Please choose a Metric:
Amount of pollutants discharged to water, by type
Type
Related framework / metric
TNFD: C3.0, A2.0, FA.A2.3
Units
Example target
Example methods / guidance / references
What are tiers?
Tier 1
Estimate using own judgement and observations
For example, estimate from application/use records.
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.
For example, model or measure using machine sensing data.
Example data sources
Internal records
Third-party data sources
Site-specific measurements or model outputs
Notes
Example typical potential water pollutants include nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients from fertiliser application, sediment from erosion/run-off, and agrochemicals. Relevant water quality variables and thresholds depend on the use of the water. See ANZECC and ARMCANZ (2000) Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality. Volume 1: The Guidelines (Chapters 1-7). Canberra: Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC) and Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand (ARMCANZ).
Variants of this metric include TNFD core disclosure metric C3.0: “Volume of water discharged (m³), split into:
- Total;
- Freshwater; and
- Other.
- Including:
- Concentrations of key pollutants in the wastewater discharged, by type of pollutant, referring to sector-specific guidance for types of pollutants; and
- Temperature of water discharged, where relevant.
Freshwater: (≤1,000 mg/L Total Dissolved Solids). Other: (>1,000 mg/L Total Dissolved Solids). Reference: GRI (2018) GRI 303-4 Water discharge; additional disclosure metric A2.0: “Volume of wastewater treated, reused or recycled (m³). Reduction in volume of wastewater relative to baseline as a result of technological or process changes (m³).”; and Food and agriculture additional disclosure metric FA.A2.3: “Water pollutant loading rate (tonnes of pollutant/month). Reporting should include locally developed model results for pollutants from non-point source, based on average nitrogen and phosphorus nutrient loads over past 5 years of operations.”
Type
Related framework / metric
TNFD: FA.A5.0, FA.A5.3
Units
Example target
Example methods / guidance / references
What are tiers?
Tier 1
Estimate using own judgement and observations
Methods for water quality sampling and assessment can be found in the Queensland Government’s Water Monitoring and Sampling Manual.
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
Maps of Australian water quality data are available at the Bureau of Meteorology – Water Data Online.
Site-specific measurements or model outputs
Data on Australian water quality are available at the Bureau of Meteorology – Water Data Online.
Notes
Relevant water quality metrics and thresholds depend on the use of the water and known threats to water quality. Example Tier 1/Tier 2 metrics might include Turbidity, Dissolved Oxygen, Organic and inorganic compounds, Nutrients, Acidity, Salinity/Total Dissolved Solids. Tier 3 could also include additional, more difficult or costly to measure metrics such as concentrations of cyanobacteria, pathogens and parasites, heavy metals and organic contaminants, where appropriate.
See Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality for information and guidance on how to identify relevant water quality metrics and thresholds or ‘guideline values’ for Australian and New Zealand waters.
See also: Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater; UN Environment (2017) A Framework for Freshwater Ecosystem Management (especially Volume 2, Tables 4 and 5 which list example water quality metrics for different freshwater ecosystem types).
Variants of this metric include TNFD Food and agriculture additional disclosure metrics FA.A5.0: “Coastal and freshwater eutrophication; plastic debris density; Chlorophyll-A concentration; In-situ concentration of nitrogen, phosphate and silica.” and FA.A5.3: “Volume (tonnes) of litter in the water column and on the seafloor, including microplastics.”
Type
Units
Example target
Example methods / guidance / references
What are tiers?
Tier 1
Estimate using own judgement and observations
For example, estimate by multiplying relevant production metrics by default green water factors. Default green water factors for a variety of crops and animal products can be found in Mekonnen, M.M. & Hoekstra, A.Y. (2010) Value of Water Report: 47. The green, blue and grey water footprint of farm crops and derived crop products and Mekonnen, M.M. & Hoekstra, A.Y. (2010) Value of Water Report: 48. The green, blue and grey water footprint of farm animals and animal products.
Tier 2
Estimate using third-party professional estimates or public data
For example, estimate from modelled or measured water inflows (precipitation) minus water outflows (run-off at field level), assuming all evapotranspiration is production-related.
Tier 3
Model or measure based on site-specific surveys/sampling, remote or in-field sensing, laboratory analysis, etc.
For example, model using a crop- or ecosystem-specific plant water use model with site-specific remote and/or in-field sensing inputs.
Example data sources
Internal records
Third-party data sources
Maps of precipitation, modelled runoff and modelled plant evapotranspiration estimates for Australian river regions are available at the Bureau of Meteorology – Australian Water Outlook.
Site-specific measurements or model outputs
Data on precipitation, modelled runoff and modelled plant evapotranspiration estimates for Australian river regions are available at the Bureau of Meteorology – Australian Water Outlook.
Notes
Plant water use or evapotranspiration is effectively the ‘green’ water footprint for a given geographical area, if it is assumed that all plant water use is production-related (see waterfootprint.org). Otherwise, non-production related evapotranspiration should be deducted from total plant water use to derive the green water footprint.
Type
Units
Example target
Example methods / guidance / references
What are tiers?
Tier 1
Estimate using own judgement and observations
See South East Local Land Services Gully Erosion Guide for an example Tier 1 method for assessing the significance of gully erosion.
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.
An example Tier 3 method is given in Walker, S.J. et al. (2020) ‘A multi-resolution method to map and identify locations of future gully and channel incision’, Geomorphology, 358, p. 107115. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2020.107115.
