Commonwealth environmental water holdings

How much is there?

The following table provides details of the Commonwealth environmental water holdings.

Holdings at 30 April 2013 *
*All figures are rounded to the nearest megalitre (ML)
River System Security Registered
entitlements 1,2,3,4(ML) 		Long Term Average Annual Yield (ML)5
Queensland
Border Rivers High - -
Medium 11,684 3,969
Unsupplemented 4,286 1,814
Condamine Balonne Unsupplemented 46,950 32,437
Moonie Unsupplemented 1,415 1,100
Nebine Unsupplemented 5,920 1,000
Warrego Unsupplemented 16,050 8,000
Total QLD High    
Medium 11,684 3,969
Unsupplemented 74,621 44,351
New South Wales
Barwon-Darling Unregulated 22,275 22,275
Border Rivers High    
General 269 108
Gwydir High 375 375
General 89,525 32,229
Supplementary 19,100 3,629
Lachlan High 733 733
General 86,923 36,508
Lower Darling High    
General 492 399
Macquarie/Cudgegong High    
General 111,443 46,806
Supplementary 1,888 397
Murray High 8,553 8,125
General 282,524 228,845
Supplementary 56 41
Groundwater 1,141 1,141
Unregulated 30 24
Murrumbidgee High 4,246 4,034
General 200,145 128,093
Conveyance 7,656 7,273
Supplementary 20,820 2,915
Namoi (upper) High    
General 105 81
Namoi (lower) High    
General 6,098 4,695
Warrego Unregulated 17,826 17,826
Total NSW High 13,907 13,267
General 777,524 477,762
Conveyance 7,656 7,273
Supplementary 41,864 6,981
Unregulated 40,131 40,125
Groundwater 1,141 1,141
Victoria
Broken High 117 111
Low 4 3
Campaspe High 6,547 6,219
Low 395 194
Goulburn High 204,551 194,291
Low 11,389 4,102
Loddon High 2,775 2,636
Low 527 142
Murray High 243,391 231,239
Low 11,765 3,002
Ovens High 70 67
Wimmera-Mallee High 28,000 22,568
Total Victoria High

485,451

457,130
Low 24,081 7,444
South Australia
Murray High 104,765 94,289
Total SA High 104,765 94,289
Total Murray-Darling Basin
  High 604,124 564,686
  General/Medium/Low 813,289 489,175
  Conveyance 7,656 7,273
  Supplementary 41,864 6,981
  Unsupplemented/Unregulated4 114,752 84,476
  Groundwater 1,141 1,141
GRAND TOTAL   1,582,826 1,153,732
 
Southern Connected Basin6
  High 574,799 540,805
  General/Low 507,238 364,776
  Conveyance 7,656 7,273
  Supplementary 20,876 2,956
TOTAL   1,110,569 915,811
Non-Southern Connected Basin
  High 29,325 23,881
  General/Medium/Low 306,051 124,399
  Supplementary 20,988 4,026
  Unregulated/Unsupplemented4 114,752 84,476
  Groundwater 1,141 1,141
TOTAL   472,257 237,922

Notes:

  1. Formal transfer of ownership to the Commonwealth takes place on registration of the entitlement by the relevant State water authority. The entitlement becomes part of the Commonwealth environmental water holdings at that time.
  2. Registration can occur a number of months after the exchange of contract, so the amount in the holdings differs from the volume of entitlements secured under contract through the Restoring the Balance in the Murray-Darling Basin program and the Sustainable Rural Water Use and Infrastructure program.
  3. Allocations of water against entitlements held in regulated systems are made periodically and will depend on factors including seasonal inflows and rules associated with water held in storages.
  4. Unsupplemented and unregulated entitlement figures represent the annual volumetric limit of water that may be available when licence conditions are met. Where the licence conditions specify the annual volumetric limit as a maximum volume of water that may be accessed in a multi-year period, the entitlement volume reported reflects the average annual volumetric limit available.
  5. All average annual yield figures in this table are calculated using SEWPaC's estimates of the long term average annual yield for each entitlement. It was advised in the Murray-Darling Basin Ministers' Communique of 4 November 2011 that these would be used to determine how much of the 'gap' between the Baseline Diversion Limit (BDL) and the Sustainable Diversion Limits (SDL) has been 'bridged' through purchase and infrastructure projects.
  6. Southern Connected Basin entitlements include Murrumbidgee, Murray, Lower Darling, Goulburn, Campaspe (excluding Coliban) and Loddon titles.