Australian Water Information Dictionary

Alphabetical list of items

A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W   Y   Z   other  

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Groundwater with a salinity (expressed as Total Dissolved Solids) greater than 3,000 milligrams per litre.

This definition applies to:

The concentration of soluble salts in a solution, soil or other medium.

Source: eWater Toolkit Glossary

This definition applies to:

The part of the lithosphere where each void space in subsurface material is filled with water, or is saturated, under greater pressure than that of the atmosphere.

Source: Poehls DJ and Smith GJ 2009, Encyclopedic dictionary of hydrogeology, Elsevier Inc., 517 pp.

This definition applies to:

South East / southeast

This definition applies to:

A three-month outlook of total streamflow volumes at a site or total inflows into a water storage.

This definition applies to:

For an interim water allocation, a water allocation, a seasonal water assignment or a water licence, means the assignment by the holder of the allocation, notice or licence of the benefit under the allocation, notice or licence to another person, for a water year, of all or part of the water that may be taken under the allocation or notice.

Source: Water Act 2000 (Qld)

This definition applies to:

system of integrated environmental-economic accounting

This definition applies to:

system of environmental-economic accounting for water

This definition applies to:

The infiltration of water from streams, irrigation channels, water storages, farm dams, natural surface water features and septic tanks into the groundwater system. It is a form of surface water–groundwater interaction and groundwater recharge.

This definition applies to:

To take water directly from a water resource for the use of the person who takes the water, but does not include taking water: (a) to provide it to another person, (b) under a stock and domestic right or (c) from an infrastructure operator.

Source: Water Regulations 2008 Schedule 3 Part 1

This definition applies to:

A small-scale, on-site sewage system that is common in areas with no connection to main sewage systems and uses anaerobic processes to break down wastewater.

This definition applies to:

The SEQ Water Grid was established in July 2008 to connect water supplies and treatment facilities across the South East Queensland region. This provides coordinated management of water resources. See SEQ Water Grid for further information.

This definition applies to:

The process of recovering water from a wastewater system.

This definition applies to:

Loss of shallow groundwater to the atmosphere by evapotranspiration, particularly important in the riparian zone. It includes groundwater uptake by vegetation from beneath the water table but does not include uptake from the unsaturated zone.

This definition applies to:

A vector GIS format for storing geometric location and associated attribute information, that lacks the capacity to store toplogical information. It is developed and regulated by ESRI as a (mostly) open specification for data interoperability.

Source: ESRI

Related: GIS

This definition applies to:

A statistical score used to objectively assess the performance (skill) of a model. A score can be presented absolutely or formulated as a skill score.

Skill Score =(Smod - Sref) / (Sperf - Sref)

Where

Smod = Score for the model forecast

Sref = Score for a reference forecast, usually climatology

Sperf = Score for a perfect forecast, usually 0 or 1

This definition applies to:

Accumulation of snow and ice on the ground.

This definition applies to:

Southern Oscillation Index

An index calculated from the monthly or seasonal fluctuations in the air pressure difference between Tahiti and Darwin. See the Climate page on SOI for more information.

This definition applies to:

The water content in the unsaturated zone of a soil profile.

This definition applies to:

An index calculated from the monthly or seasonal fluctuations in the air pressure difference between Tahiti and Darwin. See the Climate page on SOI for more information.

Related:

This definition applies to:

A water accounting report tailored to the information needs of a user able to command this information.

This definition applies to:

The storage property for an unconfined aquifer that defines the quantity of water that can be drained from an aquifer under the influence of gravity or extracted by pumping.

This definition applies to:

sea surface temperature

This definition applies to:

The level of a water surface. Stage typically refers to river water level at the site of a river gauge.

This definition applies to:

Precedent legislation for administering water rights in each State or Territory (ultimately vested in the Crown) and applicable to all water within the jurisdiction.

This definition applies to:

A pond, lake or basin, whether natural or artificial, for the storage, regulation and control of water.

Synonym: water storage

This definition applies to:

Outflows from water storages of the region. The value can include all or part of the water storages reported under line item 1.1 Storage.

This definition applies to:

Inflows into water storages of the region. The value can include all or part of the water storages reported under line item 1.1 Storage.

This definition applies to:

The elevation of the water surface in a water storage at a particular time and date, measured relative to a specified datum, typically the Australian Height Datum (AHD). See the water storage diagram for application with respect to water storages.

Synonym: water level

This definition applies to:

The volume of water stored at a particular time and date. It excludes the dead storage volume and hence is the volume of water that can be accessed under normal circumstances without the installation of additional infrastructure.

Related: dead storage capacity

Synonym:

This definition applies to:

Storages which are part of the connected surface water store and contain water yet to be shared within an entitlement system. In the National Water Account, storages managed by organisations to provide water to urban centres are included in ‘storages – entitlement system’ as they are considered to contain water yet to be ‘shared’ or ‘abstracted’, even if not formal entitlement system governs the urban water supply.

This definition applies to:

The volume of water a confined aquifer will release when the water-level is lowered. Upon the lowering of water-levels in such aquifers, they remain fully saturated so that no dewatering occurs. The water released is volumetrically equivalent to the volumetric expansion of the water and contraction of the pore space. Also referred to as the coefficient of storage.

This definition applies to:

Excess rainfall that is collected after it has run off urban surfaces.

This definition applies to:

Stormwater that discharges directly into the sea via a stormwater outflow drain located on the coastline.

This definition applies to:

The formation of layers in a water body that show differences in temperature, turbidity, pH, nutrients, salinity, dissolved oxygen or light penetration at various depths.

