Murray-Darling Basin
9.1 Precipitation on surface water

The volumetric value for the line item at the end of the 2010–11 year was 2,019,620 ML.

The line item represents precipitation volumes on surface water assets within the Murray–Darling basin (MDB) region.  Precipitation on storages (included in line item 1.1); regulated river channels, locks and weirs (included in line item 1.3); lakes (included in line item 1.4); and other known water bodies within the region were taken into account in the line item. Information on precipitation on other surface water assets (mainly unregulated rivers and unknown water bodies) is not available.

Precipitation volumes on surface water assets on a surface Water Resources Plan (WRP) area basis is summarised in the following table. Specific details of precipitation on individual asset basis are included in the table thereafter. In the tables, volumes shown against a WRP or surface water sustainable diversion limit (SDL) area are based on surface water assets geographically located within that area.

 

Summary of precipitation volumes on surface water assets in the MDB region in the 2010–11 year

Surface water resource plan area		State	Volume (ML)
Code	Name
SW19	Warrego – Paroo – Nebine	Qld	–
SW18	Condamine–Balonne	Qld	39,674
SW17	Moonie	Qld	–
SW16	Qld Border Rivers	Qld	29,195
SW15	NSW Border Rivers	NSW	10,143
SW11	Barwon–Darling watercourse	NSW	–
SW12	NSW Intersecting Streams	NSW	–
SW14	Gwydir	NSW	25,209
SW13	Namoi	NSW	40,314
SW10	Macquarie–Castlereagh	NSW	82,323
Sub-total Northern Basin			226,858
SW9	Lachlan	NSW	77,227
SW8	Murrumbidgee NSW	NSW	117,494
SW7	NSW Murray and Lower Darling	NSW	620,641
SW3	Northern Victoria	Vic	288,332
SW2	Vic Murray	Vic	148,880
SW4	Wimmera–Mallee	Vic	39,299
SW6	Eastern Mount Lofty Ranges	SA	–
SW5	SA Murray	SA	481,102
SW1	ACT	ACT	19,787
Sub-total Southern Basin			1,792,762
Total for the region			2,019,620

– = Data not available

 

Specific details of precipitation volumes on individual surface water assets in the MDB region in 2010–11

Water resource plan area	SDL area		State	Surface water asset	Volume (ML) for the 2010–11 year
	Code	Name
Condamine–Balonne	SS26	Condamine–Balonne	Qld	Buckinbah Weir1	1,536
				Chinchilla Weir1	3,263
				Connolly Dam2	513
				Cooby Creek Reservoir2	4,136
				Jack Taylor Weir1	1,787
				Lake Kajarabie1	17,277
				Lake Leslie1	10,370
				Moolabah Weir1	695
				Neil Turner Weir2	97
Qld Border Rivers	SS24	Qld Border Rivers	Qld	Glenlyon Lake1	14,126
				Lake Coolmunda1	13,583
				Storm King Dam2	1,486
NSW Border Rivers	SS23	NSW Border Rivers	NSW	Lake Inverell2	407
				Pindari Lake1	9,391
				Tenterfield Creek2	345
Gwydir	SS22	Gwydir	NSW	Lake Copeton1	24,858
				Tareelaroi Weir1	351
Namoi	SS21	Namoi	NSW	Chaffey Dam1	5,941
				Dungowen2	644
				Gunidgera Weir1	355
				Lake Keepit1	26,457
				Mollee Weir1	358
				Quipolly Dam2	932
				Split Rock Reservoir1	5,627
Macquarie–Castlereagh	SS20	Macquarie–Castlereagh	NSW	Chifley Dam2	2,489
				Lake Burrendong1	61,287
				Lake Oberon2	4,472
				Lake Windamere1	9,558
				Rylstone Reservoir2	850
				Spring Creek Reservoir2	1,123
				Suma Park Reservoir2	2,036
				Timor Dam2	258
				Winburndale Dam2	250
Northern Basin					226,858
Lachlan	SS16	Lachlan	NSW	Carcoar Lake1	2,053
				Lake Brewster1	28,179
				Lake Cargelligo1	10,445
				Lake Endeavour2	525
				Lake Rowlands2	966
				Lake Wyangala1	35,059
Murrumbidgee NSW	SS15	Murrumbidgee NSW	NSW	Berembed Weir1	465
				Blowering Reservoir1	59,379
				Gogeldrie Weir1	770
				Hay Weir1	1,515
				Lake Burrinjuck1	54,355
				Maude Weir1	484
				Redbank Weir2	121
				Tombullen Storage1	405
NSW Murray and Lower Darling	SS18	Lower Darling	NSW	Lake Cawndilla1	76,226
				Lake Menindee1	100,897
				Lake Victoria1	71,435
				Lake Wetherell1	48,410
				Pamamaroo Lake1	44,562
				Stephens Creek Reservoir2	4,552
	SS14	NSW Murray	NSW	Lake Hume1	238,262
				Upstream Of Lock 7 (Rufus)2	1,325
				Upstream Of Lock 8 (Wangumma)2	1,869
				Upstream Of Lock 9 (Kulnine)2	2,949
				Upstream Of Lock 10 (Wentworth)2	2,808
				Upstream Of Lock 15 (Euston)2	27,346
Vic Murray	SS3	Kiewa	Vic	Lake Guy2	238
				Rocky Valley Storage2	6,399
Northern Victoria	SS4	Ovens	Vic	Lake Buffalo1	4,438
				Lake William Hovell1	2,257
	SS5	Broken	Vic	Lake Nillahcootie1	7,021
	SS6	Goulburn	Vic	Goulburn Weir 1	6,840
				Greens Lake1	7,140
				Lake Eildon1	129,139
				Waranga Basin1	47,603
	SS7	Campaspe	Vic	Campaspe Weir2	226
				Lake Eppalock1	28,583
				Lauriston Reservoir2	2,929
				Malmsbury Reservoir2	3,939
				Upper Coliban Reservoir2	3,807
	SS8	Loddon	Vic	Barkers Creek Reservoir2	781
				Cairn Curran Reservoir1	16,435
				Crusoe Reservoir2	346
				Evansford Reservoir2	313
				Hepburn Lagoon2	1,384
				Kow Swamp2	16,314
				Laanecoorie Reservoir 1	775
				Mccay2	232
				Newlyn Reservoir 1	315
				Sandhurst Reservoir2	369
				Spring Gully Reservoir2	454
				Tullaroop Reservoir1	6,692
Vic Murray	SS2	Vic Murray	Vic	Kangaroo/Racecourse Lake2	7,576
				Lake Banimboola2	922
				Lake Dartmouth1	72,524
				Lake Mulwala1	24,336
				Mildura Weir2	354
				Reedy/Middle Lake2	2,554
				Third Lake2	1,460
				Torrumbarry Weir1	3,850
				Upstream Of Lake Mulwala2	16,132
				Upstream Of Mildura Weir2	12,535
Wimmera–Mallee	SS9	Wimmera–Mallee	Vic	Lake Bellfield1	3,793
				Lake Fyans1	3,585
				Lake Lonsdale1	17,576
				Lake Taylor1	3,848
				Lake Whitton2	516
				Toolondo Reservoir1	47
				Wartook Reservoir1	9,934
SA Murray	SS11	SA Murray	SA	Blanchetown Weir – Lock 11	3,553
				Bookpurnong Weir – Lock 41	2,042
				Lake Albert1	94,454
				Lake Alexandrina1	354,477
				Overland Weir – Lock 31	3,935
				Renmark Weir – Lock 51	2,155
				Upstream Of Lock 6 (Murtho)2	3,539
				Upstream Of Lake Alexandrina2	13,879
				Waikerie Weir – Lock 21	3,068
ACT	SS1	ACT	ACT	Bendora Dam1	1,275
				Corin Dam1	4,498
				Cotter Dam1	405
				Googong Reservoir1	6,282
				Lake Burley Griffin 2	5,477
				Lake Ginninderra2	1,061
				Lake Tuggeranong2	789
Southern Basin					1,792,762
Total for the region					2,019,620

