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Water in Australia 2019–20

Maps and graphs from Water in Australia 2019–20 are available to download and re-use under a creative commons copyright license. Please read the creative commons copyright conditions available at the bottom of this page prior to use.

Images from 'Water resources'
Images from 'Water trading and use'

Images from 'Water resources'

Map of Australia showing relative rainfall in seven decile-categories for 2019–20. Rainfall was below-average for sixty per cent of Australia of which 26 per cent was very much below average. Very much below average rainfall was recorded in the west and south of Western Australia, much of South Australia, the far south and north of the Northern Territory, southeastern Queensland, western New South Wales and far eastern Victoria. Rainfall was higher than average in western Tasmania, and in isolated patches in northern and central Western Australia, the Northern Territory and southeastern Victoria.

For more details, visit the Regional Water Information website at
http://www.bom.gov.au/water/rwi/#ra_dc/001/2020

Figure 1 (321KB)

Bar chart showing relative rainfall in decile categories for States and Territories.

Annual rainfall was below average or very much below average for more than half of the surface area in most States and Territories. In South Australia, more than half of the surface area experienced very much below average rainfall.
In contrast, Victoria and Tasmania were the only States where average to very much above average rainfall occurred over at least half of the surface area, though for Victoria the area of below average conditions was larger than the area with above average rainfall. Above average to very much above average rainfall occurred over more than one-quarter of Tasmania.
For more details, visit the Regional Water Information website at
http://www.bom.gov.au/water/rwi/#ra_tt/001/2020

Figure 2 (109KB)

A box plot of monthly rainfall for Australia in 2019–20 with a line showing the long-term monthly mean and shading the percentile range.

Rainfall was lower than the long-term mean for all months of the year except for January, February, and March 2020. November and December were exceptionally dry and each was the driest on record for the respective month.

Figure 3 ( 66KB)

Maps of Australia showing the spatial distribution of relative rainfall in decile categories for each of the months of the 2019–20 year.

The maps are described in the text of this report.

For more details, visit the Regional Water Information website at
http://www.bom.gov.au/water/rwi/#ra_dc/001/201907

Figure 4 (740KB)

Map of Australia showing relative streamflow conditions for 2019–20. Monitoring sites are mainly in the east, north and southwest.

Average to lower-than-average flows were dominant over much of Australia. Lower-than-average flows were dominant during the year in the southern part of Australia whereas average and lower flows were dominant in the north. Lowest flows on record were observed in four per cent of the gauges; most of these gauges were in New South Wales.

For more details, visit the Regional Water Information website at
http://www.bom.gov.au/water/rwi/#sf_dc/001/2020

Figure 5 (578KB)

Bar chart showing relative streamflow in decile categories for States and Territories.

Lower-than-average flows predominated in all States and Territories except Queensland and Victoria. In Queensland and Victoria average flows were dominant.

For more details, visit the Regional Water Information website at
http://www.bom.gov.au/water/rwi/#sf_dc/004/2020

Figure 6 ( 82KB)

Vertical bar chart showing the proportion of streamflow monitoring sites across Australia that fall into seven flow decile categories during each month of the year.

Lower than average deciles dominated in the first seven months of the financial year. The proportion of lowest on record flows exceeded 10 per cent from August to December 2019 and higher-than-average deciles did not exceed 20 per cent until January 2020.

The proportion of lower-than-average streamflow sites was highest in December 2019, followed by October and November 2019 (all above 60 per cent).
For more details, visit the Regional Water Information website at
http://www.bom.gov.au/water/rwi/#sf_dc/001/201907

Figure 7 ( 78KB)

Maps of Australia showing the spatial distribution of relative streamflow in decile categories for each of the months of the 2019–20 year.

The maps are described in the text of this report.

For more details, visit the Regional Water Information website at

http://www.bom.gov.au/water/rwi/#sf_dc/001/201907

Figure 8 (1.2MB)

Maps of Australia showing the spatial distribution of relative streamflow in decile categories for each of the months of the 2019–20 year.

The maps are described in the text of this report.

For more details, visit the Regional Water Information website at

http://www.bom.gov.au/water/rwi/#sf_dc/001/201907

Figure 8 (1.2MB)

Plot showing time series of accessible storage volume in percentage for combined urban and rural storages for direct water supply purposes across Australia.

After the end of the Millennium Drought (2009–10) the combined accessible storage volume started to rise from 50 per cent and reached around 90 per cent in March 2012. It then gradually dropped to the low fifties at the end of 2015–16 before rising to over 80 per cent during 2016–17. It then gradually dropped to its lowest volume in more than 10 years during January 2020.

The accessible storage volume recovered after February 2020 following higher rainfall across southeastern Australia. The storage volume at the end of 2019–20 was 46 per cent of capacity, similar to that at the start of the year.

Figure 9 ( 64KB)

Plot showing time series of accessible storage volume in percentage for combined urban storages across Australia.

