Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 - Australia's ...in Australia is governed by entitlements...
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1Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18
NATIONAL OVERVIEW SECTION
Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18: National Overview Section
ISSN: 2207-1733
Published by the Bureau of Meteorology 2019
GPO Box 1289 Melbourne, Vic 3001 Tel: 03 9669 4000 Fax: 03 9669 4699
[email protected] www.bom.gov.au
With the exception of logos and photographs, this publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia Licence. The terms and conditions of the licence are available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au
Attribution for this publication should be: © Commonwealth of Australia (Bureau of Meteorology) 2019
Photographs © individual copyright holders 2019, as follows:
Cover: Aerial view of Lake Eildon and Goulburn river, Victoria (tsvibrav, iStock)
Key Messages: Donnelly River, Western Australia (Kevin_Thorpe, iStock)
References: View of Lake Argyle nearby Kununurra, Western Australia (Marine Deswarte, iStock)
3Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
CONTENTS
Key messages: National overview 4
Introduction 5
Water availability 7
Water supply-side factors 10
Water demand-side factors 13
Allocation markets 15
Entitlement markets 18
References 22
KEY MESSAGESNATIONAL OVERVIEW
• In the first half of 2017–18, rainfall was highly variable
across most of Australia. Average or above average rainfall
was seen in large parts of Western Australia, southern
New South Wales and much of Victoria. In contrast,
rainfall was well below average (lowest 5 to 10 per cent of
historical observations) across large areas in the eastern
states and the south-west of Western Australia in the
second half of the year
• Below average rainfall for 2017–18 in the Murray–Darling
Basin (MDB) led to reduced inflow into storages.
Storage volumes in the northern MDB decreased from
65 per cent to 32 per cent while storage volumes in the
southern MDB also decreased, from 70 per cent to
59 per cent at the end of the year
• With reduced water availability, allocation and entitlement
prices were significantly higher in most areas compared
to 2016–17
• There were record levels of allocation trade volumes
and numbers in 2017–18, with environmental trades
accounting for about 26 per cent of total allocation trades
• There was a record number of entitlement trades
nationally, continuing an increasing trend in entitlements
traded for groundwater in the MDB, for surface water in
the northern MDB and for surface and groundwater in
regions outside of the MDB
• The total estimated turnover of the water market in
Australia was around $2.4 billion for 2017–18
• To support price discovery in water markets, there are
still improvements that can be made in the reporting
of trade prices. In 2017–18, 44 per cent of allocation
transactions either had no reported price or reported a
$0 price (this is after environmental trades have been
excluded). For entitlement trades, $0 or no price reported
accounted for 62 per cent of transactions. Focus on
differentiating commercial arm’s length transactions from
related party transfers, environmental transfers, and
property sales that include water should still remain a
priority for improved water market reporting
5Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
INTRODUCTION
Australian water markets involve the buying and selling
of water entitlements and allocations. They facilitate
the movement of scarce water resources between
agricultural, urban and environmental uses. In 2017–18,
the value of Australia’s water market were estimated to
be $2.4 billion.
Water market participants are predominantly involved
with irrigated agriculture (Grafton and Wheeler 2018).
The gross value of irrigated agricultural production was
estimated at $15.5 billion in 2016–17 (ABS 2019).
About half of all irrigators in the southern MDB have
traded an entitlement and 78 per cent have traded an
allocation (Grafton and Wheeler 2018).
More recently water market participants have also
included environmental water managers, water utilities
and investors.
Australian water markets comprise many separate
markets each defined by water systems or administrative
boundaries. The scale of Australia’s water markets
varies greatly: from small unconnected water systems
to extensive connected systems such as the southern
Murray–Darling Basin which is the largest water trading
area in Australia (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Surface water systems in Australia where trading occurred in 2017–18
Southern MDB Northern MDB Rest of Australia
Mulgrave–Russell BasinJohnstone Basin
Don Basin
Intersecting Streams
SA Murray
Kiewa
LatrobeSouth Gippsland
Goulburn
Yarra
Maribyrnong
6Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
Australia’s water markets allow the trading of a variety of water rights (termed water products) within
and between separate water resources. Water products generally fall into the broad categories of:
• Water access entitlement: A perpetual or ongoing entitlement to exclusive access to a share of water
from a specified consumptive pool as defined in the relevant water resource plan, and
• Water allocation: The specific volume of water allocated to water access entitlements in a given water
year or allocated as specified within a water resource plan.
