Fitzroy: Statement details
- Below-average rainfall for most of the year contributed to low storage inflows and runoff across the region.
- Storages at 30 June 2019 were 29% full, the region's lowest end-of-year storage level since 2007.
For further information on the regions water accounting statements scroll down this page or click on the links below:
Water assets
- Water asset volumes in the region at 30 June 2019 were 498 GL, around 97% of which is water held in storages. The remaining amount is water held in aquifers and rivers.
Figure S1 Total storage volume in the region at 30 June 2019 compared with the previous 3 years
- Storage volumes decreased from 36% full at 1 July 2018 to 29% full at 30 June 2019, the lowest end-of-year storage volume since 2007.
- This is the second successive year that storage volumes have decreased across the region.
Figure S2 Percentage-full volume on 30 June 2019 for each storage and total volumes for the 2013–19 year (inset)
- Except for small increases in storage during April–May 2019 following late wet season rainfall events, storage volumes declined for most of the year.
- In March 2019, storage volumes dropped to 23% full, the region's lowest level since late 2007.
- Fairbairn Reservoir, which is the largest storage in the region, was less than 20% full at the end of the year. Most of the storages in the eastern part of the region closer to the coast were more than 40% full at 30 June 2019.
- 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 Fitzroy region refer to the volume of allocation remaining on licence entitlements at the end of the 2018–19 year.
| Description | Individual users (ML) | Urban system (ML) | Irrigation scheme (ML) | |
| Opening balance at 1 July 2018 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| add | Allocation | 98,441 | 13,528 | 266,729 |
| less | Allocated diversion | 72,840 | 8,039 | 135,802 |
| less | Adjustment and forfeiture | 25,601 | 5,489 | 130,927 |
| Closing balance at 30 June 2019 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Description | Individual users (ML) | Urban system (ML) | Irrigation scheme (ML) | |
| Opening balance at 1 July 2018 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| add | Allocation | 688 | 957 | 13,738 |
| less | Allocated extraction | 396 | 505 | 11,946 |
| less | Adjustment and forfeiture | 292 | 452 | 1,792 |
| Closing balance at 30 June 2019 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
- Most of the licences have a water year from 1 July–30 June. The portion of water allocation that has not been abstracted at the end of a water year is forfeited and the allocation remaining at the end of the year was 0 ML.
- A more detailed description of water allocations and associated water rights in the Fitzroy region is given in the Water access and use note.
Water flows
- Total water flows into the region's storages was 2,951 GL. The key item contributing to water inflows was runoff, which made up almost 95% of total water inflows for the region.
- Runoff was much lower than average (based on modelled data from 1971–2019) due to the relatively poor rainfall across the region. This was the second successive year of below-average runoff across the region.
- The key item contributing to water outflows for the region was river outflow, which made up more than 50% of the total outflows. River outflow was well below average due to the dry conditions and low runoff across the region.
- A detailed description on all the water flows associated with the surface water and groundwater stores, including consumptive water use, 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.
| Description | Volume (ML) | |
| Closing water storage at 30 June 2019 | 498,492 | |
| less | Total inflows | 2,951,292 |
| add | Total outflows | 2,382,669 |
| less | Opening water storage at 1 July 2018 | 613,667 |
| Unaccounted-for difference | (683,798) | |
- The unaccounted-for difference value is primarily attributed to uncertainties associated with the runoff estimate (see Methods).