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Sydney: Statement of Changes in Water Assets and Water Liabilities

for the year ended 30 June 2022

  • The volume of water in the region's storages decreased during 2021–22.
  • This decrease represents the change in water volume associated with unaccounted-for differences in the region.

Schematic representation of the Sydney region. Total water inflows during 2021–21 was 20,839 GL. Total water outflows was 20,537 GL. Water storage at 30 June 2022 was 7 GL lower than the previous year.

The Statement of Changes in Water Assets and Water Liabilities is provided in the table below.
The statement presents the actual water flows associated with the region's water stores, as well as the changes in water assets and water liabilities that occurred during the year.

 

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  2022 ML 2021 ML 2020 ML 2019 ML 2018 ML 2017 ML
Water inflows
Surface water inflows 16,716,500 11,348,650 6,327,088 2,240,937 1,736,240 5,195,649
Precipitation on storages 12,561 11,048 6,690 7,199 5,450 8,035
Precipitation on rivers 206,567 168,869 98,645 32,245 22,383 55,995
Runoff 16,156,390 10,955,647 6,058,829 2,108,484 1,640,102 4,998,990
Flood return 219,869 118,762 86,221 16,061 3,792 50,165
Discharge from users 11 22 0 0 81 828
Delivery from outside region 2,184 1,371 2,997 6,675 9,215 3,712
Treated wastewater discharge from urban water system* 118,918 92,931 73,706 70,273 55,217 77,924
 
Groundwater inflows 2,896,769 2,104,997 1,071,247 981,966 900,429 1,653,349
Recharge from surface water* 2,852,417 2,063,928 1,027,260 934,134 853,167 1,611,679
Leakage from urban water system* 44,352 41,069 43,987 47,832 47,262 41,670
 
Urban water system inflows 1,225,643 1,100,949 1,074,892 1,089,460 1,068,716 1,125,786
Wastewater collected 699,456 570,853 536,140 518,384 461,542 562,042
Diversion of surface water* 503,707 510,487 467,605 563,283 607,174 563,744
Extraction of groundwater* 0 0 0 0 0 0
Delivery of desalinated water 22,480 19,609 71,147 7,793 0 0
 
Total water inflows 20,838,912 14,554,596 8,473,227 4,312,363 3,705,385 7,974,784
Water outflows
Surface water outflows 19,264,552 14,903,067 7,852,898 2,817,057 2,296,003 6,075,507
Evaporation from storages 10,348 10,928 11,958 11,853 12,008 11,804
Evaporation from rivers 73,892 54,969 39,736 35,542 33,833 44,891
Outflow 14,768,710 11,441,834 5,936,863 1,055,081 605,522 3,452,976
Recharge to groundwater* 2,852,417 2,063,928 1,027,260 934,134 853,167 1,611,679
Overbank flow 1,020,425 786,518 328,959 171,537 137,391 339,611
Diversion of statutory rights 32,257 32,257 32,257 32,257 32,257 32,257
Allocated diversion to individual users 2,796 2,146 8,260 13,370 14,651 18,545
Diversion to the urban system* 503,707 510,487 467,605 563,283 607,174 563,744
 
Groundwater outflows 43,826 16,918 19,914 3,409 0 0
Allocated extraction to individual users 43,826 16,918 19,914 3,409 0 0
 
Urban water system outflows 1,228,190 1,099,167 1,085,180 1,087,599 1,051,653 1,117,802
Leakage to groundwater* 44,352 41,069 43,987 47,832 47,262 41,670
Supply of drinking water to urban users 464,575 468,552 490,452 506,724 527,507 497,847
Supply of drinking water to irrigation users 3,050 3,407 5,125 4,399 5,125 4,331
Supply of drinking water for own use 721 1,874 649 469 0 0
Supply of recycled water to urban users 10,901 11,071 11,924 10,975 8,448 8,493
Supply of recycled water to irrigation users 4,950 5,123 5,661 5,420 5,758 4,858
Supply of recycled water for own use 268 235 190 222 188 245
Treated wastewater discharge to surface water* 118,918 92,931 73,706 70,273 55,217 77,924
Discharge to sea 494,995 433,131 411,235 416,052 384,874 456,190
Other losses 9,661 10,006 10,154 10,750 12,036 11,076
Urban discharge to landscape 0 0 0 0 0 94
Other wastewater losses 75,799 31,768 32,097 14,483 5,238 15,074
 
Total water outflows 20,536,568 16,019,152 8,957,992 3,908,065 3,347,656 7,193,309
 
Unaccounted-for difference (309,209) 1,955,517 1,230,587 (999,503) (1,003,890) (912,001)
 
 
Change in water storage            
Change in surface water storage (6,865) 490,961 745,822 (595,205) (646,161) (130,526)
Change in groundwater storage 0 0 0 0 0 0
Change in urban water storage 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total change in water storage (6,865) 490,961 745,822 (595,205) (646,161) (130,526)
 
Closing water storage 2,679,581 2,686,446 2,195,485 1,449,663 2,044,868 2,691,029
 
 
Change in water liability
Surface water liability 0 0 0 0 0 0
Allocation remaining: individual users 0 0 0 0 0 0
 
Groundwater liability 0 0 0 0 0 0
Allocation remaining: individual users 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total change in water liability 0 0 0 0 0 0
             
Net change in water assets (6,865) 490,961 745,822 (595,205) (646,161) (130,526)

* between-store flows

Note: quantification approaches used to derive each item volume are provided in the Methods