¹ Dynamic surface area used

² Static surface area used (based on boundaries defined for surface water bodies in Bureau of Meteorology (the Bureau)'s Australian Hydrological Geospatial Fabric).

 

The Bureau: (1) Australian Water Availability Project (AWAP) monthly precipitation grids, (2) Australian Hydrological Geospatial Fabric (AHGF) waterbody feature class, and (3) Australian Water Resources Information System (AWRIS) water storage.

The Bureau.

Monthly precipitation data was produced by the Bureau. It was based on daily data from approximately 6,500 rain gauge stations and interpolated to a 0.05 degree (approximately 5 km) national grid (Jones et al. 2007).

The precipitation at each waterbody was estimated from the proportionally weighted average of grid points that intersected each water feature. The volume was then estimated using the surface area of each waterbody. The surface area varied dynamically with changing level for storages, lakes and weirs where the relationship between storage level and surface area had been derived.

In the MDB region, precipitation on the surface water store included the precipitation falling on the water bodies mentioned in the supporting information.

The precipitation estimates were subject to approximations associated with interpolating observation point data to a national grid detailed in Jones et al. (2007).

 The dynamic storage surface areas calculated from the levels and capacity tables represent a monthly average and therefore will not capture changes that occur on a shorter temporal scale.

The use of the static default AHGF surface area is an approximation only. It represents the lakes at capacity and therefore likely results in an overestimation of precipitation on the lake.

Derived from estimated data. The uncertainty estimate was not quantified.

This line item corresponds to line item 13.1 Precipitation on connected surface water, reported in the 2010 Account. In the 2011 Account, the following changes were made that caused the 2009–10 year value to be restated:

• The scope of the line item was changed.

• An error correction was made to the values reported in 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 9.1 Precipitation on surface water

2010 Account line items	Segment	Volume for the 2009–10 year reported in the 2010 Account (ML)	Difference due to prior period error correction and scope change (ML)	Volume for the 2009–10 year reported in the 2011 Account (ML)
13.1 Precipitation on connected surface water	Northern Basin	85,338	-414	84,924
	Southern Basin	851,344	1,469	852,813
	Whole region	936,682	1,055	937,737

 

Scope change was due to the following reasons:

• Lake Mokoan, Lake Batyo Catyo, Pine Lake, Dock Lake and Green Lake (included in the 2010 Account) were excluded for the 2011 Account.  Information for Lake Mokoan was not available.  Qualification of other four storages as surface water asset was not verified at the data collection phase for the 2011 Account (they were considered as abandoned after the construction of Wimmera pipeline).  For the 2012 Account, these storages will be investigated for their inclusion.
• Regulated river reaches upstream of Lock 10 and Lock 15 in the River Murray were included for the 2011 Account.

Prior period error correction was due to the following reason:

• Barren Box Swamp was included in the 2010 Account.  However, it is not a surface water asset for the 2011 Account because this storage is located in a water distribution system.  Barren Box Swamp was excluded in the 2011 Account.