Until the outcome of the 2025 federal election, the Australian Government is operating under caretaker conventions

Canberra
17.7 Non-allocated diversions to users

Supporting Information

This line item contains a breakdown of unregulated flow diversions for non-urban customers in the Canberra and New South Wales (NSW) region.

Use types and volumes of diverted unregulated flow in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and NSW areas of the Canberra region
Data Provider Holder type Volume (ML) 
ESDD Unavailable  513
NSW Office of Water Irrigation, farming  270
Industrial (sand and gravel) 57
Domestic, stock 10
Recreation 88
Within urban area (Palerang Council)  250
 Total
            1,188

Quantification Approach

Data Source

ACT Government Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water: Water Resources Unit, Water Resource Information Database. NSW Office of Water: Navigator Water Tools.

Provided by

ACT Government Department of Environment Climate Change and Water. NSW Office of Water.

Method

Australian Capital Territory

This line item includes diversions of unregulated flows under multi-use licences for non–potable water within the ACT. It includes urban use for licensed abstraction within the urban area, and other use for licensed abstraction outside of the urban area.

Individual licensees submit monthly meter readings to the ACT Environment Protection Authority (EPA) on an annual basis. Where a licensee has not provided meter data, the EPA estimates usage based on historical usage data.

New South Wales

In the NSW portion of the subaccount, use has been estimated to be 50% of the NSW Office of Water surface water licence volume for all entitlements within this line item, except for the urban entitlement for Palerang Council. Use for Palerang Council has been estimated as 100% of the entitlement.

The Navigator Water Tools ArcGIS add–on was used to query the NSW Office of Water database spatially and extract usage for the area inside the entity.

 

Assumptions, Limitations, Caveats and Approximations

  • In NSW, the accuracy of Navigator Water Tools data is limited by the quantity and accuracy of the geographical coordinates defined in the licensing administration system
  • Unregulated water use in NSW was assumed to be 50% of the total NSW Office of Water licence volume for all categories of entitlements, except for entitlements within the urban area (Palerang Council). Calculation of this estimate was carried out by the Bureau of Meteorology.

 

Uncertainty Information

Australian Capital Territory

More than 60% of meters are inspected each year to validate the readings supplied by licensees. Estimated uncertainty for meter accuracy is +/–5 %. Uncertainty can not be quantified for estimated usage where meters were not read.

New South Wales

Derived from geographic information system data. Estimated uncertainty is +/– 30% to +/– 50% based on established practice and professional judgement by NSW Office of Water.

Comparative year

This line item corresponds to line items 14.6.1 Diversion of unregulated flows – stock and domestic water access entitlements and 14.6.5.6 Diversion of unregulated flows – other lumped holders reported in the 2010 Account.