Water for Consumptive Use
Where does our water come from?
The water cycle includes surface water and groundwater (including stormwater and recycled water) and water contained in the atmosphere. Surface water and groundwater are the key sources of water in the allocation process.
What is surface water?
Surface water is water that is above the ground. It includes water in waterways, lakes, channels, dams and runoff flowing across land.
In many areas groundwater and surface water are not completely separate. Groundwater can become surface water by flowing into a waterway, spring or soak. Similarly, surface water can seep the ground to become part of the groundwater system.
There are four different types of issued entitlements to take surface water:
- bulk entitlements
- environmental entitlements
- water shares
- water licences
What is groundwater?
Groundwater is water that is below the ground, occurring in an aquifer (section 3).
In comparison with surface water resources, Victoria’s usable groundwater resources are small. Only 10% of total groundwater reserves are currently considered suitable for human consumption. Once extracted, groundwater recharge of these reserves can take many years. In some cases, there will be no recharge.
Nevertheless, groundwater supports a significant amount of agricultural activity, provides urban supplies to a number of towns and cities across Victoria and is an essential source of domestic and stock supply.
Victoria’s underground water reserves are managed as Groundwater Management Units (GMUs). Groundwater Management Units can be designated as:
Access to groundwater and surface water is governed by the water allocation framework. Currently licensing is the key entitlement mechanism used to allocate groundwater. However, groundwater can also be allocated to water corporations and other specific bodies through a bulk entitlement.