Water Account, Australia methodology

Latest release

Reference period

2024-25 financial year

Released

12/11/2026

Next release Unknown

Release date and time

12/11/2026 11:30am AEDT

Overview

Scope

The Water Account, Australia (WAA) includes:

The supply, use and consumption of water within the Australian economy.
Data compiled in physical terms (ML) and monetary terms ($m) for supply and use.

Geography

Data is available for the following geographies:

National
State and territory

Source

Statistics are compiled from a range of administrative and survey sources including:

Water supply and sewerage services collection
Energy and water survey
Bureau of Meteorology
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

Collection method

Data is collected from surveys and administrative data.
Some data are modelled by the ABS where administrative and survey data are unavailable.

Concepts, sources and methods

The WAA is an environmental-economic account produced in accordance with the United Nations' System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) and the SEEA-Water frameworks.

History of changes

Experimental irrigation estimates introduced in 2022–23, replacing survey-based agricultural estimates with a satellite methodology.
Minor revisions have been applied across the time series due to updated source data and methodological improvements.

Introduction

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Water Account, Australia (WAA) provides information on Australia's water resources and their use across the economy. It is compiled in accordance with the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) Central Framework and SEEA-Water, which link environmental and economic information.

Unlike traditional water statistics, the WAA brings together information on water extraction, supply, use, consumption and economic activity within a single accounting framework. This enables analysis of how water is sourced, supplied and used by industries and households, and how water contributes to economic production.

The WAA presents information on water supply, use and consumption through:

Physical supply and use tables, which record flows of water between the environment and the economy, including water extraction, distributed and reuse water, and return flows to the environment.
Monetary supply and use tables, which record the value of water-related transactions, including the supply and use of distributed and reuse water, and sewerage, drainage and wastewater services.

Concepts

Self-extracted water (extraction of water from the environment)

Refers to the movement of water from the environment into the economy, either permanently or temporarily. SEEA identifies the environment as the supplier and the industry/household as the user (SEEA-Water, S 3.6). Extracted water can be further classified into three main sources:

Surface water: water on the surface of continents such as in a river, lake, or wetland
Groundwater: water which collects in porous layers of underground formations known as aquifers
Sea water for desalination: saline water extracted from the marine environment and used to produce fresh water through desalination.

Distributed water

Refers to water flows from one user (or supplier) to another user after extraction. This includes the supply and use of potable and non-potable water from one economic unit to another (SEEA-Water, 2012 S 3.31). In the WAA, distribution losses are recorded as water use by the industry supplying the water (usually the Water supply, sewerage and drainage services (WSSDS) industry).

Bulk water

Water transferred/delivered from one water supplier/provider to another water supplier/provider. This distinction is required to ensure the same volume of water is not counted twice (in the physical supply and use tables) as the water moves through the economy; however, these exchanges are valued in the monetary tables.

Wastewater

Represents water that has been used by an economic unit or household, and then transferred between economic units. The industry collecting wastewater is a “user” in the physical supply and use tables, while in the monetary tables that industry is a “supplier” of sewerage and wastewater services (SEEA-Water S 3.9). The most commonly understood form of wastewater is sewage; however, non-sewage wastewater products are also included (SEEA-Water, 2012, S 3.12). Stormwater and drainage water are not currently included in the supply and use tables in the WAA, as much of this is simply redirected into nearby water systems. However, in Australia, there is some infiltration of stormwater into sewerage systems in many regions, so naturally some stormwater is included in the wastewater estimates.

Reuse water

Wastewater delivered to a user for further use, with or without prior treatment. Represents the transformation of wastewater into another economic product that is distributed throughout the economy (SEEA-Water, 2012, S 3.12). In the WAA this includes the transformation of stormwater and drainage water. Recycling within industrial sites (also known as “on-site recycling") is excluded.

Return flows

Represents the flows of water from industries and households to the environment. This excludes flows of water to wastewater treatment facilities but includes flows of water from treatment facilities directly to the environment. The SEEA records return flows as use by the environment (SEEA-Water, 2012, S 3.16).

Water use

Water intake by an economic unit, or the economy. Water use is the sum of the amount of water extracted from the environment (including surface water, groundwater and sea water for desalination) and water use within the economy (i.e. water received from other economic units as distributed water, reuse water and wastewater). Note that this differs from the definition of water consumption in that it is a gross measure, rather than netting out the volumes of return flows of water to the environment, wastewater supply and water supplied to other users. Note that the direct use of precipitation on to land, which leads to the use of the water held in soil by plants (e.g. rainfed agriculture), is outside of the scope of this publication and is not included. In simple terms, water use measures all water entering economic activity.

In the physical supply and use tables (Tables 2 to 10 in the Data downloads section), water use is presented in column O and is equal to the sum of the use of self-extracted water (column J), distributed water (column K), wastewater collection (column L) and reuse water (column M).

