Water management

Water-managementHydro Tasmania is Australia’s largest water manager, with an annual average of 15,364 gigalitres of water flowing through our power stations. This compares to 6,596 gigalitres used for irrigation in the Murray-Darling basin in 2009-2010. It is simply a massive amount of water.

The integrated power system in Tasmania uses water from six major river catchments. This use is authorised under our water licence. We have water management guidelines for managing the system as a whole. These guidelines include establishing long-term storage targets, following storage operating rules, managing storage risks and protocols for communication with stakeholders. Key components are shown in the diagram to the right.
 
Find out about our Water Management Reviews >

Long-term storage targets

Long-term storage targets are established using system modelling which makes use of current and historical water level and flow data. Hydro Tasmania uses this modelling to manage the volatility in inflows; balancing the risk of shortfall against the risk of spill. This modelling incorporates the latest climate change predictions from CSIRO.

Individual water bodies in a system

For each of the water bodies we manage, storage operating rules have been developed.  These describe how water levels and releases from the storage are to be managed.  In developing the rules we consider the attributes of the particular lake – physical, climatic, multiple-use, social, environmental and operational requirements.

Adjustments to rules are made when conditions surrounding these attributes change significantly. Consultation with stakeholders is undertaken where appropriate to do so. For example, Hydro Tasmania and the Inland Fisheries Service have water level arrangements in memoranda of understanding (MOUs) for seven lakes, find out about our work with IFS >