Macquarie River Basin Annual Permitted Water Take Model Data

Annual Permitted Take (APT) is a critical mechanism for enforcing sustainable diversion limits in Australia's Murray-Darling Basin. The dataset contains modelled APT values for the Macquarie region, calculated based on water availability, climatic conditions, and infrastructure estimates from 1895 to 2009. It is provided by the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and was last updated in May 2026.

Use Cases

• Tracking compliance with sustainable diversion limits based on the cumulative difference from water year 2019–20.
• Modeling water allocation scenarios based on estimates of irrigated crop area and planting decisions.
• Analyzing water entitlement holder distribution and use patterns over time.
• Assessing the impact of storage operation rules on water supply for consumption and the environment.

Strengths

• Enforces a legally mandated sustainable diversion limit (SDL) under the Commonwealth Water Act 2007.
• Model is configured using detailed estimates of river management and development conditions.
• Data is part of a public register of take, supporting transparency.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

Collection Method

Modelled data generated by an APT calculation method defined in water resource plans.

Time Range

Reference period 1895–2009; enforcement began July 2019.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-13 04:49:12.511669; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Macquarie region within the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia.