Trends in water use information from across Australia are important because of long-term variability in rainfall and runoff across Australia as well as the reduced water availability over the past 10 years.

Australia’s water use

In 2004–05, total water use in Australia was 79,784 gigalitres. Of that total, 62,455 gigalitres was returned to the environment as regulated discharge, with 60,436 gigalitres of this discharge being in-stream use (where water is returned to the environment after non-consumptive uses such as hydroelectric power generation). Of this total water use, 18,767 gigalitres was used consumptively.
Of the 79,784 gigalitres of total water used in 2004–05, water users (organisations or individuals who extract their own water) directly extracted 68,447 gigalitres, and a further 11,337 gigalitres was extracted by water providers (organisations that extract water for provision to users, such as the various state water authorities).
The electricity and gas industry used 59,867 gigalitres of water for in-stream use, where this water was returned to the environment further downstream. This represents a 10 per cent increase from the previous 2000–01 figure of 54,520 gigalitres. Hydroelectric power generation accounted for most of this in-stream use; Tasmania alone accounted for 64 per cent of the Australia’s total in-stream water use.
Consumptive use of water in 2004–05 represented 22 per cent of the storage capacity of large dams and 47 per cent of the volume in storage at 30 June, 2005.

Water use across the economy

At Rossdale Golf Club, Victoria, this meter measures the volume of water diverted
from an urban drain for irrigation of the golf course
Image by Paul Pavelic, sourced from CSIRO Land and Water

Water consumption in 2004–05 was 18,767 gigalitres. Of this 65 per cent was provided for agriculture and 11 per cent for households.
Of the water used by agriculture, 11,033 gigalitres (91 per cent) was used for irrigation of crops and pastures.

Trends in water use

The volume of water consumption of 18,767 gigalitres in 2004–05 was 14 per cent less than the 21,702 gigalitres used during 2000–01 (the year considered in the previous Water Account, Australia, 2000–01 (ABS 2004)). This is consistent with the reductions in water availability across a similar period (Australia-wide average rainfall in 2000–01 was 618 mm, compared with 364 mm in 2004–05).
The reduction in water consumption from 2000–01 to 2004–05 is primarily a result of the reduction in agricultural use from 14,989 gigalitres to 12,191 gigalitres, due to there being less water available for agriculture at this time.
Cotton and rice irrigation experienced the most significant reductions in water use, which was a result of reduced water availability. Water consumed for rice production declined by 72 per cent (2223 gigalitres in 2000–01; 631 gigalitres in 2004–05); water consumption for cotton production declined by 37 per cent (2896 gigalitres in 2000–01; 1822 gigalitres in 2004–05). During the same period, there was a similar reduction in the areas planted to these crops of 71 per cent for rice and 38 per cent for cotton.
The impact of these significant reductions in rice and cotton irrigation (in terms of area of land and water use) is seen in a 6 per cent decline in the total gross value of agricultural production across Australia, from $9618 million in 2000–01 to $9076 million in 2004–05 (ABS 2006c).
Between 2000–01 and 2004–05, there were significant reductions in the value of irrigated cotton (from $1222 million to $908 million) and rice (from $350 million to $102 million); however, increases in other outputs such as livestock, pasture, and grains appear to have reduced the impact on the total value of Australia’s agricultural produce.
Irrigated agricultural production contributed 23 per cent to the total gross value of agricultural commodities produced in 2004–05. Fruit was the largest contributor to the value ($1,777 million or 20 per cent of total gross value of agricultural commodities produced), followed by vegetables ($1,761 million or 20 per cent) and dairy farming ($1,632 million or 18 per cent).

Graph of Percentage of agricultural water consumption and its gross value (2004–05)

Percentage of agricultural water consumption and its gross value (2004–05)
Sourced from ABS

Household water use decreased by 8 per cent from 2278 gigalitres in 2000–01 to 2108 gigalitres in 2004–05. In addition, 16 per cent of households were reusing or recycling household water, representing a significant increase from 11 per cent in 2000–01.
Water used by the mining industry increased by 28 per cent from 321 gigalitres in 2000–01 to 413 gigalitres in 2004–05, largely due to increased mining activity in Western Australia (an increase of 69 gigalitres).

Graph of Household water consumption, 2000–01 and 2004–05

Household water consumption, 2000–01 and 2004–05
Sourced from ABS

Reuse of water

Reuse water made up 425 gigalitres (4 per cent) of the total volume of water supplied by water providers in 2004–05.
While still a very small amount, there was a tenfold increase in the volume of reuse water provided by water suppliers and used by households, from 0.2 gigalitres in 2000–01 to 1.8 gigalitres in 2004–05.

Distribution of water use

Despite having only 6 per cent of Australia’s total surface water runoff, more than 50 per cent of Australia’s water use occurs in the Murray-Darling Basin.
This assessment reveals higher levels of use in the Murray-Darling Basin and in south-eastern Australia, south-east Queensland and south-west Western Australia than in the rest of Australia. Of the areas considered for detailed water balances, the top 20 areas (representing 12 per cent of Australia’s land mass) make up approximately 75 per cent of the Australia’s total consumptive water use. From the assessment, the highest water using regions are the Murrumbidgee water management area (New South Wales); Broken, Goulburn and Campaspe water management area (Victoria); and the Murray (New South Wales) water management area.

Water entitlements and trading

The total volume of water access entitlements in Australia was 29,831 gigalitres in 2004–05.
Despite limitations on available data and definitions, an estimated 1301 gigalitres of water was traded in 2004–05, of which 1053 gigalitres were temporary trades and the remainder (248 gigalitres) permanent trades. Of this volume, 86.9 gigalitres was traded between states, comprising 5.2 gigalitres of permanent interstate trade and 81.7 gigalitres of temporary interstate trade
New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory use high proportions of their available water for consumptive purposes. Queensland, Western Australia, Northern Territory and Tasmania show much less consumptive use as a proportion of total available water.

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Last Updated 01/06/2007