Australian Water Resources Assessment 2010
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Australian Water Resources Assessment 2010 Published by the Bureau of Meteorology GPO Box 1289, Melbourne VIC 3001 Tel: (03) 9669 4000 Fax: (03) 9669 4699 Email: [email protected] Website: www.bom.gov.au The report, a summary document and other information about the Australian Water Resources Assessment 2010 are available at: www.bom.gov.au/water/awra/2010 The Bureau of Meteorology welcomes feedback on this report. Find out more about the Bureau of Meteorology’s Water Information role at: www.bom.gov.au/water ISBN: 978 0 642 70619 5 With the exception of logos and certain third party material, the Australian Water Resources Assessment 2010 is licensed under the Creative Commons Australia Attribution 3.0 Licence. © Commonwealth of Australia 2011 Attribution for third party material included in the 2010 Assessment is available here: www.bom.gov.au/water/awra/2010/copyright.shtml Cover image: Lake Eildon, Victoria. Photograph courtesy of Alison Pouliot. Contents Foreword 1 Introduction 2 National overview 3 North East Coast 4 South East Coast (NSW) 5 South East Coast (Victoria) 6 Tasmania 7 Murray–Darling Basin 8 South Australian Gulf 9 South Western Plateau 10 South West Coast 11 Pilbara–Gascoyne 12 North Western Plateau 13 Tanami – Timor Sea Coast 14 Lake Eyre Basin 15 Carpentaria Coast Technical supplement References Australian Water Resources Assessment 2010 Contents Foreword The Commonwealth Water Act 2007 charges the Bureau of Meteorology with ‘providing regular reports on the status of Australia’s water resources and patterns of usage of those resources’. The Australian Water Resources Assessment 2010 is the first in a regular series of such reports. This report presents data and information on the extent and magnitude of Australia’s water resources in 2009–10 in the context of the long-term record. It updates earlier assessments of Australia’s water resources, the most recent of which was produced for the 2004–05 year by the National Water Commission, as a baseline for the National Water Initiative of 2004. The Australian Water Resources Assessment 2010 includes comprehensive information on the nation’s surface water resources and more limited information on its groundwater resources. Information is presented in the form of maps, graphs and tables with an accompanying narrative. The body of the report consists of a national overview and 13 regional chapters, with the regions based on the new drainage division boundaries derived from the Australian Hydrological Geospatial Fabric. A Technical supplement provides additional detail on the data selection, analysis and water balance modelling techniques used in preparing this report and the level of peer review and acceptance they have received. I hope that this report assists all Australians, but particularly policy-makers and planners, to understand the current state of the nation’s water resources and to gauge the impact of past and present water management practices. Your feedback on the report’s use will help us ensure that future reports achieve this aim. The Bureau of Meteorology is currently building its water resources information systems. As these systems develop, more data and different data types will become available for inclusion in our assessments and a richer understanding of the nation’s water resources will be possible. I would like to thank all those who have assisted us in the preparation of this report including the State and Territory water agencies that operate the vital water monitoring networks across our country, our water science collaborators in CSIRO in particular those within the Water Information Research and Development Alliance between the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO, and the many many reviewers of report drafts – your diligence and expertise has greatly enhanced the quality of this report. Finally I would like to acknowledge the dedication and professionalism of the Bureau of Meteorology staff who have brought this landmark report to publication. Well-done! Dr Rob Vertessy Acting Director of Meteorology November 2011 Australian Water Resources Assessment 2010 Foreword 1. Introduction 1.1 Background ................................................... 2 1.2 Scope and purpose ....................................... 3 1.3 Focal questions ............................................. 4 1.4 Assessment approach ................................... 4 1.5 Quality control and review – who was involved? ....................................... 14 1.6 Terminology ................................................. 15 1.7 Future reports .............................................. 16 1.1 Background The Commonwealth Water Act 2007 gives responsibility This report is the first of the Bureau’s Australian Water to the Bureau of Meteorology (the Bureau) for compiling Resources Assessments that evaluate the nation’s and delivering comprehensive water information across water resources. In contrast to previous Australian Australia. This includes conducting timely, rigorous and water resources assessments, the Bureau’s reports independent assessments of the status of Australia’s are focused on consistency in reporting over time at water resources. key sites, highlighting patterns, variability and trends. These assessments aim to: National water resource assessments were undertaken by various Australian Government agencies • monitor the hydrological state of rivers, storages, and partners at irregular intervals over the last 50 years, wetlands and aquifers and publish hydrometric each with a slightly different purpose and approach. statistics for key sites The two assessments published since 2000 are • highlight patterns, trends and variability in water noted below. availability, water quality and water use The Australian Water Resources Assessment 2000 • present outputs of varying complexity to meet the report, AWRA 2000 (Commonwealth of Australia 2001), information needs of a range of users, predominantly was undertaken by the Australian Government in in the form of readily interpretable maps, graphs partnership with State and Territory Government and tables. agencies for the National Land and Water Resources Water assessments are undertaken at regional and Audit. It was published in 2001 and presented a national spatial scales and time scales ranging from snapshot of the quantity, quality, use, allocation and months to decades. The reports are intended to assist management of Australia’s water resources. assessment of the impact and sustainability of current The most recent assessment, Australian Water water management practices and inform the design of Resources 2005 (National Water Commission 2007), water resource plans, supporting the goals of the was undertaken as a baseline for measuring the National Water Initiative. success of reforms under the National Water Initiative. The Bureau’s Australian Water Resources Assessment It reported on the 2004–05 water year. Baseline reports are: information on water availability, water use and river/ • freely available and published regularly wetland health was assembled for future comparisons. Regional water resource assessments were undertaken • nationally consistent for a number of surface water management areas and • informative at regional and national scales groundwater management units. • scientifically robust From 2005, the Bureau and water agencies around • transparent about the source and quality of data the country started delivering a range of water data and presented and about the modelling and analysis information products that provide certain components techniques used of the information included in previous water resource • unbiased in the presentation of data and information. assessments. Through strategic water research The Bureau’s Australian Water Resources Assessment and development investments, new assessment reports will be conducted and published regularly methodologies were developed that enhance from 2011. our assessment capabilities. There are a number of additional reports on water status, now in the public domain. These are published by various government agencies and are detailed in the Technical supplement. Australian Water Resources Assessment 2010 Introduction – 2 1.2 Scope and purpose This report, Australian Water Resources Assessment Finally, the Technical supplement provides background 2010 (the 2010 Assessment), presents assessments on previous water resources assessments as well of Australia’s climate and water resources in 2009–10 as additional detail on the landscape water balance (July 2009 to June 2010). It discusses regional variability modelling techniques, methods, data and analyses and trends in water resources and patterns of water used to generate information in the report. use over recent seasons, years and decades, using Information and data provided in this 2010 Assessment the currently accessible data. reflects the quantity and quality of data currently The 2010 Assessment is focused on aspects of available for analysis. It is expected that as data national and regional water availability rather than water supplied to the Bureau under the Commonwealth Water allocation, trading or quality. In particular, no attempt Act 2007 are further stored, standardised and quality in this assessment was made to report on water use assured by the Bureau, analysis and reporting in the by the mining industry or on water quality, other than Australian Water Resources Assessment reports will groundwater salinity. The 2010 Assessment is be enhanced. In addition, feedback from users