National Water Account 2019

Sydney: Key findings

For the water account period 1 July 2018–30 June 2019

  • Dry conditions contributed to very low streamflows across the region.
  • End of year storage dropped by 29% from last year, the third successive drop in annual storage.
  • Total consumptive water use was 620 GL, about 5% less than last year.

Climate and water

Rainfall

Rainfall icon

721 mm

below the average of 890 mm

Streamflow

Streamflow icon

below average

for most of the year

Storage

Storage icon

52% full

arrowpointingdown

29% less than last year

Water use

Water sourced

Graph showing breakdown of water sources used in the Sydney region. A total of 620,112 ML of water was used in the region in 2018–19. Surface water made up 98% of total water use; groundwater made up 1% and desalinated water made up 1% of the water use.

Water supplied

Graph showing breakdown of water users in the Sydney region. A total of 620,112 ML of water was supplied to users in 2018–19. 92% of total water supply was for the urban system and 8% was for individual users.

Water status

Allocations

1,277 GL

total surface water and groundwater allocations

Water assets

1,452 GL

water assets at 30 June 2019

595 GL less than last year

Outlook

Increase

in storage expected during the 2019–20 year