All in Catchment Management

Improving the management of wetlands on the Murrumbidgee River floodplain

superuser — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 07:07:32 +0000

The condition of floodplain wetlands is a function of internal and external forces and functions. Wetlands vary longitudinally down a floodplain following principals enshrined in the River Continuum Concept whereby the nature and concentration of solutes and sediments change with distance from source. This observation pertains directly to the main river channels but influences the wetland mostly in times of flood as,during low flow,connection between the river and the wetland may be severed.

IDs and People

Program:

River Landscapes

Program Theme:

National Rivers Consortium

Research Type:

Research Project

LWA Project Code:

NDW32

Researchers:

Peter Gell

Fiona Little

Subjects

Subjects:

Catchment Management

Rivers and Wetlands

Current Activities

Status:

Complete

Governance of water: an agreement model for customary law Governance

superuser — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:01:25 +0000

Aboriginal Law and culture in remote Australia remains active and strong. In this project, Professor Donna Craig and the Anmatyerr Water Team demonstrate a process for local active parties to take on management of places significant to them that improves cultural and natural heritage values and indigenous futures.

There exist many places of significance to Aboriginal people that are not covered by formal management processes. In the NT this includes but is not limited to small reserves not listed on the schedule for formal joint management. Professor Craig and her team prepared a draft agreement that demonstrated the principles outlined in her findings.

IDs and People

Program:

Social and Institutional Research Program

Program Theme:

Indigenous Natural Resources Management

Research Type:

Research Project

LWA Project Code:

NTU23

Researchers:

Professor Donna Craig

Subjects

Subjects:

Indigenous

Catchment Management

Keywords:

Aboriginal

law

culture

remote

Anmatyerr

Water

team

local

reserves

Current Activities

Status:

Complete

Water Planners Forums

superuser — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:00:24 +0000

The National Water Commission, in partnership with Land & Water Australia, is currently investing in a number of water planning and policy projects.

As part of this investment, building an informal “community of practice” for water planners through regular contact and sharing of information and ideas is a key component. In February 2009, the second Water Planner’s Forum was held to bring together water planners from across the country to discuss issues they identified as being important.

IDs and People

Program:

Social and Institutional Research Program

Program Theme:

Water Planning

Research Type:

Research Project

Research Scale:

Landscape

Subjects

Subjects:

Catchment Management

Environmental Flows

Current Activities

Status:

Active

Dr Richard Evans

superuser — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 05:34:25 +0000

Dr Richard Evans is a Principal Hydrogeologist employed by Sinclair Knight Merz Consultants

In many catchments the water resources found above and below the ground are parts of the same system, linked in a poorly understood and complex manner. Yet access to surface water and groundwater is allocated as if they were independent of each other and without recognition of potential downstream impacts, particularly the effect pumping groundwater can have on stream and river flows.

IDs and People

Program:

Innovation

Program Theme:

Senior Research Fellowships

Research Type:

Senior Research Fellow

Researchers:

Dr Richard Evans

Subjects

Subjects:

Catchment Management

Keywords:

Groundwater

Current Activities

Status:

Complete

Dr David Freebairn

superuser — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 05:26:48 +0000

David Freebairn has worked on natural resource management issus for 30 years and has a deep understanding of environmental and production issues faced by land managers. He believes even the scientific community is confused by the values of models and processes, and questions whether the use of models actually gets in the way of basic understanding.

IDs and People

Program:

Innovation

Program Theme:

Senior Research Fellowships

Research Type:

Senior Research Fellow

Researchers:

Dr David Freebairn

Subjects

Subjects:

Catchment Management

Current Activities

Status:

Complete

Dr Peter Davies

superuser — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 04:58:36 +0000

What’s around the bend for Murray Darling Basin river system?

With over 27 years of experience in water policy & management under his belt Peter Davies has a deep understanding of all things water. His extensive experience stretches across review and development of government and industry policies, strategies and protocols for management of water, water quality, aquatic conservation, environmental flows and ecological health.

IDs and People

Program:

Innovation

Program Theme:

Senior Research Fellowships

Research Type:

Senior Research Fellow

Researchers:

Dr Peter Davies

Subjects

Subjects:

Catchment Management

Keywords:

Murray Darling Basin river ecosystems

Current Activities

Status:

Complete

Water use across a catchment and effects on estuarine health

superuser — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:11:40 +0000

This project has been completed by Scheltinga, D.M., Fearon, R., Bell, A. and Heydon, L. from FARI Australia Pty Ltd and the Cooperative Research Centre for Coastal Zone, Estuary and Waterway Management.

