Sydney
21.1 Surface water allocation announcements

This line item reflects the liability to the surface water store from the allocation/claim considered for the surface water entitlement holders in the region. The allocation/claim for this line item represents water access licences in the Sydney region by individual holders for stock and domestic, and other lumped holders.

The volumetric value for the allocation/claim for this entitlement category for the 2011 Account is 149,535 ML.

Entitlement values used to estimate allocated volume are based on information available in the Draft Water Sharing Plan – Greater Metropolitan Unregulated River Water Sources. No formal allocation announcement has occurred and water plans were not finalised during the 2010–11 year. Therefore, the water allocation for the 2010–11 year was assumed to be 100% of the entitlement outlined in the draft water sharing plan.

These volumes did not officially take effect until 1 July 2011 (see Water legislation in the Contextual information for further details)  but for the purposes of the 2011 Account they were deemed applicable at the time. Therefore, stated entitlement values are provisional and an estimate only.

A breakdown table of the rights associated with this line item is provided in the following table.

Water rights associated with this entitlement itemised by category and sub-category

Category	Subcategories	Total right  (ML)
Urban holder	Local water utility, major utility	20,754
Individual holder for stock and domestic	Domestic and stock, domestic and stock (domestic), domestic and stock (stock)	2,344
Other lumped holders	Unregulated river	126,437

Further details of water abstraction rights for urban and other utilities is provided in the following table.

 

Water abstraction rights for urban and other utities

Utility	Details of water extraction
Goulburn Mulwaree Council	Rights of 200 ML for Marulan Water Treatment Plant from river flow
Palerang Council	Right to divert 360 ML of Shoalhaven River flow for Braidwood Water Treatment Plant
Shoalhaven City Council	Right to divert 85 ML of water from the Kangaroo River unregulated water source, and 34 ML from Jaspers Creek
Sydney Water Corporation (SWC)1	20,075 ML per year from the Hawkesbury and Lower Nepean rivers water source

¹The table includes SWC's unregulated entitlements from the Hawkesbury and Lower Nepean rivers water source. SWC uses these entitlements to supply water to its North Richmond Water Treatment Plant. The Sydney Catchment Authority (SCA) supplies water to all SWC's other water treatment plants from its storages/weirs. These supplies are based on SCA's regulated entitlements and the bulk supply agreement between the two organisations.

Reconciliation of this line item is shown in the following table.

Calculations of the surface water liability for the 2010–11 year

Calculation	Line item	Volume (ML)
	5.1 Surface water allocation remaining – opening balance	0
add	21.1 Surface water allocation announcements	149,535
less	17.11 Surface water allocation diversion	23,797
less	13.1 Adjustment and forfeiture of surface water allocation	125,738
equals	5.1 Surface water allocation remaining – closing balance	0

Draft Water Sharing Plan – Greater Metropolitan Unregulated River Water Sources; entitlement data recorded in databases and water management licences for Goulburn Mulwaree Council, Lithgow City Council, Shoalhaven City Council and Wingecarribee Shire Council.

Bureau of Meteorology calculated opening and closing balance; NSW Office of Water, Shoalhaven City Council, Goulburn Mulwaree Council, Palerang City Council and Sydney Water Corporation provided entitlement data.

Mapping entitlement values stated in the Draft Water Sharing Plan – Greater Metropolitan Unregulated River Water Sources, water management registers, and licence and trading statistics to the relevant categories of entitlements. Diversion data was obtained from the relevant authorities as shown in line item 17.16.

For each water management licence, the licensed water management year is from 1 July to 30 June. At the end of the water management year, any unused allocation is forfeited. Therefore, the allocation remaining on 30 June of the reporting year is zero, as shown in the previous reconciliation table.

Nil.

NSW Office of Water – values associated with this line item were estimated. Estimated uncertainty is +/– 30% to 50% based on professional judgment and established practice within the NSW Office of Water.

 

The following table compares the value for the 2009–10 year reported in this account with the corresponding value reported in the 2010 Account.

 

Comparative information from the 2010 Account for line item 21.1

2011 Account line item	2010 Account line item	Value reported in the 2010 Account (ML)	Value reported in the 2011 Account (ML)	Additional information
21.1 Surface water allocation announcements	Not applicable	Not applicable	149,535	Line item classification: the rights associated with this entitlement were not recognised in the 2010 Account. In order to reconcile this line item, this volume has been recorded here.