Water supply

Water leaving/flowing out from an economic unit. Water supply is the sum of water supply to other economic units (distributed water, reuse water and wastewater) and water supply to the environment (return flows).

Water consumption

The amount of water that is extracted from the environment by the economy (industries and households) for use, which is not distributed to other economic units nor returned to an inland water resource (e.g. river, dam, lake, creek), because during use it has been incorporated into products, evaporated, transpired by plants, or consumed by households or livestock. It may include losses due to evaporation occurring in distribution and apparent losses due to illegal tapping as well as malfunctioning metering. Note that this differs from the definition of water use (a gross measure) in that it is a net measure, netting out the volumes of water in return flows, wastewater supply and water supplied to other users. In simple terms, water consumption measures water that is not returned to inland water resources after use.

In the physical supply and use tables (Tables 2 to 10 in the Data downloads section), water consumption is presented in column P and is equal to water use (see above) minus water supply (the sum of the supply of distributed water (column C), wastewater (column D), reuse water (column E) and return flows to the environment (column F)).

Industry classification

The WAA uses the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) for its industry classification. The ANZSIC is implemented for all ABS industry-classified statistics and is a fundamentally important reference for organisations wishing to interpret these statistics or to compile their own statistics on a comparable basis.

Households’ expenditure

In the monetary account, this refers to final consumption expenditure by households, or expenditure incurred by resident households on the consumption of water and related services (including sewerage services).

Social benefits paid in kind

Social benefits paid in kind consist of goods and services provided to households by government and private, non-market producers (non-profit institutions serving households, or NPISHs), either free or at prices that are not economically significant (SNA, 2008, S 8.141).

Taxes

Compulsory, unrequited payments, in cash or in kind, made by institutional units to government units (SNA, 2008, S 7.71).

Subsidies

Current unrequited payments that government units, including non-resident government units, make to enterprises on the basis of the levels of their production activities or quantities or values of the goods or services that they produce (SNA, 2008, S 7.98).

Exports

Exports of goods and services consist of sales, barter, or gifts or grants, of goods and services from residents to non-residents (SNA 1993, S 14.88).

Imports

Imports of goods and services consist of sales, barter, or gifts or grants, of goods and services from non-residents to residents (SNA 1993, S 14.88).

Data sources

Water supply and sewerage services (WSSS) collection

Energy and Water Survey (EWS)

Rural Environment and Agricultural Commodities Survey (REACS) and Agricultural Census

Water Use on Australian Farms (WUOAF)

CSIRO evapotranspiration irrigation estimates

Australian Agriculture: Livestock water use

Bureau of Meteorology

Australian National Accounts: State and Territory accounts

Australian Demographic Statistics

Methods

The methods used to compile the data in the WAA have been split into four broad groups that align with the data cubes published in this account. All data items in the WSSDS industry highlights data cube were sourced directly from the WSSS collection with no notable methodological adjustments.

Methods - Physical supply and use of water

Physical supply of water

The physical supply and use tables are compiled using several ABS data sources. The Water supply and sewerage services (WSSS) collection is the main source and provides broad coverage of Australia's water providers. The Environment and Water Survey (EWS), Energy, Water and Environment Survey (EWES) and Economic Indicators Survey (EIS) provide additional information for industries outside the Water supply, sewerage and drainage services (WSSDS) industry. For Agriculture, forestry and fishing, data were sourced from the Agricultural Census and agricultural surveys such as the Rural Environment and Agricultural Commodities Survey (REACS) up to 2021–22.

The main methods used for each water supply category are outlined below.

Self-extracted water

Total self-extracted water use is used to estimate water supplied from the environment to the economy.

Distributed and reuse water

Most distributed and reuse water is supplied by the Water supply, sewerage and drainage services industry and is sourced from the WSSS collection. EWS, EWES and EIS data are used to estimate water supplied by other providers and distribute these volumes across states and territories.

Wastewater

The WAA does not currently estimate wastewater supplied to sewerage systems by individual industries and households. This gap may be addressed in future editions. For now, total wastewater supply is set equal to total wastewater received by subdivision 28, using data from the WSSS collection.

Return flows

Return flow estimates are sourced from the WSSS collection and EWS/EWES surveys. Data are not currently available for return flows from Agriculture, forestry and fishing, or wastewater flows from households and other industries. These gaps may be addressed in future editions. For the Hydroelectricity generation industry, return flows are assumed to equal self-extracted surface water.

For this edition, water discharged to the sea, including sea water used for cooling, and discharges to land are excluded from return flows in the Physical Supply and Use Tables. As these flows do not return to inland freshwater systems, they are treated as consumptive use under SEEA-Water. This improves consistency and ensures water consumption estimates reflect water retained within inland freshwater systems.

