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  

U

/

U code

A detailed component water volumes describing the availability, movement and use of water within urban water systems. Typically, U code volumes are at the plant or transfer party scale and provide a detailed breakdown of W indicator volumes.

Source: Category 7 Reporting Handbook

This definition applies to:

UML

Unified Modelling Language

This definition applies to:

unaccounted-for difference

An unexplained change in water assets and water liabilities during the reporting period.

This definition applies to:

unbundled right

The separation of a bundled right into its individual elements. At its most basic level, unbundling separate water rights from a land property title, allowing the trade of the water rights independently of land.

Additional degrees of unbundling involve the separation of a water right into its individual elements. These might include, but are not limited to, water access entitlements, water allocations, water use rights, delivery rights and works approvals.

Equivalent: water market equivalent terms

This definition applies to:

uncertainty

A state of lack of confidence to exactly describe the current or future condition of a system when limited knowledge of that system is available.

This definition applies to:

uncertainty rating (methodology adopted by Department of Environment and Resource Management)

An uncertainty rating provided by Department of Environment and Resource Management for all line items provided by the department. The uncertainty ratings utilise the below adopted method from the National Performance Framework 2009-10 Urban Water Performance Report Auditing Requirements and Audit Report Template.

Reliability (A, B, C, D)

A Based on sound records with adequate procedures

B Mostly conforms to A but some deviations which have minor impact on integrity

C Data has significant procedural deviations or extrapolation

D Unsatisfactory data.

Accuracy (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

1 +/- 5%

2 +/- 10%

3 +/- 20%

4 +/- 50%

5 Greater than +/- 50%.

This definition applies to:

unconfined aquifer

There are multiple contexts for this item

Context 1

An aquifer whose upper surface is a watertable that is free to fluctuate in equilibrium with atmospheric pressure.

Source: Modified from USGS

This definition applies to:

Context 2

An aquifer in which there are no confining beds between the saturated zone and the surface. There will be a watertable in an unconfined aquifer.

This definition applies to:

unconsolidated sediments

Loosely-bound sediment particles that are not cemented together into a solid matrix.

Source: Modified from the Groundwater Foundation, viewed 6th August 2015.

This definition applies to:

United States Geological Survey

The sole American science agency for the Department of the Interior that provides science about the natural hazards that threaten lives and livelihoods, the water, energy, minerals, and other natural resources the U.S. relies on, the health of U.S. ecosystems and environment, and the impacts of climate and land-use change.

Source: Modified from USGS, viewed 02 October 2018.

This definition applies to:

unregulated

Water that is not stored for the purpose of supplying the orders of downstream users.

This definition applies to:

unregulated channel

Channel where there is no entitlement system at all or where there is an entitlement system which does not allow orders to be placed for upstream release of a licensed allocation.

This definition applies to:

unregulated entitlement

There are multiple contexts for this item

Context 1

The National Water Account considers an entitlement or claim to water to be unregulated when the holder of a water entitlement or a claim to water cannot order the release or delivery of water. The holder must abstract or otherwise exercise their entitlement or claim subject to that water being available in the watercourse.

For unregulated entitlements, only actual diversions resulting from the exercise of the claim are reported in the water accounting statements, not the claim itself.

This definition applies to:

Context 2

An entitlement or claim to water is considered to be unregulated when the holder of a water entitlement or a claim to water cannot order the release or delivery of water. The holder must abstract or otherwise exercise their entitlement or claim subject to that water being available in the watercourse. For unregulated entitlements, only actual diversions resulting from the exercise of the claim are reported in the water accounting statements, not the claim itself. An unregulated entitlement may exist on a regulated river, where it gives access to unregulated flows.

This definition applies to:

unregulated flows

There are multiple contexts for this item

Context 1

A channel flow that does not result from a controlled release made to service an allocation, or flows declared to be unregulated by the appropriate authority. Unregulated flow can occur both in an unregulated channel and in a regulated channel, in case of a flow event that could not be retained and controlled by the upstream infrastructure.

This definition applies to:

Context 2

A river flow that does not result from a controlled release made to service an allocation, or flows declared to be unregulated by the appropriate authority. Unregulated flow can occur both in an unregulated river and in a regulated river, in case of a flow event that could not be retained and controlled by the upstream infrastructure. Note: the term river can be replaced by channel with the same meaning.

This definition applies to:

unregulated river

A river where there is no entitlement system at all or where there is an entitlement system that does not allow orders to be placed for upstream release of a licensed allocation. Note: the term 'river' can be replaced with 'channel' and retain the same meaning.

This definition applies to:

unregulated water resource

A water resource that is not controlled through the use of infrastructure to store and release water.

This definition applies to:

unsaturated zone

There are multiple contexts for this item

Context 1

The soil between the land surface and the regional watertable in which the pore space contains both air and water.

