Canberra
19.3 Urban water system leakage to groundwater

This line item volume is 2,803 ML that represents the total leakage from the urban water supply system to the groundwater system. These losses include pipe bursts and background leakage from pipes, service reservoirs and service connections prior to the customer water meters in the Canberra region, In addition, other remaining losses (non-revenue water) which could not be separated are also included in this line item volume.

Leakage from urban water system during the 2012–13 year

Water authority	Component	Volume (ML)
ACTEW	pipe bursts and leakage	2,218
Queanbeyan City Council	pipe bursts and leakage and other losses	585
Total		2,803

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

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

Surface water (11.12) is the source of water supply for Canberra's urban water supply system.

Urban water consumption (part of 19.4) was 43,754 ML during the 2012–13 year, representing 91% of all urban water supply system outflows. The remainder was mainly non-revenue water and other operational losses.

The following figure shows all the inflows and outflows associated with 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 during the 2012–13 year for Canberra's urban water supply system. Line item numbers are provided in brackets

Water billing data.

ACTEW Water.

The ACTEW Water's real losses were calculated in line with the Water Services Association of Australia (WSSA) National Performance Framework. The losses from the urban water supply network is the difference between the system input volume (SIV) and the total of the billed water exported (supplied to Queanbeyan), billed metered consumption, billed unmetered consumption, unbilled metered consumption, unbilled unmetered consumption, unauthorized consumption and customer meter under-registration.

• Losses from the water supply network cannot be distinguished between the background leakage and losses due to pipe bursts, and therefore a combined estimate is provided.

• This combined volume of losses is presented as leakage to groundwater since leakage to landscape cannot be quantified.

The uncertainty estimate was not quantified.

Queanbeyan City Council (QCC).

QCC.

The total volume of losses represents the combined volume of non-revenue water (pipe bursts, leakage and other losses) from the Queanbeyan potable water supply system.  This is calculated by using the difference between what QCC purchases from ACTEW and what QCC sells to its customers.

• Losses from the water supply system cannot be separated to quantify pipe bursts, background leakage, and other losses, and therefore a combined estimate is provided.
• This combined volume of losses is presented as leakage to groundwater since leakage to landscape cannot be quantified

The uncertainty estimate was not quantified.