4.6: Trial of the Framework for the Assessment of River and Wetland Health (FARWH) in the wet/dry tropics

Project Leader

Simon Townsend

Project Publications

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More information

Leader:

Simon Townsend

Abstract

The National Water Commission has developed a national framework that can form the basis of comparable national river and wetland health assessments, and has the capacity to bring together results of existing broad-scale assessments conducted at state, territory and basin scales. The Framework for the Assessment of River and Wetland Health (FARWH) is being trialled by TRaCK to evaluate the effectiveness of the Framework to assess river health in the wet/dry tropics, and contribute to north Australian river management.

Outcomes

In north Australia, the FARWH project will provide key data and capacity to allow river health to be compared across Australia. This work will include:

Evaluating the suitability of implementing the FARWH in the wet/dry tropics of northern Australia to make recommendations for ongoing monitoring of river health
Helping to align north Australian regional monitoring requirements with national expectations to improve the efficiency of river health assessment and monitoring
Providing training and implementation products and tools that are appropriate to northern Australia
Increasing the capacity of north Australian regional authorities to undertake river health assessments
Reporting on data collection, analysis and interpretation methods, and levels of data confidence
Complementing other National Water Initiative activities, deliverables and outcomes
Being consistent with other FARWH trials in other jurisdictions

Where is the research happening?

This research is being undertaken across the wet/dry tropics of north Australia, and will focus on three catchments: Fitzroy and Ord Rivers in WA, and the Daly River in the NT. A desk top study will be undertaken for the Darwin harbour and Ord catchments, whilst new data will be collected for the Daly and Fitzroy catchments.

Who’s involved?

The project is being lead by TRaCK researchers Dr Simon Townsend and Ian Dixon at Charles Darwin University (NT), and Paul Close from the University of Western Australia (WA). Contributions are being made by Griffith University (Qld) and eWater CRC (ACT). The key partners are State Government agencies including the Department of Natural Resources, Environment, the Arts and Sport (NT), the Department of Water (WA) and the Department of the Environment and Resource Management (QLD).

The project was initiated and funded by the National Water Commission. It is administered through Land and Water Australia.