316 506	117	37 848	186	28 196	2 042	382 550	96
Vic.(c)	9 042	396 723	179	19 259	102	28 281	9 323	444 263	na
Qld	1 874	194 195	-	-	-	-	1 874	194 195	na
SA	314	49 525	72	24 560	80	25 190	446	49 525	na
WA	8	8 617	-	-	-	-	8	8 617	80
Tas.	111	5 601	-	-	-	-	111	5 601	na
NT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
ACT	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Australia	13 088	971 168	368	81 667	368	81 667	13 456	1 052 834	na
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
na not available
(a) Total for Australia cannot be calculated by taking the sum of the States and Territories as this would double count interstate trades.
(b) Average price for New South Wales is only for those trades where price data were available.
(c) Sourced from the annual reports of rural water authorities in Victoria.

WATER STOCKS

This section presents information on Australia's water stocks and water storage infrastructure. This section of the Water Account has benefited from data on water resources compiled by the Bureau of Rural Sciences (BRS), CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology, as well as improved data availability on dam storage from water providers and State and Territory governments. For water stocks it has allowed additional information on rainfall, run-off and dam storage levels to be included.

PHYSICAL WATER STOCKS

The data on rainfall in this account were provided by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the Bureau of Rural Sciences (BRS). Data on run-off, evapotranspiration and deep drainage (groundwater recharge and river base flow) were provided by the BRS. The modelling methods used to estimate run-off, evapotranspiration and deep drainage are described in Welsh et al. (2006) and are based on the work of Zhang et al. (2004, 2005) and Fu (1981).

Rainfall and runoff

For 2004-05, rainfall for Australia was estimated at 2,789,424 GL, the majority in Queensland (865,973 GL) followed by Western Australia (639,609 GL) and the Northern Territory (505,623 GL) (Table 1.37). Run-off for Australia was determined to be approximately 242,779 GL. The distribution of run-off was geographically uneven at the State and Territory level. Run-off was greatest in Queensland (93,018 GL) followed by the Northern Territory (47,151 GL) and Tasmania (32,084 GL).

1.37 Rainfall, run-off and land area - 2004-05
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Australia
Rainfall (GL)	406 562	146 928	865 973	147 773	639 609	75 189	505 623	1 767	2 789 424
Evapotranspiration (GL)	369 163	129 967	759 355	143 563	601 867	41 877	450 090	1 589	2 497 471
Run-off (GL)	30 266	14 266	93 018	1 285	24 560	32 084	47 151	149	242 779
Deep drainage (GL)	7 133	2 695	13 599	2 925	13 182	1 228	8 382	29	49 174
Bare ground (km2)	979	543	2 440	18 437	15 178	239	1 466	2	39 284
Agricultural land (km2)(a)	498 850	148 101	1 013 792	863 322	1 968 677	24 048	1 078 043	707	5 595 540
Forests and plantations (km2)	297 378	69 451	696 563	85 976	518 303	41 224	262 755	1 466	1 973 116
Intensive use / urban (km2)	2 645	3 037	2 239	909	697	275	141	180	10 123
Water (km2)	6 301	3 620	10 560	10 686	19 627	1 310	2 470	8	54 582
Total land area (km2)	804 059	226 846	1 725 594	979 330	2 522 482	67 096	1 344 875	2 363	7 672 645
(a) Includes dryland farming, irrigated areas and pasture.
Bureau of Rural Sciences, unpublished data

DAMS

Location

The location of large dams is influenced by topography, proximity to population and industry, and availability of run-off. Map 1.38 shows the location of large dams, by drainage division, throughout Australia.

1.38 Location of large dams, by drainage division-June 2005

1.39 Large dam storage levels - June 2005

1.40 Large dam storage levels, Australia - 2001 to 2005