Murray–Darling Basin

1.4 Lakes and wetlands – connected

Supporting information

The volumetric value for the line item at the end of 2009–10 is 1,130,947 ML.

This line item represents the volume of water held in lakes and wetlands that are connected to the river channel system. The volume for the line item is the sum of the volume held in the connected lakes and wetlands located in the Murray–Darling Basin (MDB) region. Specific details of individual lakes and wetlands, and the totals for each region are provided in the following table. The volumetric values were not available for the lakes and wetlands not stated in the table.

Water from lakes and wetlands listed for the line item is useful for various purposes, but not used to supply water for licensed entitlements. Line item 1.1 includes reservoirs and lakes that are used to supply water for licensed entitlements.

Details of the lakes and wetlands values
Region	Storage name	Accessible capacity	Dead storage	Total capacity	Active storage (ML)		Total storage (ML)		Total storage (%)
Region	Storage name	(ML)	(ML)	(ML)	01 July 2009	30 June 2010	01 July 2009	30 June 2010	01 July 2009	30 June 2010
Murray	Lake Albert	279,583	n/a	279,583	112,909	91,046	112,909	91,046	40	33
Murray	Lake Alexandrina	1,644,884	n/a	1,644,884	644,007	1,039,901	644,007	1,039,901	39	63
Total Murray		1,924,468	n/a	1,924,468	756,916	1,130,946	756,916	1,130,947	39	59

n/a = not applicable

Quantification approach

Data source

Bureau of Meteorology: Water Storages, Australian Water Resources Information System (AWRIS).

Data provider

Bureau of Meteorology.

Method

Storage volume was estimated at the start and end of the reporting period by using gauged water level height(s) (metres Australian Height Datum) for individual storages. The height measurement was converted to a volume using the storage-volume curve(s) of the storage.

The storage volume of individual storages was aggregated to present the total volume for the line item.

Uncertainty

Ungraded.

Approximations, assumptions, caveats/limitations

Storage-volume curves represent specifically surveyed parts of the water storage and may not reflect the storage-volume relationship across the entire storage.

Water storages are subject to sedimentation and other physical changes over time, which in turn affect the accuracy of the storage-volume curves.