Reporting areas - surface and groundwater management boundaries
Water availability reporting is based on water management areas' that the
states and territories recommend and use in their current management and reporting
practices. This approach allows geographical reporting of water resource issues
in Australia . Water management areas have been identified on the basis of
natural catchment boundaries, as well as administrative and management boundaries.
One goal of setting water management areas should be that they are enduring
(and therefore facilitate ongoing reporting activities and the collation of
temporal data sets).
The Australian Water Resources Assessment 2000 used 325 surface
water management areas, and 538 groundwater management units. These areas have
been amended for AWR 2005 to better reflect the management areas of states
and territories and therefore be more relevant to NWI initiatives and reforms.
The reporting scale for each state or territory is outlined in the table below.
Australian Water Resources 2005 reporting scale
Australian Capital Territory |
Single area covering the entire Australian
Capital Territory |
Single area covering the entire Australian
Capital Territory |
New South Wales |
Based on AWRA 2000 with minor edits |
Boundaries for groundwater sharing plans,
and groundwater macro plans |
Northern Territory |
Identical to AWRA 2000 |
Identical to AWRA 2000 |
Queensland |
Water resource plan areas. River basins apply
where water resource plans are not available |
Declared groundwater management units (where
they exist) |
South Australia |
Boundaries realigned to allow
better integration of surface water and groundwater management. New boundaries
are based on prescribed water management area boundaries, with unincorporated
areas subdivided on the basis of a combination of surface water catchments
and basins and groundwater provinces |
Tasmania |
Identified catchment boundaries that form
the basis for management in Tasmania |
Identical to AWRA 2000 |
Victoria |
Correspond closely to AWRA 2000 and used
for state water accounts (produced annually). The Murray Water Management
Area differs from National Land and Water Resources Audit 2000. |
Based on AWRA 2000 and extensively updated
to suit current management practices |
Western Australia |
Identical to AWRA 2000 |
New management areas based on current management.
Aquifers may cross boundaries of groundwater management units. |
The total number of water management areas for each state or territory is
summarised in the table below.
Australian Water Resources 2005 reporting units
3 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
54 |
49 |
50 |
90 |
40 |
40 |
55 |
55 |
99 |
64 |
107 |
34 |
34 |
65 |
53 |
59 |
19 |
48 |
17 |
17 |
32 |
29 |
79 |
65 |
44 |
44 |
174 |
46 |
The groundwater management units and surface water management units are described
below.
Surface water management areas
Groundwater management units
A comparison between the groundwater management unit and surface water management
area boundaries used in the Australian Water Resources Assessment 2000
and the boundaries devised for this AWR 2005 website is shown in the maps below.
Comparison of surface water management areas from AWRA 2000 and AWR 2005
WR 2005 groundwater management units are outlined with black boundaries, where as the AWRA 2000 groundwater management units are defined by colour. The colours for the AWRA 2000 areas have been generated using an automated colour scheme designed to maximise the difference in colours for adjacent areas.
Comparison of groundwater management units from AWRA
2000 and AWR 2005
AWR 2005 groundwater management units are outlined with black boundaries, where
as the AWRA 2000 groundwater management units are defined by colour. The colours
for the AWRA 2000 areas have been generated using an automated colour scheme
designed to maximise the difference in colours for adjacent areas.
Download high resolution Maps:
(these documents require the use of Adobe
Acrobat Reader)
Interactive Maps:
Click on the links below to create and customise your own versions of the maps (e.g.
add or remove layers) using the Map Maker tool on the Australian Natural Resource
Atlas website:
In many cases surface water and groundwater management boundaries are based on natural
catchments or topographic areas, but in other cases there is a distinct influence
from existing administrative boundaries. This is most obvious for catchments that
cross state and territory borders, because the water resources are managed separately
in most cases. Joint approaches to management of trans-boundary water resources
do exist in some areas, for example the South Australia Victoria Border Groundwater
Sharing Agreement, the Border Rivers region of New South Wales and Queensland,
and the Great Artesian Basin Management Plan.
Further detail is available in some areas, for example in New South Wales, where
regulated and unregulated areas are defined for specific surface water management
areas. Other states and territories have not adopted this distinction. All states
and territories are covered by defined water management areas for surface water
and groundwater and in most states and territories, outside of designated plans,
all areas are covered by a basic jurisdiction-wide policy on licensing, extraction,
diversions and environmental protection measures. South Australian policy provides
basic principles for diversion but does not cover licensing for areas outside of
designated plans.
The actual boundaries themselves do not show how the resource is managed or describe
the level of management activity in each. Boundaries simply facilitate data collection
and reporting in relation to the various indicators.
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