Abstract
Widespread flooding in south-eastern Australia in 2010 resulted in a hypoxic (low dissolved oxygen, DO) blackwater (high dissolved carbon) event affecting 1800 kilometres of the Murray–Darling Basin. There was concern that prolonged low DO would result in death of aquatic biota. Australian federal and state governments and local stakeholders collaborated to create refuge areas by releasing water with higher DO from irrigation canals via regulating structures (known as ‘irrigation canal escapes’) into rivers in the Edward–Wakool system. To determine if these environmental flows resulted in good environmental outcomes in rivers affected by hypoxic blackwater, we evaluated (1) water chemistry data collected before, during and after the intervention, from river reaches upstream and downstream of the three irrigation canal escapes used to deliver the environmental flows, (2) fish assemblage surveys undertaken before and after the blackwater event, and (3) reports of fish kills from fisheries officers and local citizens. The environmental flows had positive outcomes; mean DO increased by 1–2 mg L−1 for at least 40 km downstream of two escapes, and there were fewer days when DO was below the sub-lethal threshold of 4 mg L−1 and the lethal threshold of 2 mg L−1 at which fish are known to become stressed or die, respectively. There were no fish deaths in reaches receiving environmental flows, whereas fish deaths were reported elsewhere throughout the system. This study demonstrates that adaptive management of environmental flows can occur through collaboration and the timely provision of monitoring results and local knowledge.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baumgartner LJ, Conallin J, Wooden I, Campbell B, Gee R, Robinson W (2014) Linking biological needs with hydrology to develop environmental flow requirements for freshwater fish in riverine systems. Fish Fish 15:410–427
Brady DC, Targett TE (2013) Movement of juvenile weakfish Cynoscion regalis and spot Leiostomus xanthurus in relation to diel-cycling hypoxia in an estuarine tidal tributary. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 491:199–219
Carpenter SR, Biggs R (2009) Freshwaters: managing across scales in space and time. In: Chapin FS, Folke C, Kofinas GP (eds) Principles of ecosystem stewardship – resilience-based natural resource management in a changing world. Springer Science+Business Media, New York, 197–220
Chester H, Norris R (2006) Dams and flow in the Cotter river, Australia: effects on instream trophic structure and benthic metabolism. Hydrobiologia 572:275–286
Chiew FHS, Potter NJ, Vaze J et al. (2014) Observed hydrologic non-stationarity in far south-eastern Australia: implications for modelling and prediction. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess 28:3–15
Commonwealth Environmental Water Office (2013) Framework for determining Commonwealth environmental water use. Commonwealth Environmental Water Office, Canberra
Cook RA, Gawne B, Petrie R, Baldwin DS, Rees GN, Nielsen DL, Ning NSP (2015) River metabolism and carbon dynamics in response to flooding in a lowland river. Mar Freshw Res 66(10):919–927
Davies PE, Harris JH, Hillman TJ, Walker KF (2010) The sustainable rivers audit: assessing river ecosystem health in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia. Mar Freshw Res 61:764–777
Gehrke PC, Revell MB, Philbey AW (1993) Effects of river red gum, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, litter on golden perch, Macquaria ambigua. J Fish Biol 43:265–279
Henson SS, Ahearn DS, Dahlgren RA, Nieuwenhuyse EV, Tate KW, Fleenor WE (2007) Water quality response to a pulsed-flow event on the Mokelumne river, California. River Res Appl 23:185–200
Hladyz S, Watkins SC, Whitworth KL, Baldwin DS (2011) Flows and hypoxic blackwater events in managed ephemeral river channels. J Hydrol 401:117–125
Howitt JA, Baldwin DS, Rees GN, Williams JL (2007) Modelling blackwater: predicting water quality during flooding of lowland river forests. Ecol Model 203(3–4):229–242
Kerr J, Baldwin DS, Whitworth KL (2013) Options for managing hypoxic blackwater events in river systems: a review. J Environ Manag 114:139–147
King AJ, Ward KA, O’Connor P, Green D, Tonkin Z, Mahoney J (2010) Adaptive management of an environmental watering event to enhance native fish spawning and recruitment. Freshw Biol 55:17–31
King AJ, Tonkin Z, Lieshcke J (2012) Short-term effects of a prolonged blackwater event on aquatic fauna in the Murray River, Australia: considerations for future events. Mar Freshw Res 63:576–586
Kingsford RT, Auld KM (2005) Waterbird breeding and environmental flow management in the Macquarie Marshes, arid Australia. River Res Appl 21:187–200
Konrad CP, Olden JD, Lytle DA et al. (2011) Large-scale flow experiments for managing river systems. BioScience 61:948–59
La VT, Cooke SJ (2011) Advancing the science and practice of fish kill investigations. Rev Fish Sci 19:21–33
Le Quesne T, Kendy E, Weston D (2010) The implementation challenge: taking stock of government policies to protect and restore environmental flows, The Nature Conservancy and WWF. http://d2ouvy59p0dg6k.cloudfront.net/downloads/the_implementation_challenge.pdf. Accessed 16 Jan 2017
Mallin MA, Johnson VL, Ensign SH, MacPherson TA (2006) Factors contributing to hypoxia in rivers, lakes, and streams. Limnol Oceanogr 51:690–701
