Ms Mary Gurrie:

My understanding is that it depends on the nature of the abstraction. They vary from a groundwater well which is relatively small and where one might be relying on the pump capacity to do the estimate to abstractions that are maybe a pipe from a river. Then there are the large-scale abstractions from drinking water sources where they probably have flow meters already so they know how much water they are taking in. The question of adding it to every abstraction is probably quite onerous and may, from an engineering point of view, not always be as simple as that. The question of whether it is needed comes back to the risk. We are happy enough that the assessment method is good enough; it is reliable and accurate. In terms of assessing the risk for the typical usage for cattle or for a golf course it is a reasonable method to take.