Executive summary
This product identifies the sources of information known to be available for current water accounts and water quality for the Sydney Basin bioregion, but does not describe the information itself.
Water accounts
The Bureau of Meteorology’s national water account covers water availability, water use and water management information. The Bureau’s main data providers for information about this bioregion are New South Wales Department of Primary Industries Water (formerly the New South Wales Office of Water) and WaterNSW (formerly Sydney Catchment Authority and State Water Corporation).
Groundwater is a relatively small proportion of total water use in the Sydney Basin bioregion and the national water account for the region does not report groundwater volumes.
Water quality
As the Sydney region supports a population of more than 4.7 million, water quality is of significant interest to local water managers to ensure the water supply is fit for human consumption.
WaterNSW monitors surface water quality to ensure that levels are within guidelines for human consumption and to trigger timely responses to levels if they are found to exceed the guidelines.
As surface water is the predominant source of water in the bioregion, groundwater quality information has not generally been collected.