Physical use of water

Self-extracted water

Data on self-extracted water use are sourced from the WSSS, EWS, EWES, EIS and REACS surveys (REACS was discontinued after 2021–22). For 2022–23 and 2023–24, agricultural irrigation water use is estimated using a CSIRO satellite-based evapotranspiration model rather than ABS survey data. Water use for hydroelectricity generation is estimated using data provided by hydroelectricity operators and National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) data.

Distributed and reuse water

Total distributed and reuse water is based on estimates from the WSSS, EWS, EWES and EIS collections. WSSS provides data for ANZSIC divisions A, B, C and D, while water supplied to other industries is estimated using EWS, EWES and EIS data. Water use by the Water supply, sewerage and drainage services industry is sourced from the WSSS collection and includes distribution losses.

Wastewater

All wastewater collection and use is currently assigned to the Water supply, sewerage and drainage services industry and is sourced from the WSSS collection. Although some other industries may treat small volumes of wastewater, these activities do not involve transfers between institutional units and are therefore outside the scope of the account.

Return flows

Return flows represent water discharged from the economy back to the environment. Following SEEA-Water conventions, all return flows are attributed to the environment. Estimates are sourced from the WSSS, EWS, EWES and EIS collections.

Water use by industry

Water use is the sum of self-extracted water, distributed water, reuse water and wastewater.

Water consumption by industry

Water consumption is calculated as water use minus the supply of distributed water, wastewater, reuse water and return flows. Estimates of wastewater supplied by industries and households are not currently available because wastewater providers can generally report total wastewater collected but cannot reliably identify its source. As a result, water consumption estimates for industries and households are likely to be overstated. This limitation will be addressed in future editions if reliable wastewater estimates become available.

Note

Environmental flows are outside the scope of this edition of the WAA. Environmental flows include water required to maintain environmental conditions under legislation or water allocations held for environmental purposes.

Methods - Agricultural water use (experimental estimates)

Background

Agricultural water use estimates were historically derived from the ABS Agricultural Census and REACS. Following the discontinuation of these collections as part of the ABS Agriculture Statistics Modernisation Program, alternative approaches have been adopted to maintain agricultural water use statistics.

Different methodologies have been used across the series. Consequently, comparisons between 2021–22 and 2022–23, and between 2023–24 and 2024–25, should be interpreted with caution.

Agricultural water use: 2021–22 and earlier

For 2021–22 and earlier years, total agricultural water use estimates were derived from the Agricultural Census and REACS. These collections formed the primary source of information for estimating agricultural water use.

Agricultural self-extracted water was estimated as the difference between total agricultural water use and agricultural distributed and reuse water reported by WSSS.

Agricultural irrigation: 2022–23 and 2023–24

For 2022–23 and 2023–24, irrigation water use was estimated using a satellite-based evapotranspiration model developed by CSIRO. The model was introduced to replace discontinued agricultural survey data and provides irrigation water use estimates that are fit for purpose at state, territory and national levels.

Further information on the methodology and validation of these estimates is available in the CSIRO methods for developing irrigated agricultural water supply and use paper and is also described in the article From surveys to satellites.

Agricultural irrigation: 2024–25

For 2024–25, the CSIRO evapotranspiration estimates were not available at the time of compilation. An interim bridging methodology was developed to estimate agricultural irrigation water use.

The bridging methodology uses a linear regression model based on historical relationships between irrigation water use published in WUOAF and agricultural distributed and reuse water reported in WSSS. Distributed and reuse water supplied to agriculture are strongly correlated with irrigation demand and are available annually from the WSSS collection. These indicators provide a useful basis for estimating year-to-year movements in irrigation water use and help maintain a link between agricultural estimates and observed water supplied by irrigation providers. State effects were included to account for differences in irrigation practices and water use patterns.

The bridging model is:

$\text{WUOAF irrigated water use} = f\left(\text{WSSS distributed and reuse water, State effects}\right)$

Model performance was assessed using leave-one-year-out cross-validation, where each reference year was excluded in turn and predicted using a model fitted to the remaining years. This process provided an indication of how well the methodology performs when estimating irrigation water use for a year where no irrigation estimate is available. It was evaluated using mean absolute percent error (MAPE), root mean squared error (RMSE) and Pearson correlation.

Historical WUOAF estimates for New South Wales and Victoria do not align closely with corresponding WSSS estimates due to differences in coverage and reporting. As a result, modelled annual movements for these states were applied to the 2023–24 irrigation estimates to derive 2024–25 values.