IDs and People

Program:

Environmental Water Allocation

Program Theme:

Environmental water allocation in poorly understood aquatic ecosystems across Australia

Research Type:

Research Project

LWA Project Code:

FRD3

Host Organisation:

University of Tasmania

Researchers:

Dr Christine Crawford

Subjects

Subjects:

Catchment Management

Keywords:

Estuarine Health

Project Information

Outcomes:

To complete an investigation of environmental flow regimes required to maintain the health and production of oysters from the Little Swanport estuary through continued collection of environmental data under different flows and by the development of an estuarine model to predict the effects of different flow regimes
To develop a set of economic accounts and an economic water evaluation framework and associated tools, using the Little Swanport catchment as a case study, to assess the value of freshwater to the various users across the catchment, including upstream agriculture, estuarine shellfish farmers and fishers and for non-market goods and services

Current Activities

Status:

Complete

Integrated catchment management in the Lake Eyre Basin

superuser — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:24:17 +0000

For over four years Kate worked in one of the most isolated parts of Australia with graziers, farmers, tourism operators, government and conservationists to try to reach agreement on how to better manage the vast Lake Eyre Basin.

It wasn’t easy bringing such a disparate group of individuals together. ‘Over the last decade communities and stakeholders of the Lake Eyre Basin moved from a situation of fear and antagonism to working together’ writes Kate.

What began as a challenge, resulted in the creation of the Lake Eyre Basin Coordinating Group and the development of a Basin-wide strategy culminating in the Heads of Agreement between the South Australian, Queensland and Commonwealth Governments.

IDs and People

Program:

Innovation

Program Theme:

Community Fellows

Research Type:

Community Fellow

Researchers:

Kate Andrews

Subjects

Subjects:

Governance and Markets

Catchment Management

Keywords:

2001 2002 Community Fellow

Project Information

Summary:

Kate says the community asked for the story to be written so other groups could learn from the experience -to overcome conflict, face diversity and respect local knowledge and to turn talk and planning into action.

Current Activities

Status:

Complete

Recognising Indigenous Water Rights and Values in NRM Structure, Process and Legislation

superuser — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:08:00 +0000

Anmatyerr (pronounced u-mutch-er-a) people (tyerrty) seek respect for, and recognition of, their cultural values. The Anmatyerr Water Project covered objectives relating to water, natural resource management, protecting Aboriginal Law and knowledge, training, inter-cultural literacy, and sustainable livelihoods and economies. The main goals of the project were to:

IDs and People

Program:

Social and Institutional Research Program

Tropical Rivers Research and Development

Program Theme:

Innovation Call

Indigenous Natural Resources Management

Research Type:

Research Project

LWA Project Code:

002331

Legacy (KMS) Project ID:

NTU18

Host Organisation:

Charles Darwin University

Researchers:

Naomi Rea

Subjects

Subjects:

Indigenous

Water (General)

Catchment Management

Project Information

Summary:

Recognition of Indigenous values and rights in water management procedures through the TRaCK initiative

Current Activities

Status:

Complete

Water Planning Tools

superuser — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:18:34 +0000

Water planning is one of the most important tools for achieving sustainable use of water. While water planning can apply to a range of matters such as flood risk, water quality, water supply etc, the type of water planning with which the National Water Initiative (NWI) is most concerned is water allocation/ water sharing planning. That is, planning how surface and underground water resources will be managed and shared to achieve environmental, economic and social outcomes.

IDs and People

Program:

Social and Institutional Research Program

Program Theme:

Water Planning

Research Type:

Research Project

LWA Project Code:

005064, 004963

Subjects

Subjects:

Water (General)

Catchment Management

Environmental Flows

Irrigation

Rivers and Wetlands

Project Information

Summary:

Project Website

waterplanning.org.au

Current Activities

Status:

Active

Current Activities:

A wide range of practical experience has already been drawn from across all jurisdictions and integrated with current academic literature, to identify similarities and major differences in planning processes and outcomes sought, as well as strengths, weaknesses and key lessons learnt.

