Basin-scale evaluation
Evaluating the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water
The Flow-MER Basin-scale evaluation assesses the contributions of Commonwealth environmental water to meeting the environmental objectives in Section 8 of the Commonwealth’s Basin Plan 2012 and the Basin-wide environmental watering strategy (the Strategy). The Basin-scale evaluation uses the approach, methods and data developed for the Long-Term Intervention Monitoring (LTIM), 2015–2019.
The Basin-scale evaluation reports on the environmental outcomes of delivering Commonwealth water each water year against 4 Basin Plan objectives: biodiversity, ecological function, water quality, and resilience. The evaluation is reported at the whole-of-Basin scale, including, in some cases, valleys where environmental outcomes from delivering Commonwealth environmental water are not actively monitored.
The Basin-scale evaluation is undertaken for 6 Basin Themes (Figure 1) based on ecological indicators developed for the LTIM and described in the Environmental Water Outcomes Framework (the Framework). While there is a line of sight to the Strategy, there is no explicit link between objectives in the Strategy and evaluation questions, as the Framework was developed before the Strategy was finalised.
Figure 1. Basin-scale Project evaluation reports on Commonwealth environmental water outcomes for the 6 Basin Themes as well as a high-level Basin-scale synthesis
The findings of the Basin-scale evaluation are summarised in an annual Synthesis report and complement findings from targeted intervention monitoring (for specific watering events) and evaluations undertaken for each of the 7 Selected Areas. A detailed evaluation of the environmental outcomes from the delivery of Commonwealth environmental water is presented in 6 thematic evaluation reports.
Long-term monitoring data
The monitoring data for the evaluations are collected by the Selected Areas for reporting at the Basin scale. Ecological and hydrological monitoring data collected by Flow-MER are freely available on Data.gov.au under an Open Data policy in accordance with FAIR principles (ensuring the data is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable). Brooks Ecology & Technology leads the Flow-MER Data Management Group and has collected links to Flow-MER datasets.
Our evaluation reports
2022–23 water year – all reports can be found on the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water website.
2021–22 water year
Flow-MER: 2021-22 Basin-scale Evaluation – Synthesis Report (PDF 16.1MB)
Flow-MER: 2021-22 Basin-scale Evaluation – Synthesis Report (DOCX 15.1MB)
Flow-MER: 2021-22 Basin-scale Evaluation – Ecosystem Diversity (PDF 11.4MB)
Flow-MER: 2021-22 Basin-scale Evaluation – Ecosystem Diversity (DOCX 80.1MB)
Flow-MER: 2021-22 Basin-scale Evaluation – Fish (DOCX 32.7MB)
Flow-MER: 2021-22 Basin-scale Evaluation – Fish (PDF 29.5MB)
Flow-MER: 2021-22 Basin-scale Evaluation – Food Webs and Water Quality (DOCX 17.8MB)
Flow-MER: 2021-22 Basin-scale Evaluation – Food Webs and Water Quality (PDF 6MB)
Flow-MER: 2021-22 Basin-scale Evaluation – Hydrology (DOCX 20.4MB)
Flow-MER: 2021-22 Basin-scale Evaluation – Hydrology (PDF 7.9MB)
Flow-MER: 2021-22 Basin-scale Evaluation – Species Diversity (DOCX 20.3MB)
Flow-MER: 2021-22 Basin-scale Evaluation – Species Diversity (PDF 4.2MB)
Flow-MER: 2021-22 Basin-scale Evaluation – Vegetation (PDF 4.6MB)
Flow-MER: 2021-22 Basin-scale Evaluation – Vegetation (DOCX 11.4MB)
Flow-MER: 2021-22 Basin-scale Evaluation – Report Summary Dashboards (PDF 10.3MB)
2020–21 water year
Basin-scale evaluation of 2020–21 Commonwealth environmental water: Synthesis (PDF 4.8MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2020–21 Commonwealth environmental water: Synthesis (DOCX 15MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2020–21 Commonwealth environmental water: Ecosystem Diversity (PDF 15.6MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2020–21 Commonwealth environmental water: Fish (PDF 20.5MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2020–21 Commonwealth environmental water: Fish (DOCX 19.7MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2020–21 Commonwealth environmental water: Hydrology (PDF 10.2MB)
basin-scale-evaluation-2020-21-cew-hydrology.docx (DOCX 23MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2020–21 Commonwealth environmental water: Species Diversity (PDF 7.8MB)
basin-scale-evaluation-2020-21-cew-species-diversity.docx (DOCX 18.6KB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2020–21 Commonwealth environmental water: Vegetation (PDF 6.5MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2020–21 Commonwealth environmental water: Vegetation (DOCX 13.3MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2020–21 Commonwealth environmental water: Dashboards (PDF 1.2MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2020–21 Commonwealth environmental water: Dashboards (DOCX 2.2MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2020–21 Commonwealth environmental water: Key metrics (PDF 195KB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2020–21 Commonwealth environmental water: Key metrics (DOCX 74.7KB)
2019–20 water year
Basin-scale evaluation of 2019–20 Commonwealth environmental water: Synthesis (DOCX 3.1MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2019–20 Commonwealth environmental water: Synthesis (PDF 5.2MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2019–20 Commonwealth environmental water: Hydrology (PDF 9.3MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2019–20 Commonwealth environmental water: Hydrology (DOCX 6.6MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2019–20 Commonwealth environmental water: Ecosystem Diversity (PDF 10.7MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2019–20 Commonwealth environmental water: Ecosystem Diversity (DOCX 8.7MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2019–20 Commonwealth environmental water: Vegetation (DOCX 3.7MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2019–20 Commonwealth environmental water: Vegetation (PDF 8MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2019-20 Commonwealth environmental water: Fish (DOCX 7.3MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2019-20 Commonwealth environmental water: Fish (PDF 18.5MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2019–20 Commonwealth environmental water: Species Diversity (PDF 8.2MB)
Basin-scale evaluation of 2019–20 Commonwealth environmental water: Species Diversity (DOCX 2.8MB)