Water information a permanent feature for Bureau

March 23, 2017 Australian Bureau of Meteorology Leave a comment

As we approach the end of the first decade of providing national water information, we’re pleased to confirm the Bureau will continue providing these services on an ongoing basis.

In December 2016, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, the Hon. Barnaby Joyce announced that the Australian Government will provide ongoing funding for the Bureau’s water information functions.

This recognises the ongoing value and impact of our water information to industry and the community.

Our latest progress report highlights some of the water information achievements delivered by the Bureau in 2016, and the previous eight years

Selected 2016 achievements: Water Regulations amendment reduces frequency and amount of data required from rural water utilities; International environmental time-series data and groundwater data standards introduced; National Industy Guideline published to promote standardised water quality metadata; Upgraded Australian Water Resources Information System can process 26 incoming files at the same time and seqarch 40 million files on record; Monthly and annual climate and water resources data presented at various scales using maps, graphs and tables; Urban water utility benchmarking aided through simpler reporting mechanism; Streamflow observations published for more than 3400 sites around Australia; Monthly comparison of rainfall and streamflow for 10 of Australia's 13 major drainage divisions

(click on image to access the full progress report)

A small selection of 2016 water information achievements from the Improving Water Information Progress Report

We look forward to continuing to deliver water information for the nation’s decision-makers to help manage this vital resource for the benefit of the community, industry and the environment.

Original article posted on Bureau of Meteorology website, March 2017 (Link)