WATER USE BY INDUSTRIES AND HOUSEHOLDS

The allocation of water to competing users in Australia's economy and society (e.g. Agriculture, other industries and households) presents a significant planning issue for resource managers. This becomes especially relevant during droughts when contingency plans are formed (e.g. MDB dry inflow contingency planning, see Appendix). To reliably underpin the trade-offs which arise during water planning, data are required on the volume of water used, and the value of that water use to society and industries.

Industries (including Agriculture) and households in the MDB accounted for more than half (52%) of Australia's total water consumption in 2004-05.

The following section examines water consumption by industries and households in the MDB, and presents comparisons with state and Australia-level water consumption.


Agriculture

Agriculture is a large water user (in 2004-05 accounting for 83% of all industry and household water consumption in the MDB), but consumption varies across different agricultural activities. In 2005-06, agricultural water consumption in the MDB was 7,720 GL, accounting for 66% of total agricultural water consumption in Australia (table 3.1). The major agricultural water users in the MDB were: cotton (1,574 GL), dairy farming (1,287 GL), pasture for livestock (excluding dairy, 1,284 GL) and rice (1,252 GL). These crops and pasture collectively accounted for 70% of all agricultural water consumption in the MDB. The MDB accounted for all irrigated water consumption in Australia for rice (100%), and the vast majority for cotton (91%), cereals other than rice (88%) and grapes (81%).

3.1 Water consumption, by agricultural commodity—2005–06
	MDB	Aust.	MDB as a proportion of Aust.
	GL	GL	%
Dairy farming(a)	1 287	1 893	68
Pasture for other livestock(b)	1 284	2 042	63
Rice	1 252	1 253	100
Cereals (excl. rice)	782	894	88
Cotton	1 574	1 735	91
Grapes	515	633	81
Fruit (excl. grapes)	413	630	66
Vegetables	152	431	35
Other agriculture(c)	461	2 178	21
Total Agriculture(d)	7 720	11 689	66
(a) Includes irrigated pasture for grazing, hay and seed; livestock drinking; and shed washdown.
(b) Includes irrigated pasture for grazing, hay and seed.
(c) Includes other broadacre crops, nurseries, livestock (other than dairy) drinking.
(d) Components may not add to total due to rounding.
Source: Water use on Australian Farms (cat. no. 4618.0); ABS data available on request, Agricultural Census, 2005–06

Some irrigated agricultural crops are confined to relatively small areas of the MDB, others are more widely distributed (see table 3.2). This pattern of agricultural activity affects spatial patterns of water consumption. In 2005–06, 72% of water used for growing cotton was in New South Wales compared with 28% in Queensland (table 3.3). Almost all water consumption for rice (99%) occurred in New South Wales. The majority of water for dairy farming was consumed in Victoria (82%). Water used for growing grapes, fruit and nuts (hereafter referred to as fruit), and vegetables is more evenly distributed between New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

3.2 Irrigated area, by agricultural commodity and Basin state—Murray-Darling Basin—2005–06
	NSW/ACT		VIC.		QLD		SA		TOTAL MDB(a)
	Area	Proportion of total MDB	Area	Proportion of total MDB	Area	Proportion of total MDB	Area	Proportion of total MDB	Area	Proportion of total MDB
	'000 ha	%	'000 ha	%	'000 ha	%	'000 ha	%	'000 ha	%
Pasture for dairy farming(b)	40	15	226	82	3	1	7	3	276	100
Pasture for other livestock(b)	243	55	174	40	15	3	8	2	441	100
Rice	101	99	1	1	-	-	-	-	102	100
Cereals (excl. rice)	252	77	39	12	37	11	2	-	329	100
Cotton	169	68	-	-	78	32	-	-	247	100
Grapes	39	37	33	32	1	1	32	30	106	100
Fruit (excl. grapes)	24	32	32	43	5	6	14	19	75	100
Vegetables	13	40	8	24	4	13	8	24	32	100
Other agriculture(c)	32	71	9	19	4	8	1	2	46	100
Total Agriculture(a)	913	55	522	32	147	9	71	4	1 654	100
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Components may not add to total due to rounding.
(b) Includes irrigated pasture for grazing, hay and seed.
(c) Includes other broadacre crops, nurseries, livestock (other than dairy) drinking.
Source: Water use on Australian farms 2005-06; ABS data available on request, Agricultural Census, 2005–06

