NEW REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR WATER UTILITIES UNDER THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WATER REGULATIONS 08
30 July 2009
David Nicholls, Manager, Water Data Section, Water Division, Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) presented to the Executive Committee in May to clarify the new reporting requirements for all water utilities under the Federal Government Water Regulations 2008.
The federal Water Act 2007 outlined BoM’s new water data collection role as the lead agency for coordinating information from all water authorities around Australia. Due to the tight timeframe, BoM will accept data in whatever format it is currently available however work on developing a Water Data Transfer Format (WDTF) will continue so that a common data set is sought in the future.
BoM sets standards for water data measurement; gathers water data and makes it available; determines an annual national water resource assessment; determines an annual national water account; and provides a continuously updated water availability forecast. BoM has a strong alliance with CSIRO re modelling etc. The vehicle used is the Aust. Water Resources Info Systems (AWRIS). Collected water data is tied into weather data.
There are 10 categories and 65 sub-categories of water information including historical data and ongoing data. Water storage data is required on a daily basis and water usage data is required on an annual basis. A large number of the data requirements are already provided to the National Performance Report as part of the NWC initiatives. In NSW approx 30 utilities will be required to provide data to BoM as per NPR requirements.
