AnnualReport2026
billion litres delivered to 3.2 million people, without a single day of restriction.
FY26 SYSTEM DELIVERY · +3.9% ON FY25 (396.5 BL) · EIGHT DISTRICTS · TWELVE RESERVOIRS · 9,140 KM OF MAINS
01 / DELIVERY
Twelve months of supply, one unbroken line.
System delivery rose 3.9% to 412.0 billion litres. The hottest January on record pushed monthly demand to a peak of 39.6 billion litres — met in full, with treatment plants at 81% of rated capacity and no district placed on restriction.
SOURCE: ATLAS SCADA TELEMETRY, VALIDATED 14 JUL 2026FY26 TOTAL — 412.0 BL
Of every litre delivered, 93.0% arrived at a billed meter.
383.2 BL OF 412.0 BL DELIVERED WAS METERED AND BILLED. THE REMAINDER IS NON-REVENUE WATER — LEAKAGE, FLUSHING AND FIREFIGHTING — TREATED IN CHAPTER 03.
02 / STORAGE
Twelve reservoirs, drawn to scale.
Combined storage closed the year at 859 gigalitres — 69.3% of capacity, equal to 2.1 years of demand. Eleven reservoirs finished inside their operating bands. Redcrest fell below its 45% floor in March and remains under a supplementary transfer order.
LEVELS AT 00:00 AEST, 30 JUN 2026 · DASHED LINE MARKS THE 45% OPERATING FLOORHOVER A RESERVOIR FOR DETAIL
Storage held above 2.1 years of demand, through the driest spring in a decade.
859 GL HELD ÷ 412 BL ANNUAL DELIVERY = 2.08 YEARS. SPRING CATCHMENT RAINFALL WAS 31% BELOW THE 30-YEAR MEDIAN.
03 / CONSUMPTION
Where the water went.
Metered consumption grew 3.2% to 383.2 billion litres. Six of eight districts drew more than the year prior; the Ironquay industrial estate alone accounted for more than a third of the systemwide increase. Westfield and Greyfern fell on the strength of pressure management and 41,000 retrofitted meters.
BLUE — INCREASE · GREY — DECREASE · FIGURES IN BILLION LITRESFY25 371.2 BL → FY26 383.2 BL
28.8 billion litres never reached a tap.
NON-REVENUE WATER ROSE TO 7.0% OF DELIVERY (FY25 — 6.4%). MAINS LEAKAGE IS THE AUTHORITY'S LARGEST CAPITAL LINE FOR FY27: 204 KM RENEWED THIS YEAR, 260 KM COMMITTED NEXT.
04 / SCALE
One drop, one billion litres.
The year, counted. Each drop below stands for 1,000,000,000 litres — about four hundred Olympic pools — grouped in tens. All 412 together would cover the city's central business district to a depth of 26 metres.
412 UNITS · GROUPED IN TENS · FINAL GROUP OF TWO1 BL = 1 GIGALITRE = 400 OLYMPIC POOLS
Each person used 218 litres a day — the ninth consecutive annual decline.
RESIDENTIAL DEMAND PER PERSON PER DAY, FY26. DOWN FROM 236 L IN FY17. RESIDENTIAL USE IS 66% OF METERED CONSUMPTION.
05 / INDICATORS
The decade in six lines.
Ten financial years, FY17 to FY26, at equal scale within each panel. Energy intensity and per-person demand continue their long fall; non-revenue water is the one line moving the wrong way, and the one this Authority is watching most closely.
EACH PANEL SCALED TO ITS OWN RANGE · ENDPOINTS LABELLEDAUDITED SERIES, NOTE 14
Auditor's
Note
In our opinion, the volumetric and financial statements of Atlas Water Authority present fairly, in all material respects, the operations of the Authority for the year ended 30 June 2026, in accordance with the Public Utilities Reporting Standard (PURS-9).
We draw attention, without qualification, to Note 11: non-revenue water of 28.8 BL (7.0% of delivery) exceeds the Authority's licensed target of 6.5%. Management's remediation program is disclosed in Note 12 and is, in our assessment, adequately funded. Metered volumes were verified against telemetry on a sample of 1,900 connections with a maximum observed variance of 0.3%. Figures throughout this report cross-cast: delivery of 412.0 BL equals metered consumption of 383.2 BL plus non-revenue water of 28.8 BL.
Registration AU-1147 · 40 Ledger Lane, Meridian
Signed 4 September 2026