RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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Are environmental water requirements being met in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia?

Fran Sheldon

^A ^* , Eytan Rocheta ^B , Celine Steinfeld ^B , Matthew J. Colloff

^C , Brad Moggridge ^D , Emma Carmody ^E , Terry Hillman ^F , Richard T. Kingsford

^B and Jamie Pittock

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, Qld, Australia.

^B Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

^C Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

^D University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

^E Restore Blue, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

^F La Trobe University, Melbourne, Vic., Australia.

^* Correspondence to: f.sheldon@griffith.edu.au

Handling Editor: Daniel Roelke

Marine and Freshwater Research 75, MF23172 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF23172

Submitted: 8 September 2023 Accepted: 24 April 2024 Published: 22 May 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Context

In implementing the Murray–Darling Basin Plan, jurisdictions have defined environmental water requirements (EWRs) for sites along Basin rivers. EWRs are the flows (frequency, magnitude, duration, and timing) required to achieve environmental outcomes; they are derived from flow-ecology relationships by using best available scientific knowledge.

Aims

To assess EWR achievement across the Murray–Darling Basin over a 43.5-year period (1 July 1979 – 31 December 2022) that included periods of drought as well as widespread flooding.

Methods

By using a published EWR assessment tool, we analysed the achievement of EWRs for small fresh, large fresh, bankfull and overbank flows for 23 sites.

Key results

At 65% of stream gauge sites assessed, most EWRs evaluated had not been met. We also compared analyses of different time periods, namely, a 43.5-year period, and a 10-year period since the Basin Plan was legislated. This highlighted some improvement in EWR achievement for the small fresh EWR.

Conclusions and implications

Despite some improvements, the continued lack of achievement in meeting EWRs is likely to be a major contributing factor to the ongoing poor health of channel, wetland (including Ramsar wetlands) and floodplain ecosystems across most of the rivers of the Murray–Darling Basin.

Keywords: environmental water requirements, environmental watering needs, flow–ecology relationships, long-term water plans, Murray–Darling Basin, river flows, stream flow, water management.

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