Overview

Description and rationale

The Bulk Licensing Node is used to represent an administrative arrangement where a group of water users share a common portfolio of accounts. An example of this is the NSW Irrigation Corporations.

Scale

The Bulk Licensing Node operates at the stream level on a daily time-step.

Principal developer

NSW Office of Water.

Scientific Provenance

This node models an administrative arrangement and as such has no scientific provenance.

Version

Available in 3.7.1

Dependencies

Requires an accounting system to be defined in order to function.

Structure & processes

Theory

Portfolio of Accounts

The bulk licensing node can posses more than one type of account, as a result there is a mechanism in place to determine how water use should be divided amongst the account types. The bulk licensing node use the same approach as the water user (refer to Water User Node - SRG) where the account types are given a priority and a weighting, to be used to divide usage when two or more account types have the same priority.

Debiting Points

The bulk licensing node is connected to one or more gauge nodes to indicate the points in the system where the passing orders or flows should be deducted from the node's account portfolio.

Return flow crediting

Some bulk licences include a mechanism where flows returning to the system are credited to the account portfolio. The bulk licensing node use the same approach as the water user (refer to Water User Node - SRG) for splitting the credit into the appropriate account types.

Process

Resource assessment

During the resource assessment phase the bulk licensing node is treated identically to every other water user holding entitlements.

Ordering phase

In the order phase two things happen:

1. Orders passing the connected gauge nodes are debited from the order-debit account types.
2. Orders are limited to the remaining balance (considering the orders in transit for use-debit account types) ensuring that the balances won't fall below zero.

Flow phase

In the flow phase:

1. Flows passing the connected gauge nodes are debited from the use-debit account types.
2. If a return flow credit function is defined the function result is credited to the account portfolio.

Data

Input data

The bulk licensing node doesn't require any input data.

Parameters or settings

These are required to be specified:

• The bulk licensing must be connected to the points in the river system where the passing orders and flows are considered to be the bulk licensee's usage.
• Details of the account portfolio (what account types the bulk license posses and their entitlements)

Output data

The bulk licensing node records the credit, debits and balances of the accounts in its portfolio.