Integrated modelling of river management and infrastructure options to improve environmental outcomes in the Lower River Murray

摘要: Water dependent ecosystems of the Lower River Murray in South Australia are highly stressed, primarily due to river regulation and drought causing river flows that lack appropriate magnitude, frequency, duration, and timing to support ecological functions. Low river flows are predicted to increase in frequency into the future under climate change predictions. In combination with increased environmental flows, the ecological health of these water dependent ecosystems can be enhanced by the operation of existing and new flowcontrol infrastructure (weirs and regulators) to return more natural environmental flow regimes to specific areas. However, determining the optimal investment and operation strategies over time is a complex task due to several factors including the multiple environmental, economic, and social values attached to wetlands, spatial and temporal heterogeneity and dependencies, non-linearity …