Stocks (assets)
Flows (benefits)

Volume of groundwater resources

Quality of environmental asset

Groundwater resources extracted

Groundwater resources extracted - monetary value

Units

Volume, e.g. megalitres (ML)

Example methods / guidance / references

What are tiers?

Tier 1

Estimate using own judgement and observations

Tier 2

Estimate using third-party professional estimates or public data

Tier 3

Model or measure based on site-specific surveys/sampling, remote or in-field sensing, laboratory analysis, etc.

Example data sources

Internal records

Third-party data sources

Data on aggregated surface water resources extracted for Australian river regions are available at the Bureau of Meteorology – National Water Account.

 

Site-specific measurements or model outputs

Data on groundwater extracted within different areas of the Murray-Darling Basin are available at the latest version of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority – Annual Water Take Report (e.g. see Sustainable diversion limit reporting 2022–23.  

Data on surface water extracted under a regulated water rights framework in Australia may be available from water regulators. For example, data on water rights in Queensland are available at Queensland Government Open Data Portal – Water entitlements and in Victoria at Victorian Water Register – Entitlement statistics.

Note that water rights may be called different things in different jurisdictions – see ‘What are nationally equivalent terms for water products?’ at the Bureau of Meteorology – About water markets.

Notes

Work in progress - Feedback welcome

Last updated: 11th November 2024

Units

Currency, e.g. A$

Example methods / guidance / references

What are tiers?

Tier 1

Multiply physical flow quantity by estimated monetary value per unit

Tier 2

Multiply physical flow quantity by estimated monetary value per unit

Tier 3

Multiply physical flow quantity by estimated monetary value per unit

Example data sources

Internal records

Third-party data sources

Site-specific measurements or model outputs

Notes

The value of the water resources asset (as opposed to the value of the physical flow of natural inputs from the asset) can be estimated based on the market price of similar water entitlements/offtake licences (where applicable), or estimated based on third-party valuation, less extraction costs.

Last updated: 9th October 2024

Units

Various

Example methods / guidance / references

What are tiers?

Tier 1

Estimate using own judgement and observations

Tier 2

Estimate using third-party professional estimates or public data

Tier 3

Model or measure based on site-specific surveys/sampling, remote or in-field sensing, laboratory analysis, etc.

Example data sources

Internal records

Third-party data sources

Site-specific measurements or model outputs

Notes

Work in progress - Feedback welcome

Last updated: 15th October 2024

Units

Volume, e.g. megalitres (ML)

Example methods / guidance / references

What are tiers?

Tier 1

Estimate using own judgement and observations

Tier 2

Estimate using third-party professional estimates or public data

Tier 3

Model or measure based on site-specific surveys/sampling, remote or in-field sensing, laboratory analysis, etc.

Example data sources

Internal records

Third-party data sources

Data on volume of Australian groundwater resources are available at the Bureau of Meteorology – Australian Hydrological Geospatial Fabric (Geofabric).

Last updated: 27th September 2024