Sydney: Statement of Changes in Water Assets and Water Liabilities
For the water account period 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024
- The volume of water in Sydney's storages increased by 132 GL during 2023-24.
- This increase represents the change in water volume in the region's surface water storages.
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.
Select comparative year
| 2024 (ML) | 2023 (ML) | 2022 (ML) | 2021 (ML) | 2020 (ML) | 2019 (ML) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water inflows | |||||||
| Surface water inflows | 7,293,898 | 10,746,101 | 16,713,002 | 11,352,147 | 6,327,089 | 2,240,936 | |
| Precipitation on storages | 9,855 | 9,999 | 12,562 | 11,047 | 6,691 | 7,199 | |
| Precipitation on rivers | 85,527 | 136,699 | 205,822 | 168,838 | 98,645 | 32,245 | |
| Flood return | 72,202 | 126,524 | 220,025 | 118,811 | 86,221 | 16,061 | |
| Runoff | 7,036,316 | 10,374,426 | 16,151,984 | 10,959,139 | 6,058,829 | 2,108,484 | |
| Delivery from outside region | 3,681 | 3,681 | 3,681 | 1,371 | 2,997 | 6,675 | |
| Discharge from users | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 0 | |
| Treated wastewater discharge from urban water system* | 86,306 | 94,761 | 118,917 | 92,930 | 73,706 | 70,272 | |
| Groundwater inflows | 1,855,158 | 2,393,605 | 2,895,754 | 2,104,462 | 1,071,247 | 981,966 | |
| Recharge from surface water* | 1,806,712 | 2,346,622 | 2,851,402 | 2,063,393 | 1,027,260 | 934,134 | |
| Leakage from urban water system* | 48,446 | 46,983 | 44,352 | 41,069 | 43,987 | 47,382 | |
| Urban water system inflows | 1,137,683 | 1,135,529 | 1,225,643 | 1,100,949 | 1,074,892 | 1,089,460 | |
| Delivery of desalinated water | 35,216 | 67,996 | 22,480 | 19,609 | 71,147 | 7,793 | |
| Diversion of surface water* | 521,335 | 465,312 | 503,707 | 510,487 | 467,605 | 563,283 | |
| Wastewater collected | 581,132 | 602,221 | 699,456 | 570,853 | 536,140 | 518,384 | |
| Total water inflows | 10,286,739 | 14,275,235 | 20,834,399 | 14,557,558 | 8,473,228 | 4,312,362 | |
| Water outflows | |||||||
| Surface water outflows | 8,283,966 | 13,017,042 | 19,326,203 | 14,895,782 | 7,853,466 | 2,818,408 | |
| Evaporation from storages | 11,732 | 11,119 | 10,348 | 10,927 | 12,527 | 13,205 | |
| Evaporation from rivers | 50,574 | 61,339 | 73,585 | 54,998 | 39,736 | 35,542 | |
| Outflow | 5,423,405 | 9,427,834 | 14,827,184 | 11,434,818 | 5,936,863 | 1,055,081 | |
| Overbank flow | 425,235 | 668,782 | 1,024,925 | 786,757 | 328,959 | 171,537 | |
| Recharge to groundwater* | 1,806,712 | 2,346,622 | 2,851,402 | 2,063,393 | 1,027,260 | 934,134 | |
| Allocated diversion to individual users | 6,806 | 3,778 | 2,796 | 2,146 | 8,260 | 13,370 | |
| Diversion to the urban system* | 521,335 | 465,312 | 503,707 | 510,487 | 467,605 | 563,283 | |
| Diversion of statutory rights | 38,166 | 32,256 | 32,256 | 32,256 | 32,256 | 32,256 | |
| Groundwater outflows | 28,800 | 24,241 | 24,026 | 16,918 | 19,914 | 3,409 | |
| Allocated extraction to individual users | 28,800 | 24,241 | 24,026 | 16,918 | 19,914 | 3,409 | |
| Urban water system outflows | 1,115,073 | 1,136,958 | 1,228,189 | 1,099,164 | 1,085,180 | 1,087,600 | |
| Discharge to sea | 447,110 | 457,971 | 494,996 | 433,130 | 411,235 | 416,053 | |
| Leakage to groundwater* | 48,446 | 46,983 | 44,352 | 41,069 | 43,987 | 47,832 | |
| Other losses | 10,376 | 9,892 | 9,661 | 10,006 | 10,154 | 10,750 | |
| Other wastewater losses | 32,460 | 35,439 | 75,799 | 31,768 | 32,097 | 14,483 | |
| Supply of drinking water for own use | 469 | 856 | 720 | 1,874 | 649 | 469 | |
| Supply of drinking water to agriculture and irrigation customers | 3,665 | 3,379 | 3,050 | 3,407 | 5,125 | 4,399 | |
| Supply of drinking water to commercial and industrial customers | 84,482 | 110,716 | 101,418 | 89,182 | 115,503 | 108,128 | |
| Supply of drinking water to other customers | 13,794 | 11,622 | 13,616 | 19,123 | 15,312 | 24,353 | |
| Supply of drinking water to residential customers | 362,932 | 349,861 | 349,541 | 360,247 | 359,637 | 374,243 | |
| Supply of recycled water for own use | 8,467 | 280 | 268 | 235 | 190 | 222 | |
| Supply of recycled water to agriculture and irrigation customers | 5,306 | 5,077 | 4,951 | 5,123 | 5,661 | 5,420 | |
| Supply of recycled water to commercial and industrial customers | 8,874 | 8,035 | 8,436 | 8,554 | 8,861 | 8,228 | |
| Supply of recycled water to residential customers | 2,386 | 2,086 | 2,464 | 2,516 | 3,063 | 2,748 | |
| Treated wastewater discharge to surface water* | 86,306 | 94,761 | 118,917 | 92,930 | 73,706 | 70,272 | |
| Total water outflows | 9,427,839 | 14,178,241 | 20,578,418 | 16,011,864 | 8,958,560 | 3,909,417 | |
| Unaccounted-for difference | (726,461) | (181,931) | (213,906) | 1,859,702 | 1,231,424 | (837,978) | |
| Change in water storage | |||||||
| Change in surface water storage | 132,439 | (84,936) | 42,075 | 405,396 | 746,092 | (435,033) | |
| 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 | 132,439 | (84,936) | 42,075 | 405,396 | 746,092 | (435,033) | |
| Closing water storage | 2,771,756 | 2,639,317 | 2,724,253 | 2,682,178 | 2,276,782 | 1,530,690 | |
| 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 | 132,439 | (84,936) | 42,075 | 405,396 | 746,092 | (435,033) | |
* between-store flows
Note: quantification approaches used to derive each item volume are provided in the Methods.