Modelling dry season flows and predicting the impact of water extraction of flagship species
Georges, Aurthur; Webster, Ian; Guarino, Fiorenzo; Jolly, Peter; Thoms, Martin; Doody, Sean; CRC for Freshwater Ecology (Australia); University of Canberra. Applied Ecology Research Group
E-Publications; E-Books; PublicationNT; 57/2002; National River health program
2002-11-20
Daly River
The aim of this project is to contribute to recommendations on environmental flows to ensure that they are consistent with maintaining the biota of the Daly River, given competing demands of agriculture, recreation and tourism, conservation and Aboriginal culture. Our focus is on flow, connectivity and water temperatures.
Made available by via Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT); Submitted to the Northern Territory. Department of Infrastructure Planning and Environment
1. Project Details -- 2. Executive Summary -- 3. Interpretation of the Brief -- 4. Variation of the Brief -- 5. Background -- 6. The Daly Drainage -- 7. The Pig-nosed turtle -- 8. Analysis of Historical Flow Data -- 9. Analysis of Contemporary Flow Data -- 10. Modelling Flow Reduction -- 11. Water Temperature Versus Flow -- 12. Impact on Flagship Species -- 13. References
English
Environmental Flows; Modelling; Biota
Northern Territory Government
Palmerston
Final Report
57/2002; National River health program
75 pages ; 30 cm
application/pdf
Attribution International 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)
Northern Territory Government
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/885434
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/885435
4 Project Details Project Title: Project reference no: 23045 Modelling dry season flows and predicting the effects of water extraction on a flagship species Project Team: Leader: Dr Arthur Georges Dr Ian Webster Mr Enzo Guarino Dr Martin Thoms Mr Peter Jolly Dr Sean Doody Executive Summary Introduction The Daly River drainage is the third largest in the Northern Territory draining an area of 51,800 km2 and with an annual discharge of 4180 x 106 m3. Katherine and Pine Creek are the only major urban centres in the catchment and there are no dams on the Daly River or any of its tributaries. Major uses of adjacent rural land are pastoral and to a lesser extent agricultural. There are proposals for major agricultural development adjacent to the Daly, and these will require concurrent development of water resources for agricultural use. Potential environmental impacts from water resource development and agricultural development on adjacent lands are reduced connectivity in what is currently a year-round flowing river; reduced flows with consequential impact on flow-dependent species (e.g. ribbon weed); altered timing of flow patterns which may cause species to mis-cue reproductive and other behaviours; increased turbidity in what is currently a clear-water river in the dry season; altered water quality by altering the mix of waters derived from different sources or input of nutrients; altered water temperatures, with attendant consequences for primary production and metabolism of poikilothermic animals (invertebrates, fish, turtles) higher up the food chain. The aim of this project is to contribute to recommendations on environmental flows to ensure that they are consistent with maintaining the biota of the Daly River, given competing demands of agriculture, recreation and tourism, conservation and Aboriginal culture. Our focus is on flow, connectivity and water temperatures.