Bridging model accuracy

State-level validation results indicated varying model performance across jurisdictions:

New South Wales: MAPE 11.0%, correlation 0.92
Victoria: MAPE 13.2%, correlation 0.73
Queensland: MAPE 12.6%, correlation 0.52
South Australia: MAPE 9.8%, correlation 0.34
Western Australia: MAPE 9.0%, correlation 0.47
Tasmania: MAPE 10.4%, correlation 0.95

The Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory were excluded due to high prediction errors and a limited number of historical observations. Their exclusion is not expected to materially affect the Australian estimate, as together they accounted for less than 1% of total Australian agricultural water use in 2023–24.

Livestock drinking water methodology

Livestock drinking water is estimated separately from irrigation water use and then added to derive total agricultural water use.

Livestock drinking water estimates are calculated by multiplying livestock numbers by daily water drinking rates for each animal type.

For 2022–23 onwards:

Cattle and sheep estimates are sourced from Australian Agriculture: Livestock.
Pig numbers are estimated by applying historical relationships between pig slaughter statistics and pig population estimates using data from Livestock products, Australia and Agricultural commodities, Australia.
Poultry and other minor livestock estimates have been carried forward from 2021–22, as they contribute only a small proportion of total livestock drinking water.

Processing steps

Estimate irrigation water use using the bridging model.
Use the direct bridging estimate for Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania.
For New South Wales and Victoria, apply the modelled annual movement to the 2023–24 irrigation estimates.
Add livestock drinking water estimates to irrigation water use to derive total agricultural water use.
Estimate agricultural self-extracted water as the difference between total agricultural water use and WSSS distributed and reuse water.

Considerations

Agricultural water use estimates for 2022–23 onwards are experimental.
Methodological changes result in breaks in the time series between 2021–22 and 2022–23, and between 2023–24 and 2024–25. Comparisons across these periods should be interpreted with caution.
Current methodologies estimate total agricultural water use only and do not provide a split between surface water and groundwater.
Future work will investigate methods to produce surface water and groundwater splits and further improve agricultural water use estimates.

Methods - Monetary supply and use of water

The monetary supply and use tables are presented at current purchasers’ prices. They generally follow the same structure as the physical supply and use tables, with several key differences:

Self-extracted water and return flows are not currently valued because they generally do not incur volumetric charges and suitable data are not available. Most self-extracted water that is subject to a volumetric charge is included under distributed water in both the physical and monetary tables.
Bulk water transactions between water suppliers are included in the monetary tables. As these transactions occur within the same industry, the related water flows are excluded from the physical tables to avoid double counting.
The monetary tables include additional information from the Australian National Accounts: Input-Output Tables, such as imports, exports, taxes, subsidies and social benefits paid in kind.
Supply and use balancing is undertaken to reconcile differences between total supply and total use arising from different data sources and compilation methods.

Monetary supply of water

Self-extracted water: self-extracted water supply is currently not valued in the account.

Distributed water: revenue estimates for the Water supply, sewerage and drainage services (WSSDS) industry are the sum of retail revenue received for distributed (potable and non-potable) water. Estimates for industries other than WSSDS industry utilise household and industry derived unit values (prices) and the physical volume of distributed water supplied by these industries from the physical supply and use tables.

Reuse water: revenue estimates for the WSSDS industry are the sum of retail revenue received for reuse water. Estimates for industries other than the WSSDS utilise industry and household derived unit values (prices) and the physical volume of reuse water supplied by these industries from the physical and supply and use tables.

Bulk water, distributed: supply is the sum of the associated revenue from the WSSS collection. All revenue is allocated to the WSSDS industry.

Bulk water, reuse: supply is the sum of the associated revenue from the WSSS collection. All revenue is allocated to the WSSDS industry.

Sewerage wastewater: supply is set by total revenue received from sewerage charges and trade waste charges, as reported in the WSSS collection.

Return flows: currently not valued in the account.

Monetary use of water

Self-extracted water: currently not valued in the account.

Distributed water use for the Mining, Manufacturing, Electricity, Gas and Waste services industries are derived by multiplying the price of water paid by the physical use. The price is derived from data collected on the EWS, EWES and EIS surveys, by dividing expenditure on water by the volume of water used.

Agricultural distributed water expenditure was calculated using data from the WSSS collection. An agricultural unit price was derived by dividing total revenue received for distributed water by the total volume of distributed water, at a state/territory level, for irrigation units. These unit prices were multiplied by the agricultural use of distributed water estimates from the physical supply and use tables.

Household estimates are derived by multiplying a unit price by physical use. The unit price is calculated using the Bureau of Meteorology’s National Performance Reports (NPR) data via the following methodology:

The ‘Typical residential bill: water supply’ (data item P3, which includes fixed charges, usage charges and special levies) was multiplied by ‘Number of connected residential properties: water supply’ (data item C2) to derive total residential expenditure at a utility level.
Total residential expenditure was then divided by ‘Total volume of water supplied to residential customers’ (data item W8) to derive a unit price ($ per kL) per utility.
For all utilities without a unit price available using the above processes, the NPR weighted average unit price by state/territory was used; these unit prices were then multiplied by the total distributed water supply to residential customers for each utility.
These were then aggregated to produce state/territory and national level household distributed water expenditure estimates.
Note that in some cases data collected on the WSSS collection was used in preference to NPR data due to data quality issues.

