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Introduction
Acknowledgement
Inquiries
Summary Commentary

INTRODUCTION

Water access entitlements, allocations and trading have been key elements of recent water reforms in Australia. Achieving nationally-compatible water access entitlements, returning over-allocated systems to environmentally-sustainable levels of extraction, and removing barriers to trade in water to facilitate the broadening and deepening of the water market are all objectives of the 2004 Intergovernmental Agreement on a National Water Initiative (NWI) .

This publication presents data on the number of water access entitlements, the volume of water allocated to water access entitlements, and water trading in Australia in 2004-05. All data have been provided by the relevant Government agencies in each State and Territory, or obtained from publicly available sources. This is the first publication to collate and present this information for the whole of Australia and will form part of the publication Water Account, Australia, 2004-05 (ABS Cat. No. 4610.0).

Because of differences in terminology, legislative arrangements and administrative systems, the data need to be interpreted with caution, particularly when making comparisons between jurisdictions. Please refer to Chapter 1 and the Explanatory Notes for further information. A key element of the NWI is to achieve greater consistency in this type of information. The ABS is working with relevant agencies in this regard.

As this is the first time the ABS has presented information on water access entitlements, allocation and trading, the ABS welcomes feedback in terms of its relevance, usefulness, quality and range of data presented. Please send any comments to the Director, Centre of Environment and Energy Statistics, Locked Bag 10, Belconnen, ACT 2616, or phone (02) 6252 7348.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) compiled the data contained in this publication as part of the Australian Water Resources 2005 (AWR2005) , a project funded by the National Water Commission (NWC). The ABS wishes to acknowledge the contribution from the relevant Government agencies in each State and Territory that provided data for this publication. Without the contributions of the NWC and the State and Territory agencies, this publication would not have been possible.

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.

SUMMARY COMMENTARY

Water Access Entitlements and Allocations

In 2004-05, there were 223,556 water access entitlements in Australia with a total entitlement volume of 29,831 GL (Table 2.1). 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.

Surface water access entitlements accounted for 76,625 (or 34%) of all water access entitlements and 22,814 GL (or 76%) of the total entitlement volume in Australia (Table 2.2). Groundwater access entitlements accounted for 146,185 (or 65%) of all water access entitlements and 6,998 GL (or 23%) of the total water allocated in Australia. In South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, water access entitlements that allowed access to both surface and groundwater sources also existed. These accounted for an extremely small percentage of the number and volume of all water access entitlements (0.3% and 0.1% respectively).

	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

	SURFACE WATER			GROUNDWATER				SURFACE AND GROUNDWATER(a)
	Number of entitlements	Entitlement volume	Allocated volume		Number of entitlements	Entitlement volume	Allocated volume		Number of entitlements	Entitlement volume	Allocated volume
	no.	ML	ML		no.	ML	ML		no.	ML	ML
NSW(b)	24,694	10,644,024	7,135,637		93,416	2,657,827	2,662,938		-	-	-
Vic.(c)	17,030	5,827,960	4,370,300		8,484	852,374	363,545		-	-	-
Qld(d)	27,336	3,488,495	na		21,255	908,986	na		-	-	-
SA	3,486	789,057	789,057		6,179	854,296	854,296		734	17,232	17,232
WA	878	902,500	902,500		16,635	1,644,143	1,644,143		-	-	-
Tas.	3,110	1,038,419	1,038,419		-	-	-		-	-	-
NT	64	59,832	59,832		102	80,127	80,127		-	-	-
ACT	27	64,154	64,154		114	660	660		12	1,336	1,336
Australia	76,625	22,814,441	na		146,185	6,998,412	na		746	18,568	18,568

	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.	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

	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	1,739	316,506		117	37,848		186	28,196		2,042	382,550		96
Vic.	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		314	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