Resources

Hydrology Data

Table 1 outlines the significant surface water monitoring databases in Australia, highlighting the State and Territory agencies involved in water management as the main data custodians. As a guide to the location of existing stream gauging sites, the Water Resources Station Catalogue developed by the Bureau of Meteorology provides a national inventory of the river gauging stations, as well as rainfall and evaporation stations, across the country. A summary of the agencies that provide water monitoring data for water storages is provided in Table 2. Monitoring of groundwater hydrology (eg. standing water levels, groundwater pressure, flow) is typically stored in the borehole databases maintained by the State agencies.

Table 1: Significant surface water monitoring databases in Australia
Database Name Area Custodian Water Features Data Access Data Themes Sites
Water Resource Information System ACT Environment ACT       360
Surface Water Data NSW NSW Dept Natural Resources streams, channels reservoirs http://www.waterinfo.nsw.gov.au/ water flow
water level
rainfall
water quality
1,700
N/A NSW Manly Hydraulics Laboratory streams, estuaries http://www.mhl.nsw.gov.au/www/dcol.htmlx water level
water quality
tides
rainfall
200
Surface Water and Water Quality NT NT Dept Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts streams rainfall http://www.nt.gov.au/nreta/naturalresources/ water/surfacewater/telemeteredsites/index.shtml water flow
water level
Surfacewater Resource Information Qld Qld Dept Natural Resources Mines and Water streams http://www.nrm.qld.gov.au/watershed/index.html water level,
water flow
temperature
conductivity
water quality
5,000
State Surface Water Archive SA SA Dept of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation streams rainfall http://www.dwlbc.sa.gov.au/subs/ surface_water_archive/a1pgs/index.htm water flow
water level
velocity
1,035
Tasmanian Water Information Database Tas Tas Department Primary Industries, Water and Environment streams rainfall http://water.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/wist/ui water level
water flow
water quality
17,000
Victoria Water Resources Data Warehouse Vic Vic Dept Sustainability and Environment streams http://www.vicwaterdata.net/ water flow
water levels
water quality
90,000
Water Resources Station Catalogue Aus Bureau of Meteorology streams http://www.bom.gov.au/hydro/wrsc Metadata 2,050
Table 2: Summary of organisations providing monitoring data on water storages
Area Custodian Data Themes Data Access
MDB Murray Darling Basin Commission
River Murray Water
volume flow, salinity http://www.mdbc.gov.au/rmw/river_information_centre
ACT ActewAGL volume (%) http://www.actewagl.com.au/default.aspx?loc=/water/damCapacity.htm
NSW NSW Department of Natural Resources volume http://waterinfo.dlwc.nsw.gov.au/sr/index.html
NSW Hunter Water volume
rainfall
http://www.hunterwater.com.au/ssp.asp
NSW Sydney Catchment Authority volume
rainfall
http://www.sca.nsw.gov.au/dams/bydate_index.html
NT NT Power and Water Corporation volume rainfall http://www.powerwater.com.au/powerwater/aboutus/darwin_river_dam.htm#levels
Qld Sunwater volume
blue green algae status
http://www.sunwater.com.au
Qld SEQWater volume
level
rainfall
http://www.seqwater.com.au/content/standard.asp?name=DamOperationsAndMaintenance
SA SA Water volume http://www.sawater.com.au/SAWater/WhatsNew/WaterDataUpdate/Reservoir+Levels.htm
Vic Barwon Water volume http://www.barwonwater.vic.gov.au/index.cfm?h2o=services.water_levels
Vic Central Highlands Water volume (%)
Rainfall
http://www.chw.net.au/water_storage.html
Vic Coliban Water Volume
rainfall
http://www.coliban.com.au
Vic Gippsland Water volume http://www.gippswater.com.au/waterupdate/waterlevel.asp
Vic South East Water volume http://www.southeastwater.com.au/waterlevels/reservoirs.asp?area=bus
Vic Vic Department of Primary Industries volume http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/water-streports-storage
Vic Melbourne Water volume http://www.melbournewater.com.au/content/water/water_storages/water_storages.asp
WA WA Water Volume
rainfall
http://www.watercorporation.com.au/dams/dams_storage.cfm?rootparent=ourwatersources