Source: eWater Toolkit Glossary

This definition applies to:

A watercourse and its tributaries. Can be permanent or ephemeral.

This definition applies to:

The flow of water in streams, rivers and other channels.

Synonym: flow

This definition applies to:

Aquatic animals found in groundwater; sometimes used as a synonym of stygobite.

Source: Tomlinson M and Boulton A 2008, Subsurface groundwater dependent ecosystems: a review of biodiversity, ecological processes and ecosystem services, National Water Commission Waterlines Occasional Paper No. 8, October 2008

This definition applies to:

A water-dependent ecosystem occurring below the surface of the ground within fractured, porous or unconsolidated aquifers, and in caves in both the saturated and vadose zones.

Source: Australian National Aquatic Ecosystem Classification, Subterranean Class – Background briefing note. Aquatic Ecosystems Task Group.

This definition applies to:

The area of the water surface, typically measured when the water storage is at full supply level.

This definition applies to:

A GDE that accesses subsurface groundwater to meet all or some of its water requirements. This includes terrestrial vegetation, subsurface fauna communities (e.g. burrowing crayfish), and some vegetation which is associated with a surface water body.

Source: Eamus, D., Froend, R., Loomes, R., Hose, G., Murray, B., (2006). A functional methodology for determining the groundwater regime needed to maintain the health of groundwater-dependent vegetation, Australian Journal of Botany, 2006, 54, 97–114, 2006.

This definition applies to:

A GDE which uses groundwater after it has been discharged to the surface. This includes all groundwater-fed surface water bodies, such as rivers, wetlands, lakes and springs.

This definition refers only to the aquatic (inundated) component of a system, and therefore excludes any vegetation which may fringe a surface water body.

Source: Eamus, D., Froend, R., Loomes, R., Hose, G., Murray, B., (2006). A functional methodology for determining the groundwater regime needed to maintain the health of groundwater-dependent vegetation, Australian Journal of Botany, 2006, 54, 97–114, 2006.

This definition applies to:

Water from precipitation or other sources that flows over the land surface.

In relation to the water resource assessment, surface runoff is the fraction of precipitation that does not infiltrate at the land surface and may be retained at the surface or result in overland flow toward depressions, streams and other surface water bodies.

This definition applies to:

There are multiple contexts for this item

Context 1

Water that flows over or is stored on the surface of the earth. For the purpose of the National Water Account, this excludes the water in the water distribution system.

This definition applies to:

Context 2

Includes: (a) water in a watercourse, lake or wetland and (b) any water flowing over or lying on land: (i) after having precipitated naturally or (ii) after having risen to the surface naturally from underground.

Source: Water Act 2007 Part 1 Section 4

Equivalent: water market equivalent terms

This definition applies to:

Context 3

Water that flows over or is stored on the surface of the earth. For the purpose of the National Water Account, surface water consists only of water connected, either seasonally or perennially, to the rivers and not yet abstracted for consumptive purpose. It includes water administered by jurisdictions and water stored in surface water storages. It excludes water in off-channel water, urban water systems and irrigation schemes.

This definition applies to:

Water access entitlement granted on the surface water resource.

This definition applies to:

Volume of water resulting from an allocation announcement made on a surface water access entitlement.

This definition applies to:

A transaction to transfer a surface water allocation from one legal entity to another, with or without change in location of the abstraction point. It includes the volume allocated on a previous tagged trade.

This definition applies to:

A region's surface water asset consists of surface water located within the region's boundaries and claims to water that may result in inflows into the region's surface water.

This definition applies to:

Water assets that relate to surface water including water storage – stored or in transit – in catchments, regulated rivers and utility networks and soil moisture. Water storage in utility networks includes all water in works such as pipes regardless of whether these works are above or below the surface of the earth.

This definition applies to:

Outflows from the region's surface water due to natural processes or diversions, and decrease of claims to water held on behalf of the region's surface water.

This definition applies to:

A transaction to transfer for a specified term a surface water access entitlement from one legal entity to another, with or without change in location of the abstraction point.

This definition applies to:

A transaction to transfer perpetually a surface water access entitlement from one legal entity to another, with or without change in location of the abstraction point. It excludes tagged trade where the trade occurred prior to the reporting period.

This definition applies to:

Those hydrological features that convey and/or store water over the surface of the Earth; comprising streams, channels and water storages.

Related:

This definition applies to:

Inflows into the region's surface water or increase of claims to water that may result in inflows into the region's surface water.

This definition applies to:

There are multiple contexts for this item

Context 1

Increases in the surface water assets of a water reporting entity.

This definition applies to:

Context 2

Volume of physical inflows to surface water during the reporting period from outside the region or from other stores.

This definition applies to:

Water liability relating to surface water.

Related: water liability

This definition applies to:

An increase in surface water liability as a result of allocation announcements, etc.

This definition applies to:

There are multiple contexts for this item

Context 1

Decreases in the surface water assets of a water reporting entity.

This definition applies to:

Context 2

Volume of physical outflows from surface water during the reporting period to outside the region or to other stores.

This definition applies to:

Water rights granted by a jurisdiction to access the region's surface water.

This definition applies to:

The groundwater extraction regime, measured over a specified planning timeframe, which allows acceptable levels of stress in groundwater systems and protects dependent economic, social and environmental values.

This definition applies to:

The level of water extraction from a particular system that would compromise key environmental assets, or ecosystem functions and the productive base of the resource, if it were exceeded.

This definition applies to:

Statement of Water Accounting Concepts

This definition applies to: