Murray–Darling Basin

The volumetric value for the line item is 118,989 ML (see the following table).

– = no data available; n/a = not applicable

New South Wales volumes include the licence classes:

• high-security research
• high-security community and education
• high-security Aboriginal culture
• high-security town water supply diversions.

New South Wales volumes do not contain the diversions made under major and local water utility class, because those are of a specific water access entitlement (WAE) class. See Line item 14.7.4 Allocation/claim diversion of regulated flows – urban water access entitlement/arrangement.

South Australian urban diversions (94,614 ML) include the Metro Adelaide (56,970 ML) and the South Australian Country Town (37,644 ML) allocation diversions. The diversions to Metro Adelaide are part of the River Murray entitlements and are pumped from within the Murray–Darling Basin to Adelaide.

No information specific to this entitlement class is available for Victoria. See Line item 14.7.9.7 Allocation diversion of regulated flows – other lumped holder.

In Queensland, the resource operation plans (ROPs) distinguish between ‘high and medium priority of supplemented water allocation’ (names used in Queensland, corresponding to high and general/low-security classes of water access entitlements, respectively, in the National Water Account 2010, or the 2010 Account). In most cases, what the ROPs classify as high priority actually corresponds to urban purpose. The WAM data, however, only distinguish between ‘supplemented’ and ‘unsupplemented’ entitlements, distinguishing for ‘supplemented’ only, urban purpose from all other purposes. For this reason, the 2010 Account reports all ‘supplemented’ entitlements in Queensland under ‘other lumped WAE’ class. The 2010 Account further splits Queensland ‘supplemented’ entitlements between urban purpose, reported under ‘urban holder’ (Line item 14.7.9.4), and all other purposes, reported under ‘individual irrigator holder (Line item 14.7.9.2) and ‘other lumped holders’ (Line item 14.7.9.7).

Data source

• Australian Capital Territory: Water Audit Monitoring Report 2009–10 (30 November 2010).
• New South Wales: NSW Office of Water’s Water Accounting section.
• Queensland: Water Audit Monitoring Report 2009–10 (31 January 2011).
• South Australia: Water Audit Monitoring Report 2009–10 (22 February 2011).
• Victoria: Water Audit Monitoring Report 2009–10 (19 January 2011).

Note: Water audit monitoring (WAM) report data are stored in the Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) HYDRO database.

Data provider

MDBA.

Method

The NSW Office of Water supplied data are prepared on a water balance approach. It implies that the movement of values during the year will balance the opening and closing balances. The forfeitures and adjustments have been checked to ensure that the closing balance reconciles.

The South Australian WAM data supplied for this line item result from ‘estimate based on user meter’ readings.

Uncertainty

Uncertainty estimates for the values provided in the line item for:

• New South Wales: +/–10%
• South Australia: 5%.

Approximations, assumptions, caveats/limitations

• The line item contains only New South Wales and South Australia data.
• Victorian and Queensland WAM data received by MDBA did not allow separation into high and general/low-security classes.
• Estimates of uncertainty of the diversions are indicative accuracy of bulk diversions at the abstraction point on the river only.
• Uncertainty reported for diversion at the abstraction point account for possible errors in the data collection process.
• Uncertainty of diversion at the diversion point: a single metered abstraction point may provide water to a range of users, under various types of entitlements (e.g. stock and domestic class). When this happens, the jurisdiction may split the metered abstraction into several classes of entitlements or types of users, according to priority rules governing the entitlements. This split has an inherent uncertainty that is not considered here.