South East Queensland
Water accounting policies

The information presented in the South East Queensland region (SEQ) report is based on agreements between the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM), Seqwater and the Bureau of Meteorology (the Bureau). The report has been prepared using an accrual basis of water accounting guided by the Australian Water Accounting Standard 1 (Bureau of Meteorology 2012), with the exception of the physical water flow information. The water attribute being quantified is volume and the unit of account is megalitres (ML).

Only water that is held or managed by the state licensing authorities or resource operation licence holders or the urban utilities that operate within the region and from which future benefit can be derived by stakeholders of the region is defined as a water asset. Water liabilities are constituted by present commitments to supply water, the discharge of which is expected to result in a decrease of the region's water assets or an increase in another water commitment to supply water.

A water asset is recognised in the Statement of Water Assets and Water Liabilities provided:

• its volume can be quantified in a way that is complete, neutral, and free from material error; and the derived benefit is probable.

• its volume can be quantified in a way that is complete, neutral, and free from material error; and the decrease of the region's water assets or increase in another water commitment to supply water is probable.

Water held in off-channel storages is deemed not to be part of the region (regardless of the storage's size or connection to the system). This is because the attendant water right had already been exercised and the water abstracted from the source system.

The increases and decreases to the reported water assets and water liabilities consist of changes that can be quantified in a way that is complete, neutral, and free from material error. These volumes are reported in the Statement of Changes in Water Assets and Water Liabilities or the Statement of Physical Water Flows.

Precipitation and evaporation are recognised only in relation to the surfaces of open storage volumes (line item 9.1 Precipitation on surface water and line item 17.1 Evaporation from surface water). They do not represent all precipitation, evaporation and evapotranspiration within the region (notably, these processes occurring to or from the landscape are not captured).

The portion of runoff that flows into the surface water store (storages and rivers) is quantified and recognised in the water accounting statements. This runoff includes precipitation captured in the catchment less evaporation and infiltration, and is recorded as line item 9.4 Runoff to surface water.

Allocations announced on regulated (supplemented) entitlements have been recognised as increases in water liabilities. Note that the definition of regulated or unregulated entitlements for the purpose of the 2013 Account (refer to Glossary) may be different to the meaning applied by the jurisdiction. Please refer to the Water rights, entitlements, allocations and trade note for more information on the allocations.

The volumes of several water assets and water liabilities identified in the South East Queensland (SEQ) region were not recognised in the water accounting statements but replaced by dashes (–) as they 'failed the recognition criteria' specified in the Australian Water Accounting Standard 1 (Bureau of Meteorology 2012), because:

• they could not be quantified in a way that is complete, neutral, and free from material error, or
• in the case of water assets, they were unlikely to provide a future benefit to the region or the region's stakeholders, or
• in the case of water liabilities, they were unlikely to result in a decrease in the region's water assets or an increase in another water liability when the obligation is discharged.

The description of those water assets and water liabilities that failed the recognition criteria is given in the following line item notes:

• 1.2 Unregulated river
• 1.3 Regulated river
• 1.4 Lakes and wetlands
• 2.2 Underlying aquifers
• 3.2 Wastewater collection system
• 3.3 Recycled water supply system

The volumes of several changes to water assets and water liabilities identified in the South East Queensland (SEQ) region were not recognised in the water accounting statements but replaced by dashes (–) because they could not be quantified in a way that was complete, neutral and free from material error.

The description of those changes to water assets and water liabilities that failed the recognition criteria is given in the following line item notes:

• 9.3 Groundwater discharge
• 9.6 Overbank flood return to river channel
• 10.1 Groundwater inflow from outside region
• 10.3 Recharge from landscape
• 10.4 Recharge from surface water to groundwater
• 10.5 Leakage from off-channel water storage
• 11.1 Precipitation on urban water system
• 11.7 Stormwater ingress
• 11.8 Infiltration from groundwater to urban water system
• 17.3 Discharge from surface water to groundwater
• 17.5 Overbank flood spilling
• 18.1 Groundwater outflow to outside region
• 18.2 Groundwater outflow to outside region at coast
• 18.3 Discharge to landscape
• 18.4 Discharge to surface water
• 18.6 Infiltration to urban water system
• 18.7 Extraction: other statutory rights
• 19.1 Evaporation from urban water system

In accordance with the Australian Water Accounting Standard 1 (Bureau of Meteorology 2012)  (the Standard),  comparative year volumes must be restated in the statements if there is a prior period error or a change in line item presentation. Comparative year volumes are not required to be restated if there is a change in scope or methodology, or subsequent data availability for the quantification of a line item.

The following comparative year volumes in the water accounting statements were restated from the 2012 Account.

Reasons for restating comparative year volumes are provided in more detail in the following individual line items:

• 5.1 Surface water allocation remaining
• 9.1 Precipitation on surface water
• 9.4 Runoff to surface water  
• 13.1 Adjustment and forfeiture of surface water allocation
• 17.1 Evaporation from surface water 
• 17.7 Entitled diversion of non-allocated surface water to users
• 17.11 Entitled diversion of allocated surface water to users  

Prior period errors or a change in line item presentation have been corrected in the comparative year information in the water accounting statements for this year and the differences are summarised in the tables below.