An entitlement trade is defined as a transfer of an entitlement from one legal entity to another, with or without
change of location. An allocation trade is an assignment of an allocation from one authorised water user to
another, or between water accounts held by the same water user, with or without a change in location.
Each State and Territory uses different terminology to describe statutory water rights. To avoid confusion,
this report uses the generic terms of ‘entitlement’ and ‘allocation’ which are equivalent to the National Water
Initiative (NWI) terms ‘water access entitlement’ and ‘water allocation’.
NWI EQUIVALENT TERMINOLOGY
Jurisdiction Entitlement Allocation
Australian Capital Territory Water access entitlement Water allocation
New South Wales Water access licence Water allocation
Northern Territory Water licence Water licence
Queensland Water allocation Seasonal water assignment
South Australia Water licence/water access entitlement Water allocation
Tasmania Water licence Water allocation
Victoria Water share Water allocation
Western Australia Water licence Water allocation*
NB: This is not a complete list of entitlements on issue in each jurisdiction *Applicable only to Harvey Water
This section provides a national overview of water trading activities for the 2017–18 water year and factors that
influenced water markets activities. These include the amount of water made available to water users as well as
water supply and demand factors. Further details on particular segments of Australia’s water markets are provided in
separate sections of this report:
• Southern MDB (accounts for almost 90 per cent of allocation trades and 32 per cent of entitlement trades)
• All other water systems including northern MDB, groundwater in the MDB and markets in other parts of Australia
such as Queensland, Tasmania, southern Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.
Water trading data presented in this report are available on the Bureau of Meteorology’s Water Markets Dashboard
(www.bom.gov.au/water/dashboards/#/water-markets/national/state/at).
7Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
WATER AVAILABILITY
The amount of water made available to water users
in Australia is governed by entitlements on issue
(or water licences). In 2017–18, 38 674 GL of water
entitlements were on issue in Australia which was
similar to 2016-17. These entitlements were distributed
between regulated and unregulated surface water
systems and groundwater systems (Figure 2).
The MDB accounted for 77 per cent of Australia’s
regulated surface water entitlements.
Systems outside the MDB accounted for 76 per cent of
unregulated surface water entitlements and 72 per cent
of groundwater entitlements.
For entitlement on issue volumes at a surface water
system (or catchment) scale, the largest systems are in
the MDB (Figure 3, page 8). Large systems outside the
MDB include the Burdekin Basin, Tasmania, the Sydney
South Coast and Hunter systems.
0
5000
10 000
15 000
20 000
Rest of AustraliaMDB GroundwaterNorthern MDBSouthern MDB
Gig
alitr
es
Regulated surface water Unregulated surface water Groundwater
Figure 2: Nominal volume of water entitlements on issue, by region and type, 2017–18
8Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
0 1000 2000 3000 4000
Wimmera-Mallee
Harvey
Victoria River-Wiso
Pioneer Valley
Mary Basin
South Gippsland Basin
Barwon-Darling Watercourse
Latrobe Basin
Barron
QLD Border Rivers
North Coast
Thomson Basin
Adelaide & Mt Lofty Ranges
Gulf
Lower Darling
Ord River and Tributaries
Moreton
NSW Border Rivers
Burnett Basin
Namoi
Condamine-Balonne
Fitzroy Basin
Yarra Basin
Lachlan
Gwydir
SA Murray
Hunter
Macquarie-Castlereagh
Sydney South Coast
Burdekin Basin
VIC Murray
Tasmania
Goulburn
NSW Murray
Murrumbidgee
High reliability Medium reliability General/Low reliability Other
Nominal volume (GL)
*Only showing water systems with nominal surface water entitlement volumes of >100 GL
Figure 3: Volume of surface water entitlements on issue, by water system and reliability class, 2017–18
9Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
In 2017–18, 8601 GL of groundwater entitlements were
on issue. The majority of these entitlements were for
areas outside the Murray–Darling Basin, particularly
where surface water is less reliable (Figure 4).
