Territory Stories

Modelling dry season flows and predicting the impact of water extraction of flagship species

Details:

Title

Modelling dry season flows and predicting the impact of water extraction of flagship species

Creator

Georges, Aurthur; Webster, Ian; Guarino, Fiorenzo; Jolly, Peter; Thoms, Martin; Doody, Sean; CRC for Freshwater Ecology (Australia); University of Canberra. Applied Ecology Research Group

Collection

E-Publications; E-Books; PublicationNT; 57/2002; National River health program

Date

2002-11-20

Location

Daly River

Abstract

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.

Notes

Made available by via Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT); Submitted to the Northern Territory. Department of Infrastructure Planning and Environment

Table of contents

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

Language

English

Subject

Environmental Flows; Modelling; Biota

Publisher name

Northern Territory Government

Place of publication

Palmerston

Edition

Final Report

Series

57/2002; National River health program

Format

75 pages ; 30 cm

File type

application/pdf

Use

Attribution International 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)

Copyright owner

Northern Territory Government

License

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Parent handle

https://hdl.handle.net/10070/885434

Citation address

https://hdl.handle.net/10070/885435

Page content

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.