The Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) has launched a new study to understand water quality trends in the Murray River better.
The MDBA said it commissioned La Trobe University on behalf of the Basin State Governments, to analyse water quality data from 28 monitoring sites along the River Murray and lower Darling through the River Murray Water Quality Monitoring Program.
The Authority said the data had been collected by Basin states since 1978 and was routinely assessed to detect sudden changes in water quality that could indicate a source of pollution or quickly emerging problems.
It said the new study would focus on analysing the data to detect longer-term trends that impacted water quality, which was last analysed in detail in 2013.
Senior Director of Environmental Management at the MDBA, Janet Pritchard said being able to scientifically analyse such an extensive and continuous dataset would help shed light on what was driving water quality issues while highlighting emerging risks and watchpoints.
“In recent months we’ve been hearing feedback from a range of River Murray stakeholders who are concerned about the apparent increases and severity of a range of water quality issues, including algal blooms,” Dr Pritchard said.
“This study will allow us to take a close look into water quality parameters like temperature, salinity, metals and nutrients and look at how they are changing over time,” she said.
She said the MDBA had worked closely with Basin governments to ensure the study would benefit New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and the Australian Government to understand water quality trends and drivers.
Dr Pritchard said analysis of the water quality data had started, with findings expected to be available to Basin states in mid–2022.
More information about the River Murray Water Quality Monitoring Program can be accessed at this PS News link.
