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Murray–Darling Basin: Statement of Changes in Water Assets and Water Liabilities

For the water account period 01 July 2022 – 30 June 2023

  • Surface water inflows and outflows were high reflecting heavy spring rainfall increasing the water availabliliy across the landscape.
  • The volume of water in the region's combined storages (total inflows minus total outflows) decreased during 2022–2023.

Schematic representation of the Murray–Darling Basin region. Total water inflows during 2022–23 was 84,870 GL. Total water outflows was 72,452 GL. Water storage at 30 June 2023 was 28,480 GL similar to 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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 2023 ML2022 ML2021 ML2020 ML2019 ML2018 ML
Water inflows
Surface water inflows51,222,63241,987,82925,675,68716,872,39110,796,72115,250,656
Precipitation on storages1,801,2941,554,1901,055,078781,810720,898923,952
Precipitation on rivers1,150,835811,359441,040295,785208,577261,276
Runoff42,819,53636,348,39923,048,68714,619,9008,712,00613,038,331
Flood return4,757,8722,370,335840,876724,702657,193694,912
Point return from irrigation134,856115,066227,395256,711281,947256,336
Discharge from wastewater39,74039,30940,63834,29934,21333,581
Discharge from urban supply system1,1181,4122,0922,4842,3492,353
Return flow from environmental purposes517,381747,75919,881156,700179,53839,915
 
Groundwater inflows33,595,93225,339,4549,769,0888,029,7787,639,0888,439,520
Inter-region inflow2,8292,9142,5682,6322,3212,804
Inter-region coastal inflow3296767369251
Leakage: urban system3,6512,8112,7553,3022,9384,476
Managed aquifer recharge: individual user1,5461,030821545(41)469
Other increases----1,060148,688
 
Total water inflows84,818,56467,327,28335,444,77524,902,16918,435,80923,690,176
Water outflows
Surface water outflows71,584,75855,525,23126,593,96020,542,12720,158,42224,530,024
Evaporation from storages3,237,4363,216,8512,421,4592,070,7992,296,2252,704,705
Evaporation from rivers2,288,8261,705,799832,344635,628698,332786,286
Outflow to the sea6,945,8614,234,633974,881678,205657,638889,599
Recharge to groundwater33,587,87425,332,6909,762,8778,023,2327,632,4418,282,832
Overbank flow16,447,4949,062,2511,948,9251,536,8281,085,5331,174,348
Diversions: basic rights94,37993,39559,86859,84160,84150,861
Non-allocated diversion: individual users932,2171,986,1571,439,6971,106,697392,936520,974
Non-allocated diversion: urban system2,8692,7782,3929,7126,7617,009
Non-allocated diversion: environmental purposes142,869366,365195,632192,7198,74112,337
Floodplain harvesting520,413752,1001,205,796436,02583,37448,505
Allocated diversion: individual users4,446,8995,191,5844,788,9453,042,3694,810,1296,878,707
Allocated diversion: urban system358,583410,219455,370435,969487,903385,181
Allocated diversion: environmental purposes2,357,0372,882,1632,213,2531,975,1141,541,9692,411,398
Conveyance losses for allocated diversions222,001288,246292,521338,988395,599377,282
 
Groundwater outflows867,135906,145980,0701,729,6161,939,7021,712,869
Inter-region outflow29385741198112
Inter-region coastal outflow1,8661,9561,6511,5661,3081,565
Extraction: basic rights220,149219,059219,539226,249224,896248,441
Non-allocated extraction1,8001,8001,8001,8001,800-
Allocated extraction: individual users558,860593,812683,4741,451,5081,628,7651,404,099
Allocated extraction: urban system32,30931,91219,82234,40552,15948,500
Allocated extraction: salinity and water table management11,89917,34413,50314,04819,53810,152
Allocated extraction: environmental purposes40,22440,22440,224---
Other groundwater decreases----11,038-
 
Total water outflows72,451,89456,431,37627,574,03022,271,74322,098,12426,242,893
Unaccounted-for difference13,360,4172,435,4781,998,457478,581969,3321,360,458
 
 
Change in water storage      
Change in surface water storage(993,747)8,460,4295,872,2882,151,845(4,621,669)(4,061,863)
Change in groundwater storage0000(9,978)148,688
Total change in water storage(993,747)8,460,4295,872,2882,151,845(4,631,647)(3,913,175)
 
Closing water storage28,480,26429,474,01121,013,58215,141,29412,989,44917,621,096
 
 
Change in water liability
Surface water liability538,2371,713,7062,919,049231,636(1,192,061)(1,363,080)
Carryover for individual users293,5191,241,6742,458,567450,732(1,079,611)(1,398,949)
Carryover for urban system000000
Carryover for environmental purposes244,718472,032460,482(219,095)(112,449)35,869
 
Groundwater liability0177,667(74,023)59,996(84,648)17,901
Carryover for individual users0177,667(74,023)59,996(84,648)20,548
Carryover for urban system000000
Carryover for salinity and water table management000000
Carryover for environmental purposes00000(2,647)
Total change in water liability538,2371,891,3732,845,025291,633(1,276,709)(1,345,179)
       
Net change in water assets20,361,20321,893,18715,324,13112,296,86810,436,65613,791,594

* between-store flows

Note: Historical inflow and outflow volumes have been impacted by the removal of some modelled groundwater recharge due to this dataset being incomplete. 

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