Matthews JH, Forslund A, McLain ME, Tharme RE (2014) More than fish: environmental flows for good policy and governance, povity alleviation and climate adaptation. Aquat Procedia 2:16–23
Meredith S, Beesley L (eds) (2009) Watering floodplain wetlands in the Murray–Darling Basin to benefit fish: a discussion with managers. Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Technical Report Series No. 189, Department of Sustainability and Environment, Heidelberg, Victoria
Murle U, Ortlepp J, Zahner M (2003) Effects of experimental flooding on riverine morphology, structure and riparian vegetation: the Spöl, Swiss National Park. Aquat Sci 65:191–198
Murray Darling Basin Authority (2011) Murray–Darling Basin Authority annual report 2010–11. MDBA publication No. 218/11, MDBA, Canberra
Rayner TS, Jenkins KM, Kingsford RT (2009) Small environmental flows, drought and the role of refugia for freshwater fish in Macquarie Marshes, arid Australia. Ecohydrology 2:440–453
Richter BD, Thomas GA (2007) Restoring environmental flows by modifying dam operations. Ecol Soc 12(1): 12. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol12/iss1/art12/
Rowland S (2004) Overview of the history, fishery, biology and aquaculture of Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii peelii). Workshop on management of Murray cod in the Murray–Darling Basin, Canberra, pp 38–61
Small K, Kopf RK, Watts RJ, Howitt J (2014) Hypoxia, blackwater and fish kills: experimental lethal oxygen thresholds in juvenile predatory lowland river fishes. PLoS ONE 9(4):e94524. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0094524
Thiem JD, Wooden IJ, Baumgartner LJ, Butler GL, Forbes JP, Conallin J (2016). Recovery from a fish kill in a semi-arid Australian river: can stocking augment natural recruitment processes. Austral Ecol https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.12424
van Dijk AIJM, Beck HE, Crosbie RS, de Jeu RAM, Liu YY, Podger GM, Timbal B, Viney NR (2013) The millennium drought in Southeast Australia (2001–2009): natural and human causes and implications for water resources, ecosystems, economy, and society. Water Resour Res 49:https://doi.org/10.1002/wrcr.20123
Watts RJ, Richter BD, Opperman JJ, Bowmer KH (2011) Dam reoperation in an era of climate change. Mar Freshw Res 62:321–327
Watts RJ, Ryder DS, Allan C, Commens S (2010) Using river-scale experiments to inform variable flow releases from large dams: a case study of emergent adaptive management. Mar Freshw Res 61:786–797
Watts RJ, McCasker N, Thiem J, Howitt JA, Grace M, Healy S, Kopf RK, Dyer JG, Conallin A, Wooden I, Baumgartner L, Bowen P (2014) Monitoring the ecosystem responses to Commonwealth environmental water delivered to the Edward-Wakool river system, 2013-14. Institute for Land, Water and Society, Charles Sturt University, Final Report. Prepared for Commonwealth Environmental Water. http://www.environment.gov.au/water/cewo/publications/monitoring-ecosystem-responses-cew-edward-wakool-river-system-2013-14-final-report
Watts RJ, McCasker N, Thiem J, Howitt JA, Grace M, Kopf RK, Healy S, Bond N (2015) Commonwealth Environmental Water Office Long Term Intervention Monitoring Project: Edward-Wakool Selected Area Technical Report, 2014–15. Commonwealth Environmental Water, Canberra
Whitworth KL, Baldwin DS, Kerr JL (2012) Drought, floods and water quality: drivers of a severe hypoxic blackwater event in a major river system (the southern Murray–Darling Basin, Australia). J Hydrol 450:190–198
Whitworth KL, Baldwin DS, Kerr JL (2014) The effect of temperature on leaching and subsequent decomposition of dissolved carbon from inundated floodplain litter: implications for the generation of hypoxic blackwater in lowland floodplain rivers. Chem Ecol 30(6):491–500
Whitworth KL, Kerr JL, Mosley LM, Conallin J, Hardwick L, Baldwin DS (2013) Options for managing hypoxic blackwater in river systems: case studies and framework. Environ Manag 52:837–850
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Edward–Wakool landholders, the Wakool River Association and the Edward–Wakool Anglers Association for their interest in the project and providing access to monitoring sites on their properties. Thank you to James Dyer and Elena Griffiths for field assistance. Figure one was prepared by Deanna Duffy (Charles Sturt University Spatial Analysis Unit). Fish collections were carried out under New South Wales Animal Care and Ethics Authority 10/01 and Scientific Collection Permit P01/0059(A). Funding for the water quality monitoring was provided by Charles Sturt University and also funding to the (then) Murray Catchment Management Authority (MCMA) by the Australian Government under the Caring for our Country Programme. Funding for the fish surveys was provided by the MCMA, New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (Fisheries) and the (then) Department of the Environment, Heritage, Water and the Arts. Thanks to the editor and several reviewers for their constructive comments on drafts of this manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Watts, R.J., Kopf, R.K., McCasker, N. et al. Adaptive Management of Environmental Flows: Using Irrigation Infrastructure to Deliver Environmental Benefits During a Large Hypoxic Blackwater Event in the Southern Murray–Darling Basin, Australia. Environmental Management 61, 469–480 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-017-0941-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-017-0941-1