Measuring up to manage water better
NatStats Conference 08
Melbourne
21 November 2008
Water scarcity: A deepening problem.
Drying & Warming Climate
Growing Urban Demand
Over-allocation to Irrigation
The big
8
Uncapped Groundwater Extraction
water scarcity factors
Expanding Plantations
Bushfire Recovery Impacts
Expanding Farm Dams
The Environmental Flows Imperative
Long term deficits remain across the MDB
7 very dry
years for the
basin
Recent inflows into the Murray system.
Irrigation System Allocations @ Nov08.
Information to support water reform.
Judicious infrastructure investments
Properly
functioning
water markets
Greater
efficiency in
water use
Good
water information
is the key
Adequate
flood risk
protection
Prudent
environmental
flow
management
Fair pricing and equitable sharing of a scarce resource
National Water
Resource
Assessment.
National
Water
Accounting.
The four cornerstones of water information to
support sustainable water resources
management.
Hydrologic
Forecasting.
Real-Time
Status of Water
Resources.
The Bureau’s new water information role.
•
10-year Commonwealth program, started July 07
•
$450m funding
•
110 new staff (added to 40 existing)
•
Based in all States, concentrated in VIC and ACT
•
New IT infrastructure
•
Legislative backing
– Water Act 2007
– Water Regulations 2008
Our activities.
1. Set standards for water data.
2. Collect primary information from water data
holders and build a national repository.
3. Provide a range of value-added water
information products and services for the nation.
4. Assist water data holding agencies to modernise
their observing systems.
5. Invest in water information R&D.
Our water information product suite.
National
Water
Account
Water
Resource
Assessments
Flood Design
Support
Water
Availability
Forecasts
AWRIS
Water Data
Downloads
Flood
Forecasting
Service
Water
Resources
Dashboards
Provider data
AWRIS
Information
products
Streamflow
Dynamic
Diversions
Climate DB
Groundwater
REPORTING
SERVICES
Browser, RSS, XML
Water quality
FORECASTING
SERVICES
Storage
Water use
Water Data
Geofabric
NATIONAL
WATER
ACCOUNT
Entitlements
and Trades
Various spatial
data layers
Static
Hydro DB
Rolling annual reports
NATIONAL
WATER
RESOURCE
ASSESSMENT
The water data ingest process.
Oct 08
Feb 09
Apr 09
Jul 09
• 10 primary categories of data (~60 variables)
• 8 categories of person (~260 persons in total)
• Entire historical archive provided at first
• Updated thereafter daily, weekly, monthly or yearly
• Considerable augmentation by BoM required
The Australian Hydrological Geospatial
Fabric (aka ‘the geofabric’)
A spatial representation of most of Australia’s
hydrofeatures and their connectivity
•Rivers, Lakes, Wetlands, Reservoirs
•Catchment, aquifer and management area
boundaries
•Water monitoring points
•Diversions, off-takes, return points
•Arranged in a network topology
The National Water Account.
Questions: System status (Stocks and flows)
For any reporting unit (system)….
• How did the stocks of water change?
• How much was allocated and delivered?
• How much water was traded?
• What was the consumptive/environment split?
• How much was lost?
• How did entitlement security change?
The National Water Account.
Questions: Information trustworthiness
For a report prepared by any entity …
• How can we be sure the information is correct
and comparable to other reports?
• What uncertainties are inherent in the report?
• What contextual issues are relevant?
– climate
– demand
– management (restrictions, allocations)
Water Accounting Definition of Terms.
Water Assets
• Water or rights or other claims to water, which
the reporting entity holds or has management
responsibilities for and from which stakeholders
derive future benefits, e.g. stores in dams or
rivers if the reporting entity is a catchment;
allocation if the reporting entity is a water user
Water Liabilities
• A present obligation of the water reporting entity,
the discharge of which is expected to result in a
decrease in their water assets, e.g. announced
allocation if the reporting entity is a catchment
Contents of the National Water Account.
Statement of
Changes
in
Statement
of
Contextual
Water Assets
Water
Statement
Statement of
andAssets
Disclosure
Water andPhysical
Accountability
Flows
Notes
Assurance
Liabilities
Liabilities
Statement
Statement
Possible Reporting Entities.
Nation
State
Catchment
Priority
Areas
Planning
Areas
Supply Scheme
Scaling the National Water Account.
National
Water Account
Consolidated up
Cascading down
Sub-national
Water Accounts
Sub-sub-national
Water Accounts
Governance and Coordination.
Advice
Governance
Actions
Publication of
National Water
Account
Water Accounting
Standards Board
Bureau of
Meteorology
Preparation of subnational accounts
National Water
Account Committee
Publication of
National Water
Accounting
Standards
Water Use
Estimation Advisory
Group
Challenges and opportunities.
• Getting the job done!
• Links to other accounts
– water in the economy
– environmental accounts
• Data standards for interoperability
• Data mining techniques
• Data survey methods
Contacts for the Bureau’s Water Division.
Rob Vertessy (Division Head)
r.vertessy@bom.gov.au
02 6232 3501
Peter Gigliotti (IT Development)
p.gigliotti@bom.gov.au
03 9669 4255
Tony Boston (Data Management)
t.boston@bom.gov.au
02 6232 3503
Louise Minty (Water Accounting and Assessment)
l.minty@bom.gov.au
03 9669 4542
Bruce Stewart (Hydrologic Forecasting)
b.stewart@bom.gov.au
03 8638 8203