Welcome to the Bureau of Meteorology’s National Water Account, providing you with an annual picture of water availability around the country.
[Presenter: Dene Moliere, Senior water accountant]

We look at ten key regions, representing most of Australia’s population and more than 80 per cent of Australia’s water use—analysing data from the 1st of July 2015 to the 30th of June 2016.
[Map of Australia showing National water Account regions: Adelaide, Burdekin, Canberra, Daly, Melbourne, Murray–Darling Basin, Ord, Perth, South East Queensland and Sydney]

During that time, Australia’s climate was influenced by a strong El Niño, which contributed to relatively dry conditions across the country for most of the year.
[Animation showing Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures from July 2015 to June 2016, with typical El Niño pattern for much of the period.]

In northern Australia, rainfall was well below average during January–March, which is typically the wettest part of the year.
[Map of Australia showing rainfall deciles for January to March 2016. Northwestern coastal areas, along with the Top End of the Northern Territory and the Cape York Peninsula show significant areas of below-average rainfall.]

In the Ord region, the normal filling of Lake Argyle did not occur, and the storage volume dropped by almost 20% during the year.
[Aerial footage of Lake Argyle.]

In the Daly region, which relies heavily on groundwater, aquifer water stores were not replenished and dropped for the fourth consecutive year.
[Footage showing use of groundwater.]

In 2012, the Murray–Darling Basin storage volumes were near capacity, but have been steadily dropping since. By 2015 they were at 42% and continued to fall to 39% by 2016.
[Animation showing storage levels for Murray–Darling Basin dropping from 92% in June 2012, to 42% in June 2015 and 39% in June 2016.]

Storage volumes in the urban centres also looked like being well below previous years’ levels; however, heavy rainfall associated with east coast lows in May and June helped storage volumes recover, particularly along the east coast.
[Footage showing low dam levels; then heavy rainfall and storms in Sydney and eastern coastal areas; then dams releasing water following heavy rains.] 

National water use dropped by 8% compared to the previous year, mainly due to a decrease in water use in the Murray–Darling Basin. This reflects low water availability and drier conditions across the region, and continues a trend of reduced water use over the past few years.
[Graphic representing 8% reduction in water use, along with map of Australia showing Murray–Darling Basin region.]

Around three quarters of Australia’s water supply was for commercial and private users, mainly related to agriculture. 
18% of the country’s water was for town supply; and 10% was used to support the health of rivers, wetlands and floodplains.
[Graph showing breakdown of water use for 2015–16, with 72% for commercial and irrigation use; 18% for urban systems and 10% for environmental uses.]

Surface water was the largest source of water across Australia, making up 78% of all water used. However, in our capital cities, the drop in surface water availability meant the use of alternative water sources, such as inter-region transfers and desalinated water, increased during the year.
[Graph showing breakdown of water sources for 2015–16, with 78% coming from surface water; 16% from groundwater; 3% from inter-region transfers and 1% from desalinated water.]

In Adelaide and Melbourne, half the water supply was sourced from inter-region deliveries. While Perth’s desalination plants operated near capacity and provided around 20% of the region’s water supply.
[Footage of large above-ground pipe used to transfer water from one region to another; footage of Perth’s Seawater Desalination Plant (courtesy of Water Corporation, WA).]

In summary, a fourth consecutive year of dry conditions across much of Australia meant storage volumes continued to decrease around the country. And water use decreased in line with the reduced water availability.

You can find more details on each of the ten regions on our website at bom.gov.au/water/nwa