1.5.1.1.3 Gauged inflows and outflows in the Hunter river basin

Inflows to the Hunter subregion include water released from the major storages and natural inflows from unregulated tributaries. The locations of operating streamflow gauges are shown in Figure 3. Many minor tributaries have never been gauged or have had gauging stations that are now closed.

Table 4 summarises stream inflows, dam outflows and the difference between inflows and outflows for Glenbawn and Glennies Creek dams from 1990–91 to 2011–12 based on the NSW Office of Water Integrated Quantity and Quality Model (IQQM) calibrations (Simons et al., 1996; NSW Office of Water, Dataset 6).

Table 4 Modelled annual inflows and outflows for Glenbawn and Glennies Creek dams, using IQQM model calibrations for the Hunter subregion

	Glenbawn Dam			Glennies Creek Dam
	Inflows (GL/y)	Outflows (GL/y)	Difference (GL/y)	Inflows (GL/y)	Outflows (GL/y)	Difference (GL/y)
1990–91	261.9	269	–7.1	26.7	34.1	–7.4
1991–92	78	84.1	–6.1	20	44.9	–24.9
1992–93	73.7	90.6	–16.9	22	38.8	–16.8
1993–94	70.3	103.9	–33.6	22.4	40.3	–17.9
1994–95	58.1	141	–82.9	42.2	57.3	–15.1
1995–96	121.4	93.4	28	38.8	34.5	4.3
1996–97	107.5	86.9	20.6	25.6	33.8	–8.2
1997–98	54.4	201.1	–146.7	31.6	46.4	–14.8
1998–99	313.8	39.9	273.9	75.7	27.2	48.5
1999–00	157	51	106	86.7	25.9	60.8
2000–01	288.1	149.8	138.3	81.6	24	57.6
2001–02	148.8	216	–67.2	13.7	34.9	–21.2
2002–03	62.9	109.3	–46.4	23.3	62.6	–39.3
2003–04	83.1	124.6	–41.5	15.9	42.4	–26.5
2004–05	83	163.1	–80.1	21.5	37.8	–16.3
2005–06	73.1	173.6	–100.5	12.2	35.3	–23.1
2006–07	63.2	194.2	–131	31.2	16.8	14.4
2007–08	192.3	24.3	168	87.7	16.1	71.6
2008–09	204.3	77.7	126.6	70.2	29.9	40.3
2009–10	81.4	127.8	–46.4	21.5	50	–28.5
2010–11	285.8	75.7	210.1	68.2	21.6	46.6
2011–12	172.1	61	111.1	56.2	18.1	38.1
Mean	137.9	120.8	17.1	40.7	35.1	5.6

IQQM = Integrated Quantity and Quality Model; values based on 2004 Water Sharing Plan with 2012 conditions

Data: NSW Office of Water (Dataset 6)

Annual inflows between 2005 and 2012 for tributaries to the Hunter are summarised in Table 5 . Major contributors to annual inflows include the Goulburn River (gauging station number 210031), the upper Hunter River (210018), Wollombi Brook (210004), Paterson River (210079) and Williams River (210010). Annual inflows varied considerably from very low totals during the dry years of the Millennium Drought to the higher yields in 2010–11 and 2011–12 when good rainfall ended the drought. The total mean annual flow across these gauging stations for 2004–05 to 2011–12 was 1135 GL/year.

Table 5 Annual inflows for Hunter river basin tributary streams

Gauging station name	Gauging station number	Mean annual streamflow (GL/y)
Gauging station name	Gauging station number	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11	2011–12	Mean
Wybong Creek at Wybong	210040	0.3	0.4	16.8	21.7	25.8	3.7	29.7	42.1	17.6
Goulburn River at Sandy Hollow	210031	11.1	23.0	273.5	91.2	76.9	22.7	434.4	293.8	153.3
Pages River at Gundy Recorder	210052	16.7	17.5	13.5	52.2	38.2	10.1	83.2	69.5	37.6
Kingdon Ponds Creek at Nr. Parkville	210093	0.5	0.0	3.1	11.7	4.4	1.1	8.9	10.5	5.0
Rouchel Brook at Rouchel Brook	210014	13.8	NA	NA	78.1	65.8	15.2	101.7	81.6	59.4^a
Hunter at Moonan Dam Site	210018	65.3	56.9	35.5	140.3	162.2	58.5	233.4	128.0	110.0
Bayswater Creek at Liddell	210110	NA	0.1	0.1	NA	4.6	0.1	8.2	21.6	5.8^a
Glennies Creek at Middle Falbrook	210044	32.7	30.3	84.8	61.0	65.1	NA	62.9	127.4	66.3^a
Wollombi Brook at Warkworth	210004	NA	NA	NA	125.1	74.2	4.8	92.1	230.5	105.3^a
Paterson River at Gostwyck	210079	153.9	71.8	201.1	461.9	373.7	100.1	348.8	386.0	262.2
Williams River at Glen Martin	210010	199.1	117.2	261.5	559.1	433.4	131.9	321.0	479.5	312.8
Total inflows		493.4^a	317.2^a	889.9^a	1602.3	1324.3	348.2^a	1724.3	1870.5	1135.3^a

^adata missing

NA = data not available

Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme(Dataset 7)

The Hunter River gauging station at Greta is the most downstream gauging location on the Hunter River before the river becomes subject to tidal influences. Mean annual outflow at Greta for the same period was 697 GL/year (Table 6). Note that Paterson River and Williams River join the Hunter downstream of Greta, so the 575 GL/year of inflows from these tributaries are not reflected in the Greta flow volumes.

Table 6 Annual outflow for Hunter river basin at Greta

Gauging station name	Gauging station number	Mean annual streamflow (GL/y)
Gauging station name	Gauging station number	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11	2011–12	Mean
Hunter at Greta	210064	102.6	92.1	1616.8	862.6	855.7	77.5	944.6	987.2	696.8

Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 7)

Last updated:

18 January 2019

1.5.1.1.3 Gauged inflows and outflows in the Hunter river basin

Product Finalisation date

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ASSESSMENT

PRODUCT DATA