Murray–Darling Water and Environment Research Program (MD-WERP) program documents

The Murray–Darling Water and Environmental Research Program has released the below research reports, tactical project reports, program documents, newsletters and progress updates.

Science and research

Climate adaptation
Publication title	Published	File type	File size
Assessing impact of water allocation, environmental and economic outcomes under climate change and adaptation options: Macquarie catchment case study	29 May 2025	PDF	281.01 KB
Synthesis of indirect impacts of climate change on water availability in the Murray-Darling Basin	03 Mar 2025	PDF	480.80 KB
Understanding risks of hypoxic blackwater and low dissolved oxygen events under climate change	03 Mar 2025	PDF	2.41 MB
An assessment of impact of landscape farm dams and climate change on catchment runoff	17 Dec 2024	PDF	546.38 KB
Understanding the impacts of hydrological non-stationarity on runoff projections	13 Dec 2024	PDF	6.54 MB
Assessing the sensitivity of water resources in the Murray–Darling to fire and climate change	04 Mar 2024	PDF	2.22 MB
Understanding possible adaptation options in response to climate change	06 Dec 2023	PDF	1.25 MB
Values and vulnerabilities of the Murray–Darling Basin – Basin-wide rapid assessment	06 Dec 2023	PDF	14.50 MB
Basin wide management framework: Issues in managing a large river at a Basin scale	23 Nov 2023	PDF	1.51 MB
Demonstration of the climate adaptation toolkit workflow	11 Apr 2023	PDF	3.39 MB
Synthesis of indirect impacts of climate change in the Murray–Darling Basin	10 Feb 2023	PDF	410.44 KB
Architecture design for the climate adaptation toolkit workflow	24 Mar 2022	PDF	1.40 MB

Hydrology
Publication title	Published	File type	File size
Advancing floodplain inundation and volume prediction for water management	20 May 2025	PDF	2.83 MB
Groundwater as an adaptation to current water resources management	20 May 2025	PDF	2.92 MB
Impact of hydrologic non-stationarity and changing climate on runoff in the northern Murray−Darling Basin	20 May 2025	PDF	3.38 MB
Continued investigation of skill of streamflow forecasts to assist management of the Narran Lakes (Dharriwaa)	19 Sep 2024	PDF	1.88 MB
Summary report – Groundwater as an adaptation option to current water resources management	11 Jun 2024	PDF	6.00 MB
Hydroclimate and catchment processes impacting runoff in the northern Murray−Darling Basin	11 Jun 2024	PDF	11.86 MB
Description and metadata for two-monthly maximum flood water extent and depth for the Murray–Darling Basin March 2024	06 Mar 2024	PDF	707.36 KB
Progress towards enhancing low flow predictions June 2023	04 Mar 2024	PDF	1.29 MB
Scripts and tools developed for trend and cluster analysis, GDE analysis, salinity mapping and time series analysis May 2023	04 Mar 2024	PDF	525.83 KB
Insights into forecast – Informed operation of the Hume Dam release June 2023	04 Mar 2024	PDF	463.48 KB
Summary of datasets for classification of river reaches in the Murray–Darling Basin and changes in the flow regime over the past few decades	05 Mar 2023	PDF	840.96 KB
Description and metadata for a composite dataset used for development and validation of a predictive flood inundation and volume model	05 Mar 2023	PDF	3.80 MB
Groundwater level trends and aquifer prioritisation in the Murray–Darling Basin	05 Mar 2023	PDF	2.90 MB
Water forecasts to quantify risks in the southern Murray–Darling Basin for informing water management decisions	13 Feb 2023	PDF	4.19 MB
Flood inundation modelling summary report – a review of existing methods and data and description of proposed method March 2022	04 Nov 2022	PDF	2.25 MB
Opportunities for water forecasts to inform water management decisions in the MDB November 2021	04 Nov 2022	PDF	323.99 KB
Summary of main alluvial aquifers and groundwater use potential in the Murray–Darling Basin November 2021	04 Nov 2022	PDF	2.74 MB

