Water in Australia
Water data, science and context for Australia. Every figure carries its source and method, and Hydrionis states what it does not hold.
Headline indicators
Where this number comes from
Source: World Bank — World Development Indicators, World Bank WDI indicator ER.H2O.INTR.K3. Licence: Open — attribution required (attribution required).
Method: Renewable internal freshwater resources: the long-term average annual flow of rivers and recharge of groundwater generated from precipitation within the country. Internal resources exclude inflow from upstream countries, so this is the measure of self-sufficiency rather than of total availability. Originating body: FAO AQUASTAT. The World Bank publishes its datasets under CC BY 4.0, but relayed third-party material may carry the originator's own terms — verify with them before commercial reuse.
Retrieved 24 August 2026.
Where this number comes from
Source: World Bank — World Development Indicators, World Bank WDI indicator ER.H2O.INTR.PC. Licence: Open — attribution required (attribution required).
Method: Renewable internal freshwater resources divided by population. Because the population denominator updates annually while the resource figure is a long-term hydrological average, movement in this series is largely population change rather than hydrological change. Originating body: FAO AQUASTAT and World Bank population estimates. The World Bank publishes its datasets under CC BY 4.0, but relayed third-party material may carry the originator's own terms — verify with them before commercial reuse.
Retrieved 24 August 2026.
Where this number comes from
Source: World Bank — World Development Indicators, World Bank WDI indicator ER.H2O.FWTL.K3. Licence: Open — attribution required (attribution required).
Method: Total annual freshwater withdrawn for agricultural, industrial and domestic use. Withdrawal is not consumption: much of what is withdrawn is returned to the source catchment. Originating body: FAO AQUASTAT. The World Bank publishes its datasets under CC BY 4.0, but relayed third-party material may carry the originator's own terms — verify with them before commercial reuse.
Retrieved 24 August 2026.
Where this number comes from
Source: World Bank — World Development Indicators, World Bank WDI indicator ER.H2O.FWAG.ZS. Licence: Open — attribution required (attribution required).
Method: Agricultural withdrawal as a percentage of total freshwater withdrawal. Originating body: FAO AQUASTAT. The World Bank publishes its datasets under CC BY 4.0, but relayed third-party material may carry the originator's own terms — verify with them before commercial reuse.
Retrieved 24 August 2026.
Where this number comes from
Source: World Bank — World Development Indicators, World Bank WDI indicator ER.H2O.FWIN.ZS. Licence: Open — attribution required (attribution required).
Method: Industrial withdrawal as a percentage of total freshwater withdrawal. Countries differ in whether thermoelectric cooling is counted here, and where it is the share reflects cooling arrangements rather than manufacturing intensity. Originating body: FAO AQUASTAT. The World Bank publishes its datasets under CC BY 4.0, but relayed third-party material may carry the originator's own terms — verify with them before commercial reuse.
Retrieved 24 August 2026.
Where this number comes from
Source: World Bank — World Development Indicators, World Bank WDI indicator ER.H2O.FWDM.ZS. Licence: Open — attribution required (attribution required).
Method: Domestic and municipal withdrawal as a percentage of total freshwater withdrawal. Originating body: FAO AQUASTAT. The World Bank publishes its datasets under CC BY 4.0, but relayed third-party material may carry the originator's own terms — verify with them before commercial reuse.
Retrieved 24 August 2026.
Where this number comes from
This is not a direct measurement. Output of a numerical or statistical model rather than a measurement.
Source: World Bank — World Development Indicators, World Bank WDI indicator SH.STA.SMSS.ZS. Licence: Open — attribution required (attribution required).
Method: Population using improved sanitation facilities not shared with other households, where excreta are safely disposed of in situ or treated off site. Originating body: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme. The World Bank publishes its datasets under CC BY 4.0, but relayed third-party material may carry the originator's own terms — verify with them before commercial reuse.
Retrieved 24 August 2026.
How water is used
Sector shares are reported for varying reference years by country, and countries differ in whether thermoelectric cooling is counted as industrial withdrawal.
View the data behind this chart
| Subject | Value (%) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Agriculture | 66.9 | — |
| Industry | 18.6 | — |
| Municipal | 14.5 | — |
Coverage for this place
Entities in Australia
Supplies Greater Sydney. The Millennium Drought of 1997–2009 reshaped its planning entirely, driving desalination capacity, dema…
Australia’s principal river system and the subject of the most ambitious water reallocation programme attempted anywhere — the B…
Proposed doubling of capacity to improve drought resilience for Greater Sydney.
National guidance applied through state and territory regulation, structured around a preventive risk management framework rathe…