From the beginning of 2010–11 the combined accessible storage volume in urban storages across Australia rose from about 60 per cent to over 85 per cent during 2012–13. It then dropped gradually to 59 per cent of capacity at the start of 2019–20 and then further to 53 per cent of capacity in January 2020, the lowest level since the end of the Millennium Drought. By the end of the year, it had increased to 66 per cent of capacity.

Figure 10 ( 63KB)

Map of Australia showing the status of urban storage systems on 30 June 2020, which are colour coded into ten categories of volume as a proportion of capacity. The large storages systems are along the east coast and near Perth.

About three quarters of the systems were less than 70 per cent full at the end of 2019–20, of which a quarter were less than 50 per cent full. Storage volumes of the urban supply systems in Sydney and Hobart were more than 80 per cent of capacity.

Figure 11 (445KB)

Map of Australia showing the change since 30 June 2019, which are colour coded into nine categories of storage volume change. The large storages systems are along the east coast and near Perth.

There were increases of more than 5 percentage points in seven out of 19 urban systems. A decrease of more than 5 percentage points occurred in four systems.

Figure 11 (446KB)

Plot showing time series of accessible storage volume in percentage for urban storage systems across major urban centres in Australia.

The combined accessible storage volumes decreased in Perth, Canberra, Darwin and South East Queensland in comparison to the previous year. The storage volumes increased In Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Hobart systems.

Figure 12 (253KB)

Plot showing time series of accessible storage volume in percentage for combined rural storages across Australia.

From the beginning of 2009–10 the storage volume steadily increased and reached 80 per cent full in February 2011. Storage volume further increased and reached above 90 per cent full in May 2012 before it started to decline. The volume then dropped to about 50 per cent at the end of 2015–16 before rising to over 80 per cent during 2016–17. It then declined to 43 per cent at the beginning of 2019–20 and by February 2020, the storages were at 32 per cent, the lowest level since the end of the Millennium Drought. By the end of year, the storage volume was 41 per cent of capacity.

Figure 13 ( 64KB)

Map of Australia showing the status of rural storage systems on 30 June 2020, which are colour coded into ten categories of volume as a proportion of capacity.

Storage volumes of most of the Murray–Darling Basin storages remained low at the end of 2019–20. In the northern part of the Murray–Darling Basin, accessible storage volumes in several supply systems were less than 20 per cent of capacity by the end of 2019–20. In contrast, storage volumes of the rural supply systems across northern Queensland were above 60 per cent of capacity at the end of 2019–20.

Figure 14 (441KB)

Map of Australia showing the change of rural storage systems since 30 June 2019, which are colour coded into nine categories of storage volume change.

There were declines of more than 5 percentage points in about one-third of the systems and increases of more than 5 percentage points in another one-third. The systems which showed an increase of more than 25 percentage points were the South Australia Murray, Gippsland and St George.

Figure 14 (442KB)

Plot showing time series of accessible storage volume in percentage for the combined Murray–Darling Basin storages.
At the beginning of 2010–11 the combined accessible storage volume was about 30 per cent. The storage volume steadily increased and reached over 80 per cent during 2010–11 and then rose to above 90 per cent in early 2012–13. By the end of 2015–16, the volume then dropped to about 30 per cent of capacity before rising sharply to over 80 per cent during 2016–17. It then gradually declined to 30 per cent at the beginning of 2019–20. In February 2020, the accessible storage volume declined to its lowest level (24 per cent) since the end of Millennium Drought and at the end of year it rose to 37 per cent of capacity due to higher-than-average rainfall across the region during February–April 2020.

Figure 15 ( 72KB)

Plot showing time series of accessible storage volume in percentage for the northern Murray–Darling Basin storages.
At the beginning of 2010–11 the combined accessible storage volume was about 15.6 per cent. The storage volume steadily increased and reached over 75 per cent during 2010–11 and then rose to above 90 per cent in early 2011–12. By the end of 2015–16, the volume then dropped to about 18 per cent of capacity before rising sharply to over 70 per cent during 2016–17. It then gradually declined to 8.8 per cent at the beginning of 2019–20. Water storage reached a record low of 5.4 per cent of combined capacity in mid-January 2020 and was 18 per cent at the end of 2019–20.

Figure 16 ( 65KB)

Map of Australia showing the
median annual streamflow salinity at monitoring sites during 2019–20. These are colour coded in five salinity categories: fresh (0–500 mg/L TDS), fresh to marginal (500–1000 mg/L TDS), brackish (1000–3000 mg/L TDS), saline (3000–35 000 mg/L TDS) and hyper-saline (>35 000 mg/L TDS).

For 2019–20, 407 sites were analysed, of which 61 per cent were fresh and 13 per cent were marginal. The sites with fresh water salinities were mostly located in areas with higher rainfall, along the east coast. Saline streams were prominent in southwest Western Australia and South Australia.

