Whole of catchment water and salt balance to identify potential water saving options in the Murrumbidgee Catchment
CSIRO Land and Water
November 2004
ISBN 0 642 55230 4
PDF file
About this report
This hydrologic assessment is part of the “Pratt Water Initiative” in the Murrumbidgee Catchment aimed at demonstrating the potential for water savings to add wealth to the nation. A whole of catchment approach is adopted to provide insights into possible “real” water savings in the Murrumbidgee Catchment by tracking water pathways. An effort has been made to distinguish between apparent and true losses. (e.g. some losses from the river are recharge to high water quality aquifers which support consumptive and environmental uses). In such a situation there may be an apparent water loss from the river but not from the system as a whole.
This report is based mainly on existing hydrological work and where necessary additional analysis was carried out to evaluate the potential for water savings. The specific objectives of this work are to:
- provide a description of the major features of the hydrologic system relevant to potential water savings,
- quantify potential water savings, and
- identify gaps in information which need to be filled for the purposes of the Murrumbidgee Project Study
The following methodology was used to achieve the objectives above:
- Review of existing literature describing different hydrologic features of the Murrumbidgee catchment
- Collection of rainfall, river flow, salinity, river cross-section, groundwater, cropping and topographic data from various agencies
- Development of a GIS database of the catchment by bringing together existing topographic and hydrologic databases
- A water balance of the whole catchment
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