We now need to trial tools for water planning by applying and adapting them for use during the development of a selection of catchment and/or regional water plans. This project is now underway and will work across a small number of regions (the Murray River in SA, Tiwi Islands in NT and the Condamine River in Qld) that are currently commencing active engagement in water planning.

These case studies will develop practical measures to improve:

the incorporation of climate change and surface water/ groundwater interactions into water plans
adaptability in water planning (including improvement to monitoring and evaluation) and integration of water planning with broader land use assessments and catchment planning processes
transparency in water planning and use of the best available information (ecological and socio-economic) to inform judgements in settling trade-offs, and

the equitable consideration of community values (incl. Indigenous)

More Information

Download project brochure

Integrating Water and Catchment Planning

superuser — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:48:27 +0000

In most jurisdictions across Australia, developing water sharing plans is a key activity.

However, the programs and processes for developing catchment plans like:

Integrated Catchment Management (ICM) plans and targets
Natural Resource Management plans
Catchment Action Plans (CAP)
Regional/Local Environment Plans

and those for preparing the Water Sharing Plans required under the National Water Initiative, seem to be run quite separately, often over different time periods, and not always by the same groups.

Preview Image:

IDs and People

Program:

Social and Institutional Research Program

Program Theme:

Water Planning

Research Type:

Research Project

Subjects

Subjects:

Water (General)

Catchment Management

Environmental Flows

Irrigation

Rivers and Wetlands

Project Information

Summary:

In most jurisdictions across Australia, developing water sharing plans is a key activity.

However, the programs and processes for developing catchment plans like:

Integrated Catchment Management (ICM) plans and targets
Natural Resource Management plans
Catchment Action Plans (CAP)
Regional/Local Environment Plans

and those for preparing the Water Sharing Plans required under the National Water Initiative, seem to be run quite separately, often over different time periods, and not always by the same groups.

As a result, a Water Sharing Plan may not, for example, take account of changes in climate or land use, or catchment targets for sediment and nutrient loads to estuaries.

The National Water Commission believes there is a need for much closer linking between Integrated Catchment Management activities and water planning. Through reference to “real life” case studies, this project seeks to identify opportunities for integration between these two planning processes.

More information

Please contact Ken Moore

Outcomes:

Project outputs sought by the National Water Commission and Land & Water Australia are those that will provide guidance to others about how to integrate Integrated Catchment Managment/Natural Resource Management and Water Sharing plans. These may include:

a statement of the benefits of integrating water planning into the broader goals of Integrated Catchment Management, and of the problems that can arise from not doing so
a description of different approaches to achieve this integration, and examples of what an Integrated Catchment Action Plans or Water Sharing Plan might look like
discussion of the appropriate spatial scale for integration of plans, region, catchment, state and temporal scale, 5 or 10 years, taking account of climate change scenarios
a list of key steps in the process of developing and then implementing an integrated plan, with critical success or failure points
examples of the tools, methods and protocols that might be used in the integration process. These might include tools for multi-criteria analysis, for evaluation, for engagement, for negotiation of agreed outcomes, etc.
commentary about which processes and tools might be most appropriate in particular circumstances
a fully-documented case study of integration, covering the starting situation, processes and tools used, what worked and what didn’t, outputs and outcomes achieved

Currently discussions are underway with NSW and Tasmania.

Current Activities

Status:

Pending

Flooding tolerance of plants in Australian wetland ecosystems

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 02:19:37 +0000

Flooding causes oxygen deficiency within submerged plants, so the main objective is to understand physiological adaptations of native Australian wetland species (including salt lake vegetation) to submergence stress. Previous work on flooding tolerance has focused mainly on freshwater species, so a specific objective of this research is to understand flooding tolerance in saline systems as well as other wetlands. The proposed study will determine the contributions of various potential oxygen sources (i.e. atmospheric, water column, endogenously produced) to internal tissue aeration, and the functioning of root and shoots when submerged. In addition, the physiology of aquatic roots will be elucidated.

IDs and People

Program:

Innovation

Research Type:

PhD Student

LWA Project Code:

002496

Host Organisation:

The University of Western Australia

Researchers:

Tim Colmer

Sarah Rich

Subjects

Subjects:

Catchment Management

Project Information

Summary:

The response of plant roots to flooding is the focus of this postgraduate research project. Using the species Cotula coronopifolia, Haloragis brownii and Mentha aquatica as experimental plants the researcher is developing an understanding of the development, anatomy and physiological function of aquatic adventitious roots. This project is in its earl stages and the experimental design and trials have been conducted. Earlier work has been recently published and a 3 month visit to Denmark is scheduled in 2009.

