Long Term Intervention Monitoring Project

Monitoring for Seamonkeys, Lyrup Forrest, South Australia, 2015

The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office (CEWO) Long Term Intervention Monitoring Project concluded in June 2019 after 5 years.

It focused on examining the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to the environmental objectives of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, while assisting the CEWO to demonstrate environmental outcomes and adaptively manage the water holdings.

The following areas were selected and will continue to be monitored through the CEWO Monitoring Evaluation and Research Program: :

Basin-scale evaluation

The Centre for Freshwater Ecosystems was engaged to undertake a Basin-scale evaluation of the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to the environmental objectives of the Basin Plan, as set out in the:

Evaluation reports

Monitoring at each Selected Area informs both Basin Evaluation (as described in the Basin Evaluation Plan) and Selected Area Evaluation (as described in Monitoring and Evaluation Plans for each Selected Area). Matters (i.e. ecological indicators) chosen to be monitored to inform for Basin Evaluation were identified through a process that considered Basin Plan objectives as set out in:

Information collected on indicators selected for Basin Evaluation are comparable across Selected Areas over the five-year program to allow for integrated analysis.

Standard Methods were developed for Basin Matters and assigned to each of the Selected Areas. Monitoring and Evaluation Providers adopted these protocols in their Monitoring and Evaluation Plans, augmenting them where appropriate with Area-specific (Area Matter) monitoring and methods:

A detailed “Foundation Report” setting out the approach to Basin-scale evaluation for each Basin Matter has been developed:

Mid-term Review and Evaluation

An independent ‘program level’ mid-term review and evaluation of the CEWO’s Long Term Intervention Monitoring Project was undertaken by Professor Barry Hart (Director, Water Science Pty Ltd) and Dr Rhonda Butcher (Principal, Waters Edge Consulting) in early 2018.

Any enquiries relating to the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office’s monitoring and evaluation program should be sent to: CEWOMonitoring@environment.gov.au