Groundwater entitlements often have different
properties from surface water entitlements. For example,
some groundwater entitlements allow allocated water
to be taken over multiple years, whereas most surface
water entitlements allow allocated water to be taken
annually. In some cases, such as alluvial groundwater
systems, groundwater areas may closely match surface
water areas. However, some alluvial systems and
other groundwater systems may cross surface water
area boundaries. For example, the Great Artesian
Basin crosses dozens of surface water areas across
Queensland, New South Wales, the Northern Territory
and South Australia. In some cases, layered groundwater
zones may themselves cross—for example, the Lachlan
Fractured Rock groundwater source sits under parts
of the Lachlan Alluvium, Lower Darling Alluvium and
Murrumbidgee Alluvium. Given the hydro-geological
challenges of sustainably managing groundwater
systems, trade of groundwater—even within a system—
is usually more limited than trade of surface water.
0 500 1000 1500
Wimmera-Mallee
South Australian Murray Region
Lachlan and South Western Fractured Rock
Macquarie-Castlereagh Alluvium
Murray Alluvium
Namoi Alluvium
Condamine-Balonne
Lachlan Alluvium
Murrumbidgee Alluvium
Goulburn-Murray
Collie
Burdekin Basin
North Coast
Logan Basin
Pioneer Valley
Busselton-Capel
Gascoyne
Arrowsmith
Sydney South Coast
Burnett Basin
East Murchison
Adelaide & Mt Lofty Ranges
Great Artesian Basin
Fitzroy Basin
Canning-Kimberley
Perth
Gippsland Groundwater Basin
Gingin
Otway-Torquay Groundwater Basin
Hunter
Daly Roper (Groundwater)
Goldfields
Pilbara
South East
Groundwater—Rest of Australia Groundwater—MDB
Nominal volume (GL)
*shows only groundwater areas with entitlements of greater than 50 GL
Figure 4: Groundwater entitlements on issue, 2017–18
10Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
WATER SUPPLY-SIDE FACTORS
In 2017–18 rainfall was below average across most
of Australia, with serious to severe rainfall deficiencies
for northern New South Wales, central Queensland,
eastern South Australia and parts of Victoria
(Figure 5). The exception to this trend was the southern
MDB which saw above average rainfall in the summer
months.
Rainfall was highly variable across most of Australia
in the first half of 2017–18 (Figure 6, page 11).
Average or above average rainfall was seen in large
parts of Western Australia, southern New South Wales
and much of Victoria. In contrast, rainfall was well
below average (lowest 5 to 10 per cent of historical
observations) across large areas in the eastern states
and the south-west of Western Australia in the second
half of the year (Figure 7, page 11).
Figure 5: Rainfall deciles, Australia, 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018
11Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
Figure 6: Rainfall deciles, Australia, 1 July to 31 December 2017
Figure 7: Rainfall deciles, Australia, 1 January to 30 June 2018
12Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
Australia’s mean daily maximum temperature for the
2017–18 water year was the warmest on record,
with nearly the entire country having mean maximum
temperatures that were above average (Figure 8). It was
1.46°C above the average over the 1961–90 baseline
period, and more than 0.1°C warmer than the previous
record for a financial year period (2015–16).
Average storage volumes across Australia decreased
from 67 per cent to 59 per cent during 2017–18
(Figure 9), reflecting the generally dry end to the water
year. This was most evident in the northern MDB,
where storage volumes decreased from 65 per cent
to 32 per cent. Storage volumes in the southern MDB
also decreased, from 70 per cent to 59 per cent.
Figure 8: Mean daily maximum temperature deciles, Australia, 1 July to 30 June 2018
0
20
40
60
80
100
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
Southern MDB Northern MDB Australia
Sto
rag
e vo
lum
es (%
)
Figure 9: Average water storage volumes, October 2012 to June 2018
13Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
WATER DEMAND-SIDE FACTORS
Agriculture is the primary user of water in Australia.
The most recent data available, which was for 2016-17,
showed agricultural use accounted for around 70 per
cent of water extractions, followed by urban use
(20 per cent) (Figure 10) (BOM 2018).
Most agricultural water use is for irrigation. The most
recent data available, which was for 2016-17,
irrigation consumed 91 per cent of water used in
agriculture (ABS 2018). In 2016–17, the MDB accounted
for 70 per cent of irrigation water use and 60 per cent of
irrigated land use in Australia (Figures 11 and 12)
(ABS 2018). In Australia, most water trade occurs
between agricultural users (Grafton and Wheeler 2018).
