Water balance assessments

The water balance assessment method used for the AWR 2005 Water Availability Assessment was based on the water cycle report defined for the Water Accounting Stocktake project undertaken by the inter-jurisdictional NWI Committee. The water cycle report describes the key volumetric parameters as a water balance, allowing assessment and comparison of values across and between geographic areas.

For the AWR 2005, water balance assessments were undertaken for 51 priority geographic areas across Australia ranging from the larger Great Artesian Basin and Murray-Darling Basin to smaller water management areas such as Carnarvon GWA, and Kangaroo Island. Due to this project trialling the water accounting approach, the whole country was not assessed in 2004-05.

The national water balance diagram, shown below, uses information drawn from the Water 2010 project and other national data sets. Given the variation in water resources across Australia, only general findings can be drawn from this picture and the 51 completed water balances.

The AWR 2005 Water Availability assessment has highlighted the lack of available water resource information across large areas of Australia. The assessment found that water monitoring programs and other investigations are concentrated in the highly developed regions of the Murray-Darling Basin, capital cities, the eastern coastline, and the south and south-western coastline of South Australia and Western Australia.

The use of the water balance assessments across all of Australia will produce insights and increase the available information only in smaller areas which have extensive data and information available. Water balances in less developed areas will only highlight the known data and information gaps, such as found with the Northern Territory water balances.

As other national water resource assessments are undertaken a picture of the availability (or scarcity) of water in developed parts of the country will evolve and help to manage the resource. More than a single water balance for one year though will be required for this understanding at present. The water management indicator information compiled under this project will also provide good baseline information to compare the status of water management over time in each state and territory.

Conceptual diagram showing national water balance for those components that could be assessed at the national

Entities reported on (WMAs / SWMAs/ GMUs / interjurisdictional regions)

For AWR 2005 selected individual and combined water management areas were used as the areas for reporting, ensuring that coverage included:

• all capital cities
• geographic diversity, for example tropical areas and arid areas
• interjurisdictional areas such as the Murray-Darling Basin and Lake Eyre Basin

The water management area (WMA) boundaries were chosen to reflect the current manner in which the areas are managed by the respective state or territory governments. In doing so, it is recognised that these areas need to remain consistent to enable water cycle reports to be compared from one year to another.

The distribution of the selected water management areas across Australia is shown on the map and table below.

Map of Australia, showing the selected individual and combined water management areas where water balances for 2004-05 were prepared

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Map of Australia, showing the selected individual and combined water management areas where water balances for 2004-05 were prepared (PDF 2.1Mb )

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For individual results of water balance assessments go to Regional Water Resources Assessments

List of selected individual and combined water management areas where water balances for 2004-05 were prepared

For individual results of water balance assessments go to Regional Water Resources Assessments

Related links

The water balance assessment is discussed in more detail in the following sections:

• Water balance assessment method
• Data reliability and gaps
• Water balance results
• Outcomes from water balances
• State and territory summaries

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