Water Report Released Today

22 June 2007

Water Report Released Today

The Water Physical Stock Account 1995–2005 was released by Statistics New Zealand today. It is an update of the previous Water Physical Stock Account 1995–2001. The updated report contains new annual results and a revision of the results previously published. The revision is a result of improved estimations of water volumes for the New Zealand freshwater cycle.

The Water Physical Stock Account 1995–2005 shows the amount of water coming into New Zealand (inflows), the amount leaving (outflows), and changes in the amount of water held in soil, lakes and glaciers, and as snow and groundwater. These volumes are given on a national and regional basis for the 11 years from 1995 to 2005. In addition, the account presents limited information on water abstraction.

For the June 2005 year, the total volume of precipitation (rainfall, snow, sleet, and hail) that fell in New Zealand was 505,194 million cubic metres. This amount of water would be enough to fill Lake Taupo eight times over. During the period 1995 to 2005, a yearly average of 2.1 metres (depth) of precipitation fell in New Zealand.

The West Coast received the greatest amount of precipitation (an average of 5.5 metres) while Otago received the least (an average of 1.2 metres).

The Water Physical Stock Account 1995–2005 and associated tables are available on the Statistics NZ website (www.stats.govt.nz). This report is part of an environmental series measuring the reliance of our economy on natural resources.

Geoff Bascand Government Statistician

ENDS

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