70%
Agriculture11 010 GL
20%
Urban3130 GL
10%
Industry1526 GL
Figure 10: Water extractions by use, Australia, 2016–17
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
2016
–17
2015
–16
2014
–15
2013
–14
2012
–13
2011
–12
2010
–11
2009
–10
2008
–09
2007
–08
Are
a (’0
00 h
a)
MDB Rest of Australia
Figure 11: Farm irrigation water use, 2007–08 to 2016–17. Data source: Australian Bureau of Statistics
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10 000
12 000
2016
–17
2015
–16
2014
–15
2013
–14
2012
–13
2011
–12
2010
–11
2009
–10
2008
–09
2007
–08
Gig
alitr
es
MDB Rest of Australia
Figure 12: Area of irrigated land, 2007–08 to 2016–17. Data source: Australian Bureau of Statistics
14Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
Figure 13 shows the volume of water that was
extracted for agriculture in 2017–18, by water system.
Within the MDB, irrigated agriculture includes pasture,
annual crops such as rice and cotton as well as
horticulture. Outside the MDB, significant volumes
of water are used to irrigate sugar cane in northern
Queensland, particularly in the Burdekin region, cotton in
the Fitzroy, and pasture in Tasmania (ABARES 2018).
Water use for the environment has also risen in recent
years, particularly in the MDB. Between 2007–08 and
2017–18, the Australian Government acquired 1935 GL
of entitlements (Long-term average annual yield) for the
environment in the MDB through a mix of purchases and
investments in infrastructure (DAWR 2018).
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
QLD Border Rivers
Burnett Basin
Gingin
NSW Border Rivers
Condamine and Balonne
Namoi
Ord River and Tributaries
Thomson
Gwydir
Lachlan
Fitzroy Basin
Macquarie-Castlereagh
Tasmania
SA Murray
Burdekin Basin
Goulburn
NSW Murray
Murrumbidgee
Vic Murray
Gigalitres
Figure 13: Volume of water extracted for agriculture, by water system, 2017–18
15Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
ALLOCATION MARKETS
In 2017–18, there was 7526 GL of allocation trade
across Australia (Table 1). The majority of allocation
trade continued to be for surface water in the southern
MDB, which accounts for 88 per cent of total allocation
trade in 2017–18.
Table 1: Allocation trade summary, 2017–18
Region Resource
type
Transactions Trades with market
rate price reported (%)
Volume
(GL)
Estimated
Turnover ($m)
Southern MDB Surface water 28 838 55 6643 582
Northern MDB Surface water 1137 54 456 57
Groundwater MDB Groundwater 837 60 223 11
Rest of Australia Surface water 1481 20 191 4
Groundwater 183 – 13 –
All Australia 32 476 54 7526 658
*For the turnover estimate, identified environmental transfers have been excluded.
Allocation trades without a ‘market rate’ reported
(i.e. no price reported or price unlikely to be from arm’s
length transactions, defined in this report as a price
<$5/ML or >$1000/ML) made up 46 per cent of
all allocation trades in 2017–18. Most of these
(45 per cent of all allocation trades) either had no
price or $0 price reported. There are a number of
reasons of these transactions.
• Outside of New South Wales, Victoria and South
Australia there was limited price data available for
allocation trades.
• Within these States a large proportion of these
transactions are between water accounts of related
entities, such as different accounts of the same
business or between families. For these transactions,
often nil consideration is reported.
• Within the southern MDB, 27 per cent by volume
of $0 transactions related to environmental water
transfers but they only account for one per cent of
the number of transactions.
The volume of allocation trade in Australia has grown
substantially since 2008–09 (Figure 14, page 16).
In 2017–18 the total volume of allocation trade was
up seven per cent from 2016–17. Surface water trade
continued to dominate, accounting for 97 per cent
(7290 GL) of allocation trade. The volume of groundwater
allocation traded in 2017–18 was 236 GL.
The total number of trades rose by around 32 per cent
from 2016–17 to 32 476 transactions.
The growth in the volume of allocations traded has
been due in part to the growth in identified
environmental allocation transfers, particularly in
the southern MDB (Figure 15, page 16). These are
transfers within and between water systems to achieve
environmental watering objectives. These transfers
have nil consideration paid, but they are still included on
trade registers along with market activity. In 2017–18,
identified environmental transfer volumes in the southern
MDB accounted for 24 per cent (1791 GL) of all
allocations traded in Australia.
16Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
Gig
alitr
esN
umb
er of trad
es
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
2017–182016–172015–162014–152013–142012–132011–122010–112009–102008–095000
10 000
15 000
20 000
25 000
30 000
35 000
2017–182016–172015–162014–152013–142012–132011–122010–112009–102008–09
Surface water volume Groundwater volume Number of trades
Figure 14: Volume and number of water allocation trades, 2008–09 to 2017–18
Gig
alitr
es
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
2018201720162015201420132012201120102009
Northern MDB—Surface water Southern MDB—Surface water (excluding environment)
Southern MDB—Surface water (environment) Rest of Australia + Groundwater
Figure 15: Volume of surface water allocation trade, by region, 2009 to 2018
17Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
In 2017–18, the majority of surface water trade volumes
occurred in the southern MDB, particularly in the Murray,
Murrumbidgee and Goulburn water systems (Figure 16).
These regions also comprised the bulk of environmental
transfers. Outside the MDB, the most significant trade
volumes were recorded in the Fitzroy, Barron and
Burdekin water systems in north-east Queensland.
Allocation prices were significantly higher in 2017–18
compared to the previous year, driven partly by the
rainfall deficit over the course of the year in the southern
MDB (Figure 17, page 18). Price data from the northern
MDB was not as comprehensively available as in the
southern MDB however the high prices shown in the
Gwydir, Namoi and Macquarie-Castlereagh water
systems are also indicative of the lower rainfall in the
northern MDB. Many catchments experienced price
increases of over 150 per cent. Trade restrictions and
commodity prices may have combined with lower water
availability in the later part of 2017–18 to drive those
prices higher than the previous year. Average prices
tended to be higher in the northern MDB, ranging from
$171/ML in the NSW Border Rivers to $293/ML in the
Gwydir. For the few systems outside the MDB where
allocation price data is available, prices ranged from
$38/ML in the Harvey to $328/ML in the Werribee Basin.
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
Burnett Basin
Condamine-Balonne
Hunter
Thomson Basin
Loddon
Burdekin Basin
Barron
NSW Border Rivers
Namoi
Campaspe
QLD Border Rivers
Fitzroy Basin
Gwydir
Lower Darling
Macquarie-Castlereagh
Lachlan
SA Murray
NSW Murray
Goulburn
Murrumbidgee
VIC Murray
Quantity traded (GL)
Figure 16: Surface water allocation trade, by water system, 2017–18
18Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Burnett Basin
Harvey
Hunter
Ovens
Thomson Basin
Broken
Lachlan
Goulburn
Tasmania
Campaspe
Lower Darling
Loddon
NSW Murray
VIC Murray
Murrumbidgee
SA Murray
NSW Border Rivers
Macquarie-Castlereagh
Namoi
Gwydir
Werribee Basin
$/ML
Figure 17: Average surface water allocation price, by water system, 2017–18
ENTITLEMENT MARKETS
The largest volumes of entitlement trade occurred in the southern and northern MDB surface water, with volumes
similar for these two regions in 2017–18 (Table 2).
Table 2: Entitlement trade summary, 2017–18
Region Resource
type
Transactions Trades with market rate
price reported (%)
Volume
(GL)
Turnover
($m)
Southern MDB Surface water 4629 54 504 845
Northern MDB Surface water 601 39 502 481
Groundwater MDB Groundwater 827 33 178 111
Rest of Australia Surface water 2643 14 223 269
Groundwater 1667 9 191 31
All Australia 10 367 31 1598 1737
19Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
As a general trend between 2007–08 and 2017–18,
the number and volume of entitlement trades have
increased significantly (Figure 18). In 2017–18 the number
of entitlement trades increased by six per cent although
volumes decreased by 23 per cent compared to the
previous water year. Trade spikes in 2008–09, 2009–10
and 2013–14 reflected a significant increase in the volume
of water traded to the Commonwealth in the southern
MDB as part of Murray–Darling Basin Plan water recovery.
The 2008–09 and 2009-10 water recovery was
predominantly achieved through direct purchase,
but the 2013–14 recovery is associated with
infrastructure upgrades. Apart from these trade spikes,
the long-term trend has been towards more entitlement
trade. This has resulted in trade volumes close to
doubling over the last decade.
