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| December 2006 | National Research Flagship | Water For A Healthy Country |
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| December 2006 | National Research Flagship | Water For A Healthy Country |
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Designing environmental flows for the Murray RiM-FIM is the first in a series of tools being developed by the Flagship that supports improved water management. Traditionally, management of the River Murray has included mitigating large floods to protect infrastructure and crops, and maintaining storages for irrigation water supply. However, recent concern over the health of redgums on the floodplain, and the impact of altered river flows on fish and bird breeding, has focused attention on environmental flow strategies, with periodic inundation of the floodplain being one such strategy. Chief Executive of the Murray Darling Basin Commission, Dr Wendy Craik, says: "The River Murray Floodplain Inundation Model allows us to plan our environmental management activities with more certainty. This is a significant step up in the capacity to plan deliveries of environmental water under the Living Murray Initiative." Seventy-eight satellite images from Landsat TM imagery were used to construct the model, with RiM-FIM developers incorporating images of individual flood events along the River Murray into a geographical information system (GIS). Registered to real-world coordinates, the satellite images provide a range of flows and interpolation between the discrete flow intervals providing a more continuous predictive model. Inputs to the model are the river flow at 22 gauging stations and represent flow data reported from the Murray-Darling Basin Commission's BigMOD flow model. Outputs are the extent of floodplain inundation in GIS format which can be analysed and overlaid on other spatial datasets such as riparian vegetation, transport and water infrastructure, and major wetlands. The South Australian component of the model links river flow with water height, and can predict the extent of flooding from different river flows, weir heights and times of year. The tool can be used by organisations such as the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, catchment management and industry groups, scientists and state and federal government agencies in the controlling of river flows and infrastructure, to gauge where flooding may occur, to research flooding, and in the development and implementation of legislation and policy. Launched at the October 2006 meeting of the Murray Partnership Group, chaired by Dr Wendy Craik, RiM-FIM provides water resource managers with cost-effective quality modelling data to support their decision-making. Development of the RiM-FIM tool cost less then 5% of the purchase price of equivalent detailed elevation and hydrodynamic modelling. RiM-FIM is the first in a series of tools that support improved environmental management of water.
RiM-FIM was produced by CSIRO through the
Water for a Healthy Country Flagship, and is part of the Flagship's
integrated research program aimed at improving the ecological, social and
economic health and management of the Basin. It builds on the South
Australian Floodplain Inundation Model, originally commissioned in 1997 by
SA Water and the MDBC.
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IN THIS EDITION:
International recognition for our WRON initiative Research partnership to protect the Coorong Sharing the Waters of the Murray-Darling Basin Interpreting householder preferences to evaluate water supply Study helps 'water down' community concerns Designing environmental flows for the Murray Can domestic bores help save our drinking water? The Ring of Confidence - Incorporating Uncertainty into Sediment Transportation Models Community Engagement for the Reef's sake
Meet visiting
Fellow
Meet
the Flagship's new Science Director
Meet
one of our EARLIER UPDATES September 2005
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The Water for a Healthy Country Flagship is a CSIRO initiative and part of the National Research Flagships program that aims to deliver scientific solutions to advance Australia's most important national objectives. One of the largest scientific initiatives ever mounted in Australia, it aligns closely with the Federal Government's National Research Priorities. The initiative brings together our national research resources to deliver breakthroughs in fields ranging from healthcare to light metals and the environment. |
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Water for
a Healthy Country
Flagship CSIRO Editor: Leane Regan CSIRO Black Mountain Laboratories, Canberra, ACT, 2601 Phone: +61 2 6246 4565 Fax: +61 2 6246 4564 editor.healthycountry@csiro.au www.csiro.au/healthycountry/ |
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With
increasing awareness of, and pressure to deliver, environmental flows to
segments of the Murray, Catchment Management Agencies and water managers
will find a helping hand in the recently released River Murray Floodplain
Inundation Model (RiM-FIM).
