State of the Environment

2006

Indicator: HS-41 Water consumption by sector

Data

Water Consumption (GL) by Sector Australia - 2000-01
Sector Water Consumption(a) (GL) 1996-97 % Water Consumption(a) (GL) 2000-01 %
Agriculture 15,503 70 16,660 67
Household 1829 8 2182 9
Water supply, sewerage and drainage services (b) 1707 8 1794 7
Electricity and gas (c) 1308 6 1688 7
Manufacturing 728 3 866 3
Environment n/a   459 2
Mining 570 3 401 2
Cultural, recreational and personal services 143 1 395 2
Finance, property and business services 69 <1 86 <1
Wholesale and retail trade 75 <1 82 <1
Government administration 59 <1 56 <1
Transport and storage 50 <1 55 <1
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants 43 <1 52 <1
Education 36 <1 47 <1
Health and community services 34 <1 41 <1
Forestry and fishing 17 <1 23 <1
Construction 14 <1 18 <1
Service to Agriculture 2 <1 4 <1
Total - Australia 22,186 100 24,909 100

Notes:
(a) Water consumption = (Self-extracted use+Mains water use+Reuse water use-Mains water supply-In-stream use).
(b) Includes losses from seepages and evapotranspiration (where measured) as well as water used by the Water supply, sewerage and drainage services industry.
(c) The majority of water used by this industry is 'in-stream' and is often used again downstream by other water users.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Water Account Australia 2000-01. Cat. No. 4610.0. Canberra. http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/
abs@.nsf/allprimarymainfeatures/8C8DD6F10
4A627DDCA257233001CE4A8?opendocument
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Water Account Australia 1996-97. Cat. No. 4610.0. Canberra. http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage
/4610.01993-94%20to%201996-97?
OpenDocument Last accessed on 01/12/06

Per capita consumption required to stay within Sustainable Yield
Selected Australian Cities - 2004-2030
City Current Annual per capita consumption (kl) Annual per capita consumption required in 2030 to stay within Sustainable Yield (kl) % change required by 2030
Canberra 162 211 -30
Adelaide 166 166 0
Perth 149 134 10
Melbourne 138 132 4
Newcastle 157 127 19
Brisbane 183 124 32
Sydney 151 117 22
Gold Coast 127 78 38
Mean 154 136 12

Source: Water Services Association of Australia 2005, unpublished data.

Water Use by Household Sector (ML)
Australia - 1993-94 - 2000-01
1993-94 1996-97 2000-01
Mains 1 676 665 1 796 076 2 085 768
Self-extracted 27 071 32 923 95 512
Reuse - - 167
Total 1 703 736 1 828 999 2 181 447

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Water Account Australia 2000-01, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra, viewed 19 Apr 2006, http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf
/b06660592430724fca2568b5007b8619/9f319397d7a98db
9ca256f4d007095d7!OpenDocument, p.17.

Agricultural Water Use

Agricultural Water Use

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Water Account Australia 2000-01, Australian Bureau of Statistics, viewed 15 Dec 2005, http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/
b06660592430724fca2568b5007b8619/9f319397d7a98db
9ca256f4d007095d7!OpenDocument.

The National Water Account does not disaggregate water use by industry, and agricultural use is not disaggregated in any detail. However, CSIRO, in producing Balancing Act - A Triple Bottom Line Analysis of the Australian Economy, required a disaggregation of water use by every industry in Australia. These data are published in the Balancing Act Report under “TBL factors” for each industry.

No attempt has been made in the context of State of the Environment (SoE) 2006 to compile the industry data for the full range of Australian industries but, given that agriculture uses nearly 8 times more water than the next biggest user (households), the disaggregated data on agricultural water use have been compiled into the following table. Meat products, dairy products and clothing are also shown because much of the water used in growing farm animals is ultimately embodied in these products. To avoid misinterpretation, it is essential that these figures be read with an understanding of what they actually represent (see below, “What the data mean”.)

Water use by agricultural industry (ML)
In supplying industry Total
Sugar cane 1,388,989 185
Cotton 1,279,015
Vegetables and fruit 1,800,658 1,034,774
Barley 127,255 55,264
Rice 1,436,105 25,745
Wheat and other grains 504,984 278,628
Beef 3,229,335 499,572
Dairy cattle and milk 3,542,391 207,951
Pigs 559 906
Poultry and eggs 191 25,280
Sheep and shorn wool 773,641 560,695
Meat products 34,729 2,665,116
Dairy products 17,919 2,868,528
Flour and cereal foods 5,871 964,961
Bakery products 3,580 334,574
Confectionary 1,479 91,906
Clothing 41,982 156,983

Source: Foran,B; Lenzen, M and Dey,C. 2005, Balancing Act: A triple bottom line of the Australian economy, DEH, Canberra.

The University of Sydney; &

What the data mean

Agriculture consumed the largest volume of water with 16 660 GL, representing 67% of water consumption in Australia in 2000-01, with the livestock, pasture, grains and dairy farming using half of this amount. Other sub-sectors using large amounts of water are cotton (17.5%), rice (11.7%) and sugar (7.9%) farms.