Environmental outcomes
Publication title	Published	File type	File size
Basin-wide conservation prioritisation for the Murray–Darling Basin	29 May 2025	PDF	16.02 MB
Conservation prioritisation for the Murray–Darling Basin: Representation gap analysis and vulnerability assessment	29 May 2025	PDF	2.94 MB
Long-term persistence and connectivity of in-channel refuge waterbodies in the Darling (Baaka) River	13 Dec 2024	PDF	5.87 MB
Forecasting risks to fish and their available habitat from low flows and hypoxia	13 Dec 2024	PDF	17.95 MB
Spatially explicit population models for fish in the Barwon–Darling (Baaka) River	19 Sep 2024	PDF	6.16 MB
Habitat Suitability Modelling of Fish, Aquatic Invertebrates and Riparian Plants in the Murray−Darling Basin	11 Jun 2024	PDF	5.95 MB
Predicting floodplain habitat inundation throughout the Murray–Darling Basin to inform the management of environmental flows December 2023	04 Mar 2024	PDF	2.82 MB

Social, economic and cultural outcomes
Publication title	Published	File type	File size
Recreational and tourism value of healthy rivers	26 May 2025	PDF	5.79 MB
Plain English summary of Recreational and tourism value of healthy rivers	24 Feb 2025	PDF	890.16 KB
Recreational and tourism value of healthy rivers Extension A	03 Mar 2025	PDF	3.77 MB

Tactical project reports
Publication title	Published	File type	File size
Operational Ranges of the River Murray Fishways – Summary	03 Mar 2025	PDF	132.91 KB
Foraging Habitats for Colonial Nesting Waterbirds in the Murray–Darling Basin June 2023	27 Sep 2023	PDF	7.49 MB
Synthesis of Blue Green Algae (Cyanobacteria) bloom knowledge & analysis of recent trends in the MDB April 2023	15 May 2023	PDF	4.28 MB
Evaluation of causes of reduced flow in the northern Murray–Darling Basin November 2022	16 Feb 2023	PDF	5.35 MB
Innovation Sweep – Technological insights for the Murray–Darling Basin	02 Dec 2022	PDF	8.41 MB
Nesting waterbird colony population size monitoring using automated counts on drone imagery June 2022	15 Jul 2022	PDF	835.14 KB

Program documents
Publication title	Published	File type	File size
Murray–Darling Water and Environment Research Program governance	14 Feb 2022	PDF	144.00 KB
Murray–Darling Water and Environment Research Program Research Prospectus 2020	09 Jul 2020	PDF	715.12 KB

Program newsletter
Publication title	Published	File type	File size
MD-WERP Edition 8 – March 2025	16 Mar 2025	PDF	467.87 KB
MD-WERP Edition 7 – December 2024	13 Jan 2025	PDF	561.49 KB
MD-WERP Edition 6 – July 2024	21 Aug 2024	PDF	447.68 KB
MD-WERP Edition 5 – March 2024	05 Mar 2024	PDF	362.10 KB
MD-WERP Edition 4 – May 2023	13 Jun 2023	PDF	243.90 KB
MD-WERP Edition 3 – December 2022	20 Dec 2022	PDF	345.36 KB
MD-WERP Edition 2 – April 2022	08 Apr 2022	PDF	151.40 KB
MD-WERP Edition 1 – December 2021	07 Jan 2022	PDF	131.96 KB

Annual progress updates
Publication title	Published	File type	File size
Murray–Darling Water and Environment Research Program – Annual Progress Update 2023–24	07 Mar 2025	PDF	1.28 MB
Murray–Darling Water and Environment Research Program – Annual Progress Update 2022–23	27 Nov 2024	PDF	1.47 MB
Murray–Darling Water and Environment Research Program – Annual Progress Update 2021–22	20 Dec 2022	PDF	2.87 MB
Murray–Darling Water and Environment Research Program – Annual Progress Update 2020–21	17 Oct 2022	PDF	1.68 MB

Mid-term evaluation
Publication title	Published	File type	File size
Mid-term evaluation of the Murray–Darling Water and Environmental Research Program November 2023	02 Apr 2024	PDF	3.67 MB
Governing panel response to the MD-WERP mid-term evaluation March 2024	02 Apr 2024	PDF	232.54 KB

Published date: 11 June 2024