Agriculture / WORLD

Murray-Darling Basin storage fell 88 gigalitres in a week

ABARES’s October 1 update put Murray-Darling Basin storage at 14,991 GL, or 67% of total capacity.

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Storage volume declined by 88 GL between September 24 and October 1 and was 589 GL, or 4%, below the same time a year earlier. Storage data in the report are sourced from the Bureau of Meteorology.

For the week ending October 1, rainfall was concentrated in western and scattered northern and eastern coastal areas; much of the rest of Australia remained dry. Most cropping areas in Western Australia received 5–25 mm.

The update also forecast 10–50 mm for some southern and eastern Australian cropping regions through October 8. This is a forecast, not observed rainfall.

Data

metrics

Australian climate, water and agriculture indicators

Basin storage and rainfall observations and forecasts in the weekly ABARES update.

Murray-Darling Basin storage volume
14,991 gigalitres
2026-09-24 — 2026-10-01 · Observed
Share of total storage capacity
67 percent
2026-10-01 · Observed
Forecast rainfall for southern and eastern cropping regions
10 millimetres
2026-10-01 — 2026-10-08 · Forecast
Methodology

Week ending October 1, 2026; observed rainfall and the forecast through October 8 are labeled separately.

Updated:

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