Environmental Flows and Eco-Hydrological Assessments in Rivers

Abstract

Strong national water policy requiring governments to protect environmental water has accelerated efforts to plan and deliver environmental flows across Australia since the mid-1990s. This chapter describes environmental flows assessment methods applied over this period including: hydrological methods widely used at the basin and regional scales, and holistic methodologies used at reach or river scale. The chapter also describes the challenge and opportunities in providing better prediction of ecological responses to changing flow regimes, a key requirement for robust environmental flow planning.