Rural Water

Rural Water is an Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) website designed to deliver information on water availability and use in Australia, at River Basin to Drainage Division scales. The website is based on ongoing ABARES investigations into the impact on landscape water balances of changes in climate, land use, and land and water management practices.

The website is based on investigations of landscape water balances and land use and water management practices by ABARES, CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology, primarily under the Australian Water Availability Project.

Information and tools hosted on this site will potentially also assist a range of other users including water policy and program areas at all levels of government, catchment management authorities, members of parliament and agricultural industry groups.

The Rural Water site contains:

• Reports summarising landscape water balances in recent months and average annual water availability and use for every River Basin and Drainage Division in Australia.
• Data drawn from a large range of information sources including: CSIRO, The Bureau of Meteorology, the Australian Bureau of Statistics; Geosciences Australia; the National Land and Water Resources Audit; the Australian National Committee on Large Dams; the Australian National Committee - International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage; the Murray Darling Basin Commission; State Agencies and the Australian Water Resource Council.
• An online mapping tool that allows investigation of the primary components of the water cycle and other water data (e.g., residential water use; rainfall reliability) and a high-resolution landuse map.