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South East Queensland: Statement of Changes in Water Assets and Water Liabilities

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

  • The volume of water in the region's storages significantly decreased during 2022-23.
  • This decrease represents the change in water volume in the region's surface water storages.

Schematic representation of the South East Queensland region. Total water inflows during 2022-23 was 2,399 GL. Total water outflows was 3,297 GL. Change in water storage on 30 June 2023 was 356 GL less 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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  2023 (ML) 2022 (ML) 2021 (ML) 2020 (ML) 2019 (ML) 2018 (ML)
Water inflows
Surface water inflows 1,763,614 16,082,513 4,177,359 3,364,834 1,265,194 2,916,758
Precipitation on storages 176,562 416,348 158,108 118,553 136,149 191,988
Precipitation on rivers 29,738 210,730 52,786 38,616 21,086 37,839
Runoff 1,436,551 14,921,165 3,714,062 3,088,580 1,063,412 2,586,525
Flood return 110,410 512,095 237,450 105,053 30,388 82,351
Discharge from users 2,000 2,030 1,163 2,735 2,191 3,090
Treated wastewater discharge from urban water system* 8,353 20,145 13,790 11,297 11,968 14,965
 
Groundwater inflows 24,406 23,868 23,277 25,922 26,414 26,654
Leakage from urban water system* 24,406 23,868 23,277 25,922 26,414 26,654
 
Urban water system inflows 611,023 664,704 624,018 642,762 564,456 602,036
Wastewater collected 274,455 353,768 286,538 269,274 252,108 270,874
Diversion of surface water* 323,172 294,590 310,807 351,788 305,896 320,949
Extraction of groundwater* 6,156 3,632 7,180 7,881 0 7,396
Inter-region delivery to the urban system 0 0 7 14 14 14
Delivery of desalinated water 7,240 12,714 19,486 13,805 6,438 2,803
 
Total water inflows 2,399,043 16,771,085 4,824,654 4,033,518 1,856,064 3,545,448
Water outflows
Surface water outflows 2,742,367 17,118,290 3,992,106 2,800,469 1,564,887 2,711,170
Evaporation from storages 315,191 269,403 235,470 261,827 291,838 302,929
Evaporation from rivers 33,202 58,139 40,715 25,637 21,578 29,522
Outflow 1,651,077 15,265,553 2,662,213 1,842,257 760,467 1,746,115
Leakage to landscape 196,000 198,398 92,572 65,980 74,878 108,442
Overbank flow 206,071 1,014,275 619,611 199,619 74,995 180,807
Diversion to statutory rights 3,988 3,992 3,992 3,806 3,810 3,808
Non-allocated diversion to individual users 1,166 1,158 1,295 1,282 1,312 1,317
Allocated diversion to individual users 12,500 12,787 25,431 48,273 30,103 17,281
Diversion to the urban system* 323,172 294,590 310,807 351,788 305,896 320,949
Other surface water decreases 0 0 0 0 0 0
 
Groundwater outflows 11,256 8,808 19,146 26,231 17,106 19,788
Non-allocated extraction to individual users 1,500 1,545 4,456 7,128 6,201 6,420
Extraction to the urban system* 6,156 3,632 7,180 7,881 0 7,396
Allocated extraction to individual users 3,600 3,631 7,510 11,222 10,905 5,972
 
Urban water system outflows 543,400 617,110 590,011 607,150 588,975 609,151
Supply of drinking water to residential customers 211,674 206,126 219,223 222,265 208,824 201,307
Supply of drinking water to agriculture and irrigation customers 1,317 17,499 16,265 39,475 46,574 26,399
Supply of drinking water to commercial and industrial customers 76,028 80,149 88,429 89,977 79,904 65,502
Supply of drinking water for own use 1,421 1,434 1,681 1,761 1,672 0
Supply of drinking water to other customers 802 409 43 442 7,159 9,283
Supply of recycled water to urban users - - - - - 13,083
Supply of recycled water for own use 4,564 3,703 3,992 3,428 3,687 -
Supply of recycled water to agriculture and irrigation customers 834 870 1,398 1,748 1,738 -
Supply of recycled water to commercial and industrial customers 11,479 8,008 8,537 8,251 10,143 -
Supply of recycled water to irrigation water schemes 102 0 99 121 93 -
Supply of recycled water to other customers 26 0 15 19 16 -
Supply of recycled water to residential customers 0 1 1 0 1 -
Recycled water delivery to irrigation users 0 0 0 0 0 88
Leakage to groundwater* 24,406 23,868 23,277 25,922 26,414 26,654
Discharge to sea 194,045 241,445 202,967 191,651 178,316 236,589
Urban discharge to landscape 967 964 584 1,380 3,267 3,296
Treated wastewater discharge to surface water* 8,353 20,145 13,790 11,297 11,968 14,965
Wastewater transfer to other region 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other losses 6,905 6,411 6,838 8,354 8,609 11,268
Other wastewater losses 477 6,078 2,872 1,059 590 717
 
Total water outflows 3,297,023 17,744,208 4,601,263 3,433,850 2,170,958 3,340,109
 
Unaccounted-for difference 541,791 1,778,338 (271,069) (712,748) (4,246) (132,764)
 
 
Change in water storage            
Change in surface water storage (355,905) 805,101 (47,678) (132,135) (319,140) 72,575
Change in groundwater storage (284) 114 0 19,055 0 0
Change in urban water storage 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total change in water storage (356,189) 805,215 (47,678) (113,080) (319,140) 72,575
 
Closing water storage 1,961,648 2,317,837 1,512,622 1,560,300 1,673,380 1,992,520
 
 
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 (356,189) 805,215 (47,678) (113,080) (319,140) 72,575

*between-store flows

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