Australian Water Resources Assessment 2010

Full description

The Bureau’s Australian Water Resources Assessments report on the state of the nation’s water resources and aim to:

• monitor the hydrological state of rivers, storages, wetlands and aquifers, and publish hydrometric statistics for key sites
• highlight patterns, trends and variability in water availability, quality and use at regional and national scales over time-scales of months to decades
• provide analyses of varying complexity predominantly in the form of readily interpretable maps, graphs and tables.

The reports are intended to assist assessment of the impact and sustainability of current water management practices and inform the design of water resource plans, supporting the goals of the National Water Initiative.

The Australian Water Resources Assessment 2010 comprises a National overview, 13 regional assessments and a Technical supplement that presents information on the analytical methods used and their scientific peer review. The National overview provides a national scale assessment of climate and water flows and stores in Australian landscapes in 2009–10 (July 2009 to June 2010). The chapter also examines important climate drivers and their impact on rainfall and evapotranspiration over the year. Information on nationally significant weather and water events experienced in 2009–10 is also presented.

The regional assessments provide analyses of water resources in 13 contiguous regions across the Australian continent. These regions are based on the new drainage division boundaries derived from the Australian Hydrological Geospatial Fabric. Information for each region includes:

• impacts of climatic conditions on waterre sources for 2009–10 and over the preceding 30 years, including seasonal effects
• recent anomalies and trends in the hydrological characteristics of rivers and aquifers at selected monitoring sites
• water availability for, and use by,selected major cities and irrigation areas.

The depth of analysis and information presented in this assessment is limited by the data available at the time of its preparation. It is expected that Australian Water Resources Assessment reporting will expand and improve significantly over time as the Bureau’s water resources information systems develop.