South East Queensland
25.1 Unaccounted-for difference
Supporting information
In the South East Queensland region, the unaccounted-for difference is the volume necessary to reconcile the opening water storage and closing water storage with the total water inflows and total water outflows reporting in the water accounting statements. It is calculated according to the following table.
| Account | Volume (ML) |
| Opening water storage (30 June 2012) | 2,491,853 |
| Total water inflows | 7,719,541 |
| Total water outflows | (8,152,841) |
| Closing water storage (30 June 2013) | (2,567,936) |
| Unaccounted-for difference | (509,383) |
The unaccounted-for difference can also be calculated by summing the volumes necessary to reconcile (balance) the opening and closing storage with the water inflows and outflows of each of the separate water stores of the region, as shown in the following table.
| Balancing item | Volume |
| Balancing item – surface water store | (530,987) |
| Balancing item – groundwater store | 22,313 |
| Balancing item – urban water system store | (709) |
| Unaccounted-for difference | (509,383) |
Details of the balancing items calculation is given in the following resources and systems notes:
- Surface water note (Table 3)
- Groundwater note (Table 7)
- Urban system: System's interactions with the region note (Table 10).
The previous table shows that the unaccounted-for difference volume is primarily explained by the balancing item of the surface water store. It is likely that this was due to errors associated with the rainfall–runoff (a large source of surface water increase, line item 9.4 Runoff to surface water) and outflow to outside region (a large source of surface water decrease, line item 17.2 River Outflow from the region). The rainfall–runoff volume is derived from a rainfall-runoff model and it is reasonable to expect an uncertainty around the estimated runoff volume that could account for the balancing item. The surface water outflow to sea was based on flow gauge data and estimated surface water volume at the near-sea outlet for the relevant rivers, water diversion for the water treatment plant, wastewater disposal to the surface water within the catchment from the wastewater treatment plant, change in storages, rainfall volume directly on to the storages, and evaporation from the storages.
Comparative year
An error was made calculating the 2011-12 year unaccounted-for difference published in the 2012 Account due to prior period correction for line items 9.1 Precipitation on surface water, 9.4 Runoff to surface water, 17.1 Evaporation from surface water, 17.7 Entitled diversion of non-allocated surface water to users, and 17.11 Entitled diversion of allocated surface water to users.
The total water inflows has been restated from 6,500,579 ML (as published in the 2012 Account) to 6,395,002 ML. Likewise, total water outflows has been restated from 4,918,948 ML (as published in the 2012 Account) to 4,603,824 ML.
Finally, the unaccounted-for difference volume has been restated from 1,320,311 ML (as published in the 2012 Account) to 1,529,858 ML.