3.3 Water consumption, by agricultural commodity and Basin state—Murray-Darling Basin—2005–06
	NSW/ACT		VIC.		QLD		SA		TOTAL MDB(a)
	Volume	Proportion of total MDB	Volume	Proportion of total MDB	Volume	Proportion of total MDB	Volume	Proportion of total MDB	Volume	Proportion of total MDB
	GL	%	GL	%	GL	%	GL	%	GL	%
Dairy farming(b)	167	13	1 057	82	9	1	54	4	1 287	100
Pasture for other livestock(c)	678	53	521	41	51	4	33	3	1 284	100
Rice	1 239	99	13	1	-	-	-	-	1 252	100
Cereals (excl. rice)	617	79	84	11	77	10	4	1	782	100
Cotton	1 128	72	-	-	447	28	-	-	1 574	100
Grapes	178	35	180	35	3	1	154	30	515	100
Fruit (excl. grapes)	125	30	165	40	7	2	116	28	413	100
Vegetables	59	39	37	24	10	7	45	30	152	100
Other agriculture(d)	295	64	79	17	66	14	20	4	461	100
Total Agriculture(a)	4 487	58	2 136	28	671	9	426	6	7 720	100
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Components may not add to total due to rounding.
(b) Includes: irrigated pasture for grazing, hay and seed; livestock drinking; and, shed washdown.
(c) Includes irrigated pasture for grazing, hay and seed.
(d) Includes other broadacre crops, nurseries, livestock (other than dairy) drinking.
Source: Water use on Australian farms 2005–06; ABS data available on request, Agricultural Census, 2005–06

Electricity and gas

Water is an essential production input for the Electricity and gas industry. Water is used for cooling processes during electricity generation within coal or natural gas power stations. This is an example of consumptive water use by the Electricity and gas industry. Water is also used non-consumptively (in-stream use) during hydro-electricity generation when water is extracted from a storage facility, then immediately discharged after passing through generating turbines. In the Snowy Mountains region of the MDB, water is diverted from outside the Basin via several storage dams, and then discharged into the MDB through a series of tunnels, dams and generating stations (Snowy Hydro 2007).

In 2004-05, the MDB generated approximately 3% of Australia's electricity and 33% of the nation's hydro-electricity. Hydro-electricity represented the bulk of the Basin's generated electricity. Approximately 15,900 GL of water was used (non-consumptively) in the MDB to generate 5,209 GWh of hydro-electricity (tables 3.4 and 3.5). The volume of water used in the MDB represented 27% of Australia's hydro-electricity (in-stream) water use. Two-thirds of the water used was in New South Wales, and one-third in Victoria.

3.4 Hydro-electricity generators' in-stream water use, by Basin state—2004–05
	GL
New South Wales	10 271
Victoria	5 581
Queensland	-
South Australia	-
Murray-Darling Basin	15 852
Australia	57 867
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
Source: ABS data available on request, Water Account

3.5 Electricity generated—2004–05
		GWh
Hydro-electricity
	Murray-Darling Basin	5 209
	Australia	15 991
Total electricity - Australia		194 471
Source: ABS data available on request, Water Account

Water supply industry

Minimising losses from water storage and delivery infrastructure is a fundamental aspect of national and MDB-specific water policies (see Appendix). The effectiveness of such policies can be assessed by evaluating whether the share of the entire economy's water use represented by water losses reduces over time.

Apart from Agriculture, the largest source of industry water consumption in the MDB was water lost or unaccounted for during delivery from water supply sources to end-users (accounting for 13% of total water consumption in the MDB). Water losses can result from evaporation, channel seepage, pipe leakage or bursts, mains flushing, and water meter errors. The standard water accounting convention, according to the System of Environmental and Economic Accounting for Water (UN 2006), is to attribute this consumption to the water supply industry. This industry includes both urban and irrigation water suppliers.

In 2004–05, water consumption by the water supply industry in the MDB (1,246 GL) accounted for 60% of Australia's total water supply industry consumption. This is because four of the five largest irrigation water suppliers in Australia (by delivery volume) operate in the MDB (ANCID 2007). Irrigation water suppliers in Australia lose proportionally more water (23% of total distributed water) than urban suppliers (12%) (ABS 2006a).

Most water consumption by the water supply industry in the MDB occurred in Victoria (53%) and New South Wales (39%) (table 3.6).