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Context 2

The areas below the ground where void spaces are filled with a mixture of water under pressure less than atmospheric which includes water held by capillarity and air (gases) under atmospheric pressure.

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

Related: unsaturated zone

Synonym: vadose zone

This definition applies to:

unused allocation

Water allocated in a reporting period in accordance with a water resource management instrument and is yet to be accessed, taken or delivered at the reporting date.

This definition applies to:

upward leakage from deep aquifers

The upward movement of groundwater from a deep aquifer to an overlying aquifer.

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upward longwave exposure

The total amount of terrestrial electromagnetic energy emitted from the Earth’s surface that irradiates a specified unit horizontal surface from underneath.

Source: Water Regulations 2008 Schedule 3 Part 1. For the latest information on Australian Government law please go to Federal Register of Legislation

This definition applies to:

upward longwave irradiance

The longwave irradiance emitted by the Earth’s surface that irradiates a specified unit horizontal surface from underneath.

Source: Water Regulations 2008 Schedule 3 Part 1. For the latest information on Australian Government law please go to Federal Register of Legislation

This definition applies to:

urban recycled water information

Information about the treatment and reuse of urban wastewater.

Source: Water Regulations 2008 Schedule 3 Part 1. For the latest information on Australian Government law please go to Federal Register of Legislation

This definition applies to:

urban stormwater

Water in the urban stormwater drainage system.

Source: Water Regulations 2008 Schedule 3 Part 1. For the latest information on Australian Government law please go to Federal Register of Legislation

This definition applies to:

urban stormwater information

Information about water in the urban stormwater drainage system.

Source: Water Regulations 2008 Schedule 3 Part 1. For the latest information on Australian Government law please go to Federal Register of Legislation

This definition applies to:

urban stormwater reuse

Urban stormwater that has been treated and reused.

This definition applies to:

urban treated effluent

Urban waste water that has received some form of treatment. If re-used, it is a form of recycled water.

This definition applies to:

urban untreated effluent

Urban waste water that has not received any form of treatment. If re-used, it is a form of recycled water.

This definition applies to:

urban wastewater information

Information about water in the urban stormwater drainage system.

Source: Water Regulations 2008 Schedule 3 Part 1. For the latest information on Australian Government law please go to Federal Register of Legislation

This definition applies to:

urban water

The total residential, commercial, municipal, industrial and other water supplied by urban water utilities.

This definition applies to:

urban water distribution system

Constituted by three different components:

  1. Urban water delivery system: which conveys water abstracted from the different water sources in the region or that has been transferred into the system from outside the region (including desalination water).
  2. Urban wastewater system: which collects water after use, conveys it to the wastewater treatment plant and then discharges it into the environment.
  3. Urban recycled system: which recycles treated wastewater and discharges it to storages, before it is re-used for urban or irrigation purpose.

This definition applies to:

urban water supply

The volume of water (potable, non-potable and recycled water) supplied to customers during a reporting period.

This definition applies to:

urban water supply information

Information about water supplied by urban water utilities.

Source: Water Regulations 2008 Schedule 3 Part 1. For the latest information on Australian Government law please go to Federal Register of Legislation

This definition applies to:

urban water system

It includes the following system: 1) potable and non-potable water supply, including pipes and tanks and off-stream ponds, which regulate water flow for operational purpose and not medium to long term water storage. 2) wastewater collection, including wastewater lagoons and ponds, pipes, tanks, pits, sumps and storages. 3) recycled water supply, including pipes, tanks and storage reservoirs.

Related: urban water distribution system

This definition applies to:

urban water system asset

Water located in the urban water system within the region's boundaries and claims to water that may result in inflows into the region's urban water system.

This definition applies to:

urban water system decreases

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

Related: water distribution system decreases

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urban water system increases

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

Related: water distribution system increases

This definition applies to:

urban water system inflows

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

Related: water distribution system inflows

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urban water system liability

Water liability relating to the urban water system.

Related: water distribution system liability

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urban water system liability decreases

Decreases in the region's urban water system liability. It includes adjustment or forfeiture of the obligation to deliver water from the urban water system. It excludes actual delivery of water.

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urban water system liability increases

Increases in the region's urban water system water liability. It includes all recognised commitments to deliver water from the region's urban water system.

This definition applies to:

urban water system outflows

Outflows from the urban water system; to outside the region or to other stores. For example the discharge of treated wastewater to a river or to the sea.

Related: water distribution system outflows

This definition applies to:

USGS

United States Geological Survey

The sole American science agency for the Department of the Interior that provides science about the natural hazards that threaten lives and livelihoods, the water, energy, minerals, and other natural resources the U.S. relies on, the health of U.S. ecosystems and environment, and the impacts of climate and land-use change.

Source: Modified from USGS, viewed 02 October 2018.

This definition applies to: