Australian water markets report 2014-15

The Australian water markets report 2014-15 presents detailed information on water markets for the 2014-15 financial year, including statistics on water access entitlement and water allocation trade, market performance (trade processing times), entitlements on issue and environmental water. These statistics are presented nationally, for the southern Murray-Darling Basin (sMDB), and by state for systems outside the sMDB.

Accompanying the report is a database of water trades from 2007-08 to 2014-15, and a spreadsheet containing the data underlying all report figures and commonly requested statistics.

Key Issues

In 2014-15, Australian water access entitlement trade and water allocation trade totalled 1796 GL and 5784 GL respectively. For water access entitlement trade, this was a decrease of 614 GL or 34 per cent compared to 2013-14, largely reflecting a decrease in Commonwealth environmental water recovery. For water allocation trade, this was an increase of 243 GL or 4 per cent compared to 2013-14. The Murray-Darling Basin accounted for 81 per cent of national water access entitlement trade and 94 per cent of national water allocation trade, after excluding 2172 GL of environmental transfers in the sMDB.

The 2014-15 water year was characterised by below-average rainfall, runoff and streamflow in Australia. Storage volumes declined significantly, from 70 per cent to 59 per cent nationally. This continued a trend of declining storage volumes since the flood events of 2011 and 2012. The poor seasonal conditions resulted in water allocation percentages in major water markets being generally lower in 2014-15 than in 2013-14, driving increases in water allocation and entitlement prices in most water systems.

Historically, there have been few constraints on trade between regions and trading zones within the major sMDB market, leading to fairly consistent water prices between regions. However, in recent seasons, trade restrictions have become more important, with changes in trade flows, the introduction of new limits and the reintroduction of previously suspended limits.

In 2014-15, just 52 GL of water was recovered by the Commonwealth, predominantly through infrastructure. Around 5 GL of entitlements were purchased in 2014-15, mainly from the northern MDB.