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

for the year ended 30 June 2022

  • The volume of water in the region's storages increased during 2021–22 for the second consecutive year.
  • This increase primarily represents the change in water volume in the region's surface water storages.

Schematic representation of the Murray–Darling Basin region. Total water inflows during 2020–21 was 31,235 GL. Total water outflows was 19,326 GL. Water storage at 30 June 2021 was 5,742 GL higher 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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  2022 ML 2021 ML 2020 ML 2019 ML 2018 ML 2017 ML
Water inflows
Surface water inflows 42,102,637 25,717,359 16,982,607 10,840,948 15,308,700 38,250,903
Precipitation on storages 1,552,323 1,052,265 780,771 726,271 933,216 1,391,651
Precipitation on rivers 767,070 439,507 295,785 208,577 261,276 632,586
Runoff 36,450,261 23,044,576 14,619,900 8,712,006 13,038,331 32,451,789
Flood return 2,377,616 839,184 724,702 657,193 694,912 2,007,980
Point return: irrigation 115,066 227,395 256,711 281,947 256,336 277,177
Discharge: groundwater* 51,821 51,821 111,255 38,854 48,780 1,341,852
Discharge: wastewater 39,309 40,638 34,299 34,213 33,581 36,458
Discharge: urban supply system 1,412 2,092 2,484 2,349 2,353 1,656
Return flow: environmental purposes 747,759 19,881 156,700 179,538 39,915 109,754
   
Groundwater inflows 708,331 707,652 491,313 379,180 923,442 2,293,665
Inter-region inflow 3,035 2,568 2,632 2,321 2,804 2,461
Inter-region coastal inflow 14 67 67 369 251 101
Recharge: landscape 701,441 701,441 443,977 372,533 494,812 680,003
Recharge: surface water* 0 0 40,790 0 234,242 1,605,429
Leakage: urban system 2,811 2,755 3,302 2,938 4,476 4,079
Managed aquifer recharge: individual user 1,030 821 545 (41) 469 1,592
Other increases 0 0 0 1,060 186,388 0
   
Total water inflows 42,810,968 26,425,011 17,473,920 11,220,128 16,232,142 40,544,568
Water outflows
Surface water outflows 55,610,150 26,594,059 20,543,700 20,190,058 24,582,875 42,898,197
Evaporation on storages 3,208,801 2,413,062 2,072,372 2,327,861 2,757,556 3,106,445
Evaporation on rivers 1,702,074 828,098 635,628 698,332 786,286 1,353,897
Outflow 4,229,059 968,867 678,205 657,638 889,599 3,100,695
Recharge: groundwater* 25,398,569 9,776,698 8,023,232 7,632,441 8,282,832 18,243,724
Overbank flow 9,097,185 1,953,860 1,536,828 1,085,533 1,174,348 6,547,562
River and floodplain losses – – – – – –
Diversions: basic rights 93,395 59,868 59,841 60,841 50,861 50,861
Floodplain harvesting 752,100 1,205,796 436,025 83,374 48,505 288,508
Non-allocated diversion: individual users 1,986,157 1,439,697 1,106,697 392,936 520,974 1,675,241
Non-allocated diversion: urban system 2,778 2,392 9,712 6,761 7,009 11,661
Allocated diversion: individual users 5,193,390 4,788,945 3,042,369 4,810,129 6,878,707 5,724,118
Allocated diversion: urban system 410,219 455,370 435,969 487,903 385,181 308,004
Allocated diversion: environmental purposes 2,882,163 2,213,253 1,975,114 1,541,969 2,411,398 2,042,391
Non-allocated diversion: environmental purposes 366,365 195,632 192,719 8,741 12,337 154,218
Conveyance losses for allocated diversions 288,246 292,521 338,988 395,599 377,282 290,872
   
Groundwater outflows 1,191,097 1,517,927 1,911,051 2,096,058 1,872,430 2,617,753
Inter-region outflow 34 57 41 198 112 33
Inter-region coastal outflow 2,091 1,651 1,566 1,308 1,565 1,493
Discharge: landscape 66,577 66,577 110,277 164,093 158,115 63,999
Discharge: surface water* 51,821 51,821 111,255 38,854 56,130 1,352,385
Extraction: basic rights 219,529 219,539 226,249 224,896 248,441 239,101
Non-allocated extraction 0 0 0 0 0 0
Allocated extraction: individual users 763,587 1,104,734 1,415,264 1,586,358 1,348,066 910,850
Allocated extraction: urban system 29,890 19,822 32,351 49,775 45,599 38,914
Allocated extraction: salinity and water table management 17,344 13,503 14,048 19,538 10,152 10,978
Allocated extraction: environmental purposes 40,224 40,224 0 0 0 0
Other decreases 0 0 0 11,038 4,250 0
   
Total water outflows 56,801,598 28,111,986 22,454,751 22,286,116 26,455,305 45,515,950
Unaccounted-for difference (22,407,244) (7,470,918) (6,928,325) (6,555,032) (6,491,618) (11,129,791)
 
 
Change in water storage            
Change in surface water storage 8,416,614 5,783,943 1,947,494 (4,500,978) (3,880,233) 6,158,409
Change in groundwater storage - - - (9,978) 148,688 -
Total change in water storage 8,416,614 5,783,943 1,947,494 (4,510,956) (3,731,545) 6,158,409
 
Closing water storage 29,080,563 20,663,949 14,880,006 12,932,512 17,443,468 21,175,013
 
 
Change in water liability
Surface water liability 1,713,706 2,919,049 231,636 (1,192,061) (1,363,080) 2,155,423
Carryover for individual users 1,241,674 2,458,567 450,732 (1,079,611) (1,398,949) 2,310,378
Carryover for urban system 0 0 0 0 0 0
Carryover for environmental purposes 472,032 460,482 (219,095) (112,449) 35,869 (154,955)
 
Groundwater liability 12,380 (74,023) 59,996 (84,648) 17,901 (5,267)
Carryover for individual users 12,380 (74,023) 59,996 (84,648) 20,548 (7,914)
Carryover for urban system 0 0 0 0 0 0
Carryover for salinity and water table management 0 0 0 0 0 0
Carryover for environmental purposes 0 0 0 0 (2,647) 2,647
Total change in water liability 1,726,086 2,845,025 291,633 (1,276,709) (1,345,179) 2,150,156
             
Net change in water assets 6,690,528 2,938,918 1,655,861 (3,234,247) (2,386,366) 4,008,254
 

 

* between-store flows

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