Ord: Statement details
Well above-average annual rainfall, particularly during January–February, the typically wetter months of the year, contributed to very high annual streamflows across the region. As a result, storage volumes increased from 74% to 108% full during the 2016–17 year.
For further information on the region's water accounting statements scroll down this page or click on the links below:
- Water assets
- Water liabilities
- Water asset increases
- Water asset decreases
- Water flows
- Unaccounted-for difference
Water assets
- Water asset volumes in the region at 30 June 2017 were 11,832,376 ML, more than 99% of which is water held in storages.
Figure S1 Total storage volume in the region at 30 June 2017 compared with the previous 7 years
- Storage volumes increased from 74% full (8,057,564 ML) to 108% full (11,800,022 ML) during the year.
- Storage volumes last year were low as the normal filling and spilling of the storages during the wet season did not occur due to relatively poor rainfall.
- Heavy rainfall during January–February 2017 contributed to storage volumes exceeding 150% full in early-March.
Figure S2 Percentage-full volume on 30 June 2017 for each storage
- Water in Lake Argyle makes up more than 98% of the region’s total surface water storage.
- All storages were more than 80% of capacity at 30 June 2017.
- More detailed information on the individual storages within the region is available on the Bureau of Meteorology's Water Storage website.
Water liabilities
- Water liabilities in the Ord region refer to the volume of allocation remaining on licence entitlements at the end of the 2016–17 year.
| Individual users (ML) | Urban system (ML) | Irrigation scheme (ML) | |
| Opening balance at 1 July 2016 | 14,125 | 668 | 303,454 |
| Allocation | 37,681 | 700 | 386,800 |
| Allocated diversion | (32,335) | (406) | (164,805) |
| Adjustment and forfeiture | (9,190) | (294) | (199,444) |
| Closing balance at 30 June 2017 | 10,281 | 668 | 326,005 |
| Individual users (ML) | Urban system (ML) | |
| Opening balance at 1 July 2016 | 1,207 | 2,252 |
| Allocated | 11,534 | 2,700 |
| Allocated extraction | (5,819) | (1,760) |
| Adjustment and forfeiture | (5,763) | (940) |
| Closing balance at 30 June 2017 | 1,159 | 2,252 |
- Most of the water supply licences for the region do not have a water management year that ends on 30 June. Therefore, the allocation remaining is the unused component of the annual allocation for these entitlements.
- A more detailed description of water allocations and associated water rights in the Ord region is given in the Water rights note.
Water asset increases
- Total water asset increases for the year was 28,304,871 ML.
- The key item contributing to water asset increases for the region was runoff, which made up more than 90% of the total water asset increases. Runoff was much higher than the previous year, which reflects the well above-average rainfall conditions experienced across the region (see Climate and water).
- Groundwater increases represents recharge from the landscape, which generally changes little from year to year.
Water asset decreases
- Total water asset decreases for the year was 19,914,272 ML.
- The key item contributing to water asset decreases for the region was outflow, which made up 85% of the total water asset decreases. The well above-average wet season rainfall across the region (see Climate and water) contributed to a river outflow volume almost 5 times larger than the previous year.
Water flows
- Total water inflows to the region was 28,304,871 ML, equal to the volume of Water asset increases.
- Total water outflows from the region was 20,119,397 ML, slightly higher than the volume of Water asset decreases (19,914,272 ML) as it includes flows corresponding to the accrual transactions—allocated diversions and allocated extractions (see the Water liabilities section above).
- A detailed description on all the water flows associated with the surface water and groundwater stores is provided in the Water stores note.
Unaccounted-for difference
- 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 reported in the water accounting statements.
| Volume ML | |
| Opening water storage balance at 1 July 2016 | 8,072,764 |
| Total inflows | 28,304,871 |
| Total outflows | (20,119,397) |
| Closing water storage balance at 30 June 2017 | (11,832,376) |
| Unaccounted-for difference | (4,425,862) |
- The relatively high unaccounted-for difference value is primarily attributed to the fact that river losses cannot be quantified in the account, as well as uncertainties associated with the runoff estimate (see Methods).