Murray–Darling Basin: Water stores
- Dry conditions contributed to very low runoff across the region and a decrease in storage volumes.
- 79% of the water supply was for individual users, primarily for agricultural and irrigation purposes.
- Net water taken for consumptive use was 7,429 GL while 872 GL was for environmental use.
For a water balance on each of the region's water stores for the 2018–19 year scroll down this page or click on the links below:
Surface water store
| Description | Volume (ML) | |
| Opening surface water store | 13,798,795 | |
| add | Inflows | 12,495,628 |
| less | Outflows | 13,312,044 |
| add | Balancing item | (3,762,393) |
| Closing surface water store | 9,219,986 | |
- The volume of surface water in the region decreased from 13,799 GL at 1 July 2018 to 9,220 GL at 30 June 2019.
- The balancing item is more than 40% of the closing surface water store and is primarily attributed to uncertainties associated with the runoff estimate (see Methods).
Surface water flows
Figure S4 Water inflows and outflows for the surface water store during the 2018–19 year
- The largest natural water flow was runoff. Runoff was well below average due to the dry conditions experienced across the region (see Climate and water).
- The largest water transfer in the region (inter-region inflow) included the transfer of water from Snowy Hydro Limited (1,576 GL) to the Murray River.
Figure S5 Surface water taken during the 2018–19 year in the region's key water resource plan areas
- Total net surface water taken in the region was 6,408 GL. This is the volume of surface water diverted after return flows to rivers and storages are deducted.
- 77% of the diversions were for individual users, 8% were supplied to the urban system, and 1% was for individual users under a basic right.
- 14% of the diversions were for environmental purposes, mainly from the SA River Murray Water Resource Plan Area.
- For a more detailed description of the water usage in the region, and the associated entitlements, see the Surface water rights note.
Groundwater store
| Description | Volume (ML) | |
| Opening groundwater store | 3,471,390 | |
| add | Inflows | 709,157 |
| less | Outflows | 2,103,816 |
| add | Balancing item | 1,395,719 |
| Closing groundwater store | 3,472,450 | |
- The volume of groundwater in the region is equivalent to the sustainable diversion limit and, therefore, generally changes little from year to year.
- It is likely that the balancing item is primarily attributed to uncertainties associated with groundwater recharge from the landscape and groundwater discharge to the landscape, which are estimated from a groundwater model (see Methods).
Groundwater flows
Figure S6 Water inflows and outflows for the groundwater store during the 2018–19 year
- The largest natural groundwater flows were recharge: landscape and recharge: surface water, which combined made up almost all of the total inflows into the region's aquifers.
- Groundwater recharge was lower than previous years, which reflects the below-average rainfall and streamflow conditions across the region during most of the year (see Climate and water).
Figure S7 Groundwater taken during the 2018–19 year in the region's key groundwater resource plan areas
- Total groundwater taken in the region was 1,893 GL.
- 84% of the extraction was for individual users and 12% was for individual users under a basic right.
- Around 3% of the extraction was for the urban system while 1% was extracted for salinity and water table management.
- No groundwater extractions were made for environmental purposes during the year.
- For a more detailed description of the water usage in the region, and the associated entitlements, see the Groundwater rights note.