CHANGES TO THIS EDITION
Content
The core content of previous editions of the Water Account Australia, the physical supply and use tables found in Chapter 2, remain virtually unchanged (the exceptions are noted below). However, added are the monetary supply and use tables, which have twice previously been published separately as experimental estimates. The joint publication of the physical and monetary supply use tables enables a range of comparisons not previously available (see Tables 1.5 and 1.6).
The chapters providing data and commentary on the mining, manufacturing and electricity generating industries have been removed along with the chapters on households, water access entitlements, allocations, trading and water stocks. The data on water storage in large dams previously published in this publication can now be found on the BoM website (http://water.bom.gov.au/waterstorage/awris/index.html). Information on entitlements, allocations and trading are now also being compiled by the BoM as part of the National Water Account.
Additional data on household water use can be found in Australia's Environment: People's Views and Practices March 2007 (ABS cat. no. 4602.0) and 2010 (ABS cat. no. 4602.0.55.003). This includes information on the number of households with rainwater tanks and water conservation practices among other topics.
As with the previous publication of the Water Account Australia, additional data will be progressively added to the ABS website. These data will include information on the Murray-Darling Basin as well as the construction of time series of water supply and use for 2000-01 to 2008-09. At present there are data for 1993-94 to 1996-97, 2000-01 and 2004-05.
Revisions to previously published results
Increased ABS survey resources, improved business reporting and greater access to State, Territory and Australian government data have led to improvements in data quality for the 2008-09 Water Account Australia. These data improvements have enabled a greater understanding of water supply and use relationships within the economy and the quality of data used in earlier releases of the Water Account Australia. Potential revisions to data released previously were identified during production of the statistics in this 2008-09 publication. Revisions to previous data have been delayed, pending further investigation of data, sources and methods. As such, the 2004-05 results presented in this publication are unchanged from the original 2004-05 publication. Revisions to estimates published in earlier editions of the Water Account Australia will be incorporated within a time series to be published in 2011 (see below under Future Plans).
Physical supply and use tables
Some changes to the physical supply and use tables have occurred. In particular, there has been some changes in the classification of industries owing to the introduction of ANZSIC 2006 and SNA 2008. For example, the Waste Collection, Treatment and Disposal industry has moved from Other industries and is now shown separately.
Agriculture is now presented in a strict industry view in the main physical supply and use tables of Chapter 2 while the Agriculture chapter contains the previously shown information of water use by activity. The presentation in the supply and use tables means that the Agriculture industry data in the Water Account Australia can be directly compared to the data in the SNA as is done in Table 1.2 (water consumption and Industry Value Added by industry).
A change in accounting treatment has been applied to a water provider in New South Wales in 2008-09. This change has caused an increase in the volume of water categorised as distributed water use in New South Wales in 2008-09 from 1,619 GL to 3,508 GL. This additional volume accounts for 54% of total distributed water use in New South Wales in 2008-09. The new treatment has been implemented in light of new information and increased understanding of regulatory and supply arrangements. The treatment has not been applied to the 2004-05 published results at this time, however a revision will be incorporated within the a time series from 2000-01 to 2008-09 to be published in 2011.
Some unusual events have also resulted in the application of uncommon treatments. For example an unplanned release of water was used to dilute polluted water to an acceptable concentration for release into the environment. In this the overflow was classified as a supply and use of distributed water but was also classified to be a part of in-stream use, so does not show up in consumption. This treatment is in accordance with definitions of in-stream use which specifically mention the dilution of waste.
Methods
A revised methodology for calculating the Gross Value of Irrigated Agricultural Production (GVIAP) has been implemented in the Water Account Australia 2008-09, following an internal methodological review in 2008. GVIAP refers to the gross value of agricultural commodities that are produced with the assistance of irrigation. Findings from the methodological review indicated that previous methods led to an underestimation of GVIAP. The information paper Methods of estimating the Gross Value of Irrigated Agricultural Production (ABS cat. no. 4610.0.55.006) discussed the review process and proposed an improved methodology for producing GVIAP estimates.
The extent of the underestimation of GVIAP based on the previous methodology varies by agricultural commodity. Users are directed to Experimental Estimates of the Gross Value of Irrigated Agricultural Production 2000-01 to 2008-09 (ABS cat. no. 4610.0.55.008) for revised estimates and discussion on the impact of the revised methodology. The estimates presented in the 2008-09 Water Account Australia are based on the improved methodology.
Other methods used in the Water Account Australia 2008-09 have remained largely unchanged since the last edition.
Terminology
Every endeavour has been made to ensure the terminology used in the 2008-09 Water Account Australia is consistent with definitions found in the 2004-05 Water Account Australia and those used by Commonwealth, State and Territory water authorities. ABS continues to use the term "Distributed water" to reflect the terminology of SEEA-Water (UN 2006). Distributed water includes potable water, non-potable water and raw water (see Glossary).
Water quality
The ABS did not collect information relating to the quality of distributed water in either the 2004-05 or the 2008-09 publications of the Water Account Australia. The 2004-05 publication presented information on discharges of water to the environment by treatment level, however these data were not collected by the ABS in 2008-09. Ideally, the supply and use tables would include information on the quality of water used in the economy as well as the quality of the water returned to the environment.
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