Enhanced Environmental Water Delivery Project
South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria are the joint proponents of the Basin Plan multijurisdictional Enhanced Environmental Water Delivery (EEWD) Project. This project aims to improve the outcomes and efficiency of delivery of water for the environment, and is built on the knowledge of environmental water managers and river operators to improve coordination of water for the environment delivery across the Southern Connected Basin.
The project has developed new forecasting and planning tools and streamlined processes for coordinated system-wide river operations in the Southern Connected Basin.
Specifically, the EEWD project aims to:
- coordinate environmental water releases across tributaries of the River Murray to maximise downstream and system-wide connectivity outcomes
- align the release of held environmental water with regulated and unregulated flows to achieve a desired peak and/or duration for a flow event, to create a stronger biological stimulus in sync with environmental water requirements and climate signals
- efficiently use increased delivery capacity (created via the implementation of constraints measures) to improve in-channel, floodplain/wetland connectivity and end-of-system outcomes
- develop a multi-year, multi-location planning framework including low flows, regulated flow, unregulated flows, as well as the use of works and measures to maximise long-term environmental outcomes.
The first stage of the project established project management and governance arrangements critical to the development of an implementation plan.
The implementation plan is guided by early investigations, data collection, technical reports and stakeholder input.
- Read on the Murray-Darling Basin Authority website: A business case for the sustainable diversion limit adjustment mechanism, to be submitted by Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.
The South Australia Enhanced Environmental Water Delivery Project was delivered by the Government of South Australia and funded by the Australian Government, as part of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
