The NSW Office of Water is Australia's largest water monitoring agency. Over 5,000 Office of Water monitoring stations measure the quality and quantity of water in rivers, streams, groundwater and dams across New South Wales. About 900 of these stations continuously monitor water sources delivering real-time data through digital electronic technology.
You can view Real-time data from the Office of Water and other NSW agencies on the Real-time data site.
Real-time data reports
The Office of Water provides real-time data on:
- river levels and flows
- storage elevations, volumes and discharges
- salinity, temperature and turbidity
- bore water levels.
The range of data available varies from site to site.
What's real-time data used for?
The real-time data the Office of Water provides is a critical component of the State's flood warning systems. Several state and federal agencies rely on this data, including State Water, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, the Bureau of Meteorology, State Emergency Services and the Border Rivers Commission.
Real time data is used to:
- find out how much water is available
- decide how much water can be allocated to users
- calculate water releases for the environment and users
- develop water sharing plans
- evaluate the performance of water sharing plans
- predict flood levels to protect people and property
- measure the health of rivers and floodplains
- understand climate change management
- manage surface and groundwater resources.
Order your real-time data DVD
Continuous NSW river and storage information is available on Pinneena CM DVDs. For more information or to purchase this resource please contact us.
Improving water information
In recent years water has become a pressing public policy issue for Australian society. As water demand increases and supply dwindles, the strain on existing water supplies has reached new heights. NSW is faced with several major water management issues:
- environmental sustainability
- extreme drought and extreme events
- intense competition for water
- productive use of water
- finite water resources.
Reliable water information is a basic tool for effective water management and better use of our water resources. The impacts of flood, drought and competition for water, combined with finite water resources, means that the management of those issues requires a thorough understanding of regional hydrology. Measurements are the only reliable indicator of the status and trends in available surface and groundwater resources.
New South Wales Strategic Water Information and Monitoring Plan
The Strategic Water Information and Monitoring Plan is a requirement of the Improving Water Information program coordinated by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. It will assist NSW and the Commonwealth to meet these requirements by:
- outlining water management issues in the state and the information drivers that support our data collection programs
- specifying any strategic gaps in data and information systems
- prioritising data gaps relative to the data delivery requirements of the Bureau of Meteorology.
View or download the Strategic Water Information and Monitoring Plan: