National Overview

Aire River estuary, Victoria (photograph by Alison Pouliot)
Photograph: Alison Pouliot

Key findings

Continued dry conditions across much of Australia through 2013–14 contributed to a second consecutive year of reduced inflows to storages and increased demand on the available resources in many regions.
Surface water storage volumes in the nine National Water Account regions decreased during the year—from approximately 30,978,800 ML (or 75% capacity) at 1 July 2013, to approximately 29,922,900 ML (or 72% of capacity) at 30 June 2014.
Water use was approximately 13,251,000 ML across the nine regions, a 21% decrease on use in 2012–13.
Surface water, including inter-region transfers, accounted for 84% of water used, while groundwater accounted for almost 15%. Other sources, including desalinated water, contributed just over 1% of the volume of water used.
The Murray–Darling Basin accounted for 80% of water used in National Water Account regions—primarily for irrigated agriculture, which is the major use of water in Australia.
Water security in urban areas has been improved through investment in desalination plants. Coastal urban regions can produce desalinated water to meet a portion of urban demand. In 2013–14, Adelaide and Perth relied on desalinated water for almost 40% of urban supply, an increase of more than 30% from 2012–13. In comparison, good surface water availability in Melbourne, South East Queensland and Sydney meant little or no desalinated water was produced in these regions.