Example data sources
Internal records
Third-party data sources
Various sources of data relevant to assessing riparian gully erosion are suggested at p. 18 in Wilkinson, S. et al. (2019) Gully and Stream Bank Toolbox. A technical guide for the Reef Trust Gully and Stream Bank Erosion Control Program. Second edition. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. Available at: www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/env/pages/661595d3-749f-4aef-9c4a-6e4d245ecc59/files/reef-trust-phase-iv-toolbox.pdf (Accessed: 16 March 2023).
Site-specific measurements or model outputs
Data on the extent, percentage cover and rate of change of riparian vegetation for Reef catchments and South-East Queensland are available from the Queensland Government Open Data Portal – Extent and rate of change of riparian vegetation.
Notes
This measure is a proxy for inputs of sediment to waterways.
Type
Related framework / metric
TNFD: C2.1, FA.A2.4, FA.A2.5
Units
Example target
Example methods / guidance / references
What are tiers?
Tier 1
Estimate using own judgement and observations
For example, estimate by multiplying estimated average discharge rate by discharge time. Water footprint calculators are available at Water Footprint Network.
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.
For example, measure using site-specific flow meters.
Example data sources
Internal records
Third-party data sources
Site-specific measurements or model outputs
Notes
Where water discharged is of clearly different quality levels (e.g. freshwater vs. polluted), these quantities may be recorded separately. Alternatively, the ‘grey’ water footprint can be calculated, i.e. the amount of fresh water required to assimilate pollutants to meet specific water quality standards (see https://www.waterfootprint.org). Essentially, this involves dividing the pollutant load by the difference between the ambient water quality standard for that pollutant and its natural concentration in the receiving water body (Hoekstra et al., 2011, p. 30).
Variants of this metric include TNFD core disclosure metric C2.1: “Volume of water discharged (m³), split into:
• Total;
• Freshwater; and
• Other.
Including:
• Concentrations of key pollutants in the wastewater discharged, by type of pollutant, referring to sector-specific guidance for types of pollutants; and
• Temperature of water discharged, where relevant.
Freshwater: (≤1,000 mg/L Total Dissolved Solids). Other: (>1,000 mg/L Total Dissolved Solids). Reference: GRI (2018) GRI 303-4 Water discharge.”
and additional disclosure metric A2.0: “Volume of wastewater treated, reused or recycled (m³).
Reduction in volume of wastewater relative to baseline as a result of technological or process changes (m³).”;
and Food and agriculture additional disclosure metrics FA.A2.4: “Volume of wastewater reused (m³).” and FA.A2.5: “Volume of water discharged (total, freshwater, other) per tonne of crop and/or product dry matter and/or animal protein (m³/tonne).”
Type
Related framework / metric
TNFD: A3.0, A3.1, A3.2, A3.3, FA.C3.0, FA.A2.6
Units
Example target
Example methods / guidance / references
What are tiers?
Tier 1
Estimate using own judgement and observations
For example, estimate from average water withdrawal rates, multiplied by period of water withdrawal, multiplied by assumed percentage of withdrawn water that is not returned to the same source in the same period.
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.
For example, measure water withdrawals and returns using on-site flow meters and water level loggers.
Example data sources
Internal records
Third-party data sources
Data on aggregated water consumption by type of user for Australian river regions are available at the Bureau of Meteorology – National Water Account.
Site-specific measurements or model outputs
Notes
Water withdrawal and consumption, or consumptive water use, refers to human appropriation of surface water or groundwater, as opposed to human appropriation of evaporative flows of water from a catchment (which is captured under NCMC metric ‘Plant water use’). Consumptive water use includes the extraction of water that is either not recharged, or used beyond its recharge rate (signs of this might include declining groundwater levels or lake/river levels or flow rates), or diverted away from other ecosystem uses (for example, water used for irrigation or stock drinking water). This is broadly equivalent to the concept of the ‘blue’ water footprint (see Water Footprint Network). Consumptive water use can be calculated in absolute quantities of water, and/or multiplied by a water scarcity index (e.g. AWARE) to calculate a water scarcity footprint. Alternatively, measurement of consumptive water use can focus on use of water from water-stressed catchments. Components of consumptive water use (e.g. water extracted, water losses, water used and water returned) may be recorded separately.
Water scarcity or water stress should ideally be calculated using a comprehensive hydrological model with robust data for specific catchments. In the absence of such modelling, an indication of potential water scarcity or water stress in Australian water catchments could be a declining long-term trend in groundwater levels or streamflow. Data on groundwater level trends for Australian aquifers can be obtained from the Bureau of Meteorology Australian Groundwater Insight, and data on streamflow trends for Australian rivers can be obtained from the Bureau of Meteorology Hydrologic Reference Stations.
Variants of this metric include TNFD core disclosure metric C3.0: “Water withdrawal and consumption (m³) from areas of water scarcity, including identification of water source. Water consumption is equal to water withdrawal less water discharge. Reference: GRI (2018) GRI 303-5. Surface water; groundwater; seawater; produced water; third-party water. Reference: GRI (2018) GRI 303-3.”; additional disclosure metrics A3.0: “Total volume of water withdrawal and consumption (m³)”; A3.1: “Volume of water (m³) replenished to the environment through replenishment programmes (split into total and to areas of water scarcity)”; A3.2: “Total volume (m³) or percentage of water (total, freshwater, other) reduced, reused or recycled” and A3.3: “Volume (m³) of water loss mitigated.”; Food and agriculture core disclosure metric FA.C3.0: “Proportion (%) of agricultural products or animal feed produced or sourced from regions with high or extremely high baseline water scarcity.”; and Food and agriculture additional disclosure metric FA.A2.6: “Water Use Efficiency (WUE) calculated as net value added per volume of water use (currency/m³).”