The Stream Metabolism and Water Quality Basin Matter seeks to evaluate the influence of Commonwealth environmental water on two key ecological processes—primary production and decomposition—which have a profound effect on ecosystem character and condition. The CEWO’s LTIM Project examined the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to the environmental objectives of the Basin Plan 2012 (Basin Plan) and assisted the CEWO to demonstrate environmental outcomes and adaptively manage the water holdings. Monitoring and evaluation was focused in seven Selected Areas: the Junction of the Warrego and Darling rivers, Gwydir river system, Lachlan river system, Murrumbidgee river system, Edward/Kolety-Wakool river system, Goulburn River and Lower Murray River. These areas will continue to be monitored through the CEWO’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Research (MER) Program. Data collected by monitoring at Selected Areas is used to evaluate local outcomes from watering and also contributed to the analysis and evaluation of Basin Plan objectives. Stream metabolism data was collected over the duration of the LTIM Project from 2014-15 to 2018-19 in six Selected Areas* (Edward/Kolety-Wakool, Lachlan, Goulburn, Murrumbidgee, Warrego-Darling and Lower Murray). *Stream metabolism is not a Category 1 indicator in the Gwydir Selected Area. Please refer to the Murray-Darling Basin LTIM Project: 2018-19 Basin-scale evaluation of Commonwealth environmental water – Stream Metabolism and Water Quality Report for the detailed method on data used for evaluation. ###Acknowledgement The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office acknowledge the First Nations peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands, waterways and skies of the Murray-Darling Basin. We thank them for their knowledge and science and respect their continuing connection to culture and Country and the values reflected in these data.

Evaluation of native fish diversity, condition, reproduction and recruitment contribute to understanding the benefit of environmental water and to the biodiversity outcomes sought by the Basin Plan. The CEWO’s LTIM Project examined the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to the environmental objectives of the Basin Plan 2012 (Basin Plan) and assisted the CEWO to demonstrate environmental outcomes and adaptively manage the water holdings. Monitoring and evaluation was focused in seven Selected Areas: the Junction of the Warrego and Darling rivers, Gwydir river system, Lachlan river system, Murrumbidgee river system, Edward/Kolety-Wakool river system, Goulburn River and Lower Murray River. These areas will continue to be monitored through the CEWO’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Research (MER) Program. Data collected by monitoring at Selected Areas is used to evaluate local outcomes from watering and also contributed to the analysis and evaluation of Basin Plan objectives. Fish data was collected over the duration of the LTIM Project from 2014-15 to 2018-19 in all Selected Areas*, including: fish catch, individual length and weight, egg and larval catch, and estimated age of a small subset of individuals. *Due to the use of different methods to collect data in the Junction of the Warrego and Darling rivers Selected Area, this data has been excluded from the Basin scale analysis (however fish general outcomes are reported). Please refer to the Murray-Darling Basin LTIM Project: 2018-19 Basin-scale evaluation of Commonwealth environmental water – Fish Report for the detailed method on data used for evaluation. ###Acknowledgement The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office acknowledge the First Nations peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands, waterways and skies of the Murray-Darling Basin. We thank them for their knowledge and science and respect their continuing connection to culture and Country and the values reflected in these data.

The Ecosystem Diversity component of the LTIM Project catalogued the different ecosystem types in the Basin that received Commonwealth environmental water annually and cumulatively over the five-year duration of the project (2014-15 to 2018-19). The evaluation was conducted at a whole-of-basin scale to assess the extent to which water-dependent ecosystem types were supported by Commonwealth environmental water and the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to Basin Plan biodiversity objectives. The CEWO’s LTIM Project examined the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to the environmental objectives of the Basin Plan 2012 (Basin Plan) and assisted the CEWO to demonstrate environmental outcomes and adaptively manage the water holdings. Monitoring and evaluation was focused in seven Selected Areas: the Junction of the Warrego and Darling rivers, Gwydir river system, Lachlan river system, Murrumbidgee river system, Edward/Kolety-Wakool river system, Goulburn River and Lower Murray River. These areas will continue to be monitored through the CEWO’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Research (MER) Program. Data collected by monitoring at Selected Areas is used to evaluate local outcomes from watering and also contributed to the analysis and evaluation of Basin Plan objectives. Ecosystem types in the Basin are defined using the interim Australian National Aquatic Ecosystems (ANAE) Classification Framework. The ANAE Classification Framework was applied to the best available jurisdictional mapping for Basin wetlands, floodplains and rivers by Brooks et al. (2014) to produce the interim Murray-Darling Basin Aquatic Ecosystem Classification data set. Ecosystem types that received Commonwealth environmental water were identified by intersecting the ANAE mapping with the annual Commonwealth environmental water inundation and LTIM valleys spatial layer. The evaluation was updated retrospectively to include improvements to the ANAE mapping that were published during the LTIM Project. The final data sets include these updates. Please refer to the Murray-Darling Basin LTIM Project: 2018-19 Basin-scale evaluation of Commonwealth environmental water – Ecosystem Diversity Report for the detailed method on data used for evaluation. ###Acknowledgement The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office acknowledge the First Nations peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands, waterways and skies of the Murray-Darling Basin. We thank them for their knowledge and science and respect their continuing connection to culture and Country and the values reflected in these data.

