AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY

Water consumption
Water source
Reuse water and Origin of water


Water Consumption

Water consumption by the Agriculture industry was 6,987 GL in 2009–10 (table below), accounting for 52% of total water consumption in Australia during that period. Water consumption varied between crops and between States and Territories. New South Wales had the highest water consumption for the Agriculture industry in 2009–10, with 2,127 GL or 30% of total agricultural water consumption (graph below), followed by Queensland (1,928 GL or 28%) and Victoria (1,553 GL or 22%).

 
In 2009–10, the Sheep, beef cattle and grain farming industry group had the highest water consumption within the Agriculture industry, with 2,649 GL (or 38%). This was followed by Other crop growing (1,409 GL or 20%), Dairy cattle farming (1,216 GL or 17%) and Fruit and tree nut growing (1,116 GL or 16%) (see table below).

The largest decrease in water consumption between 2008–09 and 2009–10 within these industry groups was for Other crop growing (a 26% decrease, from 1,901 GL to 1,409 GL), while the largest increase in consumption was for Sheep, beef cattle and grain farming (a 22% increase, from 2,177 GL to 2,649 GL).
 

WATER CONSUMPTION, Agriculture industry—2008–09 and 2009–10
	AUSTRALIA		STATE AND TERRITORY 2009–10
	2008–09	2009–10	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT
	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML
Nursery and floriculture production	58 490	60 555	16 735	12 699	16 296	2 967	9 690	1 238	864	66
Mushroom and vegetable growing	431 782	439 059	98 362	80 150	92 014	73 070	58 600	35 089	1 750	25
Fruit and tree nut growing	1 047 610	1 115 883	238 944	378 705	181 918	256 013	41 965	8 361	9 907	68
Sheep, beef cattle and grain farming	2 176 863	2 648 630	1 163 551	323 975	586 785	252 709	145 763	139 724	35 911	213
Other crop growing	1 900 863	1 409 189	401 034	13 888	961 241	9 853	18 728	3 699	623	123
Dairy cattle farming	1 262 879	1 215 678	177 386	724 256	64 189	115 086	39 924	94 835	-	3
Poultry farming	23 940	16 644	7 568	4 567	1 846	1 149	1 110	400	-	4
Deer farming	630	574	169	102	24	82	193	3	-	-
Other livestock farming	92 724	81 122	23 606	14 207	23 430	9 423	7 809	2 411	232	3
Total	6 995 781	6 987 334	2 127 355	1 552 549	1 927 744	720 351	323 782	285 761	49 288	504
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells) Back to top

  
Water Source

The majority of the water consumed by the Agriculture industry in 2009–10 was distributed water (3,647 GL or 52%) and self-extracted water (3,215 GL or 46%), with reuse water (126 GL or 2%) accounting for the remainder.

The highest self-extracted water consumption within the Agriculture industry in 2009–10 was by Sheep, beef cattle and grain farming (1,339 GL) and in Other crop growing (631 GL) (graph and table below). The industry groups that consumed more distributed water than self-extracted water included Nursery and floriculture production, Fruit and tree nut growing, Other crop growing, Dairy cattle farming and Deer farming.

WATER CONSUMPTION, Agriculture industry - by water type (a)—2009–10
	Self-extracted	Distributed	Reuse	Total
	ML	ML	ML	ML
Nursery and floriculture production	23 333	32 838	4 385	60 555
Mushroom and vegetable growing	283 952	139 746	15 361	439 059
Fruit and tree nut growing	327 075	777 709	11 098	1 115 883
Sheep, beef cattle and grain farming	1 339 271	1 255 805	53 553	2 648 630
Other crop growing	630 587	759 299	19 303	1 409 189
Dairy cattle farming	551 353	644 096	20 229	1 215 678
Poultry farming	np	9 703	np	16 644
Deer farming	np	350	np	574
Other livestock farming	51 984	26 966	2 172	81 122
Total	3 214 660	3 646 514	126 160	6 987 334
(a) Excludes water consumption by businesses conducting agricultural activities where agriculture is not the business’ main activity. See Explanatory Note 27 for more details. np Not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated.

 
Distributed water consumption (3,647 GL) was slightly higher than self-extracted water consumption (3,215 GL) for the Agriculture industry in Australia in 2009–10. New South Wales had the highest distributed consumption (1,213 GL) of any state, followed by Victoria (1,161 GL) and Queensland (1,002 GL) (graph below).

Queensland (915 GL) had the highest self-extracted water consumption, followed by New South Wales (860 GL) and South Australia (563 GL) (see table below).

WATER CONSUMPTION (a), Agriculture industry - by water type—2008–09 and 2009–10

	AUSTRALIA		STATE AND TERRITORY 2009–10
	2008–09	2009–10	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT
	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML
Self-extracted	3 625 895	3 214 660	859 646	357 370	915 351	563 338	206 613	263 164	48 785	393
Distributed	3 267 240	3 646 514	1 213 159	1 161 164	1 002 336	135 745	112 237	21 286	497	91
Reuse	102 645	126 160	54 550	34 015	10 056	21 269	4 932	1 311	7	21
Total	6 995 781	6 987 334	2 127 355	1 552 549	1 927 744	720 351	323 782	285 761	49 288	504
(a) Excludes water consumption by businesses conducting agricultural activities where agriculture is not the business’ main activity. See Explanatory Note 27 for more details.

Reuse Water

Reuse water consumption by the Agriculture industry in 2009–10 was 126 GL or 1.8% of total water consumption by the industry (table above). This was an increase of 23% from the amount of reuse water consumed by the industry in 2008–09. This increase was driven by increases in New South Wales (from 33 GL to 55 GL, or 67%) and Victoria (from 29 GL to 34 GL or 17%). These two states consumed more reuse water than any other state in 2009–10. The Australian Capital Territory (4%) and South Australia (3%) had the highest reuse consumption as a proportion of their respective total water consumption. Note that consumption of reuse water by the Agriculture industry includes water from regional reuse schemes, but does not include on-farm reuse or recycling.

The highest consumption of reuse water within the Agriculture industry in 2009–10 was by Sheep, beef cattle and grain farming (54 GL), Dairy cattle farming (20 GL), Other crop growing (19 GL) and Mushroom and vegetable growing (15 GL) (see graph below). The largest increase in the consumption of reuse water within these industry groups from 2008–09 to 2009–10 was in the Sheep, beef cattle and grain farming group (from 24 GL to 54 GL).
Origin of Water

The majority of water consumption by the Agriculture industry in 2009–10 originated from surface water (65%), while groundwater accounted for 33% (table below). The States and Territories with the largest percentage of water consumption extracted from groundwater sources were Northern Territory (65%), South Australia (60%) and Western Australia (44%). Surface water accounted for a large percentage of agricultural water consumption in Tasmania (89%), Victoria (74%), the Australian Capital Territory (72%) and Queensland (72%).
 

ORIGIN OF AGRICULTURAL WATER—2009–10
	Surface water	Groundwater	Reuse	Total all sources(a)
	%	%	%	ML
NSW	62.1	35.3	2.6	2 127 355
Vic.	74.5	23.3	2.2	1 552 549
Qld	71.7	27.7	0.5	1 927 744
SA	37.1	59.9	3.0	720 351
WA	54.9	43.6	1.5	323 782
Tas.	89.3	10.2	0.5	285 761
NT	34.8	65.2	-	49 288
ACT	71.7	24.2	4.1	504
Aust.	65.5	32.7	1.8	6 987 334
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Excludes water use by businesses conducting agricultural activities where agriculture is not the business’ main activity. See Explanatory Note 27 for more details.

 

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