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Environmental Water Allocation Publications

Assessment of Information Needs for Freshwater Flows into Australian Estuaries

This report was jointly commissioned by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and Land & Water Australia to assess the information needs for freshwater flows into estuaries. This report is based on the results of a desk study together with the outputs from an expert workshop. It has the following objectives: create a logical framework showing the potential links between freshwater inflows and (more)...

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Assessment Toolbox

A Framework for assessing the Environmental Water Requirements of Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems

The primary purpose of water allocation planning in Australia is to achieve an equitable way in which to allocate and manage a region’s water resources that is consistent with the Council of Australian Government’s (COAG) Water reform…

Australian water entitlements

The Australian Government is acquiring and holding water entitlements with intention of achieving improved environmental outcomes. Regions in which the Government has indicated an interest in acquiring entitlements are the Murray-Darling Basin in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, the Fitzroy basin in Queensland, Tasmania, and the South-West and Carnarvon regions of Western Australia. This report provides an overview of the water entitlements in these areas and an initial (more)...

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Defining Environmental Flows

The term ‘Environmental Flows’ has come into common usage. To some this term apples to releases from dams which are specificallly for environmental benefit. To others it can be any flow which achieves an environmental benefit.

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Ecology and management of the Lake Wellington wetlands, Gippsland Lakes

A report on the R&D project, 2003-2006

This handbook summarises the results of a four-year R&D project undertaken by staff at Victoria University and Monash University on the wetlands that fringe Lake Wellington in the Gippsland Lakes of south-eastern Victoria.

Environmental flows to wetlands

putting science in to practice

Environmental Water Allocation Forum Presentations

Videos and summary of proceedings

To download video presentation files from the forum, right-click on a link below, select "save link as" and save it to a location on your computer. You will need the Quick Time player installed on your computer to run the files. The Quick Time player can be downloaded from here.

Environmental Water Allocation required to sustain macroinvertebrate species in ephemeral streams

Project Objectives: To determine the key drought refuges used by macroinvertebrate species in intermittently-flowing streams and determine the level of threat to each refuge posed by prolonged drying and unpredictable flow regimes To determine the role played by different types of drought refuge in restocking macroinvertebrate populations in rivers and therefore the consequences for river communities of loss of each type of drought refuge. To determine the (more)...

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Field Studies

A Framework for Assessing Environmental Water Requirements for Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems

There are presently a limited number of tools available for quantifying the level of groundwater dependence within ecosystems or identifying EWRs (see Report 1). With particular regards to defining ERFs (that describe the relationship between ecophysiology…

Flow requirements and resource delivery to the Lower Murray Lakes and Northern Coorong

As discussed in the previous milestone reports, the drawdown of water levels in the Lower Lakes to unprecedented levels has provided an additional focus for the project. This has been done to provide relevant information to the managers and assist with both the short-term and long-term management of the region. It has included investigating the changes water quality during drawdown and likely changes in water quality upon reflooding the lakes.

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Implementation

A Framework for Assessing Environmental Water Requirements for Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems

This report presents the National Framework for the assessment of EWRs of GDEs. It has been designed to assist water resource, catchment and ecosystem managers, or their advisors, in considering the needs of GDEs in water allocation planning policy.

Innovative techniques for managing multiple threats to high value aquatic systems

This four-year multidisciplinary R&D project, supported by a range of agencies and organisations leveraged off core funding by Land & Water Australia, aimed to rehabilitate Dowd Morass, a 1,500 ha Ramsar-listed wetland fringing Lake Wellington (Gippsland Lakes, south-eastern Victoria).  A substantial component of the R&D project involved the landscape-scale manipulation of water regimes using as BACI-type experimental design.  (more)...

Knowledge for Watering Wetlands

Scoping, impediments and challenges

The degradation of Australia’s wetlands has brought into sharp focus the need to manage factors such as altered flow and water regimes. Exchanging knowledge between wetland managers and wetland scientists and putting knowledge into practice is an essential part of this management.

Knowledge needs for the Environmental Water Allocation R&D Program

This report and accompanying database identifies agencies and networks in Australian and state government agencies and regional organisations who are responsible for the development and implementation of environmental water allocation policies and plans, namely water sector policy makers at the federal level; water sector policy makers and managers at state level; and regional and state water managers in Natural Resource Management (NRM) organisations. The report outlines the (more)...

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Land & Water Australia Final Report 2009-10

1 July 2009 – 30 November 2009

Land & Water Australia’s final report for 2009-2010. Covering the last 4 months of operation.

Managing flows for ephemeral streams

Ephemeral streams are watercourses that do not have surface water flow for the entire year. they are also called: seasonal streams, intermittent streams, episodic streams or temporary streams. This fact sheet provides a brief summary of the importance of ephemeral streams and the need to ensure ephemeral streams receive careful management, even during times of drought. While there is a common perception that biota within ephemeral streams are drought hardy, a large number or (more)...