3.6 Water supply industry water consumption, by state/territory—2004–05
	Water consumption		MDB water consumption as a proportion of
	MDB	Total state/Aust.	Total MDB	Total state/Aust.
	GL	GL	%	%
New South Wales	486	631	39	77
Victoria	657	793	53	83
Queensland	83	426	7	20
South Australia	15	71	1	21
Australian Capital Territory	5	5	-	100
Total	1 246	(a)2 083	100	(a)60
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Includes water consumption by WA, Tas. and NT.
Source: ABS data available on request, Water Account

Mining

Water is important for mining operations to facilitate the transport, flotation, grinding and separation of minerals (Norgate and Lovel 2004), as well as dust suppression. Water consumption by Mining in the MDB represented an insignificant proportion of MDB water consumption (0.2%) in 2004–05. As a proportion of all water consumption by the Mining industry, the MDB has a relatively minor contribution (5% or 20 GL). Of this, most (78%) occurred in the New South Wales section of the Basin (table 3.7). Of the businesses engaged in Mining in the MDB, metal ore mining businesses consumed the most water.

3.7 Mining water consumption, by state/territory—2004–05
	Water consumption		MDB water consumption as a proportion of
	MDB	Total state/Aust.	Total MDB	Total state/Aust.
	GL	GL	%	%
New South Wales	16	63	78	25
Victoria	2	32	11	7
Queensland	2	83	9	2
South Australia	-	19	1	2
Australian Capital Territory	-	-	1	100
Total(a)	20	(b)413	100	(b)5
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Components may not add to total due to rounding.
(b) Includes water consumption by WA, Tas. and NT.
Source: ABS data available on request, Water Account

Manufacturing

Water is used in Manufacturing for a variety of purposes including cooling, cleaning, as a solvent, and as a food or beverage constituent. The types of manufacturing businesses which use the highest volumes of water in the MDB include pulp and paper mills, abattoirs and other food manufacturing, dairy factories and breweries. Like Mining, water consumption by Manufacturing in the MDB was an insignificant proportion of overall MDB water consumption (0.6%) in 2004–05. Compared with Australia, MDB Manufacturing water consumption was also relatively minor (9%). Most occurred in the New South Wales (56%) and Victoria (28%) sections of the MDB (table 3.8).

3.8 Manufacturing water consumption, by state/territory—2004–05
	Water consumption		MDB water consumption as a proportion of
	MDB	Total state/Aust.	Total MDB	Total state/Aust.
	GL	GL	%	%
New South Wales	30	126	56	24
Victoria	15	114	28	13
Queensland	5	158	9	3
South Australia	3	55	5	5
Australian Capital Territory	1	1	1	100
Total(a)	53	(b)589	100	(b)9
(a) Components may not add to total due to rounding.
(b) Includes water consumption by WA, Tas. and NT.
Source: ABS data available on request, Water Account

Other industries

Water is also important for other industries operating in the MDB. These include, but are not limited to: local, state and commonwealth governments, service industries, restaurants, motels, schools and hospitals. Water is used for activities such as irrigating parks, gardens and sporting fields, for fire fighting, filling swimming pools and laundry operation. When describing water consumption, collectively these are referred to as "Other industries".

Although the quantity of water consumption by each of the "Other industries" cannot be disaggregated due to data quality issues, collectively these industries accounted for 1.6% of the total water consumption in the MDB in 2004–05.


Households

Households accounted for only 2% of MDB water consumption in 2004–05. Household water consumption in the MDB (189 GL) accounted for 9% of water consumption by all Australian households in 2004–05 (table 3.9). This is consistent with the proportion of the total population living in the MDB (10% in 2006).

The majority of MDB household water consumption was in New South Wales (36%), followed by Victoria (28%), and the Australian Capital Territory (16%), which reflects the population distribution of the MDB (see Chapter 2). However, per capita water consumption varied across the Basin states and was highest in Queensland (119 kilolitres/person), and lowest in New South Wales (88 kilolitres/person) (table 3.10).

3.9 Household water consumption, by state/territory—2004–05
	Water consumption		MDB water consumption as a proportion of
	MDB	Total state/Aust.	Total MDB	Total state/Aust.
	GL	GL	%	%
New South Wales	68	573	36	12
Victoria	52	405	28	13
Queensland	26	493	14	5
South Australia	11	144	6	8
Australian Capital Territory	31	31	16	100
Total(a)	189	(b)2 108	100	(b)9
(a) Components may not add to total due to rounding.
(b) Includes water consumption by WA, Tas. and NT.
Source: ABS data available on request, Water Account

3.10 Household water consumption, per household and per capita—2004–05
		Water consumption (GL)	kL/household	kL/capita
Murray-Darling Basin
	New South Wales	68	227	88
	Victoria	52	233	91
	Queensland	26	314	119
	South Australia	11	253	101
	Australian Capital Territory	31	252	96
	Total(a)	189	244	94
Australia		2 108	268	103
(a) Components may not add to total due to rounding.
Source: Australian Demographic Statistics, Dec 2005 (cat. no. 3101.0); ABS data available on request, Water Account

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