The water consumption by agricultural industry from the Balancing Act report gives two figures for water use by industry: “in supplying industry” and “total”. The “in supplying industry” figures include all water used within the industry itself. In the case of an extensive farm growing farm animals, this includes the water used on the farm to grow the pasture to feed the animals (although it does not include rain falling on the farm). However. in the case of an intensive animal production facility, such as a piggery, beef feedlot or poultry establishment, it excludes the water used in growing the feed that is fed to the animals. Since cattle are primarily grown extensively in Australia and pigs and poultry are primarily grown intensively, this accounts for the very low “in supplying industry” water consumption figures for “pigs” and “poultry and eggs” and the very high figures for “beef” and “dairy cattle and milk”.

The Report also tells us that pigs consume about 2.3 million tonnes of feed and poultry consume about 1.2 million tonnes of feed per year. While the water embodied in this feed will vary with the source and type of feed provided, the total “wheat and other grains” crop (which does not include rice or barley) is reported at about 34 millions tonnes and as representing 278.6 GL of embodied water. If it is assumed that pigs and poultry are fed mainly these types of grain products, embodied water fed to pigs and poultry in feed might be estimated in the region of 20 GL and 10 GL respectively.

The second figure in the table derived from the Balancing Act analysis is “total” water and represents the embodied water from the whole life cycle of the product at the point where it reaches the final consumer. Cotton, sugar cane, pigs and poultry all show low “total” water because relatively little raw cotton, sugar cane, pigs or fowls find their way to final consumer in these forms - their embodied water is normally transferred to other industries such as confectionary, clothing and meat products. In order to give some perspective to these figures, Table 5 includes the total water embodied in some of the final products derived from agricultural sources.

The Balancing Act does not disaggregate the meat products industry by animal type. However, a rough disaggregation is possible using the data provided in indicator: LD_08 Average tonnage and value of food produced per hectare of land under food production . In 2002-2003 pigs represented approximately 11% and poultry 18% of carcass weight of meat produced in Australia while beef represented 55% and sheep meat 16%. However, over 60% of cattle meat, 70% of sheep meat (including live exports) and 14% of pig meat is exported and therefore does not reach the Australian consumer as meat products. Only about 2027 thousand tonnes of the 3816 thousand tonnes of meat produced in Australia reach the Australian consumer as meat products. Of this, about 38% is cattle meat products, 8% is sheep meat products, 18% is pig meat products and 36% is poultry meat products. The proportions might alter as a result of different water inputs for different meat products between the farm and the final consumer but, if these percentages are applied to the total water embodied in meat products, the total water in cattle meat would be about 1000 GL, in sheep meat about 215 GL, in pig meat about 480 GL and in poultry meat about 960 GL.

After agriculture, households are the biggest user of water in Australia. Water consumption by the Household sector was 2 181 GL in 2000-01 accounting for 9% of water consumption in Australia. This contrasts with 1 829 GL in 1996-97 (8% of water consumption) and 1 704 GL in 1993-94. Total water use by households increased 19% between 1996-97 and 2000-01 and 28% between 1993-94 and 2000-01.

Excluding in-stream use, water consumption by the Electricity and Gas Supply industry in 2000-01 was 1 688 GL or 7% of water consumption in Australia.

In 2000-01, the Manufacturing and mining industry sectors together consumed 1267 GL or 6% of total water consumption in Australia.

Data Limitations

In compiling the water account, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has accessed readily available data on water resources from various government and non-government organisations. Data were also collected directly through surveys conducted by the ABS. The project did not duplicate existing data collection activities, but tied together industry, regional and state data into a single system showing the supply and use of water within the Australian economy.

For most industries, water use and water consumption are the same as most industries do not have any in-stream use or supply water to other users. However water consumption will be considerably different for some industries, specifically the water supply, sewerage and drainage services industry, electricity and gas supply industry, and the aquaculture industry (included in the forestry and fishing industry), where in-stream water use and water supply volumes are significant.

The data compiled from the Balancing Act Report were used in that report, along with other social, economic and environmental data, to develop a national Triple Bottom Line report on Australian industry. The use of the water consumption data presented in that report were not necessarily intended for use in the form reported under this indicator.

Issues for which this is an indicator and why

Human Settlements — Pressures created by human settlements on the environment - Water use 

Water is an important natural resource that supports both the environment and human settlements. It is of particular importance in Australia given the high level of variability in rainfall and current water resource management regimes. Water withdrawal is a major pressure on freshwater resources and this indicator will help monitor the trend in overall water usage.

Other indicators for this issue:

Inland Waters — Catchment scale influences — Hydrological condition - Surface-water availability and human use 

Water used by human settlements are derived from surface water and groundwater sources. Extraction of water for human uses impact on the hydrological condition of natural water bodies.

Other indicators for this issue:

Inland Waters — Catchment scale influences — Hydrological condition - Ground-water availability and human use 

Water used by human settlements are derived from surface water and groundwater sources. Extraction of water for human uses impact on the hydrological condition of natural water bodies.

Other indicators for this issue:

Land — Contributions and pressures between the land and inland water - Pressures of changes to the land on inland waters 

The extraction of water for agriculture is one of the two broad pressures that the land and its uses place on inland waters.

Other indicators for this issue:

Why this is considered indicative of the issue

Even though the household sector accounts for less than 10% of total water consumption, this is an area where a water efficiency measures be implemented through education and management practices.

Further Information

Changes to this document since December 2006

The data in the first table reported against the indicator had been incorrectly copied from the source document. The table has been replaced with the correct table. Inconsistent references to ML (megalitres) and GL (gigalitres) in the section entitled "What the data mean" have now all been converted to GL.

Key

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