Ord
17.2 River outflow from the region

The volume recognised in the water accounting statements (2,643,399 ML) represents the combined volume of water outflow from the Ord River to the Cambridge Gulf and the Keep River to the Timor Sea during the 2012–13 year.

The total annual volume of flow observed during the 2012–13 year at the most downstream station along the rivers that flow into the sea, is given in the following table.

Volume of flow measured at the most downstream station during the 2012–13 year along rivers that flow into the sea

Catchment	Station	Discharge (ML)	Quality codes
Ord River	Ord River: 809339	2,483,301	1,2,3
	King River: 809314	–
	Subtotal	2,483,301	3
Keep River	Keep River: G8100225	67,785	41,91,142
	Sandy Creek: G8100210	92,313	150
	Subtotal	160,098	150
Total surface water flow out of region		2,643,399

 

Department of Water, Water Information database (Ord River catchment data); Department of Land Resource Management, Hydstra database (Keep River catchment data).

Department of Water; Department of Land Resource Management.

The total volume of water that flows out to sea is the sum of the available volume of outflow from the four rivers that flow into the sea:

• Ord River
• King River
• Keep River
• Sandy Creek.

The river outflow was estimated using instantaneous discharge data (L/s) collected at the most downstream gauging station (nearest to the outlet to the sea) along a river. These data were converted to daily volume data (ML) to determine the total annual discharge (in ML) at each station during the year.

Flow data measured along the King River at station 809314 during the 2012–13 year were not available at the time this account was prepared. Based on previous years' data, the annual flow in the King River contributes approximately 2–3% of the total outflow to sea.

It is assumed that the river outflow to the sea is equal to the volume of discharge measured at the most downstream station along a river; that is, there is no adjustment made for the contributing area below the gauging station used to calculate the outflow.

The Department of Water assigns quality codes to flow data in accordance with the following table:

Department of Water quality codes for flow data

Quality code	Description
1	Very good record
2	Very good record—corrections applied
3	Good record—corrections or estimations applied
4	Estimated record—good
5	Estimated record—fair
6	Estimated record—poor
10	Estimated record—not reviewed/quality not known
11	Theoretical rating
12	Estimated rating

The Department of Land Resource Management assigns quality codes to flow data in accordance with the following table:

Department of Land Resource Management quality codes for flow data

Quality code	Description
41	Good rating
91	Satisfactory rating
142	Telemetry data. No visual verification. Final quality code not yet assigned.
150	Rating under review—not quality coded
255	No data

The total volume of water that outflows into the sea from the Ord River catchment (Ord and King rivers) has a quality code of 12. The total volume of water that outflows into the sea from the Keep River catchment (Keep River and Sandy Creek) has a quality code of 150. These quality codes indicate the lowest quality of data recorded for all the station data for the respective catchments.