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Water for the environment

Environmental monitoring

Bottles containing samples of river water were suspended in the Namoi River, and later retrieved for monitoring of algal growth at different depths.

The NSW Government recognises that our rivers are threatened by over-extraction of water. Water sharing plans have been developed to supply water equitably to the environment and to members of the community who use river water. The plans provide for a portion of the natural flow to be restored to rivers as environmental flows.

Environmental monitoring

Monitoring the effects of releasing water for the environment is vital if we are to see whether benefits are being achieved in the ways that we expect. DWE is assessing the effects of water sharing plans to discover whether they are succeeding in improving the health of our rivers.

It is important that we understand the reasons for any changes to our rivers, and know how to use that understanding to improve the way we manage water resources. Monitoring is not only needed to routinely assess how our rivers respond to environmental flows, but also to investigate how different patterns of water flow are able to affect the way our rivers function.

As our scientific understanding increases, we will be able to more effectively allocate water to the environment, and better evaluate the performance of water sharing plans. Scientific feedback makes efficient sharing of water possible.

DWE is conducting three major environmental monitoring programs in NSW:

The Integrated Monitoring of Environmental Flows program (IMEF) monitors the ecological response to environmental flow rules in the state’s major regulated river systems, and the Barwon-Darling River.
The Snowy River environmental flows response monitoring program monitors the impacts of the additional flows being provided to the Snowy River under the Snowy Initiative.
Environmental monitoring of unregulated river systems assists development and implementation of water sharing plans.

DWE is also participating in the Sustainable Rivers Audit, coordinated by the Murray-Darling Basin Commission to assess the ecological condition and health of the rivers throughout the Murray-Darling Basin.