News

As part of the National Water Account 2011, the Perth and Ord regions are now freely available on the Bureau’s website. The other six regions – Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne, South East Queensland, Sydney and the Murray–Darling Basin – will be available in coming months.

Senior Hydrologist Yves Bessard said the 2010–11 Statement for the Perth region highlights the reduction in inflows to groundwater and surface water stores due to low rainfall.

"The 2010–11 year saw record low surface water store inflows," he said. "The region is becoming more reliant on groundwater and desalinated water to compensate for the climate variability of the region."

Yves added that the Statement for the Ord region shows that the area's water resources well exceeded current use. The region relies mainly on surface water inflows, which were at near-record highs in 2010–11.

The National Water Account is prepared by the Bureau in partnership with more than 30 organisations, such as water agencies, local government and natural resource management authorities, irrigation service providers and electricity generators.

The successive La Niña events of 2010–12 that contributed to record-breaking rainfall and cooler temperatures across Australia, particularly eastern Australia, have been chronicled in a new Bureau publication.

The 24-page booklet and online publication Record-breaking La Niña events gives an insight into how La Niña (and El Niño) events occur and why they change Australia’s weather and climate. It also details the significant impacts of the 2010–12 La Niña events.

Read more about Record breaking La Niña.

Streamflow forecasts are now available for nine sites in Queensland. Five new locations have been added in New South Wales, taking the total number of forecast sites to 50.

Current streamflow forecasts are favouring near median or high flows for most forecast sites except for low flows at four locations in the Murrumbidgee, Upper Murray and Ovens basins. As climate indicators continue to show a shift towards El Niño conditions, this may affect the streamflow forecasts for spring.

Visit the Seasonal Streamflow website

A new urban water supply system in New South Wales has been added to the Bureau's Water Storage website. The three major dams in the system supply the large population centre of the Central Coast, north of Sydney.

The storages – Mangrove Creek, Mardi and Mooney Mooney – are owned and operated jointly by the Gosford City and Wyong shire councils.

Read more about Water data for New South Wales Central Coast.