Murray-Darling Basin
13.2 Adjustment and forfeiture of surface water allocation - urban water system

The volumetric value for the line item for the 2010–11 year was 271,398 ML. The line item includes adjustment and forfeiture of surface water allocation (273,003 ML) and other surface water liability adjustments (–1,605 ML) for urban water systems in the Murray–Darling Basin (MDB) region.

Adjustment and forfeiture of surface water allocation

The following two tables provide a summary and breakdown information on adjustment and forfeiture of surface water allocationsfor urban water systems within the region. 

 

Summary of adjustment and forfeiture of surface water allocation for urban water systems in the MDB region

Water resource plan area		State	Volume (ML) for the 2010–11 year
Code	Name
SW19	Warrego – Paroo – Nebine	Qld	0
SW18	Condamine–Balonne	Qld	0
SW17	Moonie	Qld	na
SW16	Qld Border Rivers	Qld	0
SW15	NSW Border Rivers	NSW	193
SW11	Barwon–Darling watercourse	NSW	0
SW12	NSW Intersecting Streams	NSW	na
SW14	Gwydir	NSW	1,746
SW13	Namoi	NSW	14,783
SW10	Macquarie–Castlereagh	NSW	9,884
Sub-total Northern Basin			26,606
SW9	Lachlan	NSW	11,186
SW8	Murrumbidgee NSW	NSW	15,578
SW7	NSW Murray and Lower Darling	NSW	25,516
SW3	Northern Victoria	Vic	70,547
SW2	Vic Murray	Vic	18,514
SW4	Wimmera–Mallee	Vic	na
SW6	Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges	SA	na
SW5	SA Murray	SA	75,000
SW1	ACT	ACT	30,056
Sub-total Southern Basin			246,397
Total for the region			273,003

na = not applicable

 

Details of adjustment and forfeiture of surface water allocation for urban water systems in the MDB region

Water resource plan area	Sustainable diversion limit area		State	Entitlement class	Volume (ML) for the 2010–11 year
	Code	Name
NSW Border Rivers	SS23	NSW Border Rivers	NSW	Local water utility	193
Gwydir	SS22	Gwydir	NSW	Local water utility	1,746
Namoi	SS21	Namoi	NSW	Local water utility	14,783
Macquarie–Castlereagh	SS20	Macquarie–Castlereagh	NSW	Local water utility	9,844
			NSW	High security – town water supply	40
			NSW	Sub-total	9,884
Lachlan	SS16	Lachlan	NSW	Local water utility	11,186
Murrumbidgee NSW	SS15	Murrumbidgee NSW	NSW	Local water utility	15,578
				High security – town water supply	0
				Sub-total	15,578
NSW Murray and Lower Darling	SS18	Lower Darling	NSW	Local water utility	9,174
	SS14	NSW Murray	NSW	Local water utility	16,342
				High security – town water supply	0
				Sub-total	16,342
Sub-total New South Wales					78,886
Northern Victoria	SS4	Ovens	Vic	Urban – regulated	4,679
	SS5	Broken	Vic	Urban – regulated	1118
	SS6	Goulburn	Vic	Urban – regulated	21,291
	SS7	Campaspe	Vic	Urban – regulated	40,954
	SS8	Loddon	Vic	Urban – regulated	2,505
Vic Murray	SS2	Vic Murray	Vic	Urban	18,514
Sub-total Victoria					89,061
Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges	SS13	Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges	SA	Urban	–
SA Murray	SS11	SA Murray	SA	Class 2 – other urban (country town) water supply	–
				Class 6 – Metro-Adelaide water supply scheme	–
				Combined classes urban	75,000
				Sub-total	75,000
	SS10	SA Non-prescribed areas	SA	Urban	–
Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges	SS12	Marne–Saunders	SA	Urban	–
Sub-total South Australia					75,000
ACT	SS1	ACT	ACT	Urban – regulated	30,056
Total for the region					273,003

 – = Data not available

 

Queensland

In Queensland, the resource operation plans (ROPs) distinguish between high and medium priority of supplemented water allocation. The water audit monitoring (WAM) data, which are the data source for the 2011 Account, only distinguish between supplemented and unsupplemented entitlements. Both urban and non-urban entitlements are included within supplemented entitlement class. Supplemented urban and supplemented non-urban volumes on allocations, diversions and other attributes were received together and it is not possible for these to be separated out for two purposes. Therefore, adjustment and forfeiture of surface water allocation for both urban and non-urban supplemented entitlements are included in line item 13.1 Adjustment and forfeiture of surface water allocation.     

New South Wales

New South Wales volumes reported in this line item contain the adjustment and forfeituremade under major and local water utility classes as well as the high security town water supply class.

Victoria

 Victorian allocation adjustment and forfeiture are shown in the source valley, even though the water was taken in a different destination valley. Therefore all entitlements in the Goulburn sustainable diversion limit (SDL) area have their allocation adjustments and forfeiture shown in that area, rather than the destination valleys of the Loddon or the Campaspe.

South Australia

In this line item for South Australia, adjustment and forfeiture volumes include the classes 2 and 6 as a combined class urban. 

