Australian Natural Resources Atlas

Water resources - Allocation and Use - Western Australia

Location map of SWMA Blackwood River

Basin and Surface Water Management Area: Blackwood River

Introduction

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The National Water Reform Framework requires the development of comprehensive systems of water allocations or entitlements, backed by separation of water property rights from land and clear specification of entitlements in terms of ownership, volume, reliability, transferability and, if appropriate, quality. In addition State and Territory agencies are required to undertake formal determination of water allocations or entitlements, including allocations for the environment as a legitimate user of water.

Water use estimates have been derived from a number of different methods including the use of licencing systems, information provided as part of the Australian Bureau of Statistics water account (with provider consent) and other information gathered from the State and Territory water agencies. In some cases water use was assumed to be the same as the allocation. For groundwater systems, it is well known that this assumption is often invalid (e.g. typically where use exceeds allocation significantly).

Options for conjunctive use are also described.

Please note: The tables set out below detailing Level 1 and Level 2 water use categories. The sum of the Level 2 water use volumes will not necessarily equal the total Level 1 water use volumes. This is primarily due to lack of more detailed water use data. However, where Level 2 use = Level 1 use then blank cells in the table does not indicate water use unaccounted for in these categories.

How has water used changed since 1985?

Use type1983-84 surface water use (ML/yr)1996-97 surface water use (ML/yr)% change
Total15,050 17,421
Irrigation8,230 11,049 34
- fruitN/Ano data
- grapeN/Ano data
- system lossN/Ano data
- sugarN/Ano data
- otherN/Ano data
- pastureN/Ano data
- cerealN/Ano data
- vegetablesN/Ano data
- other cropN/Ano data
- CottonN/Ano data
Urban / Industrial3,910 3,483 -11
- municipalN/Ano data
- coalN/Ano data
- domestic unlicensedN/Ano data
- domesticN/Ano data
- miningN/Ano data
- industrialN/Ano data
- powerN/Ano data
- comercialN/Ano data
- system lossN/Ano data
- industrial commercialN/Ano data
- otherN/Ano data
- recreationN/Ano data
Rural4,190 2,889 -31
- aquacultureN/Ano data
- system lossN/Ano data
- otherN/Ano data
- water supplyN/Ano data
- stock domesticN/Ano data

What are the uses of surface water in Blackwood River and to what is it allocated?

Use typeDiversion Volume (ML/yr)Allocation (ML/yr)Diversion: Alloc (%)
Total13,56813,783
Irrigation11,04911,049100
Rural1,2781,278
Urban / Industrial1,4561,24185.23

Allocation for each SWMA represents the volume of the management area's surface water resources allocated for use both within the basin and for use in other SWMAs. The volume diverted is the total volume of the SWMA's surface water resources diverted for use both within the management area and for export to other management areas.

Chart of proportion of surface water use by consumptive use class

What are the sources of water within Blackwood River?

Total useML/yr %
Surface water - from this area13,568
Surface water - imported into this area3,853

Further information

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