National Water Account 2016

South East Queensland: Key findings

  • The South East Queensland region experienced below-average rainfall, particularly during the summer and autumn months when most of the storage inflows usually occur.
  • The poor rainfall contributed to low streamflows across the region.
  • Surface water storage dropped to 82% full from 95% full at the start of the year.
  • Total urban water use in the region was similar to the previous year.
calendar icon showing water year from 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016

CLIMATE AND WATER

Rainfall

Rainfall icon

847 mm

below the long-term average

Streamflow

Streamflow icon

below average

less than last year

Storage

Storage icon

82%

14% less than last year   

WATER USE

Graph showing breakdown of water sources use in the SEQ region for 2015–16. 323,455 ML of surface water was diverted or approximately 94% of total water sourced; Groundwater extracted was 17,770 ML or 5% of total water sourced; and desalinated water produced was 1,524 ML or less than 1% of total water sourced.

342,749 ML

Water sourced

Water supplied

desalinated water

<1%

surface water

94%

groundwater

5%

6%

less water used than last year

arrow pointing rightGraph showing breakdown of water supplied to users in the SEQ region for 2015–16. 300,766 ML was supplied to the urban system, or 88% of total water supplied and 41,983 ML was supplied to individual users or 12% of total water supplied

urban system

88%

individual users

12%

WATER STATUS

water entitlements icon

Entitlements

688,934 ML

total surface water and groundwater entitlements

Water accounting icon

Water assets

2,224,452 ML

Closing net water assets
at 30 June 2016

351,088 ML less than last year

Future outlook icon

Outlook

2,552,000 ML

Expected water assets
at 30 June 2017

increase from this year