River and wetland health - environmental water provisions
All states and territories have developed white papers, strategic plans or
policies on water that lay out how water reform will be achieved and the objectives
of the relevant state/territory Water Acts. Most states have these well developed
except for Western Australia where it is still being developed and the Northern
Territory where it seems to be rolled into a general environmental policy.
The current level of Environmental Water Provisions is shown below:
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Environmental water provisions - National |
Surface water management areas with environmental water provisions in place
and categorised by the proportion of the rivers covered by the plan. Note that
some states and territories have rules that cover the whole jurisdiction, regardless
of the implementation of a plan. Also, state and territory maps include information
on the mean annual flow and rules applied in the plans that is not shown at
a national level.
Download high resolution Maps:
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Key Findings:
.jpg "Timing and quantity of dam releases need to consider the environmental flow requirements of downstream ecosystems")
Timing and quantity of dam releases need to consider the environmental flow requirements
of downstream ecosystems
Sourced from the National Water Commission
- Over 3500 wetlands are given protection in Australia under
the International Ramsar Convention and Commonwealth, State and Territory legislation.
In contrast only a handful of rivers of high conservation value are protected,
in Victoria (with 43) and New South Wales (with 5).
- National Parks and other Terrestrial systems do not necessarily
protect the catchments and flow requirements of rivers within them.
- There is currently no capacity for a national assessment of river
and wetland health this needs to be developed.
Interactive Maps:
Click on the links below to create and customise your own versions of the maps (e.g.
add or remove layers) using the Map Maker tool on the Australian Natural Resource
Atlas website:
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