The Australian Government has a strong commitment to improving the transparency, consistency, and accessibility of water information to make sure every drop of water counts.
Enhancing water monitoring and information
The Hydrometric Networks and Remote Sensing Program includes 4 projects designed to enhance the measurement and monitoring of water in the northern Murray–Darling Basin. The Australian Government announced the project in 2020 in response to environmental decline and worries about water theft in the region.
The $35 million initiative was completed in September 2024 in collaboration with the New South Wales and Queensland Governments, the Bureau of Meteorology, Geoscience Australia, and the Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA). It offers enhanced water monitoring systems and improved access to accurate water data for licence holders, compliance officers, and the community.
Not only has the program given communities confidence that water regulations are being followed, but it also supports the Murray–Darling Basin Plan, which seeks to enhance the Basin's health while benefiting communities, farming and other industries.
To view the outcomes of the program, read the HNRS Program Evaluation Report and Program Project Closure Report.
Projects to improve water monitoring and information
The 4 projects delivered:
- Water information portal
- New water monitoring stations
- Online water accounting and reporting
- Remote sensing tools
Building a water information portal and supporting systems
The Murray–Darling Basin Water Information Portal has been developed by the Bureau of Meteorology to improve transparency and accessibility of water information across the Basin.
On the portal, Basin communities can access information about:
- water availability
- water in storages
- groundwater
- streamflow
- allocation volumes
- water take
- water markets
- water quality
It presents this information through interactive river diagrams for the entire Basin and photographs of rivers, storage infrastructure and significant locations.
The water information portal also provides links to Indigenous weather knowledge and provides cultural information for the Gomeroi/Kamilaroi nations in the northern Basin through the inclusion of recordings of Elders recalling their experiences growing up on missions; their connection to country and the important role waterways play in creating their sense of identity.
Boosting cross-border measurement and monitoring
The project has introduced low-cost measurement devices and tools to support the network. It also includes new tools for tracking and measuring floodplain harvesting.
23 new or upgraded hydrometric stations linked to monitoring networks have been introduced to make water management in the northern Basin more transparent and accountable.
Additionally, to support State and Commonwealth compliance activities, a 3-year data sharing agreement was signed with the Bureau and program partners in 2024, linking the portal to multiple sources of additional information and the building of analytical tools and capabilities.
Developing an online water accounting and reporting tool
Two new state-based online tools, WaterInsights portal and WaterIQ, have been developed to collect, manage, and report water data. These tools make it easier for water holders and compliance officers to access water information through a web service.
Licence holders can now securely view their:
- entitlements
- river conditions
- extractions
- trades
- water sharing rules
Compliance officers can also access data for monitoring purposes.
The WaterInsights project was led by the New South Wales Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and the WaterIQ project by the Queensland Department of Local Government, Water and Volunteers, with input from the MDBA.
Operationalising remote-sensing and spatial tools
Remote-sensing tools have been developed to improve real-time measurement and compliance in the northern Basin.
The project focused on monitoring a range of water-related activities including:
- irrigated cropping and water use
- construction, or modification of water storages
- monitoring wetting/drying of storages
- monitoring and tracking flood and environmental flow releases through major streams and river systems.
These tools are now accessible to compliance officers and entitlement holders. The enhanced products also provide valuable data inputs for improving model calibration and validation to support water resource management and compliance functions.
Last updated: 29 April 2025