Bureau?s latest report an important reference for Geelong and surrounds
25/10/2013
The Bureau of Meteorology’s recently released Assessment of Australia’s water resources has valuable information for people of the Geelong region.
Bureau of Meteorology Acting Assistant Director Water Information Services, Dr Grace Mitchell, described the Australian Water Resources Assessment 2012 as “a high-quality, nationally consistent insight into the nation’s water resources, and an essential tool for better water resources management.”
The assessment identifies trends and variability in the nation’s climate and water resources for the twelve months from July 2011 to June 2012. It also highlights patterns in the water situation at the national and regional scales, through time periods from months to decades.
Dr Mitchell said it also provides a wealth of information on rainfall trends, landscape water flows, surface water and groundwater, water for cities and towns, water for national and internationally recognised wetlands, and water for agriculture.
Some of the Assessment’s highlights relevant to Geelong and the surrounding district include:
• Since 1997-98, water flows into the Reedy Lake-Lake Connewarre wetlands have changed substantially. The normally very much above average flows in late winter and early spring have become substantially less, while the summer and autumn low flows became much more pronounced. The 2011-12 flows were particularly low in the normally high flow season from August-October and only contributed a substantial amount of freshwater to the lakes in July 2011 and June 2012.
• Total annual irrigation water use for the Corangamite natural resource management region for 2010-11 was 19 gigalitres, an increase of 6 gigalitres on 2009-10 (data not yet available for 2011-12).
• 2010-11 produced the highest and 2011-12 the third highest rainfall totals for the South East Coast (Victoria) region over the past 32 years.
Geelong and surrounds are a part of the South East Coast (Victoria) region, one of 13 regions for which a detailed water resources assessment is provided. This broad water region stretches from South Australia to south-eastern New South Wales, taking in all of Victoria south of the Great Dividing Range. It includes other major cities and towns such as Mount Gambier, Warrnambool, Ballarat, Melbourne and Traralgon.
The Australian Water Resources Assessment 2012 is the second report of this kind, following release of the first assessment in 2010. Go to 2012 Assessment report for information on the South East Coast (Victoria) Region.
