Adelaide
19.4 Delivery to urban water system users

The volume reported (133,356 ML) comprised of potable (127,729 ML) and recycled water (5,627 ML) consumption for various uses in the Adelaide region in the 2011–12 year. 

Water consumption per type and purpose in the 2011–12 year

Purpose	Type of water
	Potable	Recycled
Residential use	86,060	172
Commercial, industrial, municipal use	25,074	2,717
Agricultural / individual irrigation use	3,472	270
Other use – urban use	13,123	0
Recycled water on-site outdoor / irrigation use	0	5
Recycled water on-site in-door use	0	0
Recycled water on-site within process use (no-recirculation)	0	2,463
Total	127,729	5,627

The volume reported (127,729 ML) represents the volume of potable water supplied for residential, commercial, industrial, municipal and other uses as detailed in the following table.

Potable water consumption by landuse in the 2011–12 year

SA Water land use code	National Water Account land use code	Potable water consumption (ML)
Residential	Residential	86,060
Commercial	Commercial	7,430
Industrial	Industrial	7,032
Mining	Industrial	130
Public institution	Municipal	6,414
Public utility	Municipal	1,532
Recreational	Municipal	2,536
Country lands	Other–agriculture	2,412
Primary production	Other–agriculture	1,060
Sundry	Remaining other	11,331
Vacant land	Remaining other	1,792
Total		127,729

The volume reported (5,627 ML) represents the volume of recycled water produced by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) for various uses in the 2011–12 year as detailed in the following table.

Recycled water consumption in the 2011–12 year.

Wastewater treatment plant	Application	Volume (ML)
Aldinga 1	Agriculture irrigation	212
Christies Beach 2	Southern urban reuse project: residential use	44
Christies Beach	On-site within process use	162
Angaston	Agriculture irrigation	46
Bolivar 3	Mawson Lakes municipal use	82
Bolivar 4	Mawson Lakes residential use	128
Bolivar	On-site within process use	2,301
Glenelg	Adelaide municipal use	2,428
Gumeracha	Commercial irrigation	45
Hahndorf	Commercial use	3
Myponga	Livestock irrigation	12
Victor Harbor	Municipal and agricultural irrigation	159
Bird-in-Hand	On-site outdoor / irrigation use	5
Total		5,627

¹ This volume of water was supplied from Aldinga WWTP to an individual customer for vineyard irrigation in the McLaren Vale (155 ML) and other private users (57 ML). Another 178 ML of recycled water was transferred to Willunga Basin Water Company for irrigation (line item 19.6 Urban water discharge to irrigation scheme). The total volume of recycled water reused from Aldinga WWTP was 390 ML.

² This volume of water was supplied from Christies Beach WWTP for the Southern urban reuse project. Another 2,244 ML of recycled water was transferred to Willunga Basin Water Company for irrigation (line item 19.6 Urban water discharge to irrigation scheme).

^3-4 These volumes of water were supplied from Bolivar WWTP to Mawson Lakes, where they were mixed with storm water and potable water for residential and municipal uses. Another 14,900 ML of recycled water was transferred to Virginia Pipeline Scheme for irrigation (line item 19.6 Urban water discharge to irrigation scheme).

The urban water supply system is one of three sub-components of Adelaide's urban water system. The three sub-components are the:

• urban water supply system
• wastewater system
• recycled water system.

During the 2011–12 year the majority (66%) of Adelaide's urban water was sourced from catchments within the region (line item 11.2). Imported River Murray (line item 11.9) water constituted approximately 31% of the urban water supply system's source water. Also, during the 2011–12 year, the Adelaide desalination plant commenced operating and made up the remaining 3% of Adelaide's urban water sources (line item 11.6).

Urban potable water consumption (line item 19.4) was 127,729 ML during the 2011–12 year, representing 84% of all outflows from the urban water supply system. A very small volume of water (2%) was transferred out of the region via normal operations in SA Water's service area (line item 19.11). Non-revenue water, including pipes bursting and background leakage (line item 19.3) and other losses (line item 19.20), made up the remaining urban water supply system outflows.

The following figure shows all the inflows and outflows for the urban water supply system. For more detail on a particular flow associated with the urban water supply system, refer to the line item notes.

