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Water resources - Overview - Tasmania

Specify a region: -- select region -- Arthur River Coal River Derwent River East Coast Flinders - Cape Barren Islands Forth River Gordon River Huon River King-Henty Rivers King Island Kingston Coast Mersey River Pieman River Piper-Ringarooma Rivers Rubicon River Sandy Cape Coast Smithton-Burnie Coast South-West Coast Tamar River Tasmania (13SF2) Tasmania (13SF3) Tasmania 1

Tasmania

Tasmania water resources - at a glance

On average Tasmania uses 471 GL of water per year, which is 2% of Australia's total use. Of the total water use, 451 GL of water is used from surface water sources and 403 GL of surface water is allocated to consumptive use.

20 GL of water is used from groundwater sources. The sustainable yield of groundwater for Tasmania is 2531 GL per year which is 9% of Australia's total.

7 of the 19 Surface Water Management Areas and none of the 17 groundwater management units are assessed as being highly or overdeveloped.

Map of Tasmania's surface water management areas

Select a surface water management area on the map to find out more about that area.

Map of Tasmania's groundwater provinces

Select a groundwater province on the map to find out more about that area.

Overview

Tasmania represents only 0.9% Australia's land area and supports around 3% the population, yet the State has 12% the nation's total freshwater resources.

The annual water resource available in Tasmania is 44,800 GL from surface runoff and 2,500 GL from groundwater. This represents a significant water resource and supports the requirements of town water supply a developing and viable irrigation industry and most of the State's power requirements.

Expansion for new consumptive purposes now has to largely rely on storing the plentiful winter stream-flows for later use during summer or use of groundwater. To store surface water, there are a number of private proposals in the State seeking approval for large storage construction.

Water management in Tasmania is now moving into a new era with the enactment of the Water Management Act 1999. This Act came into force on 1 January 2000. These include defined water allocations for all users, allocations of water for ecosystem protection, water management planning and a system of tradeable water property rights.

Surface Water Reporting Units

The Australian Water Resources Council (AWRC) basins were the reporting units identified for Tasmania. A conscious decision was made not to break these basins down further as realistic water usage and environmental water provisions would not be available in time for the Audit.

It is anticipated that for future water audits, programs currently under way in the State will be able to provide information at a finer level of detail. These programs include state of the river reporting, estimation of environmental water requirements and water management planning.

The catchment reporting unit structure currently being developed for the State amounts to 48 catchments an increase of 29 over the AWRC number. These catchments will form the basis of water management planning in the State.

Groundwater Reporting Units

The State was divided up into 14 Groundwater Management Units (GMUs) and 3 unincorporated areas.

For further information contact Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment at www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au.

Further Information

• View the Tasmania Water Resources Assessment 2000 Report
• View the Tasmania Water Resources Assessment 2000 Technical Report
• Link to data available for download on the:
• Surface Water Management Areas
• Groundwater management units and provinces - ARC/INFO export
• Data from the 1985 Review of Australia's Water Resources and Water Use
• Link to the Map Maker to make a map using this information.