Reuse water: reuse water follows the same methodology as distributed water use.

Bulk water, distributed: expenditure on distributed bulk water mirrors the supply revenue values.

Bulk water, reuse: expenditure on reuse bulk water mirrors the supply revenue values.

Sewerage and drainage services: the EWS, EWES and EIS surveys provide estimates for the Mining, Manufacturing, Electricity, Gas and Waste services industries. For Agriculture, forestry and fishing and Other industries (ANZSIC Divisions E-S) estimates were available in the 2014–15 EWES and modelled forward using a Gross Value Added index by industry by state/territory. The gap between total supply and total industry use is allocated as household use.

Balancing monetary supply and use of water

Distributed water: total supply is used as the control total, with differences between supply and use allocated to use by Other industries (ANZSIC divisions E-S).

Reuse water: total supply is used as the control total. A weighted balancing approach was used to address discrepancies between the supply control total and use total, with the difference allocated between industries/households in the same proportions as reuse water use before balancing.

Bulk water, distributed: no balancing required.

Bulk water, reuse: no balancing required.

Sewerage and drainage services: total supply less total industry use is allocated to households' water use.

Methods - Summary Table

The summary tables aim to highlight key indicators of the WAA in a time series, and provide other relevant information linked with data from the supply and use tables. These indicators aim to enhance the ability of users to rapidly synthesise key stories. The data items presented in these tables, and not represented in the supply and use methodology described above, are described below:

Total water use by industry: sum of self-extracted water, distributed water and reuse water use by industries.
Total water use by industry (less Electricity, gas, water and waste services): sum of total self-extracted water, distributed water and reuse water use by industries, less the sum of total self-extracted water, distributed water and reuse water by the Electricity, gas, water and waste services industries. Note that a majority of the water used by these industries is either supplied to other users or returned to the environment (e.g. hydroelectricity water use).
Total water use by households: sum of total distributed water and reuse water for households (note that self-extracted water use by households, including rainwater tanks and bores, is excluded from this edition of the WAA).
Total water use: sum of self-extracted water, distributed water and reuse water use.
Total water use less electricity and gas: sum of total self-extracted water, distributed water and reuse water use, less the sum of total self-extracted water, distributed water and reuse water by the Electricity, gas, water and waste services industries.
Gross Value Added (GVA): Chain volume measures; sourced from Australian National Accounts: State Accounts.
Estimated population as of 30 June: sourced from Australian Demographic Statistics.
Estimated number of households at 30 June: based on a combination of latest estimated resident population; proportion of people living in private dwellings, from Censuses; average household sizes from Censuses; Census household counts; and Post Enumeration Survey household estimates.
Total water use (less Electricity, gas, water and waste services) per capita: sum of total self-extracted water, distributed water and reuse water use, less the sum of total self-extracted water, distributed water and reuse water by the Electricity, gas, water and waste services industries divided by the estimated residential population.
Total household water use per household: total water use by households (excluding self-extracted water) divided by the number of households.
Total water consumption: total self-extracted water use less return flows.
Water intensity: total water consumption (ML) divided by industry Gross Value Added ($ million).
Water productivity: industry Gross Value Added ($ million) divided by total water consumption (ML).
Expenditure per kL of water used by industry, distributed: expenditure on distributed water by industry, divided by total kL of distributed water used by industry.
Expenditure per kL of water used by households, distributed: expenditure on distributed water by households, divided by total kL of distributed water used by households.
Total expenditure by industry and households per capita, distributed: total expenditure on distributed water by industry and households, divided by the estimated residential population.
Total household expenditure per household: total expenditure on distributed water by households, divided by households.
Area-averaged rainfall: data sourced from Bureau of Meteorology, Climate change – trends and extremes
Accessible volume in major dam storages as at 30 June: data sourced from Bureau of Meteorology, Water Storage Dashboard

Data gaps and future development priorities

Current data sources do not support all components of Australia's water system. Potential areas to improve the supply and use information in this release include:

Household self-extracted water use, including rainwater tanks and private bores.
Agricultural water statistics, including:
- surface and groundwater source breakdowns
- return flows (e.g. irrigation run-off)
- crop-level estimates of water use
- Gross Value of Irrigated Agricultural Production (GVIAP)
- small-area estimates.
Wastewater supply, disaggregated by industry and households (e.g. wastewater returned to sewerage systems).
Additional industry water estimates, including self-extracted water use for aquaculture and forestry.
State monetary accounts.
Environmental and cultural water.
Soil water use.

