THE Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH) manages a portfolio of water entitlements for the protection and restoration of environmental assets.
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In the Lachlan Catchment this comprises 86,923 megalitres of General Security and 933 megalitres of High Security.
The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) as the state’s environmental water holder also manages a portfolio of environmental water licences of approximately 24,569 megalitres of General Security and 1000 megalitres of High Security.
Combined holdings of environmental water (e-water) in the Lachlan Catchment represent approximately 17per cent of total licensed entitlement on the Lachlan Regulated River.
To better understand the impacts and outcomes of e-water delivery to wetlands, the CEWH has established a Long Term Intervention Monitoring (LTIM) programme to monitor and evaluate the ecological responses to environmental watering across the Murray Darling Basin.
The LTIM Project will be implemented at seven Selected Areas, the Lachlan River system being one, over a five year period from 2014–19.
The LTIM Project for the Lachlan River system will be delivered by a Consortium headed by the Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE) University of Canberra (UC) working in partnership with the Local Land Services (LLS), University of New South Wales (UNSW) and Charles Sturt University (CSU), NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH), NSW Office of Water (NoW) and NSW Department of Primary Industries (Fisheries) (NSW – DPI).
The core involvement for LLS is the development and implementation of a Communication and Engagement Plan.
This will involve talking frequently with landholders on whose property monitoring will take place to arrange access and providing two-way feedback about what research scientists have observed or recorded.
Other responsibilities include informing local communities associated with the monitoring sites (e.g. Hillston, Hay, Booligal), key stakeholders (e.g. irrigators, Lachlan Riverine Working Group, local government) and the more general community interested or involved in e-water management about the purpose and outcomes from the project.
While the LLS already has local networks in the monitoring zone (mid to lower Lachlan below Hillston), this is an opportunity to strengthen and broaden client relationships, and facilitate the consideration of local knowledge into understanding the ecological response to Commonwealth environmental watering in the Lachlan.
The cross-disciplinary nature of the project, with fish, frog, turtle, vegetation, m a c r o i n v e r t e b r a t e , aquatic (water quality, primary production) ecologists and geomorphologists all collaborating for a more efficient and cost-effective monitoring programme allows for improved understanding of wholeof- ecosystem processes.
It will also enhance the internal technical capacity of each of the organisations involved, including Local Land Services who will have a primary role in communicating ‘science’ to the public.
The collection of data in the field is scheduled to start after June 30.
The recently updated and re-launched Lachlan Environmental Water Management Plan website www.lrwg.com.au developed by the Lachlan Riverine Working Group will provide regular updates on the LTIM Project.
