Levels of reporting

AWR 2005 can be approached at several levels, each dealing with key issues of scale, detail, technical rigour and information. The defined levels of assessment that meet National Water initiative (NWI) objectives are outlined in the table below.

Australian Water Resources 2005 levels of reporting

 Level of assessment

 Description

1. Management indicator level

Management level reporting to inform stakeholders of national situation

2. Review and interpretation of existing information

State or territory based, using existing technical assessments, and pieced together and analysed for AWR 2005

3. Detailed assessment

Undertaking new detailed analysis to provide revised or new coverage

Each of the above levels of assessment is defined by the:

  • scale of the assessment
  • questions that should be answered
  • ability to report on management indicators or resource condition indicators

A number of fundamental principles were incorporated when considering the proposed levels of assessment for each theme and whether the levels would meet NWI objectives. These include:

  • use of existing data where possible. This can include interpreted data and information, for instance, whether a catchment management plan has recognised environmental flow provisions in its water allocations
  • use of existing state and territory approaches where these are relevant to informing the NWI
  • ability to provide a level of national coverage by mid-2006
  • ability to provide information to inform the NWI over the medium term (December 2006 and June 2007) and the longer term (post-June 2007)
  • creation of an enduring asset of information and supporting system to be useful in subsequent assessments
  • recognition of existing systems and data infrastructures that can be used to manage, maintain and deliver the information assembled as part of this assessment
  • support of parties to the NWI

For AWR 2005, the outputs from the different levels of assessment will be combined to ensure coverage of the different components of the headline parameters of water availability, water use, and river and wetland health.

 

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Last Updated 22/06/2007