The Water Account continues to evolve as new data sources, methods and environmental-economic accounting standards become available.

Related information

ANZSIC – Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification: Industry classification used to allocate water supply, use and consumption to industries in the Water Account.

Energy Account, Australia: Provides information on energy supply, use and consumption within the Australian economy using the SEEA framework. Complements the Water Account by supporting analysis of resource use and economic activity across environmental domains.

Methods for developing a national dataset for Australia’s ecosystem services: irrigated agricultural water supply and use (100 m resolution): 2001–02 to 2023–24 (Liu et al. 2025a): CSIRO’s technical documentation describing methods used to develop national irrigation water supply and use datasets at 100‑metre resolution.

National data for Australia’s ecosystem services: irrigated agricultural water supply and use (100 m resolution): 2001–02 to 2023–24 (Liu et al. 2025b): The CSIRO dataset underpinning evapotranspiration‑based irrigation water use estimates used in the Water Account.

National Ecosystem Accounts, experimental estimates: Presents measures of ecosystem extent, condition and ecosystem services for Australia using the SEEA‑EA framework, including water provisioning services that draw on concepts and data from the Water Account.

National Land Account, experimental estimates: Presents information on land use, land cover and changes in land assets across Australia using the SEEA framework. Supports integrated analysis of land, water and ecosystem interactions.

National Land Cover Account: Provides nationally consistent information on land cover and land cover change across Australia. The account supports analysis of landscape change and its relationship with water resources, ecosystems and economic activity.

National Performance Report – Urban Water Utilities: Annual report produced by the Bureau of Meteorology providing information on water utility performance, including water supply, wastewater, reuse water and household water prices. The report is used as a reference source for analysis and validation within the Water Account.

National Water Account (Bureau of Meteorology): Provides information on water availability, storages, extraction and water management for Australia's major water systems. Complements the ABS Water Account, Australia by focusing on water assets and availability rather than economic uses of water.

SEEA Central Framework: International statistical standard forming the conceptual basis of the Water Account’s physical and monetary flow tables.

SEEA‑Water: United Nations framework describing physical water flows between the environment and economy used to compile the Water Account.

Water Use on Australian Farms: Historical ABS collection describing irrigation water use by the Agriculture, forestry and fishing industry. Provides important context for understanding long-term agricultural water use estimates.

Abbreviations

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Glossary

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ANZSIC

The Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) is the standard of classification used in Australia and New Zealand for the collection, compilation, and publication of statistics by industry.

Aquifer

A geologic formation which is capable of holding water and through which water can percolate. Aquifers are capable of yielding quantities of groundwater for economic activities.

AWRA-L

The Australian Water Resources Assessment – Landscape model, developed by the Bureau of Meteorology to estimate water balance components such as soil moisture, runoff, and evapotranspiration across Australia.

Bulk water

Water supplied by a water provider/supplier/utility to another water provider/supplier/utility. Also known as "wholesale" water (as opposed to "retail" water).

Catchment

The area of land determined by topographic features, within which rainfall will contribute to run-off at a particular point. The catchment for a major river and its tributaries is usually referred to as a river basin.

Chain Volume Measures

Annually-reweighted chain Laspeyres volume indexes referenced to the current price values in a chosen reference year (i.e. the year when the quarterly chain volume measures sum to the current price annual values). Chain Laspeyres volume measures are compiled by linking together (compounding) movements in volumes, calculated using the average prices of the previous financial year, and applying the compounded movements to the current price estimates of the reference year.

Current Prices

Estimates are valued at the prices of the period to which the observation relates. For example, estimates for 2017–18 are valued using 2017–18 prices. This contrasts to chain volume measures where the prices used in valuation refer to the prices of the previous year.

CMRSET

A remote sensing algorithm developed by CSIRO to estimate actual evapotranspiration using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite data.

Distributed water

Water supplied to a user including through a natural (e.g. river) or non-natural network (e.g. piped or open channel), and where an economic transaction has occurred for the exchange of this water. The majority of distributed water is supplied by the Water supply, sewerage and drainage services industry (ANZSIC Division 28). The water supply component consists of units mainly engaged in storage, purification or distribution of water by pipeline or carrier. It may also include the operation of irrigation systems that supply water to a farm and the supply of steam and hot water. Distributed water can include potable, mains and raw water but does not include reuse or bulk water.

Economic unit

A unit (e.g. business or organisation) that engages in production and/or consumption activities.

Evaporation

The process by which liquid water is converted to water vapour and removed from a surface - such as a lake, soil, or wet vegetation - into the atmosphere.

Evapotranspiration

The part of the water cycle where water from vegetated areas is transferred to the atmosphere through transpiration and evaporation.