The Biodiversity component of the LTIM Project evaluated the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to achieving diversity-related objectives of the Basin Plan by undertaking a qualitative evaluation of expected outcomes of watering actions undertaken by the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office (CEWO). The CEWO’s LTIM Project focused on examining the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to the environmental objectives of the Basin Plan 2012 (Basin Plan), while assisting the CEWO to demonstrate environmental outcomes and adaptively manage the water holdings. Monitoring and evaluation was focused in seven Selected Areas:were the Junction of the Warrego and Darling rivers, Gwydir river system, Lachlan river system, Murrumbidgee river system, Edward/Kolety-Wakool river system, Goulburn River and Lower Murray River. These areas will continue to be monitored through the CEWO’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Research (MER) Program. Data collected by monitoring at Selected Areas is used to evaluate local outcomes from watering and also contributed to the analysis and evaluation of Basin Plan objectives. The main data output of the Biodiversity evaluation is an aggregated list of species and communities that potentially benefitted from Commonwealth environmental water from 2014-15 to 2018-19. This is derived from other Basin Matter reports (Vegetation, Fish, Ecosystem Diversity), Selected Area monitoring, the Atlas of Living Australia and monitoring programs external to LTIM (e.g. the Living Murray, Bird Life Australia). Please refer to the Murray-Darling Basin LTIM Project: 2018-19 Basin-scale evaluation of Commonwealth environmental water – Biodiversity Report for the detailed method on data used for evaluation.

The Biodiversity component of the LTIM Project evaluated the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to achieving diversity-related objectives of the Basin Plan by undertaking a qualitative evaluation of expected outcomes of watering actions undertaken by the CEWO. The CEWO’s LTIM Project focused on examining the contribution of Commonwealth environmental water to the environmental objectives of the Basin Plan 2012 (Basin Plan), while assisting the CEWO to demonstrate environmental outcomes and adaptively manage the water holdings. Monitoring and evaluation was focused in seven Selected Areas: the Junction of the Warrego and Darling rivers, Gwydir river system, Lachlan river system, Murrumbidgee river system, Edward/Kolety-Wakool river system, Goulburn River and Lower Murray River. These areas will continue to be monitored through the CEWO’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Research (MER) Program. Data collected by monitoring at Selected Areas is used to evaluate local outcomes from watering and also contributed to the analysis and evaluation of Basin Plan objectives. The main data output of the Biodiversity evaluation is an aggregated list of species and communities that potentially benefitted from Commonwealth environmental water from 2014-15 to 2018-19. This is derived from other Basin Matter reports (Vegetation, Fish, Ecosystem Diversity), Selected Area monitoring, the Atlas of Living Australia and monitoring programs external to LTIM (e.g. the Living Murray, Bird Life Australia). Please refer to the Murray-Darling Basin LTIM Project: 2018-19 Basin-scale evaluation of Commonwealth environmental water – Biodiversity Report for the detailed method on data used for evaluation. ###Acknowledgement The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office acknowledge the First Nations peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands, waterways and skies of the Murray-Darling Basin. We thank them for their knowledge and science and respect their continuing connection to culture and Country and the values reflected in these data.

Geofabric watercourse lines in the Murray-Darling Basin mapping the annual frequency of Commonwealth environmental water in each 12 month water accounting year (1st July to 30th June). River lines are extracted from the Australian Hydrological Geospatial Fabric (Geofabric) v3.2 SH_Network. http://www.bom.gov.au/water/geofabric/index.shtml Compiled by the Flow-MER Basin-scale Program. 2014-2019 data based on information from the Long Term Intervention Monitoring (LTIM) project. ###Acknowledgement The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder and Flow-MER program acknowledge the First Nations peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands, waterways and skies of the Murray-Darling Basin. We respect their continuing connection to culture and Country, and we thank them for their knowledge and science and the values reflected in these data. ###Citation CEWH (2024) Frequency of Commonwealth environmental water - watercourses. Flow-MER Program. Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Sourced from https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/flow-mer-cew-frequency-watercourses on [date-sourced].