Gig
alitr
esN
umb
er of trad
es
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
2017–182016–172015–162014–152013–142012–132011–122010–112009–102008–092007–080
2000
4000
6000
8000
10 000
12 000
2017–182016–172015–162014–152013–142012–132011–122010–112009–102008–092007–08
Surface water volume Groundwater volume Number of trades
Figure 18: Volume and number of entitlement trades nationally, by source, 2007–08 to 2017–18
20Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
There is an upward trend in both volumes and numbers
of entitlement trades in the northern MDB as well
as groundwater in the whole of the MDB, and a
gradual increase in the rest of Australia (Figure 19).
This could reflect entitlement trading being viewed
as a standard business tool for irrigators to manage
climate variability and structural changes to agricultural
businesses, such as farm consolidations. It also shows
that in markets outside the MDB, such as Tasmania there
is an increasing participation in water trading.
0
300
600
900
1200
1500
2017
–18
2016
–17
2015
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2014
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2013
–14
2012
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2011
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2009
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2008
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2007
–08
Surface water—southern MDB Surface water—northern MDB
Groundwater MDB Rest of Australia—Surface + Groundwater
Gig
alitr
es
Figure 19: Volume of water entitlement trade, 2007–08 to 2017–18
As was the case in 2016–17, there was significant
trade activity in surface water entitlements in the
Macquarie–Castlereagh and NSW Border Rivers
systems in the northern MDB in 2017–18
(Figure 20, page 21). However, a small number
of large transfers dominate in both systems.
In the case of the Macquarie–Castlereagh,
the large volume of trade is the result of changes
in ownership composition of entitlements in the
Trangie–Nevertire Irrigation Scheme but this also
represents commercial transactions. The southern
MDB recorded significant entitlement trade in the
Murrumbidgee, Victorian Murray, NSW Murray and
Goulburn systems. The most significant activity
outside the MDB was in the Tasmania, Burdekin,
Hunter, Burnett, Fitzroy and Thomson systems.
21Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
0 50 100 150 200 250
Sydney South Coast
Mary Basin
North Coast
Pioneer Valley
Barron
Gulf
Thomson Basin
Fitzroy Basin
Burnett Basin
Hunter
Burdekin Basin
Lower Darling
Condamine-Balonne
Namoi
QLD Border Rivers
SA Murray
Tasmania
Lachlan
VIC Murray
Goulburn
Gwydir
NSW Murray
NSW Border Rivers
Murrumbidgee
Macquarie-Castlereagh
Gigalitres
Figure 20: Volume of surface water entitlement trade, by water system, 2017–18
The MDB data shows that surface water entitlement
prices generally increased in the southern and
northern MDB in 2017–18 compared to 2016–17
(Figure 21). Due to the dispersed nature of entitlement
trading across other parts of Australia, and some
prices reflecting a property sale with land and water,
no assessment has been included here for other
water systems. Further discussion on trading in
other water systems is in a separate section of the
Australian water markets report.
0
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800
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1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
2017
–18
2016
–17
2015
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2014
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2011
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2010
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2009
–10
2008
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2007
–08
Surface water—northern MDB ($/ML) Surface water—southern MDB ($/ML)
Ind
ex ($
/ML)
Figure 21: Surface water entitlement prices, 2007–08 to 2017–18
22Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
REFERENCES
ABARES (2018). Australian water markets report 2016–17.
www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/research-topics/water/aust-water-markets-
reports#references [Accessed 1 June 2018].
ABS (2018). Water use on Australian farms 2016–17.
www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/4618.0 [Accessed 10 September 2018].
ABS (2019). Water Account Australia 2016–17.
www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/4610.0 [Accessed 5 March 2019].
BOM (2018). Water in Australia.
www.bom.gov.au/water/waterinaustralia/files/Water-in-Australia-2016-17.pdf
[Accessed 7 December 2018].
Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (2018).
Water Recovery under the Basin Plan as at 30 June 2018.
www.agriculture.gov.au/water/mdb/progress-recovery/progress-of-water-
recovery [Accessed 1 November 2018].
Grafton, Q and Wheeler, S (2018). Economics of water recovery in the
Murray–Darling Basin, Australia. Annual Review of Resource Economics.
23Australian Water Markets Report 2017–18 National Overview Section
190225-2