Adelaide
31.3 Water use

The volume of water extracted from off-channel water stores for use during the 2010–11 year was 7,970 ML. This included 356 ML of water use from off-channel water storages in the Barossa Prescribed Water Resources Area.

Bureau of Meteorology: National Climate Centre daily climate grids (rainfall, temperature and solar radiation); Australian Hydrological Geospatial Fabric (AHGF) waterbody feature class. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO): Australian Water Resources Assessment – Landscape (AWRA-L) model parameters (monthly climatological average radiation grid data). South Australian Department for Water: Geographical Information System layers. Geoscience Australia: nine arc-second digital elevation model (DEM). Irrigation, stock and domestic demand literature (Binks 2004; Luke 1987).

Bureau of Meteorology

The Spatial Tool for Estimating Dam Impacts (STEDI) model (Sinclair Knight Merz 2010) was used to determine the volume of water abstracted from the off-channel water store. Data input to the model included gridded climate datasets; runoff from the AWRA-L v1.0.0 (Van Dijk 2010) model; and dam details derived from spatial data (surface area, volume, location and catchment area). Model parameters included irrigation demand factors (Binks 2004) and stock and domestic demand factors (Luke 1987).

The Adelaide region has more than 10,000 off-channel water storages. This is the maximum number of off-channel water storages that the STEDI model can handle for a single region. Therefore, the Adelaide region was split into two smaller subregions. The region was divided using the boundaries of the AHGF contracted catchments between McLaren Vale and the Onkaparinga Valley. The northern region included the Barossa Valley, the Northern Adelaide Plains, the River Torrens Catchment, the Patawalonga Catchment and the Onkaparinga Catchment. The southern region included catchments throughout McLaren Vale and the Fleurieu Peninsula. 

Only off-channel water storages filled primarily by rainfall-runoff were considered. These were determined from waterbody mapping provided by the South Australian Department for Water, and excluded waterbodies that were within the Virginia Pipeline Scheme service area and waterbodies that were less than 20 metres away from a channel of second order or higher, or an active bore. A nine arc-second DEM was used to determine the catchment area of each off-channel water storage in the Adelaide region.

The STEDI model determines the water stored in each off-channel water storage at each time step and determines the volume required for use from the storage. STEDI assumes that water will be abstracted from the storage at the rate required unless it empties, at which time abstraction will cease.

• The gridded climate input data were subject to approximations associated with interpolating observation point data to a national grid detailed in Jones et al. (2007).
• The estimated volume available in storage for evaporation was subject to the assumptions associated with the STEDI model and the parameters used.
• The spatial extent of waterbodies was subject to the assumptions and methods associated with the spatial data provided by the South Australian Department for Water.

 

The uncertainty estimate was not quantified.