A drainage basin is an extent of land where water from rain and melting snow or ice drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea or ocean. The drainage basin includes both the streams and rivers that convey the water as well as the land surfaces from which water drains into those channels, and is separated from adjacent basins by a drainage divide.

Major drainage basins are coded by hierarchy within the National Catchment Boundaries (NCB) dataset, with primary drainage basins attributed Level 1 and smaller river catchment subdivisions attributed Level 2. Beyond that, minor river and creek watersheds are ranked by the Pfafstetter Coding System. This article deals with surface water rather than groundwater basins, such as the Great Artesian Basin.

Australia has twelve distinguished NCB Level 1 drainage divisions[1] or thirteen[2] after splitting the South East Coast division at the New South Wales–Victoria border as defined by the Australian Water Resources Assessment 2012, a hydrological survey conducted by the Bureau of Meteorology.[3] Runoff from these divisions generally flows into the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean and Lake Eyre.

Australia's 13 drainage divisions

List of NCB Level 1 drainage basins

Code[A]NameArea (km2)Average rainfall (mm) [B]Accessible surface storage capacity (GL)[4]Major riversDrains toNotes
NECNorth East Coast (Queensland)451,0008279,771Suttor River, Belyando River, Nogoa RiverCoral Sea (Pacific Ocean)
SENSouth East Coast (NSW)129,5009954,056Manning River, Karuah River, Hunter River, Hawkesbury RiverTasman Sea (Pacific Ocean)
SEVSouth East Coast (Victoria)134,6007347,570Thomson River (VIC), Macalister River, Snowy River, Yarra River, Glenelg RiverSouthern Ocean, Bass Strait
TASTasmania68,0001,39822,041River Derwent, Gordon River, Huon River, South Esk RiverSouthern Ocean, Bass Strait, Tasman Sea (Pacific Ocean)Much of the storage capacity is used for hydroelectricity
MDBMurray-Darling Basin1,061,00045825,320Murray River, Darling River, Murrumbidgee River, Lachlan RiverSouthern Ocean
SAGSouth Australian Gulf117,700306197River Torrens, Onkaparinga River, Gawler River, Broughton RiverGreat Australian Bight (Southern Ocean)
SWPSouth Western Plateau1,093,000232No dataGreat Australian Bight (Southern Ocean)Driest region in Australia with no major storage
SWCSouth West Coast326,000439959Avon River, Blackwood RiverIndian Ocean, Great Australian Bight (Southern Ocean)
PGPilbara-Gascoyne478,00025963Greenough River, Murchison RiverIndian Ocean
NWPNorth Western Plateau716,000316No dataDe Grey RiverIndian OceanNo major storage
TTSTanami-Timor Sea Coast1,162,00065610,747Ord River, Alligator Rivers, Daly River, Katherine River, Fitzroy RiverTimor Sea (Indian Ocean)
LEBLake Eyre Basin1,281,000242No dataGeorgina River, Diamantina River, Thomson River (QLD), Barcoo River, Cooper CreekLake EyreOnly major surface Endorheic basin[C]
CCCarpentaria Coast [D]647,00074499Mitchell River, Flinders River, Gilbert River, Leichhardt RiverGulf of Carpentaria, Arafura Sea
  • A ^ New drainage basin codes assigned by the Bureau of Meteorology in 2010. Previous codes were labelled using Roman Numerals. See for details.
  • B ^ Long term average from July 1911 to June 2010
  • C ^ The obsolete Australia River Basins 1997 survey listed the Bulloo-Bancannia drainage basin as a separate division, but has now been combined with the Lake Eyre Basin.
  • D ^ Known in Queensland as Gulf Basin[5]

List of NCB Level 2 drainage basins

The following is a list of river or island catchments that are subdivisions of the basin containing them.[1]

North East Coast

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Geofabric Hydrology Reporting Regions - V2.1". data.gov.au. Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  2. ↑ "Australia's water resources". State of the Environment 2016. Australian Government, Department of the Environment and Energy. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  3. ↑ "Australian Water Resources Assessment 2012" (PDF). Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  4. ↑ "Water Storage". Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  5. ↑ "Queensland Globe". State of Queensland. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
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