Water Quality

The National Land & Water Resources Audit (the Audit) developed the framework for consistent collection and collation of natural resource data across Australia.

The National NRM Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (National M&E Framework) called for the identification of key topics or ‘matters for target’. Each matter for target has a set of ‘indicators’ that will be used to monitor and report on the topic.

Matter for target: Nutrients in aquatic environments

Indicator heading: Nitrogen in aquatic environments

Indicator (recommended):

• Total nitrogen + flow leaving sub-catchment or whole catchment

Indicator heading: Phosphorus in aquatic environments

Indicator (recommended):

• Total phosphorus + flow leaving sub-catchment or whole catchment

Matter for target: Turbidity/suspended particulate matter in aquatic environments

Indicator heading: Turbidity/suspended solids

Indicator (recommended):

• Turbidity or total suspended solids (TSS) + flow

Matter for target: Surface water salinity in freshwater aquatic environments

Indicator heading: In-stream salinity

Indicator (recommended)

• Total dissolved solids (TDS) + flow or electrical conductivity (EC) + flow

Background information on this matter for target and associated indicators can be found at the Natural Resource Management website.

Sponsor Agency and National Coordination

The Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has primary portfolio responsibility for this topic.

The Executive Steering Committee on Water Resource Information (ESCAWRI) is the national coordinating body for this topic. ESCAWRI provides oversight to the Australian Water Data Infrastructure Project (AWDIP), funded by the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT).

National Databases

The Australian Water Data Infrastructure Project (AWDIP) was established under the national component of the Natural Heritage Trust to facilitate national assessments of Australia’s water resources. This will be achieved through the ongoing development of a comprehensive and accessible national water information framework, to support ongoing water reforms.

The AWDI database is a distributed system that is being progressively developed by enabling networked access under the terms of management agreements between the Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), as the water data theme sponsor, and the custodians of datasets.

The fundamental sources of standards for monitoring and data collection of water quality are the Australian Guidelines for Water Quality Monitoring and Reporting and the Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality. Methods for determining turbidity and suspended solids are described in Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater.

Database management is primarily determined by the custodians. Data quality should be maintained by adherence to the national monitoring guidelines and the principles that underlie the AWDI investment strategy. Metadata quality should be maintained by adherence to the current Australian standards and documentation made available through the Australian Spatial Data Directory (ASDD).

Data access is being developed for delivery from the Natural Resource Management home page and to be consistent with the NLWRA/ANZLIC licensing and access agreement.

The Australian Water Resources Assessment 2000 dataset was developed for the National Land & Water Resources Audit in cooperation with state and territory agencies. It provides nationally integrated information on water use, allocation and availability current at 1997.

The Australian Natural Resources Information 2002 report notes that the data are documented and that national guidelines and standards have been recognised. However, users of the data have referred to a range of data quality and documentation issues.

On-line access is provided to GIS compilations, lists and summary tables for Australia’s surface water management areas, groundwater provinces, drainage divisions, and river basins through the Australian Natural Resources Atlas.

The Australian Natural Resources Data Library (ANRDL) has a number of GIS coverage with compliant metadata. The underlying database is available through the ANRDL but its structure is very complex and its functionality is, at best, uncertain.

1985 Review of Australia’s Water Resources and Water Use database was compiled from published information and designed to link to the river basins spatial framework. It contains the information on the extent and magnitude of Australia’s water resources and the usage of water, including summaries of the total runoff, the divertible water resources and the developed water resources of 252 river basins.

Groundwater information includes summaries of the aquifer characteristics, divertible groundwater resources, water quality, and annual abstractions. Information on water usage includes urban and industrial purposes (domestic, industrial, commercial), irrigation (pasture, crops, horticulture), and other rural purposes (stock and other uses), and the method of supply (reticulated or self-extracted). The data are supported by reliability estimates. Database access is available through the Australian Natural Resources Atlas.

Indicators of Catchment Condition in the Intensive Land Use Zone uses data compiled from 23 unique indicator data sets using existing national data and new data from the National Land & Water Resources Audit. ANZLIC compliant metadata is available in the Data Library. Indicators were obtained at best available resolution and converted to grids of 5 km resolution.

A multi-criteria assessment system was used to compile sub-indexes (land, water and biota) and a composite catchment condition index.

Datasets are available online through the Atlas and Data Library as unclassified values in appropriate units or as class values in a range from 1 to 5. Information can be downloaded in three forms:

• continental maps at 5km resolution
• spatial averages over defined catchments
• spatial averages over the AWRC river basins

Aggregation is more difficult than clipping because the format of coverage varies and the database structure is not uniform across all components.

Audit related Publications