Australian Bureau of Statistics
Celebrating the International Year of Statistics 2013

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WATER SUPPLY INDUSTRY
 
In 2009–10, water providers in Australia supplied 9,405 GL of distributed water, a 3% decrease from 2008–09. Of this, 9,117 GL (97%) was supplied by the Water supply industry. Collectively, other industries such as Mining, Manufacturing, and Electricity and gas supply supplied 288 GL (or 3%) of all distributed water in 2009–10.
 

WATER SUPPLY, by type of water— 2009–10
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.
	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML
Self-extracted(a)	12 617 577	5 685 832	4 404 492	1 069 362	3 510 442	36 559 747	179 754	49 102	64 076 308
Distributed	3 446 431	2 387 223	2 071 235	379 676	714 855	295 526	62 579	47 817	9 405 342
Reuse	126 701	97 748	61 273	32 042	17 488	6 483	1 233	31 019	373 987
(a) Total water self-extracted by all industries.

 

DISTRIBUTED WATER SUPPLY, by industry— 2009–10
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.
	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML
Water supply industry(a)	3 391 427	2 384 859	1 990 663	378 738	704 897	160 173	58 870	47 817	9 117 444
Other industries(b)	55 004	2 364	80 572	938	9 958	135 353	3 709	-	287 898
Total	3 446 431	2 387 223	2 071 235	379 676	714 855	295 526	62 579	47 817	9 405 342
(a) Includes sewerage and drainage services.
(b) Other industries include Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity and gas supply industries.

 
Of the total volume of water extracted from the environment in Australia in 2009–10, only 15% was distributed to users for consumptive purposes. The remainder was mostly in-stream use for hydro-electricity generation. The proportion of distributed water varied between States and Territories, from less than 1% in Tasmania (where a very high proportion of water extracted is for hydro-electricity) to 97% in the Australian Capital Territory.
 
In 2009–10, 3,646 GL, or 39% of the distributed water in Australia, was supplied to the Agriculture industry and over a quarter (2,445 GL or 26%) was consumed by the Water supply industry as part of their operations. Households used 18% (1,667 GL) of the total water distributed while other industries (i.e. Mining, Manufacturing, etc.) used 8%.

USE OF DISTRIBUTED WATER(a), by industry— 2009–10
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.
	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML
Agriculture	1213 159	1 161 164	1 002 336	135 745	112 237	21 286	497	91	3 646 514
Forestry and fishing(b)	523	828	2 089	285	72 406	491	9	-	76 631
Mining	9 967	1 647	38 356	746	17 438	14	20	4	69 530
Manufacturing	74 019	89 474	125 246	20 521	12 500	8 969	525	317	331 571
Electricity and gas supply(c)(d)	99 412	64 616	78 518	1 156	1 931	133 970	-	-	379 604
Water supply	1 255 084	580 834	306 016	49 250	169 095	64 387	10 493	10 023	2 445 182
Other industries (e)	269 613	165 777	187 256	53 203	75 742	7 611	20 160	9 773	789 136
Household	524 655	322 883	330 078	118 770	253 507	58 799	30 875	27 609	1 667 175
Total	3 446 431	2 387 223	2 071 235	379 676	714 855	295 526	62 579	47 817	9 405 342
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Includes distributed water supplied by major, non-major urban, minor urban, irrigation and other water providers.
(b) Includes services to agriculture; hunting & trapping.
(c) Includes sewerage and drainage services.
(d) Includes water losses and water supplied to the environment.
(e) Includes mainly services (e.g. Agriculture, forestry and fishing support services, Waste collection, treatment and disposal services) and administrative industries.

ORIGIN OF DISTRIBUTED WATER(a)— 2009–10
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.
	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML	ML
Surface water	3 339 430	2 352 065	1 950 031	363 122	498 491	159 958	35 878	47 817	8 726 840
Groundwater	51 997	32 794	16 398	15 545	173 366	215	22 992	-	313 307
Desalinated water(b)	19 952	-	24 234	71	33 040	-	-	-	77 297
Total	3 391 427	2 384 859	1 990 663	378 738	704 897	160 173	58 870	47 817	9 117 444
(a) Water supply, sewerage and drainage industry only, excludes water provided by other industries.
(b) Includes sea water only.

 
The percentage of distributed water obtained via desalination is relatively low in Australia (less than one percent). About 43% of the total desalinated water in Australia was produced in Western Australia (33 GL), with smaller volumes produced in Queensland (24 GL), New South Wales (20 GL) and South Australia (71 ML).
 
A new desalination plant in New South Wales became operational in January 2010 but the data for this plant were not included in the 2009–10 Water Account Australia estimates - the data from this plant will be included in the 2010–11 Water Account Australia.

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