National Water Account 2019

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Key findings

Climate and water

Water Accounting Statements

Supporting information

Region description

Reference information

Burdekin: Governance

Accountability statement

1. This water accounting report has been prepared and presented in accordance with the Australian Water Accounting Standard 1, with the following exceptions:

• No Assurance Statement is prepared because the practice of assurance of water accounting reports is currently not available.
• No information is disclosed about material events that occurred after 30 June 2019, such as extreme precipitation and significant water rights purchases. This information is publicly available elsewhere.
• Asset changes for water stores (surface water and groundwater) have been included in the Statement of Changes in Water Assets and Water Liabilities, without a corresponding water store asset volume being included in the Statement of Water Assets and Water Liabilities for the following item:

  – Underlying aquifers

  This is because water store flows could be quantified but a storage volume for this item could not.

• The volumes of water assets and water liabilities including the volumes of changes to water assets and water liabilities that failed the recognition criteria were reported in the water accounting statements with dashes ('–') in order to highlight data and knowledge gaps that may affect the water accounting statement balances.

2. The report has been compiled from the best data available, as detailed in the water accounting statement Notes, in the time available to compile it from a number of sources. The Bureau of Meteorology takes a nationally-consistent approach to report preparation and presentation.

3. All significant and specific interpretations of the Australian Water Accounting Standard 1 for the purpose of the preparation of this report are explained in the 'Water accounting policies' note. The Bureau of Meteorology is responsible for these interpretations.

Dr Robert Argent

General Manager Water

Bureau of Meteorology

12 December 2019

Water accounting policies

Introduction

The information presented in the Burdekin region water accounting report is based on collaboration between the Bureau and the Queensland Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy.

The report has been prepared using an accrual basis of water accounting, with the exception of the water flow information. The water attribute being quantified is volume, and the unit of account is megalitres (ML). Where a reported volume is negative, it is shown in brackets. The applicable reporting period is from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019.

Recognition of water assets and water liabilities

Only water that is held or managed by the State licensing authority or the urban utilities and from which a future probable benefit can be derived by stakeholders of the region is defined as a water asset.

Water liabilities are constituted by present commitments to supply water, the discharge of which is expected to result in a probable decrease of the region's water assets or a probable increase in another water commitment to supply water.

Provided its volume can be quantified in a way that is complete, neutral, and free from material error, the volume of the water asset or water liability is recognised in the Statement of Water Assets and Water Liabilities.

Water held in storages that has already been abstracted from the entitlement system is deemed not to be part of the region (regardless of the storage's size or connection to the system). This is because the attendant water right has already been exercised.

Recognition of changes in water assets and water liabilities

The increases and decreases to the reported water assets and water liabilities consist of changes that can be quantified in a way that is complete, neutral, and free from material error. These volumes are presented in the Statement of Changes in Water Assets and Water Liabilities and the Statement of Water Flows.

Precipitation and evaporation are recognised only in relation to the surfaces of open storage volumes. They do not represent all precipitation, evaporation and evapotranspiration within the region (notably, these processes occurring from the landscape are not captured).

That portion of runoff that flows into the surface water store (storages and rivers) is quantified and recognised in the Statement of Changes in Water Assets and Water Liabilities. This runoff includes precipitation captured in the catchment less evaporation and infiltration and is recorded as runoff to surface water.

Allocation announcements on regulated (supplemented) entitlements have been recognised as an increase in water liabilities. Note that the definitions of regulated or unregulated entitlements for the purpose of the National Water Account may be different to the meaning applied by the jurisdiction (refer to 'Glossary'). Please refer to the Water access and use note for more information on allocations.

Water assets and water liabilities that fail the recognition criteria

The volumes of several water assets identified in the Burdekin region were not reported in the water accounting statements but replaced by dashes ('–') as they 'failed the recognition criteria' specified in the Australian Water Accounting Standard 1, because:

• they could not be quantified in a way that is complete, neutral and free from material error; and/or
• they were unlikely to provide a future benefit to the region or the region's stakeholders.

Water assets that failed the recognition criteria include lakes and wetlands, and underlying aquifers.

Changes to water assets and water liabilities that fail the recognition criteria

There are no items to report under this category for the 2019 Account.

Reconciliations

Introduction

The following reconciliation tables verify:

• how the region’s closing water storage in the Statement of Water Flows reconciles to the total water assets reported in the Statement of Water Assets and Water Liabilities
• how the region’s change in water storage in the Statement of Water Flows reconciles to the change in net water assets reported in the Statement of Changes in Water Assets and Water Liabilities.

Closing water storage to total water assets

Net change in water storage to the change in net water assets