Exports

Exports of goods and services consist of sales, barter, or gifts or grants, of goods and services from residents to non-residents.

Gigalitre (GL)

One thousand million litres, or 1,000,000,000 litres. 1 Gigalitre = 1,000,000 cubic metres.

Gross Value

The gross value of commodities produced. It is the value placed on recorded production at the wholesale prices realised in the marketplace.

Gross water supply

Water supplied to other water providers and customers, plus losses, own use by water providers and environmental flows.

Groundwater

Water which collects in porous layers of underground formations known as aquifers.

Industry Gross Value Added (IGVA)

The value of an industry's output at basic prices, minus the value of goods and services consumed as inputs during the process of production. Basic prices valuation of output removes the distortion caused by variations in commodity taxes and subsidies across the output of individual industries.

Imports

Imports of goods and services consist of sales, barter, or gifts or grants, of goods and services from non-residents to residents.

Irrigation water

Water artificially applied to soils (i.e. does not include precipitation/rainfall).

Kilolitre (kL)

One thousand litres (1,000 litres). 1 kilolitre = 1 cubic metre.

Megalitre (ML)

One million litres (1,000,000 litres). 1 megalitre = 1,000 cubic metres.

Other industries

In the physical water supply and use tables, "Other industries" refers to the following list of industries, according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC):

Construction
Wholesale trade
Retail trade
Accommodation and food services
Transport, postal and warehousing
Information media and telecommunications
Financial and insurance services
Rental, hiring and real estate services
Professional, scientific and technical services
Administrative and support services
Public administration and safety
Education and training
Health care and social assistance
Arts and recreation services
Other services.

Other water provider

An organisation that supplies water, but whose main activity is in an industry other than the Water supply, sewerage and drainage services industry (e.g. Mining or Manufacturing).

Potable water

Water that is suitable for human consumption (i.e. drinking water).

Purchasers’ price

The amount paid by the purchaser, excluding any tax deductible by the purchaser, in order to take delivery of a unit of a good or service at the time and place required by the purchaser. The purchaser’s price of a good includes any transport charges paid separately by the purchaser to take delivery at the required time and place.

Raw water

Water extracted from the environment that has not been treated.

Retail water

Potable or non-potable water supplied by a water supplier to customers not classified as water suppliers.

Return flows

Return flows represent the flows of water from industries and households to the environment. This excludes flows of water from industries and households to wastewater treatment facilities but includes flows of water from treatment facilities directly to the environment. The SEEA records this as use by the environment.

Reuse water

Wastewater (including sewage) that is collected, on-supplied and used again by other businesses/households. It may have been treated to some extent. Reuse water is also known as recycled water or effluent re-use. Recycling within industrial sites (also known as “on-site recycling) is excluded.

Revenue - sewerage and wastewater services

Revenue from 'pay for use' and base rate charges (i.e. volumetric and fixed rates) for the provision of wastewater. It also includes revenue generated from trade waste charges.

Revenue - water supply

Revenue from the provision of water supply services to residential and non-residential properties. Also includes revenue generated from bulk supply or bulk sale of potable and non-potable/raw water, treated wastewater or reuse water and desalinated water.

Runoff

Water that flows over the land surface toward rivers, lakes, or other water bodies.

Sea water for desalination

Saline water extracted from the marine environment and used to produce fresh water through desalination.

Self-extracted water

Water extracted directly from the environment for use (including surface water, groundwater and other bodies) for the purpose of supplying to others (including other water suppliers) and/or for own use. It also includes water produced from salt water desalination.

Sewerage

Infrastructure (e.g. pipe and drains) used to transport sewage or domestic wastewater.

Social benefits paid in kind

Social transfers in kind consist of good and services provided to households by government and private, non-market producers free or at prices that are not economically significant.

Soil moisture

The amount of water contained in the soil, influencing plant growth and water availability.

Subsidies

Current unrequited payments that government units, including non-resident government units, make to enterprises based on the levels of their production activities or quantities or values of the goods or services that they produce.

Supply and Use framework

Physical water supply and use tables which provide information on the volumes of water extracted, supplied within the economy and discharged back into the environment by economic activity and households.

Surface water

Water on the surface of continents such as in a river, lake, wetland, ice or snow. This excludes sea water.

System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA)

A framework used to develop environmental accounts by integrating environmental information into an accounting framework. The primary manual is the SEEA – Central Framework (SEEA – CF) which provides the conceptual basis for describing the interrelationship between the natural environment and the economy.

System for Environmental-Economic Accounting – Water (SEEA – Water)

An elaboration of the SEEA framework which provides a conceptual framework for organising hydrological and economic information in a coherent and consistent framework. It is consistent with SEEA – CF.

