Melbourne: Statement of Water Assets and Water Liabilities
For the water account period 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024
- In the Melbourne region, water availability decreased by 6% during 2023–24 in response to a slight drop to surface water assets.
- Water availability is represented by the net water assets, which are the volume of water assets minus the water liabilities.
The Statement of Water Assets and Water Liabilities is provided in the table below.
The statement presents the volume of water assets and water liabilities at the start and end of the reporting year.
Select comparative year
| 2024 (ML) | 2023 (ML) | 2022 (ML) | 2021 (ML) | 2020 (ML) | 2019 (ML) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water assets | |||||||
| Surface water | 1,722,306 | 1,833,025 | 1,726,222 | 1,503,931 | 1,280,929 | 1,031,669 | |
| Accessible storage | 1,641,372 | 1,743,783 | 1,642,599 | 1,417,422 | 1,197,978 | 946,595 | |
| Dead storage | 76,623 | 76,623 | 76,623 | 76,623 | 76,623 | 76,623 | |
| Rivers | 4,311 | 12,619 | 7,000 | 9,886 | 6,328 | 8,451 | |
| Groundwater | 38,632 | 38,632 | 38,632 | 38,638 | 38,638 | 38,619 | |
| Water table aquifers | 22,067 | 22,067 | 22,067 | 22,073 | 22,073 | 22,054 | |
| Underlying aquifers | 16,565 | 16,565 | 16,565 | 16,565 | 16,565 | 16,565 | |
| Urban water system | 28,776 | 28,776 | 28,776 | 28,906 | 28,613 | 28,809 | |
| Urban waste system storages | 28,776 | 28,776 | 28,776 | 28,906 | 28,613 | 28,809 | |
| Total water assets | 1,789,714 | 1,900,433 | 1,793,630 | 1,571,475 | 1,348,180 | 1,099,097 | |
| Water liabilities | |||||||
| Surface water liability | 27,718 | 27,363 | 19,922 | 11,451 | 11,229 | 5,958 | |
| Allocation remaining: surface water users | 27,718 | 27,363 | 19,922 | 11,451 | 11,229 | 5,958 | |
| Commitment: inter-region | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Groundwater liability | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Groundwater allocation remaining: individual users | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total water liabilities | 27,718 | 27,363 | 19,922 | 11,451 | 11,229 | 5,958 | |
| Net water assets | |||||||
| Net surface water assets | 1,694,588 | 1,805,662 | 1,706,300 | 1,492,480 | 1,269,700 | 1,025,711 | |
| Opening net surface water assets | 1,805,662 | 1,706,300 | 1,492,480 | 1,269,700 | 1,025,711 | 1,163,536 | |
| Change in net surface water assets | (111,074) | 99,361 | 213,820 | 222,780 | 243,989 | (137,825) | |
| Closing net surface water assets | 1,694,588 | 1,805,662 | 1,706,300 | 1,492,480 | 1,269,700 | 1,025,711 | |
| Net groundwater assets | 38,632 | 38,632 | 38,632 | 38,638 | 38,638 | 38,619 | |
| Opening net groundwater assets | 38,632 | 38,632 | 38,638 | 38,638 | 38,619 | 38,619 | |
| Change in net groundwater assets | 0 | 0 | (6) | 0 | 19 | 0 | |
| Closing net groundwater assets | 38,632 | 38,632 | 38,632 | 38,638 | 38,638 | 38,619 | |
| Net urban water assets | 28,776 | 28,776 | 28,776 | 28,906 | 28,613 | 28,809 | |
| Opening net urban water assets | 28,776 | 28,776 | 28,906 | 28,613 | 28,809 | 28,419 | |
| Change in net urban water assets | 0 | 0 | (130) | 293 | (196) | 390 | |
| Closing net urban water assets | 28,776 | 28,776 | 28,776 | 28,906 | 28,613 | 28,809 | |
| Total closing net water assets | 1,761,996 | 1,873,070 | 1,773,708 | 1,560,024 | 1,336,951 | 1,093,139 | |
| Total change in net water assets | (111,074) | 99,361 | 213,684 | 223,073 | 243,812 | (137,435) | |
Note: quantification approaches used to derive each item volume are provided in the Methods.