Rivers and Wetlands

The National Land & Water Resources Audit (the Audit) developed the framework for consistent collection and collation of natural resource data across Australia.

The National NRM Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (National M&E Framework) called for the identification of key topics o ‘matters for target’. Each matter for target has a set of ‘indicators’ that will be used to monitor and report on the topic.

Matter for target: Inland Aquatic Ecosystem Integrity (rivers and other wetlands)

Indicator heading: River condition

Indicators (framework for indicators recommended by the National Water Commission):

• critical indicators: benthic macroinvertebrates, fish, riverine vegetation;
• contextual indicators: hydrology, water quality, physical form, drivers (e.g. catchment condition);
• useful (to be developed, tested): biological processes.

Indicator heading: Wetland ecosystem extent and distribution

Indicators (recommended):

• extent and distribution of wetlands;
• extent and distribution of ‘significant wetlands’.

Indicator heading: Wetland ecosystem condition

Indicators (recommended):

• Catchment disturbance: disturbance in the catchment;
• physical form and processes: area of wetland - change in area, wetland topography, soil disturbance;
• hydrological disturbance: physical modification to hydrology, changes to water regime;
• water and soil quality: turbidity (light climate) regime, salinity regime, change in pH, soil properties;
• fringing zone: change in fringing zone;
• biota: change in wetland vegetation, change in invertebrates, change in vertebrates, change in introduced species, change in algae.

Background information on this matter for target and associated indicators can be found at the Natural Resource Management website.

The river condition indicators, wetland indicator headings and associated indicators are currently undergoing review, through a project sponsored by the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, and the National Land & Water Resources Audit. This project is being run in close conjunction with the National Water Commission’s baseline assessment of Australia’s Water Resources 2005 and the development of the Framework for Assessing River & Wetland Health .

The Framework recommends selecting indicators under six themes: catchment disturbance; hydrological change/spatial extent of wetland & temporal change; water quality; physical form; fringing vegetation and biota.

The current National M&E Framework river condition, and wetland condition indicators will be reviewed under this new framework and a suite of indicators for river and wetland condition will be recommended.

Sponsor Agencies

The Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts has primary portfolio responsibility for this topic.

National Coordination

In the absence of an appropriate national coordination committee with jurisdictional responsibilities for both rivers and wetlands, national coordination rests with the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.

Technical advice on the river condition indicator is provided by the national River Health Assessment Technical and Professional Advisory Committee (RHATPAC), which is co-chaired by the Australian Government and state/territory officials on rotation.

Technical advice on the wetland ecosystem indicators is provided by the Wetlands and Waterbirds Taskforce (WWTF), which is chaired by the Australian Government and has representation from each of the state and territory governments.

National Databases

Significant data and information exists for macroinvertebrates, and further data is emerging for hydrology and fish community assemblages. Of these, macroinvertebrate and hydrology data have been collated by various agencies. Access to national macroinvertebrate data is maintained by the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. The following points summarise the current information relevant to the surrogate indicators:

• data collection and management standards are determined by state and territory agencies and endorsed nationally via RHATPAC
• data quality is maintained by state/territory data collectors and managers through the use of nationally agreed sampling manuals, agency-based internal quality control protocols, external auditing by the Australian Government, and a national training and accreditation system
• database development was by conversion of state/territory data sets in to a centralised system
• data access arrangements are details in the meta data, which is provided on-line and is maintained by the Department of the Environment and Water Resources.

National River Health Program

A national assessment of the health of Australia’s inland waters was carried out under the National River Health Program. The program identified priorities to protect and repair Australia’s unique river, floodplain and wetland ecosystems. This crucial research has provided a way to identify environmental flow requirements for rivers.

Australian Catchment, River and Estuary Assessment 2002

The National Land & Water Resources Audit’s Australian Catchment, River and Estuary Assessment 2002 is Australia’s first comprehensive assessment of catchments, rivers and estuaries. The assessment uses a systemic approach based on surface water catchments to determine the aggregate impact of patterns of resource use on rivers and estuaries.

The river assessment collated and interpreted data for about 14 000 reaches across the more intensively used catchments. The assessment uses a range of attributes reflecting key ecological processes at the river reach and basin scales and builds on other river assessment initiatives such as AUSRIVAS. Two indices were used:

• an aquatic biota index using macro-invertebrates, and
• an environment index with four subindices-catchment disturbance, hydrological disturbance, habitat, and nutrient and suspended sediment load.

The Australian Catchment, River and Estuary Assessment 2002 is available through the Australian Natural Resources Atlas (ANRA) and database access is available through the Australian Natural Resources Data Library (ANRDL).

Audit Related Publications