Australian Capital Territory

In the Australian Capital Territory, no formal allocation announcement is made to extract water from storages. The allocation announcement for the year is assumed to be equal to the total entitlement volume. The difference between the allocation announcement and the allocation diversion is considered as forfeited.

 Other adjustments made on surface water liabilities

Other adjustments made in this line item include accounting of:

• liabilities arising from allocation and tagged trade in the region
• other unaccounted liabilities.

These two attributes are currently not taken into account in the reconciliation of surface water allocation–related line items in the Bureau of Meteorology (the Bureau)'s accounting process.  These attributes have been taken into account as adjustments in this line item to represent them in the water accounting statements. The following table provides information on these adjustments.

 

Other surface water liability adjustments

Description	Northern Basin (ML)	Southern Basin (ML)	Whole region (ML)
Liability increase from surface water allocation and tagged trade and unaccounted surface water liabilities	0	1,605	1,605

Details of surface water allocation and tagged trade are available in the Water market activity region note. Unaccounted surface water liability was due to allocation trade imbalance (which has not been reflected in the liability data available for allocation and tagged trade) between New South Wales and Queensland.

(1) New South Wales: NSW Office of Water's Water Accounting section; and (2) WAM data received from Queensland (22 December 2011), South Australia (07 February 2012) and Victoria (31 January 2012), and stored in the Murray–Darling Basin Authority HYDRO database.

Murray–Darling Basin Authority and the Bureau.

In Queensland allocation remaining is generally not available in the supplemented systems for urban holders and therefore all allocation remaining at the end of the year is forfeited. This does not apply in the St George (Condamine–Balonne SDL area), Border Rivers and Macintyre Brook (Queensland Border Rivers SDL area) water supply schemes, which are continuous share schemes. Allocation adjustment and forfeiture is calculated using WAM data on a water balance approach.

NSW Office of Water – supplied data are prepared on a water balance approach. The forfeitures and adjustments have been checked to ensure that the closing balance reconciles.

Victorian adjustment and forfeiture was calculated using a water balance approach with data from WAM, and the allocation remaining (carry-over) volumes supplied by the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE). DSE carry-over was used instead of WAM carry-over as more information was available on how these figures were derived and carry-over volumes were provided for more valleys.

In South Australia, unused urban allocation is not available for carry-over into the next year. The allocation adjustment and forfeiture is calculated as the difference between the allocation announced and the allocation diverted. Despite this, provision has been made under the Murray–Darling Basin Agreement to store and support delivery of South Australian's critical human water needs for the forthcoming year (as a share of the South Australian's entitlement to River Murray water).

Uncertainty reported by NSW Office of Water accounts for possible errors in the quantification of diversion and in the data handling processes.

Information provided in this line item may have been based on Cap valleys in the HYDRO database, which may not align perfectly with SDL areas.

WAM supplied data are either measured, modelled or estimated. Uncertainty for volumes provided for New South Wales was estimated to be +/– 10%. The uncertainty estimate was not quantified for all other adjustment and forfeiture volumes included in this line item.

This line item corresponds to line items listed in the following table and reported in the 2010 Account. In the 2011 Account, the following change was made that caused the 2009–10 year value to be restated:

• Presentation and classification of the line items has changed since the 2010 Account.

The changes and their respective values are detailed in the following table.

 

Restatement of comparative year information made for the line item 13.2 Adjustment and forfeiture of surface water allocation – urban water system

Description		Northern Basin (ML)	Southern Basin (ML)	Whole region (ML)
Line item names and values reported for the 2009–10 year in the 2010 Account	26.1.2.4 Adjustment and forfeiture of allocation on regulated flows – high security, urban holder	2,997	87,195	90,192
	26.1.4 Adjustment and forfeiture of allocation/claim on regulated flows – urban water access entitlement/arrangement	20,609	34,198	54,807
	26.1.9.4 Adjustment and forfeiture of allocation on regulated flows – urban holder	4,679	0	4,679
	Total value reported for the 2010 Account	28,285	121,393	149,678
Changes in the value reported in the 2010 Account due to regrouping of line items		–3,057	41,658	38,601
Value reported for in the 2011 Account		25,228	163,051	188,279

 

Changes in the value reported in the 2010 Account due to regrouping, presentation and classification change of line items were due to the following reasons:

• The high security entitlement classes within New South Wales for research, industrial, cultural, community and education were reported under urban line items in the 2010 Account. Remaining allocations associated with these entitlement classes were designated as non-urban and excluded from this line item for the 2011 Account.  

• Liability changes associated with allocation and tagged trade and unaccounted liability for urban water systems were accounted in line item 13.2 (this line item) for the 2011 Account. For the 2010 Account, unaccounted liability was included in line item 25.6 Other lumped surface water liability increases.  This regrouping was made because the accounting system currently available for the 2011 Account has limitations in accounting allocation and tagged trade and unaccounted liability.

• In the 2010 Account, adjustment and forfeiture volume for Australian Capital Territory water resource plan (WRP) area was zero considering the allocation was equal to diverted volume. For the 2011 Account, allocation was considered as the total water access entitlement, aligning with information provided in the Canberra water account.  As a result, 2009-10 adjustment and forfeiture volume for Australian Capital Territory WRP area in the 2011 Account was 25,779 ML.