The Hon Dr Mike Kelly AM MP
Parliamentary Secretary for Water
Water availability in Northern Australia
Media release
21 September 2009
MK 10/2009
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The Parliamentary Secretary for Water, Dr Mike Kelly, today welcomed the release of the CSIRO Northern Australia Sustainable Yields study, saying it would be a valuable resource to inform decisions about the conservation and development of northern Australia's water resources.
In March 2008, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to extend the CSIRO work on sustainable yields and water availability that had been completed in the catchments of the Murray-Darling Basin to catchments of northern Australia, south-west Western Australia and Tasmania.
"From Broome in Western Australia to Cairns in Queensland, the Northern Australia Sustainable Yields (NASY) reports provide important information on current and likely future water availability in northern Australia.
"The NASY project, which was funded under the National Water Commission's Raising National Water Standards program, complements programs for water investigation, analysis and management being undertaken by state and territory governments, so that the results can be used in regional and statutory water management plans.
"The report is part of the Australian Governments' Northern Australia Water Futures Assessment (NAWFA), a five-year program to develop an enduring knowledge base to inform decisions about conservation and development of northern Australia's water resources, so that any development proceeds in an ecologically, culturally and economically sustainable manner."
The main findings from the Water in Northern Australia report are that:
- Despite popular perceptions that northern Australia has a surplus of water, the climate is extremely seasonal and the landscape may be described as annually water-limited
- Northern Australia has little or no rain for three to six months every year, and potential evapotranspiration rates are very high
- Northern Australia experiences high rainfall during the wet season but most falls near the coast and year to year amounts can be highly variable
- Runoff follows a similar pattern to rainfall; hence potential inland dam sites receive less water and suffer very high evaporation rates
- The few river reaches that flow year-round have high cultural, social and ecological value and are generally sustained by localised groundwater discharge
- Groundwater may offer potential for increased extractions but shallow aquifers rapidly fill during the wet season and drain through the dry season, and provide little opportunity for increased groundwater storage, and
- In the near future, potential evapotranspiration is likely to increase whilst rainfall is likely to be similar to historical levels, which were generally drier than the last decade, especially in the west.
The Water in Northern Australia sustainable yields reports and can be found at:
http://www.environment.gov.au/water/policy-programs/sustainable-yields/index.html
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