Schematic diagram of water inflows and outflows for Adelaide's urban water supply system during the 2011–12 year; line item numbers are provided in brackets

The recycled water system is one of three sub-components of Adelaide's urban water system. The three sub-components are the:

• urban water supply system
• wastewater system
• recycled water system.

In the Adelaide region, the majority of wastewater treatment plants produce recycled water which is subsequently provided to users (including irrigation schemes) or used on-site.

During the 2011–12 year, approximately 75% of the recycled water produced was provided to the region's irrigation schemes (line item 19.6). Approximately 11% of recycled water was used on-site at wastewater treatment plants, predominantly for on-site in-process uses (part of line item 19.4). The remaining recycled water produced in Adelaide (3,159 ML) was supplied to urban water system users (part of line item 19.4).

The following figure presents the inflows and outflows associated with the recycled water system. A very small misbalance (0.6%) is shown, due to the difference between the volume of recycled water produced and the volume of recycled water supplied for use, and can be attributed to metering inaccuracies and unaccounted losses.

For more detail on a particular flow associated with the recycled water system, refer to the line item notes. Note that volumes annotated with a * indicate flows between urban sub-components and are not reported in the Account 2012. As such, these flows do not have an associated line item number or note.

Schematic diagram of water inflows and outflows during the 2011–12 year for Adelaide's recycled water system; line item numbers are provided in brackets

SA Water: Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), geographic information system (GIS) and customer service information system (CSIS) databases.

SA Water.

A shapefile of the Adelaide region was used to extract the service point numbers (SPNs) of meters within the Adelaide region from the SA Water GIS database. The SPNs were then used to extract water meter readings for 2011–12 and primary land use codes for each meter from CSIS.

Water consumption was calculated by analysing the difference between consecutive meter readings and summed for 2011–12. To account for meter readings that occurred immediately before or after 2011–12, metered consumption was apportioned based on the following equation:

V_r = ( t_r / t_m ) × V_m

Where:

V_r = volume for metered period within 2011–12 (kL)
t_m = length of period between meter readings (days)
t_r = length of metered period within 2011–12 (days)
V_m = volume for metered period (kL).

The primary land use codes were reclassified as residential, commercial/industrial/municipal or other. Then total water consumption for the Adelaide region was calculated by summing the 2011–12 water consumption for each meter based on the 2012 Account land use classes.

• Apportionment: The method used for apportionment assumes that consumption is constant over the period between meter readings. This may not reflect the actual consumption, which may vary based on seasonal patterns.
• SPNs: The method assumes that all relevant SPNs have been captured in the GIS accurately and completely.
• Primary land use: The method assumes that all SPNs have an accurate allocation of primary land use codes and each SPN represents a single land use; however, it is likely that each SPN is providing water for several land uses.

The uncertainty estimate was not quantified.

SA Water: wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) records.

SA Water.

Measured meter data relating to the volume of recycled water supplied for residential, commercial, industrial, municipal and agricultural/individual irrigation use in the 2011–12 year was obtained from SA Water WWTP records.

The only exception is the volume of recycled water from Aldinga WWTP to other individual users (212 ML); it was calculated by deducting the metered volumes of water transferred to the Willunga Basin Water Company (178 ML, see line item 19.6 'Urban water discharge to irrigation scheme') from the measured total volume of recycled water produced at Aldinga WWTP (390 ML). 

• Item does not include any community wastewater management systems (CWMS) managed by local councils.
  
• The volume reported as supply from Bolivar WWTP to MawsonLakes is the total volume supplied. It is mixed with stormwater and potable water, and supplied to residential and municipal uses.

The uncertainty estimate was not quantified.

In the 2011 Account, volumes of recycled water used on-site at the wastewater treatment plants were not reported under the line item. The 2010–11 volume was restated as per the following table to account for this change of scope.

Restatement of comparative year information for line item 19.4 Delivery to urban water users

Type of water / purpose	2012 Account volume for the 2010–11 year (ML)	2011 Account volume for the 2010–11 year (ML)	Additional information
Potable	123,102	123,102
Recycled
Residential use	10	10
Commercial, industrial, municipal use	2,362	2,362
Agricultural / individual irrigation use	212	212
Other use–urban use	0	0
Recycled water on-site outdoor / irrigation use	68	0	scope change
Recycled water on-site within process use (no-recirculation)	1453	0	scope change
Subtotal recycled water	4,105	2,584
Total	127,207	125,686