We are excited to announce the release of the 2022-23 Victorian Water Accounts.

The Victorian Water Accounts are a trusted data source on water availability and use.

There are now 20 years of this annual report available, covering dry periods such as the Millennium Drought, and also periods of flooding. This long record of trend data is useful for researchers, policy makers and water users in general.

Online and accessible

For the second year, the Accounts are available online. This interactive website features several improvements and more options to download data. The recent enhancements form part of a 20-year journey.

2022-23 was a wet year

This year had the highest reported total inflow volume in the Victorian Water Accounts’ history – 217% of the long-term average.

The total volume of water available increased to around 50,000 GL from less than 35,000 GL the year before. This increase was enough to fill approximately 6 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Storage levels also remained high, rising from 84% to 92% full during the water year.

Water use breakdown

Of the water used in 2022-23:

  • 57% went to irrigation
  • 16% supported the environment
  • 20% went towards households, gardens, businesses and sport grounds
  • 5% was for rural domestic and stock uses
  • 2% was used for power generation.

Stay tuned

All future editions of the Accounts will continue to be released through this portal. Accounts for years before 2021-22 going back to 2003 will remain available as PDFs on the VWA website.

For more reporting resources, please visit water monitoring and reporting.

Preparation of the 2023-24 Accounts is now underway, for release in 2025.

Please contact the water reporting team if you have queries or suggestions, or if you wish to be notified when we release the next accounts.

The sun sets behind Blue Rock Lake's outlet tower
The sun sets behind Blue Rock Lake's outlet tower (credit: James Lauritz for State of Victoria, DEECA)

Page last updated: 28/10/24