CEWO Long-Term Intervention Monitoring (LTIM) Project

LTIM examines the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to the environmental objectives of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, while assisting the CEWO to demonstrate environmental outcomes and adaptively manage the water holdings.

As a member of the Basin-scale evaluation team headed by the Centre for Freshwater Ecosystems, my role until June 2020 was to lead the evaluation of the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to Ecosystem Diversity in the Basin.

The Ecosystem Diversity evaluation quantifies the number, extent and distribution of different ecosystem types in the basin that are influenced annually by Commonwealth environmental water.  The evaluation uses GIS to intersect annual mapping of inundation by environmental water with the ANAE mapping for the Basin for each major river valley.

The types of ecosystems that receive water vary from year to year in response to water availability and river conditions.  A cumulative assessment aims to examine the representativeness or rarity of ecosystem types receiving Commonwealth environmental water for the duration of the LTIM project.

I also have a separate role as Data Manager overseeing the aggregation of all monitoring data in the CEWO's data management system (MSDS) and working with data providers to define data standards and quality assurance and quality control proceedures.

Lead Delivery Partner: Centre for Freshwater Ecosystems, La Trobe University

Client: CEWO

Final Reports:

Brooks, S. (2020). 2018–19 Basin-scale evaluation of Commonwealth environmental water – Ecosystem Diversity. Report prepared for the Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Commonwealth Environmental Water Office by La Trobe University, Centre for Freshwater Ecosystems, Publication 248. May 2020 54pp. Report (4MB)

Hale J, Bond N, Brooks S, Capon S, Grace M, Guarino F, James C, King A, McPhan L, Mynott J, Stewardson M, Thurgate N. (2020). Murray–Darling Basin Long Term Intervention Monitoring Project — Basin Synthesis Report. Report prepared for the Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Commonwealth Environmental Water Office by La Trobe University, Centre for Freshwater Ecosystems, Publication 252. May 2020 59pp. Report (3MB)

More reports from the four earlier years of the project  on the publications page.