Figure 17 (651KB)

Map showing changes in median streamflow salinity from 2018–19 to 2019–20. The comparison has been done in six categories, namely: increase by more than 500 mg/L TDS, increase between 100 – 500 mg/L TDS, increase between 0 – 100 mg/L TDS, decrease between 0 – 100 mg/L TDS, decrease between 100 – 500 mg/L TDS, and decrease by more than 500 mg/L TDS.

Streamflow salinity increased within the rainfall-deficient areas, particularly the sites in New South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia. Around 50 per cent of the 407 gauging sites had an increase in median streamflow salinity.

A decrease in stream salinity of more than 500 mg/L TDS was observed at only 6 per cent of the monitoring sites and decrease of more than 100 mg/L TDS was observed for 11 per cent of monitoring sites. Most of these larger decreases occurred in southern Australia, due to the occurrence of near- to or above-average rainfall during the second half of the financial year.

Figure 18 (655KB)

Maps depicting the bore groundwater levels in comparison to the past 20 years for the upper, middle and lower aquifer groups. Bores are mainly present along the northeast coast, in the Murray–Darling Basin (particularly the Victorian part) and on the west coast near Perth.

The dominant status in most areas was below-average water levels. Figure 21 (b) provides the statistics by State and Territory.

Figure 19 (463KB)

Maps of bore groundwater level trends over the last five years for the upper, middle and lower aquifer groups. Bores are mainly present along the northeast coast, in the Murray–Darling Basin (particularly the Victorian part) and on the west coast near Perth.

The five-year trends were mostly stable or declining. Figure 21 (b) provides the statistics by State and Territory.

Figure 20 (458KB)

Two horizontal stacked bar charts showing groundwater level status and trends by State and Territory for (a) 2018–19 and (b) 2019–20.

The change in distribution across these years varied by State and aquifer. There has been an increase in the number of bores with below average levels and stable or declining trends across most Australian States and Territories as a result of the widespread dry conditions during the latter half of 2019.

Figure 21 (147KB)

Map of Australia showing desalination capacity and supply of major urban centres in 2019–20.

The desalination production capacity and supply for each of the major centres in Gigalitres is
• Perth: 145 and 140
• Adelaide: 100 and 40
• Melbourne: 150 and 119
• Sydney: 90 and 71
• Gold Coast 49 and 14

Figure 22 ( 30KB)

Bar chart showing recycled water use in major urban centres, 2015–16 to 2019–20.

In 2019–20 recycled water use increased in comparison to the previous year in all the major urban centres, except for Melbourne and South East Queensland. Melbourne had the highest recycled water use amongst all the major urban centres (48 GL) followed by Adelaide (44 GL).

Figure 23 ( 58KB)

Images from 'Water trading and use'

Doughnut charts of Australia's water taken by use category and source for 2019–20.

Agriculture accounted for 67 per cent (9550 GL) of water use, followed by urban use at 22 per cent (3125 GL), and industrial use at 11 per cent (1595 GL).

Surface water made up 75 per cent of total water taken and the groundwater portion was 20 per cent. The contribution from desalination was four per cent and the remaining one per cent of the total was from inter-regional transfers.

Figure 24 ( 74KB)

Stacked vertical bar chart showing water taken for agriculture, urban and industrial uses from 2013–14 to 2019–20.

Total water taken was the highest in 2013–14 and the lowest in 2019–20, following the trends of agricultural water. Annual water taken only increased once during this six-year period, in 2017–18.

The water taken for agricultural use were the lowest in 2019–20. The proportion of total water sourced by agricultural, urban and industrial uses varied between years.

Figure 25 ( 39KB)

Set of stacked vertical bars showing agricultural water abstractions by State and Territory for surface water and groundwater from 2013–14 to 2019–20. The bars in the stack distinguish surface water from groundwater.

In all States and Territories except the Northern Territory and South Australia, more surface water than groundwater was diverted to satisfy the demands from agriculture in 2019–20. The water abstracted for agricultural use was highest in Victoria and New South Wales. Water abstractions for agricultural purposes were the lowest in the Northern Territory.

From 2018–19 to 2019–20, the volume of water abstracted for agriculture dropped in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and Northern Territory and increased in all other States and Territories.

Figure 26 ( 42KB)

Set of stacked vertical bars for six major urban centres in Australia showing the sources of water for the period 2011–12 to 2019–20. Each bar in the stack progressively represents surface water, groundwater, desalinated water, interregional transfers and recycled water.

Water use generally grew in each of the centres over the eight years depicted, except in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide where there is a decline in 2019–20. Water sourced in 2019–20 increased in South East Queensland and Perth, whereas in Canberra it was similar to that of previous year.

Surface water sourced from local reservoirs was the main source of urban water supply except for Adelaide and Perth. In Adelaide inter-regional supply was the dominant source whereas in Perth desalination and groundwater were the main sources. Recycled water use increased in most of the urban centres in 2019–20 except Melbourne and South East Queensland.

Figure 27 ( 79KB)

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