Summary of current water allocations

Summary of current water allocations

The tables below summarise the current water allocations for:

• regulated rivers
• unregulated rivers, and
• groundwater water sources.

Allocations that are normally expressed in megalitres per unit share–for example high security, general security and aquifer access–are expressed as percentages in the tables below. One megalitre (ML) per unit share equates to 100% allocation, whereas 0.50 ML per share equates to 50% allocation and 0.05 ML per share equates to 5% allocation.

Rules for sharing water between water users and the environment are outlined in each respective water sharing plan, as well as defining shares in the available water for licence holders.

Carryover water

Water users may have access to water in their account carried over unused from the previous year. Carryover rules vary between water sources and between licence categories. Towns, domestic and stock, and most high security licence categories cannot carryover.

Drought stage

The current drought stage for each inland river valley is listed in the table. These can range from Stage 1 (Normal operations) to Stage 4 (Critical drought). The drought stage is determined by the extent of operational, allocation or restriction measures that may need to be applied during water shortages or as the system recovers. Further information is available at extreme events.