Current Activities

Status:

Active

Water and catchment planning: incorporating demography and population

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 01:14:28 +0000

The Australian government, business and research sectors have access to a wide range of detailed demographic data, from the quinquennial Census of Population and Housing and other sources.

This study will investigate how local government, natural resource managers, researchers and other stakeholders can work together to utilize this demographic data.

It will cover technical issues (for example, technical methodologies whereby demographic data can be interpreted and integrated into natural resource planning) as well as institutional issues (for example, the legal and policy frameworks which underpin regional and local environmental management).

IDs and People

Program:

Innovation

Research Type:

PhD Student

LWA Project Code:

002450

Host Organisation:

Australian National University

Researchers:

Leonardo Carroll

Subjects

Subjects:

Catchment Management

Project Information

Summary:

This postgraduate project will assess the linkages relating to water resource management and demography, in a selection of case study areas in regional NSW and Victoria. This will include background assessment of (i) environmental variables (e.g. climate change and temperature) affecting water availability, over a long-term period; (ii) demographic variables affecting water usage, e.g. population sizes, composition, and use of water for agricultural and industry, over a long-term period, (iii) current and/or proposed planning instruments in the case study areas, and/or cross-jurisdictional instruments which affect the case study areas and other jurisdictions.

Current Activities

Status:

Active

Interactive effects of salinity and water regime on ecologically significant waterplants

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 01:04:29 +0000

Aquatic vegetation is represented by a variety of growth forms, including floating, submerged, amphibious, emergent and semi-terrestrial taxa. The persistence of these growth forms in aquatic habitats is strongly influenced by water regime; long-term flooding favours submerged species and excludes most emergent species whereas alternation in wetting and drying may allow both to persist. The artificial homogenisation of naturally fluctuating water regimes and secondary salinisation are major contributing factors to the loss of plant biodiversity in wetlands worldwide. However, the interactive effect of these processes remains poorly quantified.

IDs and People

Program:

Innovation

Program Theme:

PhD Students

Research Type:

PhD Student

LWA Project Code:

002366

Host Organisation:

Monash University

Researchers:

Jacqueline Salter

Subjects

Subjects:

Innovation

Salinity

Catchment Management

Project Information

Summary:

Modification of natural flooding and drying cycles is recognised as one of the most severe threats to wetland plant biodiversity. Chronic flooding favours submerged wetland plant species and excludes most emergent species whilst seasonal fluctuations generally allow the greatest diversity of plant types to persist. In addition to experiencing changes to their hydrology, many Australian wetlands are also threatened by increased salinity. Salinity may impair a plant’s ability to tolerate changes to water regime. My project examines how salinity may alter the response of wetland plants with contrasting growth forms to water regime. I focus on two common Australian wetland plants with contrasting growth forms; the wetland tree Swamp paperbark (Melaleuca ericifolia) and the submerged wetland macrophyte, Ribbonweed (Vallisneria australis). By exploring the response and tolerance range of different life history stages of both species to the interactive effect of water regime and salinity, I aim to predict the persistence of these species under a number of management scenarios. This research will provide information on water regimes appropriate for fresh and saline conditions that would promote the persistence of a diverse community of aquatic plants.

Current Activities

Status:

Active

Quantifying acid and trace metal fluxes in aquifers under anthropogenic influence

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 01:02:25 +0000

Anthropogenic impacts on groundwater sources such as over-pumping, artificial recharge and/or mining can facilitate hydrogeochemical changes in the aquifer that may lead to accumulation/mobilisation of acidity and/or trace metals. To assess the fate of these trace metals and the effectiveness of remediation measures, the interaction between physical, chemical and reactive processes that control the generation and attenuation of acidity and/or trace metals in the aquifer needs to be understood. Contaminant fluxes to potential receptors may be affected by complex flow patterns and reactions that result from the mixing of fresh- and denser saline waters (e.g.

IDs and People

Program:

Innovation

Research Type:

PhD Student

LWA Project Code:

002362

Host Organisation:

Flinders University

Researchers:

Ilka wallis

Subjects

Subjects:

Monitoring and Assessment

Catchment Management

Current Activities

Status:

Active