Water security is one of Australia’s major challenges. The benefits of using these national Water datasets are to better understand the water system and help make the right decision.

An important part of the Water theme is understanding the contained features; the catchments, streams, aquifers, floodplains and storages that make up the hydrological system. In developing and delivering water resource information the location of these features is as vital as the information about the interactions between the features.

Water information helps  the government with issues such as:

Climate change
Water and natural resource management, including coal seam gas extraction
Flood mapping
Emergency management
Hazard mitigation or disaster risk reduction
Environmental planning and monitoring
Urban development and agriculture
Insurance, engineering and mining