Full Title
Murray Irrigation Region Aquatic Ecosystem Monitoring
Contact Person
Ben Gawne, Helen Gigney
Project Team
Lyn Smith, Karla Williams, Kathie Le Busque, James Wyatt,
Funding Body
Murray Irrigation Limited
Duration
April 2006 for a Ten-Year period
Outcomes
The project will produce an annual report for the client with an assessment of stream conditions and trend analysis.
Summary
Murray Irrigation Limited (MIL) and the MDFRC have established a joint project to establish baseline conditions and provide the capacity to measure trends in key indicators of river health in the Murray Irrigation Area (MIA). The project aims to detect and track changes in the condition of the aquatic environment over an extended timeframe and is expected to be an important part of MIL's commitment to ensuring decisions about river management are knowledge based.
Biological, chemical and physical sampling will be conducted in Autumn and Spring at 10 sites on the Murray, Edward, Wakool and Neimur Rivers as well as Tuppal and Billabong Creeks. The project commenced with a pilot study in April 2005 and is expected to run for 10 years from the the Autumn sampling in 2006. A Draft Protocols document (Murray Irrigation Area Aquatic Ecosystem Monitoring Project: Protocols (31pp) and the Pilot Study Report (Murray Irrigation Area Aquatic Ecosystem Monitoring Project: Pilot Study Report (39pp), covering sampling done at 10 sites in Spring and Autumn 2005, with field and laboratory trials, were submitted to MIL in January 2006.
