The natural flow regime and connectivity between aquatic ecosystems is critical for sustaining freshwater biodiversity and natural ecological processes. Land and water resource developments have the potential to alter these flow regimes, impacting on rivers, floodplains and wetlands, and changing habitats and ecological processes, which support native flora and fauna.
Decision makers can assess the potential impacts of proposed land and water resource developments and potential changes in climate using hydrological modelling, including inundation modelling. Managers can also use these models to predict the impact of management strategies, including in determining flow requirements and the potential outcomes of environmental flows.
Hydrodynamic inundation models offer many benefits for evaluating the impact of flooding over satellite based approaches and commence-to-fill values based on river system models or historical flow records. These benefits include the ability to evaluate not only the extent of inundation, but also the duration, water depth and velocity. Unlike satellite based approaches, which are used to assess historical flood events, hydrodynamic inundation models can be used to evaluate how flood characteristics may change under future development, climate and management scenarios.
This presentation considers the use of inundation modelling in assessing the likely impact of land and water resource developments and changes in climate using three examples of water-dependent ecological assets; wetlands, magpie geese and vegetation, from the Northern Australia Water Resource Assessment, in three priority regions across northern Australia.