Water resources data collection and water accounting

Objective

A key objective of the National Water Initiative is to establish a comprehensive system of water accounting to ensure that the overarching objective to establish a nationally compatible market, regulatory and planning based system of managing surface and ground water resources can be met. In this context, the first objective of this paper is to highlight problems with the extent and quality of Australian water data collection, access to water data and ongoing auditing of data collection and archiving processes. The second objective of the paper is to propose ways to remediate these problems.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

I Cordery

Associate Professor Ian Cordery has been involved in collection and use of hydrological data for more than 40 years. He has undertaken extensive research using data he has collected, as well as data supplied by state data collection agencies. He has recently written several papers, including Engineers Australia’s 2002 Munro Oration on the general topic area of collection of hydrological data and availability and usefulness of that data to potential users. In the last 10 years, Ian has been lobbying for increases in water monitoring and improvements in accessibility of data. His view is that without data, huge errors will occur in infrastructure development, eventually leading to tragic accidents. At the same time, there will be misguided attempts at development of Australia’s extremely limited water resources.

B Weeks

Dr Bill Weeks is Director (Hydraulics) in the Queensland Department of Main Roads, where he is responsible for all aspects of flooding and drainage for the department throughout the state. In this role, he applies a wide range of water resources data and other information for road drainage issues with the department’s roads located in all parts of the state. Before joining Main Roads in 2005, Bill had over 30 years experience in the field working in both the public and private sectors, and has worked in all states of Australia, as well as in southeast Asia. Immediately before joining Main Roads, he was employed by Kellogg Brown & Root Pty Ltd, where he was the Technical Sector Leader for Water Resources for the company. During his career, he has worked in many aspects of the hydrology and water resources industry.

A Loy

Alex Loy (BE, MEngSc, MIEAust, CPEng) is a Manager (Water Assessment) in the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water, where he has undertaken and managed a wide range of water resource projects for almost 20 years. His main professional interests are in the areas of surface water and groundwater hydrology, and water monitoring and data. In his roles with Engineers Australia, Alex is Chair of the National Sub-Committee on Water Data, which is a sub-committee of the National Committee on Water Engineering, and has participated in other leadership roles at state level. The main purpose of the National Sub-Committee on Water Data is to provide strategic direction and guidance, and develop initiatives to raise awareness of the importance of and improve water data collection, management, archiving and accessibility throughout Australia.

T Daniell

Associate Professor Trevor Danieli (FIEAust, CPEng) has been in the University of Adelaide’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering since 1989. Prior to this, he practised as an engineering hydrologist within the Australian federal government for 17 years, working on water supply design and operations, managing a hydrographic section, and flood and drought management, as well as planning urban infrastructure development. Trevor received The GN Alexander Medal in 2003 and the 2004 Warren Medal for papers (published with B Foley) titled “A sustainability tool for intrasectoral and intersectoral water resources decision making” and “Are traditional thinking and decisionmaking techniques adequate for developing sustainable water systems?”. He is on the Engineers Australia committee that is rewriting Australian Rainfall and Runoff.

R Knee

Ross Knee is Principal Strategic Planner for ACTEW Corporation, providing water and sewerage services to Canberra and the region. He has 30 years experience in trying to use limited data to better understand the processes of, and model, water supply and stormwater systems.

S Minchin

Dr Stuart Minchin joined CSIRO Land and Water in 2005. He is responsible for the Environmental Sensing, Prediction and Reporting (ESPR) research theme, which supports decision-making for natural resource management and investment. Stuart has a strong record in the management and modelling of environmental data and the potential for online delivery of data, modelling and reporting tools for improved natural resource management. His previous employment was with the Victorian government as Principal Scientist (Water Assessment and Research), and prior to that as Manager (Water Resource Monitoring). Stuart has played a significant role in the conceptualisation of the Water Resources Observation Network (WRON) and now manages a large number of scientists contributing to the network’s development.

D Wilson

David Wilson is a Business Development Manager for Hydro Tasmania Consulting. He is responsible for marketing and projects in the area of water resources, aquatic environment and GIS. David graduated with a science degree from the University of Tasmania in 1978, and undertook postgraduate studies in hydrology at the University of New South Wales and management from Deakin University. Since the mid 90s, he has been personally involved with the development and commercialisation of Hydro Tasmania’s hydrological forecast modelling and database packages, and their application to many projects both within Australia and around the world. David’s main interests lie in hydrological data management and flood hydrology.