System of National Accounts (SNA)

An international framework which can be used to develop a comprehensive, consistent and flexible set of macro-economic accounts. The latest edition is the 2008 SNA.

Taxes

Compulsory, unrequited payments, in cash or in kind, made by institutional units to government units.

Transpiration

The process by which water in plant tissues is released to the atmosphere, primarily through small openings in leaves called stomata.

Wastewater

Any water that has been used by an economic unit or household, and then transferred between economic units, usually for treatment. The most commonly understood form of wastewater is sewage; however, non-sewage wastewater products are also included (for example, untreated effluent and trade waste).

Water consumption

Water intensity and productivity

Water intensity is the ratio of physical flow to an economic aggregate (for example, ML/$m GVA) while water productivity represents the ratio of economic aggregate to physical flow (for example, $m GVA/ML). Water intensity is the inverse of water productivity.

Water losses

Water that enters a water distribution system but does not reach end users. Water losses include apparent losses (for example, meter inaccuracies and unauthorised consumption) and real losses (for example, seepage, leakage, evaporation from the supply system, bursts and overflows).

Water provider/supplier/utility

A business or organisation that provides a reticulated water supply, irrigation water, reuse/recycle water and/or bulk water supply service. Water providers may be government or private and often operate water storage, purification and supply services. They may also provide sewerage or drainage services. Commonly referred to as a water utility or water supplier.

Water supply

Water supply services

The provision of reticulated water supply (including desalinated water), irrigation water, recycled (reuse) water, bulk and/or retail water supply service.

$	dollar
$b	billion dollars
$m	million dollars
%	per cent
ABARES	Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences
ABS	Australian Bureau of Statistics
ACT	Australian Capital Territory
ANZSIC	Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (2006 edition)
ASGS	Australian Statistical Geography Standard
Aust.	Australia
AWRA-L	Australian Water Resources Assessment – Landscape model
CSIRO	Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
EIS	Environmental Indicators Survey
EVAO	Estimated Value of Agricultural Operations
EWES	Energy, Water and Environment Survey
EWS	Energy and Water Survey
GL	gigalitre
GV	Gross Value
GVA	Gross Value added
GVIAP	Gross Value of Irrigated Agricultural Production
IGVA	Industry Gross Value Added
kL	kilolitre
ML	megalitre
mm	millimetre
MODIS	Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
na	not available
no.	number
np	not available for publication
NSW	New South Wales
NT	Northern Territory
Qld	Queensland
REACS	Rural Environment and Agricultural Commodities Survey
SA	South Australia
SEEA	System of Environmental Economic Accounting
SEEA-Water	System of Environmental Economic Accounting for Water
SNA	System of National Accounts
Tas.	Tasmania
UN	United Nations
VACP	Value of Agricultural Commodities Produced
Vic.	Victoria
WA	Western Australia
WAA	Water Account, Australia
WUOAF	Water use on Australian farms
WSSDS	Water supply, sewerage and drainage services industry
WSSS	Water supply and sewerage services collection

APA

Water Account, Australia methodology

APA

Overview

Scope

Geography

Source

Collection method

Concepts, sources and methods

History of changes

Introduction

Concepts

Self-extracted water (extraction of water from the environment)

Distributed water

Bulk water

Wastewater

Reuse water

Return flows

Water use

Water supply

Water consumption

Industry classification

Households’ expenditure

Social benefits paid in kind

Taxes

Subsidies

Exports

Imports

Data sources

Water supply and sewerage services (WSSS) collection

Energy and Water Survey (EWS)

Rural Environment and Agricultural Commodities Survey (REACS) and Agricultural Census

Water Use on Australian Farms (WUOAF)

CSIRO evapotranspiration irrigation estimates

Australian Agriculture: Livestock water use

Australian Agriculture: Livestock

Livestock products

Agricultural Commodities, Australia

Bureau of Meteorology

National Performance Report (NPR)

Water Storage Dashboard

Climate change – trends and extremes

Australian National Accounts: State and Territory accounts

Australian Demographic Statistics

Methods

Methods - Physical supply and use of water

Physical supply of water

Self-extracted water

Distributed and reuse water

Wastewater

Return flows

Physical use of water

Self-extracted water

Distributed and reuse water

Wastewater

Return flows

Water use by industry

Water consumption by industry

Note

Methods - Agricultural water use (experimental estimates)

Background

Agricultural water use: 2021–22 and earlier

Agricultural irrigation: 2022–23 and 2023–24

Agricultural irrigation: 2024–25

Bridging model accuracy

Livestock drinking water methodology

Processing steps

Considerations

Methods - Monetary supply and use of water

Monetary supply of water

Monetary use of water

Balancing monetary supply and use of water

Methods - Summary Table

Data gaps and future development priorities

Related information

Abbreviations

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Glossary

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ANZSIC