Australian Bureau of Statistics
1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2007
Previous ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 24/01/2007
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WATER USE AND IRRIGATION
In 2004-05, 35,244 farms irrigated, applying a total of 10,085 gigalitres (GL) of irrigation water to 2.4 mill. ha (table 24.24). The area of crops and pastures irrigated is less than 1% of total agricultural land holdings. However, irrigated agriculture represents about 28% of the gross value of agricultural production.
Some crops are almost totally dependent on irrigation, while for others irrigation water supplements natural rainfall or provides moisture at critical periods of plant growth. ‘Pasture for grazing’ used the most water in 2004-05 (table 24.25). It accounted for nearly one-third of the total volume of irrigation water and also for one-third of the total area irrigated.
The most heavily irrigated crop in terms of the volume of water applied was rice, which had an average application rate of 12.1 megalitres per hectare (ML/ha) in 2004-05. This was almost three times the average rate across all crops and pastures (4.2 ML/ha). Cotton had the next highest application rate (6.7 ML/ha), followed by sugar cane (5.5 ML/ha).
In the period since about the mid-1950s, there has been a rapid increase in the total area irrigated.
The increase in the irrigated area corresponds with the growth in total dam capacity (graph 24.26). Irrigation requires a dependable supply of water, something which cannot be supplied by the majority of Australian rivers because of the great variability in their flows. Dams have been built since the late-1800s to provide a reliable water resource for irrigation, urban water needs and hydro-electric power generation. At the start of the 20th century the combined storage capacity of all large dams was 250 GL, increasing to 9,540 GL by 1950 and 84,793 GL in 2005. Australia now has the highest per capita water storage capacity in the world, more than 4 mill. litres per person.
The Murray-Darling Basin dominates irrigation in Australia and accounts for more than 70% of irrigation water use in Australia. The Basin extends over three-quarters of New South Wales, more than half of Victoria, significant portions of Queensland and South Australia, and the whole of the Australian Capital Territory.
In the last 100 years, the Murray-Darling Basin has been transformed by the construction of major water storages on the Murray and Darling Rivers and their tributaries. The total volume of water storage capacity of major dams in the Basin is nearly 35,000 GL.
Today, the Murray-Darling Basin is Australia's most important agricultural region, accounting for more than 40% of the nation's gross value of agricultural production. It supports a quarter of the nation's cattle herd, half of the sheep flock, half of the cropland and almost three-quarters of its irrigated land.
This page last updated 16 January 2008
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